Evergreena's Treehouse

Big, Fun, Scary Adventures

2012-01-03T12:18:00.000-06:00

Every time a new year rolls around, I make a list of Big, Fun, Scary Adventures I want to have in the upcoming weeks and months. This was started by the good folks at NaNoWriMo, and since I like it better than making ordinary resolutions, I've made it a tradition.

Last year's adventures did not all happen the way I'd hoped, but I had many great experiences anyway. The biggest, "funnest", and scariest adventure of last year? College. Yup, I started college. (I'll have another blog post about that later.)

This year, I've got quite a list of adventures. Some of them are bigger than others. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Build a treehouse
When my brother and I got home from break this year, we decided it was time to finally build that treehouse we've always wanted. Now that we're older, we can actually do it right. We're starting out with a goal of constructing a simple and sturdy platform aloft.

2. Cut my hair
I haven't cut my hair since.... middle school, I think. I was going to cut it last year, but I never got around to it. Time for a new look. (And possibly some extra cash if I can manage to sell it!)

3. Edit The Shadow of Rebellion
I wrote this sci-fi novel way back in 2008, and I've tried several times to edit it. This time, I'm actually going to push through all 100,000 words and get it polished up.

4. Go to London
Yes! If all goes as planned, I'll be in London over spring break! I've always wanted to visit there, and since I have a novel set in London, I'm excited to see it in person.

5. Finish setting up my Etsy shop
One of last year's adventures that I never completed, my Etsy shop needs some finishing touches. I'm hoping to sell handmade bags to start with, made from "upcycled" materials such as t-shirts and blue jeans.

6. Plan and script a webcomic
This is something I've wanted to do for years now, and never really got up the courage to try. I love to read webcomics, and I've got a bunch of stories that would look amazing in a visual format like a graphic novel. My goal is to write the script, design the characters, work out a style for the comic, and build up a buffer of pages before I start releasing it online, hopefully next January.

These are my Big, Fun, Scary Adventures for 2012! What are you hoping to do this year?

Another Round of Novel Writing

2011-10-31T19:24:00.001-05:00

Yes.
It's that time of year again. November is, after all, National Novel Writing Month.

This will be my 7th year participating in NaNoWriMo, and hopefully the 7th time I "win," ending the month with another 50,000-word novel. I'm preparing to block myself from Facebook, lock myself in my dorm room, attempt to avoid any and all distractions, and write like there's no tomorrow.

Call me crazy, but this is my favorite activity of the year. This year I'm doing something totally new: I'm trying the seat-of-the-pants approach. No outline, no extensive worldbuilding, no research. Whee!

So what am I writing? Having been thoroughly inspired by books such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Airborn, and Leviathan, I'm going all-out Steampunk!

Y'know, like this:

Or like this:

Even though I don't have an outline, I do have a general idea of where I'll be heading with the plot. Here's a short teaser for Silver Sky:

"In an imaginary world where all compasses point to the Queen's palace, an awkward, bookish young woman named Sylvianna is shocked to find that her rich family is actually made up of feuding sky pirates. She's kidnapped by the worst of them all, a man named Sean Fletcher... her long-lost father.

  As she reels with this discovery, she struggles against her family history, social expectations, and her own secret desires for adventure. But eventually, she realizes that she must become what she most hates -a pirate- to stop the empire from destroying itself."

Want to join the writing fun? Head on over to the NaNoWriMo website and get yourself signed up!

Webcomics

2011-08-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

Over the last two years, I've become increasingly interested in the art of telling a story through pictures. I've always loved books with lavish illustrations (such as the Dinotopia books by James Gurney), and I've read a few printed graphic novels (such as Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale). Then I discovered the online world of webcomics.

Webcomics are unique in that anyone can make one and put it up for the world to read. They don't need to get accepted for publication by Marvel or any of the other big-name publishers. That means that the author(s) can experiment and tell their unique story without anyone breathing down their neck. And usually, they're completely free to read. The drawback is this: webcomics are usually updated one to three times a week, so once you catch up to the most recent page, you must waaaait.

I'm a visual person. Many of my characters and story concepts come to me in pictures. When I found out about webcomics, I was immediately drawn to the idea of making my own someday, but I knew I would need to focus on improving my drawing skills. Since January, that's exactly what I've been doing, and I rediscovered how much I love art. I start college next week as an art major!

Not only have I been practicing my art, I've also absorbed lots of great webcomics. I thought I'd share my reading list, in case any of you are also interested in comics or visual storytelling. Some of the following may have certain elements that I don't like or agree with, but there's something special in each one that kept me reading.

Favorites:
Winters in Lavelle - Fantasy
The Dreamer - Time travel/Historical/Romance
Inverloch - Fantasy (this one's complete!)

Others I like for one reason or another:
The Silver Eye - Fantasy.
Dreamless - Romance/Mystery/WW2/Defies genre... Warning: It's intense. (But it's complete!)
The Phoenix Requiem - Fantasy/Romance. Warning: Rather violent and dark. (also complete)
Between Places - Fantasy. The story is confusing at points, but the art is beautiful.
Girl Genius - Steampunk. Warning: Violence, and some skimpy outfits.
Bardsworth - Fantasy/Humor.
Seed - Fantasy.
One Question - Fantasy.
Earthsong - Fantasy.

... I just realized, there is a lot of "fantasy" in that list.

Do any of you read webcomics? What are your favorites? Have you ever considered making a comic or graphic novel?

Creative Activities, Contests, and the County Fair

2011-08-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

Hey, everybody!

Summer is always a busy time for me. In the last few weeks:

-I wrote a Wild West retelling of "Rumplestiltskin" and won a writing contest! My story will be published in an ebook collection. I will give more details once it's out.

-I applied for several scholarships.

-I participated in our County Fair, winning several ribbons in photography and art.

-I started a personal exercise program, and stuck to it (so far). My secret weapon is audio books-- I can only listen to them while I'm riding my bike, walking the dog, etc.

-I read plenty of books (currently reading Firebird, by Kathy Tyers).

-I wrote a couple thousand more words in my steampunk/fantasy novel.

-I did a digital painting for a contest hosted by the Paper Wings Podcast. You can vote for me! I would greatly appreciate it if you went to this link and clicked "like" on the sidebar. That's it. The entry with the most "likes" in each category will win a Wacom Intuos tablet. The Grand Prize of all the entries will get a live critique of their work with the hosts of the podcast, Disney artist Chris Oatley and Lora Innes, creator of the webcomic "The Dreamer," of which I'm a big fan. Voting is only open for one week!

Welcome to My Treehouse

2011-06-10T23:26:00.000-05:00

After much careful thought, I've decided to change the title of my blog from "Evergreena's Journal" to "Evergreena's Treehouse."

Why?

In the last few years since I started this blog, I've done a lot of exploring, learning, and growing. My life has expanded in many ways. When I first started my blog, I only knew that I loved to write. So I made that the main focus of my blog, creating an online "journal" where I could jot down my stories, goals, and random musings.

Lately I've been searching out God's will in my life, and how I should best use the gifts and passions he has given me:

--In early 2010, I went to the Florida Christian Writers Conference, and discovered that I don't love writing itself, I love story.

--Last December, I re-discovered my passion for art, and decided to embark on a self-taught journey until I start college as an art major next fall.

--In the last four or five months, I began to sense that God may have a place for me in the film industry, perhaps the animated film industry. I'm currently experimenting with animation and 3D modeling.

--I recently opened an online Etsy shop, Rachel's Re-Creations, where I hope to sell various items crafted from recycled materials.

--I continue to take thousands of pictures with my DSLR camera.

--And I'm still writing novels and short stories.

I don't fit in a "journal" anymore. That metaphor no longer applies. My multi-faceted life requires a bit more space to move around in online. I need a place where my friends can explore with me, a place where creativity happens. So I thought, "If I could build my dream studio in real life, what would it look like?"

A treehouse.

A no-brainer. My virtual treehouse is born!

And through all of this change and exploration, I know one thing for sure: whatever career path God leads me on in the future, I will always create.

On My Desk Right Now

2011-06-05T23:39:00.000-05:00

At this very moment, I have on my desk:
-my MacBook Pro, Phoenix, taking a short break from Maya tutorials
-a black-and-white Maine Coon cat, Flower
-various writing projects (including portions of short stories, novels, and essays) printed out, stacked, and ready for editing
-my to-do list notepad
-a 0.9 mm mechanical pencil (blue)
-a pen from Northwestern College
-my Wacom Intuos4 medium pen tablet (squee!)
-a paperback copy of Dandelion Fire, by N.D. Wilson
-my zippered pencil case, filled with my precious Prismacolors, graphite and charcoal pencils
-a cream-colored spare button
-an empty Ziplock baggie
-The Complete Digital Animation Course book, by Andy Wyatt
-a Northwestern College folder, containing the list of courses I'll be taking next fall
-a printed-out email about a contest held by the Paper Wings Podcast
-a spiral-bound notebook entitled "College"
-some ripped-up pieces of a Kleenex box
-a frayed piece of hem cut from my blue jeans
-my elbows.

What's on your desk at the moment?

Adventures in Storytelling

2011-05-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

This is an essay I recently wrote for a scholarship application. The prompt was open-ended, so I chose to write about my passion for storytelling. I discovered some interesting things about myself as I wrote, such as the fact that I don't love "Writing," I love "Story." It isn't the field of English that I love - it's the basic elements of an entertaining plot and engaging characters in a unique setting, well depicted. And, as a side-note, even though I don't say so in the essay, my ultimate goal is to glorify God through any form of storytelling I choose to implement.

Enjoy!

(Note: Please do not copy or re-post without permission.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Story.

That’s what I’m all about.

I get excited about writing, art, photography, music, and film because they all offer opportunities for telling an expressive story. The media may change. Paint or pixels, sentences or sound waves, it doesn’t matter. They can all be used to convey emotion and imagination, and that’s what I love.

Ever since I was first learning to read, and allowed myself to get swallowed up by the adventures of The Boxcar Children, I could sense that stories had a certain magic about them, namely, the power to captivate, entrance, and draw eager listeners into another world. I knew I wanted to be a part of that process almost from the very beginning.

My brother and I made up a magical land, and acted out epic adventures with our stuffed animals. As we grew older, that imaginative play became the springboard for writing stories about our Beanie Babies.

It wasn’t long before I was writing full-length novels. I self-published a science fiction book as a teenager, and sold paperback copies to family and friends. Since I was home schooled, my parents encouraged these kinds of self-directed projects, and provided resources that would help me to learn and grow.

But writing alone wasn’t enough. I discovered my passion for photography when I got my first digital camera at age fifteen. Since then, I’ve taken over 17,000 pictures, many of which have won awards through 4-H and other venues. I love to look at things from a new angle, and capture entire stories in one wordless moment.

Lately, I’ve experienced a renewed interest in art and filmmaking. Each of these has incredible potential for a storyteller like me. I’m eager to delve into these subjects more in college.

I also hope to discover new opportunities for interaction and collaboration between all of these different areas of study. With the internet and other emerging technologies, there could be possibilities for artistic expression we haven’t even thought of yet, and I want to be on the forefront of that fast-growing field.

I’m ready to take the next step and go to college, where I hope to purposefully expand my experiences and gain valuable skills that will help me make an impact on the world and propel me into a lifetime of learning.

This isn’t the end of my story. This is only the beginning.

The "Aha!" Moment

2011-04-16T21:59:00.000-05:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about short stories and short films and their structure.

They are so much harder to write than novels. You have such a short time to introduce characters and make them compelling, set up a plot of some kind, and tie it up with a resonant punch line.

I think that’s the key. It all has to build towards a powerful “punch line” of some kind. It doesn’t have to be a joke, it just has to make the audience experience an “Oh!” or “Aha!” moment.

An example: In Pixar’s awesome short film “Geri’s Game”, an old man is sitting in a park playing an intense game of chess with his alter ego. That introduces an interesting character and a humorous plot… but it all becomes memorable when the game is won- and the object of the duel is revealed. That’s the “aha!” moment.

Another example, from a short film titled “INSiDE.”

(This paragraph contains spoilers). A man suffering from multiple personality disorder is being questioned by his doctor, who is trying to get him to claim his true name again. It builds to a noisy climax, and he finally says his name. But then the another doctor enters, and we learn the surprising truth: The first doctor was one of his figments all along. “Aha!”

The "Aha!" moment ties everything together, and makes the short story/film worth remembering. It's usually a twist on the expected, it carries some emotive punch, and it has to take place in a short amount of time (duh).

I’m currently brainstorming for a short film my family is going to make this summer. Already we’re leaning toward the epic side of things— possibly two airships, a sky pirate attack, a lost city of treasure, a mysterious device… and that’s enough fodder for an entire full-length novel! As the official scriptwriter, I’m trying to find a way to condense that into a 10-15 minute film steeped in the epic steampunk adventure feel, yet keep it short, simple, and powerful. How do I come up with that perfect “Aha!” moment?

First, I think I have to figure out the theme or "tone" of the story (is it romantic? Wry? Mysterious? Heart-warming? Humorous? Stark?). Once we have that root theme in place, we can decide what plot elements accord with that theme, and then find a way to twist the expected resolution.

Any thoughts? I'd appreciate input, because I'm still pretty baffled by writing shorts. Anyone have any questions (or advice!) about writing short films and stories?

One last random musing: Short films are often most powerful when the story is told without a scrap of dialogue.

What I've been up to lately...

2011-04-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

Ack! I know I haven't been blogging much. Life has been BUSY! Here's some of what I've been doing:
-Writing two different novels, one steampunk/fantasy, and the other YA mystery
-Writing a screenplay as a part of Script Frenzy
-Applying for scholarships
-Visiting colleges (more about this later)
-Learning how to use my Wacom tablet
-Cleaning & organizing my room
-Making a gift for my new niece
-Planning a short film with my siblings

And... I made this video.

It's just some piano improvisation that I recorded the other day. Enjoy!

Accomplishments and Adventures

2011-01-07T13:55:00.000-06:00

I'm back! I dropped off the face of the blogosphere for over a month, and I'm sorry that I haven't been posting or commenting on other people's blogs. I've been so busy lately that I had to let my blog hibernate for a while.

It is that time of year again! I've been working on my list of Big, Fun, Scary Adventures for 2011. (These are akin to New Year's Resolutions, but Bigger, Funner, and Scarier... and more Adventurous!) Last year, I had these four:

1. Attend my first writers conference
Last March, I went all the way down to Florida for the Florida Christian Writers Conference, and I had a great experience and learned a lot. You can read my summary of the trip HERE.

2. Get my driver's license
I completed this one just in time! Just a few days after Christmas, I passed my driving exam and got my license. Unfortunately, I don't have a car, so it doesn't help me much.

3. Write a song every month
This is the one goal that kind of flopped. I wrote lots of pieces and parts of songs, but I didn't finish any of them. Oh well.

4. Start a photography blog
I did start a photography blog, which you can visit HERE.

My list of Adventures for 2011:

1. Write 250,000 words
2. Set up an Etsy shop and sell stuff
3. Make a short film with my brother
4. Go to college
5. Cut my hair

Every single one of those goals is Big, Fun, and Scary. At least, for me.

The first one, about writing all those words, may best be broken down into monthly goals. So I started a list of writing goals from January through May:

January
-Write Nanooks in Trench Coats (this is goofy, crazy, 4-day novel writing race to 50,000 words with my brother. I already won, by the way.)
-Type out Greenheart, my NaNoWriMo novel that I wrote mostly by hand
-Plan and outline my 2YN novel (an online writing course I'm doing)

February
-Start writing my 2YN novel, and get at least 40,000 words into it

March (National Novel Editing Month!)
-Finish editing The Shadow of Rebellion, my sci-fi novel

April (Script Frenzy!)
-Finish writing my screenplay "The Twin Confessions of Melody & Harmony"
-Write a steampunk short film script (yes, this ties in with Adventure #3 above!)

May
-Finish my 2YN novel (it's a young adult novel, so it'll probably end up around 75-90,000 words)

I haven't decided what my writing goals will be from June forward, because I may have new story ideas by then.

I make goals like this and write them down so that I'll have something to work toward, and when I come to the end of the year, I can look back and see how far I've come. It's both a motivator and an encouragement.

What are some of the big, fun, and scary adventures that you will have in the year 2011?

In honor of turkeys everywhere...

2010-11-27T11:21:00.000-06:00

I was planning to post this on Thanksgiving, but I forgot. This is an essay that I wrote several years ago, but I thought I'd re-post it for all of my newer followers. It's a true story. Enjoy!

Meal or Menace?

First they attacked my aunt.

She was strolling down a deserted gravel road with her sister-in-law, hoping to enjoy the nature and maybe catch a glimpse of the wildlife that lives on the 200-acre farm. Neither of them knew that they were being trailed. The stalkers prowled on stealthy legs through the nearby rye field, their savage eyes never leaving the two walkers. They snaked their way through the swaying rye and at last darted in front of the startled women. With a scream my aunt and her sister-in-law turned and dashed back up the road toward the safety of the farmhouse. One of the group still pursued them, and his powerful legs kicked up a small sandstorm behind him. He only halted when they had reached my grandparents’ mailbox near the house. With a cluck of satisfaction and a rustle of feathers, he sauntered away.

Who were these attackers? Thugs? Gangsters? Robbers? No. My aunt was attacked by wild turkeys.

These once-rare birds had first been spotted the previous Thanksgiving, when we all gathered at my grandparents’ house for the traditional family feast. The turkeys lay low in the woods, only daring to make their appearance after we had filled our stomachs with one of their unlucky cousins. Nobody knows where they came from or why they suddenly appeared.

My grandma, delighted with the huge birds, adopted them as her feral pets (to join the bunnies and the deer). She dotes on them with corn and birdseed, and she worries about them when it gets cold. Plenty of hopeful hunters have come up to ask if they could hunt on the property, but my grandma won’t allow it. “No one is going to shoot them!” she says fiercely. “My poor babies! Mommy’s looking out for you!”

However, since she started feeding them, they’ve come back every day looking for more. And they’ve gotten pushy about it, too. If you don’t have any food, they chase you. If you don’t come outside, they peck at the house and peer in the kitchen window. Many times my grandma has been startled by a “peeping tom.”

The turkeys’ appearance alone can intimidate a wildcat or send a Rottweiler running off with his tail between his legs. Their heads look like they were dipped in lard, then stuck crudely on their scrawny pink necks. Most of the males have “beards” in the middle of their chests, which they puff out while they strut about, giving the impression of a pompous judge or a wealthy businessman. I don’t know why my grandma keeps feeding those fat old vultures.

Ever since that first incident with my aunt, the turkeys have chased everyone from the mailman to the meter reader. Whenever someone comes over to my grandparents’ house, my grandpa tells them, “Watch out for those turkeys.” Oh, and I would like to add some of my own advice: don’t hang around in your car too long. The bloodthirsty birds will attack your vehicle.

However, there are some advantages to having these crazy birds around. The turkeys keep away trespassers, door-to-door salespeople, and other unwelcome intruders. When I’m safe in my bed, I can sleep peacefully knowing that a rafter of wild turkeys is patrolling the block. I almost feel sorry for any prowlers out there. Almost. I have to say I would love to see those vandals who break the windows of my grandpa’s barn screaming in fear as they run from a pack of man-eating turkeys.

© Rachel H.

Sorry! I'm writing a novel at the moment! Please leave a message and I'll get back to you in December.

2010-11-12T21:24:00.000-06:00

It's National Novel Writing Month! (aka NaNoWriMo)

So, you probably won't see much of me for awhile. I do this every year (hopefully, this will be my sixth "win"), and I absolutely love it. If you've ever considered writing a novel, you might want to check this out.

I'm writing a YA Christian fantasy novel again. The title is Greenheart, and it's the prequel to last year's novel, Bluewillow. I'm writing by hand, so I haven't had any time to type up any excerpts yet, but I'll be sure to do that... in December. :)

Here's a (rather lengthy) one-sentence summary:
A curious orphan who talks to trees learns that he is one of the Flickerfew, and struggles to master his strange talents to save his world from genetically engineered wild beasts and the evil that controls them.

At the librarians' request, I made a display about NaNoWriMo at my local library, which you can see in this picture (go ahead, you can click it if you want to):

And of course I couldn't resist making a web banner for my novel:

That's all for now, folks! See you in December!

Some Autumn Poetry

2010-10-26T16:02:00.000-05:00

I tend to write more poetry in the spring and fall than during any other time of the year. Here are some of the songs and poems that I came up with these past couple of months.

Dancing
Let go
Spin away from the others
Let them follow
Together twirling
To the rhythm of the wind.
Pirouette with me
A whirling cyclone
Faster
Faster
Sail along the ground
Never touching it
Until...
The wind slows
   and drifts away
My friends whisper farewell
   and settle down to sleep
Only I remain
   carried by the echoes
Far from the tree
from which I fell.

Untitled
Jumbled thoughts
can steal the day
When your mind is lost
Imagination will play
But it won't get you anywhere
Until you let go
Of the thought of controlling air
And follow the flow...

chorus:
Soar with the butterflies
Through the ever-changing skies
Drop down sparks of inspiration
The world needs to catch some imagination.

A bit of fun
can banish the pain
When your heart is broken
See the sun through the rain
You can get about anywhere
If you let go
Of the thought of controlling air
And follow the flow...

When one spark finds a home
   in an open hand
When a free and roaming
   wandering band
With a shout the rising sound
   will command
A movement beyond that which you
   can imagine...

(chorus)

Follow the flow
Let the air currents hold you
The stars all aglow
Let the melody mold you

Soar with the butterflies
Through the ever-changing skies
Drop down sparks of inspiration
And the whole world will catch some
Imagination.

I wrote this last one while we were driving through Illinois farmland, and thinking about our own family's farm back home, as the soybeans were getting harvested. (I'll put some pictures of the harvest on my photo blog as soon as I get a chance)

Harvest Song
Flat, flat farmland
Stretchin' to tomorrow
The beans are gettin' combined
I know that this land is mine
The dirt is turned
The sky is clear
No rain until next week I hear
Gotta get the crops in store
I only got one field more
And I'll be ready for winter's roar.

Psalm 139

2010-10-22T00:02:00.000-05:00

Psalm 139 has been on my heart and mind a lot lately, so I thought I’d share it with all of you.

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain!
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!

A Compass to Point the Way

2010-09-10T17:31:00.000-05:00

For my birthday, my parents gave me this lovely brass compass. Cool, huh? It came in the mail today. Now my head is full of exploration and quests and sailing ships and steampunk-ish adventures.

These words were in the card they gave me:

"You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

May this gift always remind you of your true compass, the Word of God.

It's a good reminder.

Turning Twenty

2010-09-05T18:51:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day as a teenager.

It's hard to believe, even for me. I certainly don't feel like a twenty-year-old. I've often felt that I don't fit my age, starting way back when I was eleven years old. I realized then that in many ways, I was both older and younger than other kids I knew. Here's why:

I felt older because I read so much and was well-informed about a wide variety of subjects (I think a lot of it came from being home-schooled, but that's another topic altogether). Also, I wasn't swayed by most of the fickle notions of my generation.

But at the same time, I felt younger. I didn't feel the need to grow up fast and be burdened with the cares of adulthood. I spent hours climbing trees and exploring in the woods with my siblings and the neighbor kids. My brother and I played with our Beanie Babies and created a world for them to inhabit in our imaginations (we continued to do this even through most of our teenage years). I was content to be a kid and let the adults deal with logistics and issues that came up. Many of my friends were eager to grow up, find new acquaintances, get a job, start a family, etc, but for me, it was enough to read and play.

It was a precious time for me, and I'm glad that I had such a great family who encouraged me and loved me all through my childhood.

It's weird to think that I'm leaving that era behind me now, as I make the transition into adulthood at last. I still don't feel ready to step out on my own, but I need to trust Jesus to guide and protect me as I follow his call for my life.

God willing, I'll find a college that feels right to me and I'll start the next stage of my education surrounded by Christian peers and mentors. I'll always love my family --they're my best friends-- but I know that I'm destined to eventually follow a new path, perhaps I'll start my own family someday (although that's really hard to imagine right now!)

So, as I take a deep breath and step into another year of life and growth, I'm turning my thoughts to the future and how I can use these next years to glorify God with my life as an adult.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Celebrate!

2010-08-27T12:58:00.000-05:00

This is a brief message to say...
Thanks to my newest follower, Lizzy, I now have 50 followers on this blog! A great big THANK YOU to all of you!

And this is my 80th post.

When I reach my 100th post, I'll do a giveaway. Just to get some ideas, what kinds of things do you like in a giveaway? (Please, nothing too elaborate here-- I'm not going to buy something like a horse or a submarine and pay to ship it across the country!)

Good News

2010-08-26T11:41:00.000-05:00

My computer is fixed! Yay! Hopefully I can do some more blogging now that I have it back.

Other news:

- I finally bought myself a recurve bow, and I'll be competing in the Renaissance Festival as well as the 4-H State Shoot in September! It's much harder to pull back than the 4-H bows I used, but I love it.

- We brought my younger brother to college about a week ago. It's weird to have him gone, but it sounds like he's having a great time.

- I've been starting to apply to colleges. Yes, me. I've been realizing lately that I do indeed want to go to college, especially now that my brother is away at college. :) More on this in the coming weeks...

- Next Sunday is my Mom & Dad's 25th wedding anniversary party, and right afterwards we have to race to the State Fairgrounds for our 4-H judging. (I'm going to be performing my piano solo, and I'm rather nervous)

- Finally, I'm thinking about revamping my blog(s). This will probably take some time for me to get straightened out, but I'm brainstorming for a better title (Evergreena's Journal just doesn't cut it anymore), and I'm thinking about making the focus more clear. I'm also thinking about combining my photography blog with this one. These are all just random thoughts for now, but keep an eye out for changes in the future.

Bits 'n' Pieces of Random Poetry

2010-08-23T17:30:00.001-05:00

My computer is sick.
*sob*
I'm taking it in to the Apple Store this evening. Hopefully they can fix it (cheaply and quickly!)

Anyway...
I thought I'd share some of the poetry and song lyrics I've been writing lately. A lot of it is about strange topics, like Antarctica and flipping pencils. Some of these are incomplete. Some of them have tunes that I'm in the process of composing. All of them are random.

First of all, a rumination on poetry itself:

Poetry is what pours forth from your head, your heart, your hand as you sprawl on a window-seat and watch the world change colors and live, live like a sunflower and age as a stone and laugh like a toddler who has found a Daddy Longlegs in a crack in the wall, flow like clouds in a sunset or maybe it's a sunrise but it doesn't really matter, who cares, because your poetry belongs to you, not the library, not uncle, not the public unless you shout it from the rooftops in bold letters earning the right to call yourself
poet.

The Dancer
I lift my hands to the sky
Around and around I fly
My bare feet in the flowers
As my shadow cowers
But I am free,
Free, free.

My eyes are raised to the sun
As I twirl around and run
My heart soars as I leap
Though my shadow fear will keep
But I am alive
Alive, alive.

Kicking up Dust
On a summer Sunday -afternoon-
When I was only six years old
My mother sent me out to play
I went peacefully
But when I got outside
-and this was a sunny day-
I went out to the driveway...

Chorus:
Kicking up dust
Shuffling my bare feet
Kicking up dust
   as I danced in the heat
Kicking up dust
I played and had lots of fun
Kicking up dust
   and dirt and sand in the sun.

I was very dusty -it covered me-
Of course I had to have a bath
My mother sent me to the tub
I went peacefully
But when I got all dry
I dashed right back out the door
To the driveway for some more...

(Chorus)

Now that I am older -all grown up-
I know that I should not kick dust
My mother will not clean me up
I walk peacefully
But when I see a dirt road
'specially when it's sunny
I suddenly get all funny...

Final chorus:
Kicking up dust
Shuffling my shod feet
Kicking up dust
   as I dance in the heat
Kicking up dust
I play and have lots of fun
Kicking up dust
   and dirt and sand in the sun.

South Pole Dreaming
Waiting for the sun to go to sleep
As I watch with bleary eyes
I think I'll be counting sheep
For a really long time, I realize
'Cause this night
is a really long night
It'll last for months, it seems
How I love Antarctic dreams

Stars above in the velvet sky
Time to sit and wonder why?
The sun has gone on his vacation
And I'm here at the South Pole Station
Dreaming of you...
In my everlasting Antarctic dreams.

It'll be a long, cold summer without you
Cooped up in this building with no room to run
I really don't know what I'll do
I really need to see the sun
'Cause this night
is a really long night
It's lasting for centuries, it seems
How I loathe Antarctic dreams.

Pencil
I walk into the classroom
Take a seat in the back
Wish I could hide in the bathroom
But then I see the guy in a black
   t-shirt in the front row
Showing off how his pencil can fly
Around his fingers
And then I really have to try...

Flippin' it around
It hits the ground
   again and again
What's the use of being prehensile
if I can't flip a pencil?

Stickers
When you're having a bad day
and the world gets you down
I take a smiley-face sticker
And turn that frown around

Stickers, stickers everywhere
On my wall and in my hair
I gotta have those tacky little pictures
I live in a world of stickers

It's just a small piece of life
To brighten the day and cheer the night
Stickers wait in my drawer
And whenever you're feeling poor
I break out my stickers

I've got 'em for every personality
They come from every nationality
To bring some whimsicality...

Stickers, stickers everywhere

On my wall and in my hair

I gotta have those tacky little pictures

I live in a world of stickers.

Midnight

Writing songs at midnight

You prob'ly think I'm crazy, right?

But when inspiration blows in

On the evening wind

And I hear the inklings of a song

I know, here I belong.

Whispers of lyrics chime in my head

How could I think of going to bed?

Now is the time for my ink to run

And my eyes both glint with imagination

As I feel the rumblings of a song

I know, here I belong.

This is the time when the world is alive

When the bullfrogs thrum

and the junebugs hum

and the sound of the wind on

the flagpole clanking

And a lonely dog across the lake

I know I was meant to make

music tonight...

At midnight.

Fairies: An Altered Book

2010-07-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

I'm just finishing up my altered book project, and I thought I would share some photos. I originally made this book as a gift for my younger sister at Christmastime, but now I'm finally finishing it to enter in 4H fine arts at the county fair this week.

I made the book out of a copy of The Thousand and One Nights.

Here's the title page:

Table of Contents:

Since I made the book for my sister, I tucked a note for her inside a pocket:

This is one of my favorite pages. I used a portrait of Queen Victoria that I had kicking around, and gave her fairy wings. :)

On the side of the page, there's a few tags that can be pulled out of hidden slots:

(You flip the center panel to reveal the rest of the page)

Originally, the rest of the book was blank, so that my sister could add to it if she wanted to. But she decided she wanted me to make a "Fairy Treasures" page, with a niche for trinkets and beads, etc. So I glued together the rest of the pages and cut out a shadowbox. The picture is of Ali Baba showing off his treasure, which was in the book to begin with. I just finished this page today.

See all those nifty treasures?

That's one full book!

Summer Reading

2010-07-16T12:49:00.000-05:00

After another long interval between my infamous sporadic posts, I present you with my summer reading piles.

Yes, piles.

First we have my in-progress pile. These are all books that I'm currently reading. I tend to read a lot of books at once. That way, if I get tired of one book, I can put it down and pick up in the middle of another book. I'm a migratory reader.

Starting from the bottom of the pile:
The Life of the Forest, by Jack McCormick - I'm reading this non-fiction book as research for my next novel, Greenheart, which will mostly take place in a temperate rainforest. I want it to feel real, and this book is very helpful and interesting.

Digital Art Revolution, by Scott Ligon - I picked this book up because I love creating digital art with Photoshop, and I'd love to do more with it. It's got tons of weird artwork in it, but it teaches some great techniques and tricks with Photoshop.

Getting Into Character, by Brandilyn Collins - This book on creating three-dimensional characters requires a lot of thought, because each new thing presented is so unique and revolutionary. It's taking me a long time to read it, because I'm trying to fully understand each concept before I move on. I think it will definitely help my writing down the road.

Writing Fiction for Dummies, by Randy Ingermanson - The ingenious "Snowflake Guy" wrote this awesome book for writers of all ages and experience levels. Everything is laid out, clear and concise. Even though I've read almost a dozen books on writing, this one offers some questions and exercises that have made me think about my writing from a different angle. I recommend it!

The Restorer, by Sharon Hinck - I'm re-reading this one because I like it so much. An ordinary mom gets sucked into a fantasy world on the brink of war, and she's expected to become some warrior hero? What's not to like? (Besides, I think Kieran is one of the best characters of all time.)

Emma, by Jane Austen - I've seen several different movie versions of this classic story, but this is the first time I've actually read it. It took me awhile to get into it, because I just didn't like the heroine, Emma. But then I realized that you just can't take her too seriously, and I began to really enjoy it. It's a lighthearted, comedic romance story.

Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel - I bought this book used at my library for about 10 cents. I knew nothing about it. It's amazing! It's an alternate version of history set at the height of airship travel, with sky pirates, mysterious flying mammals, and lots of swashbuckling adventures in the clouds. I love it so far! (I'm really starting to like the "Steampunk" genre)

Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are, by Alex and Brett Harris - This is a sequel to the awesome book Do Hard Things. It's full of encouragement, ideas, and practical advice for teens who wish to break free of the low expectations placed on young people today. Teens have raised money to build wells in Africa, sailed solo around the world, made award-winning movies... what will you do? And more importantly, why are you doing it?

As soon as I finish reading all of those books, I'll move on to my to-read pile:

100 Cupboards, by N. D. Wilson

The Unicorn Chronicles book 4: The Last Hunt, by Bruce Coville

Brightly Woven, by Alexandra Bracken

Stravaganza: City of Masks, by Mary Hoffman

Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper

Heartless, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book

By Darkness Hid, by Jill Williamson (not pictured)

And that's just a fraction of the books I'd like to read. *sigh* So many books, so little time. What have you been reading? Have you read any of these books?

Also, I seem to have forgotten to announce the arrival of my free paperback copy of my novel, Bluewillow, from CreateSpace. Here's a picture:

I made the cover, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. My sister agreed to pose as my main character (I turned her hair blue in Photoshop). Sorry that my flash sorta washed things out. It looks better in person.

Now my family is reading it together in the evenings. *gasp* So many people listening to my writing at once! Aaaaahh! Panic attack!! *ahem*

That's all for now, folks!

Before I die...

2010-06-28T17:33:00.000-05:00

Aaah! I realize that I've REALLY been neglecting my blogs! My life is always so busy in the spring. Here's a quick post of the things I want to do before I die.

This first list is from way back in 2008:
1. Someday, I want to make a movie.
2. Someday, I want to go body flying.
3. Someday, I want to go to Antarctica.
4. Someday, I want to go to college and see what they know.
5. Someday, I want to go on a missions trip.
6. Someday, I want to join a writing group.
7. Someday, I want to go sailing on an old-fashioned ship.
8. Someday, I want to build a treehouse.
9. Someday, I want to go downhill skiing.
10. Someday, I want to memorize a book of the Bible.
11. Someday, I want to read through the entire encyclopedia.
12. Someday, I want to learn how to sword-fight.

It was fun to go back and look at my dreams from two years ago. Some of these things are exactly the same on the list I wrote today. It's freaky. Without having seen this list for two years, I used some of the same wording! And a few of these things mysteriously dropped off the new list. (I guess I just forget them in some cases, and in the case of the movie and sword-fighting, I've done that somewhat already!)

The new list:
1. Build a treehouse.
2. Finish reading the encyclopedia.
3. Get published.
4. Visit the South Pole Station (or McMurdo Station) in Antarctica.
5. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
6. Go winter camping in the Boundary Waters.
7. See the migrating raptors at Hawk Ridge in Duluth.
8. Go to college and see what they know.
9. Take a road trip from Alaska to Argentina.
10. Memorize a book of the Bible.
11. Learn Quenya. (I've started already)
12. Run through the hills of Austria while singing. :)
13. Gallop bareback on the seashore.
14. Get my driver's license.
15. Sail on a tall ship on open seas.
16. Write 50,000 words in 24 hours. (The most I've done is 12,000)
17. Go on a missions trip.
18. Start a trend. :)

Not necessarily in that order! So, what do YOU want to do before you die?

Me as Peter Pan :)

2010-06-08T16:37:00.003-05:00

When I was little, I was enamored with Peter Pan. I often pretended that I flew away to the Neverland and had all sorts of adventures. I even drew giant X's on the dirt driveway and scribbled "Land Here" so that if Peter ever flew overhead, he'd come and find me. When I was five years old, I wanted to be Peter Pan for Halloween. My mom said, "But you're a girl!" I didn't care. I didn't want to be Wendy. I had to be Peter Pan. *grin*

So my wonderful mother made these adorable costumes for me and my brother for Trick-or-Treating. (My brother insisted on wearing the eyepatch, even though everyone knows that the only thing Captain Hook lost was his hand.)

Sorry for the bad quality of the pictures. They're many years old now, and I had to scan them in.

Here's another one. Notice my cardboard sword. That's the one part of the costume that my mom let me make. (You really have to use your imagination.) My brother loved holding his candy bucket with the hook. For some reason, people kept asking me if I was Robin Hood. Now how would they think that? I didn't have a bow and arrows! *huff*

Ah, yes. Even years after that Halloween, I would put on the costume and jump on the couch to imagine I was flying. I eventually wore the costume to pieces and had to make a new one. I took an oversized green t-shirt and sewed bits of fabric to it for leaves. Sadly, I couldn't find any pictures of me in my "Martha Pan" outfit. But I did find this:

It's Tiger Lily! I made the headband and one of the drums as part of our homeschooling, and I became certain that I was meant to be an Indian princess. Good times...

Second to the right, and then straight on till morning!

A Peter Pan Event!

2010-06-08T10:45:00.001-05:00

Nina has organized an entire event devoted to Peter Pan! I'm so excited about it! The book by J. M. Barrie has always been one of my favourites. This event is going on RIGHT NOW, and it ends on the 13th. I'm hoping to have a post up in the next couple of days.

2010-05-11T13:53:00.000-05:00

Those of you who have been following my blog for ages might remember how much I love altered books. I posted some pictures of my first altered book here and here. Now I'm working on my third project! The theme is simply "Blue." I connect things with different colors (and I think I have a form of synesthesia), so I thought I'd make a book of those things. Here's the page I did today. You've got circles, ferns, a butterfly, and lots of glazes. It was so much fun to make! When you take art too seriously, it takes all the joy out of it. Art is supposed to be fun. Do you agree?

Four Fun Facts! (Planting Chums)

2010-04-30T12:12:00.002-05:00

It's the final week of Planting Chums, and the instructions this time is simply to post Four Fun Facts about yourself!

Sooooo...

Fact #1 - I climb trees. Even though I'm almost an adult. :) Who says you have to be a kid to enjoy the swaying of the branches in the breeze, and the songs of the birds all around you, and the rough bark on your bare feet? Besides, did you know that tree climbing is an official sport now? It's only a matter of time before it's admitted into the Olympics... (Or so I hope!)

Fact #2 - My room is crammed full of bookshelves (which are all filling up with books). I have three of them, and I live in the smallest room in our house! One bookshelf is devoted to non-fiction and my journals (I've got over twenty of those- I haven't exactly counted them in a while), and another is full of fiction and my novels that I've written, and the smallest one is for audio books, CDs, DVDs, and old used books that I want to turn into works of altered art.

Fact #3 - I never liked Barbies as much as Beanie Babies. Barbies were too girly and grown-up. (Though I did sometimes play with the smaller Stacy doll). Beanies, on the other hand, were: a) animals, which I love; b) soft enough to throw at my brother and sisters without getting hurt when they beaned me back; c) my brother could play with me- we created a whole fantastic, imaginary world for our Beanies, called (of course) Beanie Land- it had everything from a city of roller coasters to gigantic rooms under the ground, from greedy creatures called "Anenemies" to rockets made out of Tinker Toys... and I'll never forget the time the Nanooks got lost in the Ban-yow Tree! I think the hours we spent adventuring in Beanie Land greatly influenced my writing when I got older. I'm thankful for all the wonderful memories with our Beanies.

Fact #4 - I am having trouble with this last fun fact... Okay, here it is. I LOVE PHOTOSHOP!

Some things I've done with it:

Family Fotos (Planting Chums)

2010-04-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

I'm finally ready to put up my Planting Chums post for this week! (Better late than never, right?)

The topic this week is "Family Fotos." I knew at once what I wanted to post, but... These pictures were taken with my mom's film camera, so I had to go get them printed from the negatives. :) Ah, the joys of film...

Welcome to Assateague Island! Five years ago, my family took a road trip to Washington, D.C., and while we were out East, we decided to visit Chincoteague and Assateague islands in Maryland. (Has anyone read Misty of Chincoteague? This is the place.) We were hoping to see some wild ponies, but they kept their distance, so we walked down to the ocean instead. A lady walked by and asked if we needed someone to take a family portrait, and we thanked her and formed a group by the water's edge. We smiled, and she snapped a picture of us. Nice family picture, huh?

Ah, but the ocean had other plans for us. With our backs turned to the waves, we never saw it coming. A giant wave zoomed forward and attacked us! All of us got very wet feet as we jumped and screeched and tried to get away. And the lady on the beach wound the film and took another picture of us, bless her heart.

After we escaped the angry wave, we all looked at each other and laughed like crazy. And the lady took yet another picture, bless her heart.

These pictures were not staged. What you see is exactly what happened! And we have a record of this hilarious memory, all because of that nice lady on the beach. Thank you, lady, whoever you are!

The World is My Classroom

2010-04-19T21:54:00.003-05:00

I made the decision not to go to college right now, so that I can pursue self-directed study. That may sound crazy to some people, but with the support of my parents, I decided that this is the best path for me, for now.

So what am I doing? What is "self-directed study?" I'm using these years to hone my writing skills, to study, practice, and learn more about photography and photo editing, and I'm attempting to capture and compose the music I hear in my head. I'm studying language, the sound and flow of words in English and other tongues. I'm reading books on writing, and analyzing my own writing for ways to improve. I'm journaling, journaling, journaling. I'm experimenting with photography, I'm trying my hand at portraiture. All of these things and more.

I must train myself to think of these years as my "college years," even though I'm not actually going there. I need to get into that mindset, so that I'll start acting that way, with focused intensity, dedication, and imagination, so that I'll be productive and gain knowledge that will open doors for me in the future. Above all, I'm placing my trust in God's hands. I may not see it yet, but I know he has a plan for my life.

The world is my classroom... and now is the time for learning.

Script Frenzy Elevator Pitch!

2010-04-16T21:37:00.001-05:00

Check out my *first* YouTube video, featuring the plot of one of my screenplays, "Merrily!" For more info, see this post.

Ha, I just realized how dorky the preview picture is. *slaps forehead*

Fun Games (Planting Chums)

2010-04-16T10:42:00.001-05:00

Yes! I'm doing Planting Chums, which a fun event hosted by Hannah at Aspire!
So, the topic this week is Fun Games.

First of all, I'm not much of a game-person. I always used to cry whenever I lost Mouse Trap. (Of course, for some weird reason, I always lost). That's the one where the players spend most of the game building this incredibly intricate "trap" as you move your little plastic mouse around the board, collecting cardboard cheese. It was a fun game until the very end, when you find yourself under the basket at the end of the trap, and your opponent sets off the chain reaction with a silver marble. I remember the feeling of dread as the Rube-Goldberg-esque device teetered and tottered and flipped and spun around. If the marble fell off, or something went wrong, I was safe, but if not...
CLUNK!
The basket fell on my poor mouse, and I was caught. GAME OVER! Muh ha ha ha!
For a seven-year-old, it was traumatic.

And SORRY! wasn't much better. You never knew when one of the other players would decide to send you back to the beginning, claiming "SORRY!" in a gloating manner. It was so frustrating to be so close to the end of the game and then end up at the start again!

And I was never very athletic, so I didn't like outdoor games like Capture the Flag, Dodgeball, or Kickball.

So what games DO I like?

For one, I adore word games, like Scrabble, and particularly Boggle.

My whole family loves Boggle. It's a word-search game that can get very competitive between my parents (who are both excellent spellers), and more recently, me and my brother.

But I think the best game for passing the time is a game that my brother and sister and I made up. We call it... THE RANDOM GAME!

Heh. It's best with two or more players who are in a random mood. In other words, silly. Here are the rules:

-the first person starts out by saying a random word,

-the next person says another random word,

-and so on.

-You can say nouns, verbs, colors, feelings, names, quotes, punch lines from inside jokes, moo like a cow, anything, as long as it's random. :)

-No repeating words,

-and if your word is related to the previous person's word, you get "booed."

-Gameplay goes on until everyone gets tired of it and decides to do something worthwhile.

Like I said, it's random. We love it.

So what games do you enjoy--- or hate?

Diving into Script Frenzy!

2010-04-15T21:17:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted sooner. I've been back for over a week now, but things have been so crazy! And I now have 40 followers! Thanks, Margaret Rowena! :)

I'm right in the thick of Script Frenzy right now. It's a fun challenge to write 100 pages of a script during the month of April. I did it last year, and loved it, so this year I'm doing it again, this time with a goal of TWO screenplays! Heh. I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Here's a brief summary of my two projects:

Project #1
"The Twin Confessions of Melody and Harmony"
A screenplay, teen/family (and a hint of comedy)

Melody is a friendly girl with an academic mind, a gift with people, and a love for the great outdoors... and she's clumsy.

Harmony is a solitary girl with her own ways of doing things, usually with her computer or a paintbrush, but she's socially awkward.

They’re both stubborn, creative, competitive... and they each have their secrets.

Filmmakers. Rivals. Twins.

Project #2

"Merrily"

Another screenplay. This one's a humorous fantasy action thriller. *grin* The kind that makes you want to eat Milk Duds while watching.

Merrily is a girl with a secret. She’s on the run from the FBI and a group of maniacal killers, even though she’s completely innocent. But that’s not her secret.

Phoenix is a boy with a secret. His adoptive father works for the FBI, and his own inventions are sometimes purchased by the government. But that's not his secret.

They can fly.

When Phoenix is sent across the country on a mission to catch Merrily, he discovers that she's a whole lot more than anyone could have imagined. Together they search for the truth, and along the way, find that they're part of a much larger plan.

Ha! I finally have a plot! Yay! *ahem*

So, what do you think? Can you picture these two ideas as movies?

Going to Florida... AGAIN!

2010-03-30T18:31:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it. My family is taking a road trip to Florida this week! It's weird. I feel like I just got back from the Florida Christian Writers Conference, and now I'm heading right back down that way. Ha.

The reason we're going is that my brother, who blogs as DTHRocket, wants to visit a college down there. We'll be camping in Daytona, and then we're hoping to go see a space shuttle launch, one of the last ones they're going to do.

Well, I've got to get back to packing. I'm so excited!

Under the Stars (a tag or two)

2010-03-26T11:41:00.000-05:00

Melody from Vividry gave me the Music shuffle tag! Here's how it works: Put your music player on shuffle. Then answer the following questions by using the title to each song that plays while on shuffle.

This might be interesting, because I have so many soundtracks on my ipod… Here goes:

Are you male or female? Remembering Childhood (from Hook soundtrack)

What do people feel when they are around you? One of Those Days (from Night at the Museum soundtrack) —I'm not sure how to take that…

Describe your current relationship? O Church, Arise (Keith & Kristyn Getty)

Where would you like to be right now? Walk Like An Egyptian (Go Fish) - oookay… I guess Egypt it is…

How do you feel about love? Danny Boy (James Galway) - LOL! That's my brother!

What's your life like? Created For This (Go Fish)

What would you wish for if you only had one wish? Circle Of Life (Lion King soundtrack)

Say something wise: Dubrinium (Pendragon soundtrack) - Is that wise?

If someone says "Is this okay. . ." You say? Presenting the Hook (from Hook soundtrack) - I'll plunge me hook into you, matey!

How would you describe yourself? Here I Am (Spirit soundtrack) - That works, I guess. :)

How do you feel today? Where You Belong/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Newsboys) - That's a good one!

What is your life's purpose? Slaves and Masters (Pendragon soundtrack)

What is your motto? This One (Michael Pearce Donley)

What do your friends think of you? Jazz Suite No.2 —Waltz (Dmitri Shostakovich)

What do you think of your parents? Alright (Go Fish) - No, really, they're better than just alright!

What do you think of very often? Uranus, the Magician (from The Planets, by Gustav Holst) - Uranus? Why Uranus? In any case, I'm thinking of it now!

What is 2+2? Big Fan (Night at the Museum soundtrack) - No, I'm not a big fan of numbers…

What do you think of your best friend? Introduction (to "The Prodigal's Sister," an audio book!)

What is your life story? With My Life (Pendragon soundtrack)

What do you want to be when you grow up? The Submarine (Atlantis soundtrack) - LOL! I think my ipod has a sense of humor…

What will you dance to at your wedding? The Banquet (Hook soundtrack) - Does that prove it or what?

What will they play at your funeral? Socca (Equador Mantra) - They're going to play lively South American music at my funeral? Fun!

What is your hobby/interest? That's How You Know (Enchanted soundtrack) - Huh? Know what?

What is your biggest fear? Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus (Chronicles of Narnia) - THAT'S my biggest fear? Mr. Tumnus? I LIKE Mr. Tumnus!

What is your biggest secret? River Secrets, chapter 3 (audio book) - What a coincidence!

What do you think of your friends? One of These Days (FFH) - It's only slightly different from the answer to "What do people feel when they are around you?"

What will you re-post this as? Under the Stars (Lion King soundtrack)

I tag:

Hepzibah

Galadriel

Bethany

Gray

(It's totally optional, but very fun.)

Melody also tagged me with the "Which 8 books would you like to live in for a week" tag.

Eight books, huh? Okay…

1. The Binding of the Blade, by L. B. Graham. (I'm counting series as one book) I'd love to live in Kirthanin! And it would be awesome to see the events happening before my very eyes.

2. Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Who doesn't want to go to Narnia? Of course, I'd probably want to stay there longer than a week…

3. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Another given. Any part of the book would be fine. Except… maybe when they're in Shelob's Lair. *Shudder* I don't like spiders. Especially giant ones.

4. Dragons in Our Midst, by Bryan Davis. I would so want to meet Bonnie and Billy and Prof and the rest.

5. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley. Damar is such a cool place. I'd love to hop on one of the amazing horses and gallop across the desert in my pajamas. :)

6. The Flicker Chronicles, by Me. Yeah… The Inner Realms are all so colorful. I love color. And I'd love to interact with my characters in real life.

7. Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie. I don't like any of the movies (except for Hook), but I love the book. It has a certain sparkle to it. And I'd love to show Peter Pan a thing or two, and bring his cockiness down a notch. He's not the only one who can fly, after all.

8. Dinotopia, by James Gurney. Okay, I admit it. I'm a Dinotopia geek. I like books with pictures. Especially colorful pictures of adventurous people living peaceably with dinosaurs on a lost island that no one knows about. How cool is that? And of course, the story isn't half-bad, either.

I just realized that all of these are fantasy. Oops. I was planning on including a few non-fantasy. Oh well.

I'm supposed to tag 8 people for that last one, but I'll be lazy and leave it open. If you want to do it, I tag you.

I'm Editing Right Now

2010-03-23T19:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately-- I'm right in the thick of National Novel Editing Month, a.k.a. NaNoEdMo. It's inspired by NaNoWriMo, but instead of writing a novel... you edit one.

You can read last year's post about it here. Last year I failed. I didn't make it to the goal of 50 hours, even though I did make quite a bit of progress in my plot. This year I'm working on The Shadow of Rebellion 2-4 hours every day.

Anyway, I should get back to editing now. I just thought I'd let you all know what I'm up to.

Cheerio!

My Adventures in Florida

2010-03-15T11:42:00.000-05:00

Now that I've had a chance to finally unpack and get some sleep, here's my post about my experiences at the Florida Christian Writers Conference!

I took the Greyhound bus with my mom from Minneapolis to Ocala, Florida. 36 hours. Not fun. (If there's a next time, I'll probably take a plane, even though it's more expensive.) Anyway, when I finally got to the Lake Yale conference center, I just wanted to collapse on a bed and sleep. I'm glad we got there a day early, because then I could relax a little before the conference started. The location was beautiful, right by the lake.

The conference was amazing. Bryan Davis (who wrote Dragons in Our Midst) taught the Teen Track, and it was so much fun to interact with him and the other teens.

If I had to pick my favorite part about the conference, it would be the late-night critique sessions with the Teen Track. Each person had a chance to have their work-in-progress put up on the projector, and then the other teens would have a chance to give suggestions and ask questions. Then Bryan Davis would go through line-by-line and work with it, and helped the writer see how to improve it. These sessions were so much fun, and I learned a lot.

Here's a picture of the entire teen track, including Sam the Hippo :)

I met so many cool people at the conference. Aside from the teen track, I met Jesse Florea (the editor of Clubhouse Magazine), talked with Torry Martin (the awesome creator of the character Wooton Bassett from Adventures in Odyssey!), and took several workshops taught by Jeff Gerke (who started the Christian Speculative Fiction publishing company Marcher Lord Press). By the end of the week, my head was swimming just trying to remember all the names of the people I'd met!

For me, the most unbelievable part of the conference was when I won the award for "Best work for a first-time conferee." At first I thought that someone had made a mistake. I was so overwhelmed. I felt like God was telling me that I'm on the right track.

After the long bus trip home, I had to sleep for a week. But the conference was such a great experience that I'd love to go again next year, even though I don't know if it would be possible. Anyway, I'm glad to be home, and I'm excited to be working on my writing projects again!

Florida Christian Writers Conference!

2010-03-01T10:23:00.001-06:00

Yup, I'm going!

My mom and I will board a Greyhound bus at one in the morning (Tuesday), and we'll travel more than 1,500 miles to get to Ocala, Florida, where we'll rent a car and drive the rest of the way to the conference at the Lake Yale conference center. I'll be doing the Teen Track with Bryan Davis, author of the Dragons in Our Midst series and other cool books. I've never gone to a writers conference before, so I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm excited all the same. Here are my goals for the conference:

-First of all, to learn. I want to learn as much as I can about the craft of writing and editing, so I can improve my craft and better prepare my manuscripts for publication.

-To step out of my comfort zone and meet other writers. I'm not a networker, and talking to people in person has always been hard for me, but I want to overcome that. I'm looking forward to the teen critique sessions, where we can interact and help each another while working on our manuscripts.

-To explore the publishing world, which I know almost nothing about so far. I'm not ready to submit query letters, or anything like that yet, but I want to keep my eyes and ears open and see how the industry works, and which publishers might be a good choice for me in the future.

While I'm at the conference, my mom will spend a relaxing time resting and scrapbooking. :)

It would be great if you could pray for me this week. I'd really appreciate it. Please pray for safe travel both ways, health for me and my mom, that this conference would be a positive experience, and that I would not be afraid to approach people and make friends.

I've got to go pack now! I'll be back on Monday the 8th.

Curse of the Spider King!

2010-02-24T09:39:00.001-06:00

It's here. Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper's book, Curse of the Spider King, now has a book trailer! My teammates from the Nightwing Tribe made it all from scratch, including the awesome score and animation sequences. Check it out! (If the video is too wide, here's the link to the YouTube page.)

If you want to know more about the book, click here to go to the book's website, and here are the websites of Christopher Hopper and Wayne Thomas Batson.

Endurance and Victory!

Tomorrow is the Book Bomb!

2010-02-22T12:12:00.000-06:00

If you haven't already, go here to join the Rebelution Book Bomb! Tomorrow we take on Amazon.com! Oh, and did I mention that Alex and Brett are giving away prizes to people who order 5 books, 10 books, and the largest order?

Another Rebelution Book Bomb!

2010-02-15T22:45:00.001-06:00

Alex and Brett Harris, the founders of the Rebelution and the authors of Do Hard Things, have written another book! Start Here is a companion to their first book, a sort of field guide to the ideas and challenges of the Rebelution movement. It will answer questions, inspire dreams, and help those dreams become realities. It's also full of stories of regular teens who rose above the everyday expectations of the world and how they started to do hard things right where they were.

And on Tuesday, February 23rd, we're going to drive it to the top of Amazon.com.

Alex and Brett have announced another book bomb. The last time they did this, teens all around the world came together and pushed Do Hard Things to #6 on Amazon. Now they think we can do better.

This isn't about selling a lot of books simply for money, praise, or fame. No, this is to get the revolutionary idea of "rebelling against low expectations" to as many people as possible. If we can get this book to the top of Amazon's bestselling list on the 23rd of February, many new people will notice it and be pulled into a life-changing message.

Click HERE to join the Amazon.com book bomb! Let's do this!

Val's Day

2010-02-14T00:42:00.001-06:00

Well, it's Valentine's Day. But does anyone really know what that means?

Today is a holiday for some dead saint named Val (for short) who led a secret church during Roman times and was executed for it. Today is the anniversary of his death. Not his birthday. His deathday.

And to celebrate it, people get lovey-dovey and give out pointless pieces of paper with cutesy cartoons pasted all over them. Sometimes, even naked babies with wings and deadly weapons.

Or chocolate.

I don't get it. Here's what today is REALLY about...

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Yeah, I did a Star Wars quiz...

2010-02-13T23:17:00.000-06:00

I'm Jaina Solo!

Yay! I always liked Jaina as a character, though I don't think I'm much like her in real life... Heh.

You're the temperamental, force-sensitive daughter of Han and Leia Solo, Jaina Solo!
What Star Wars heroine are you?

Novel Update and Excerpt

2010-02-05T13:29:00.000-06:00

I finished typing out the rough draft of Bluewillow! It took me nearly as long to type it out as it did to write it by hand, but it was fun to read my novel as I typed it. And I think it was good that I did it this way, despite the extra time.

My impressions: It will need a lot more editing than I first thought. Some sections --whole chapters even-- made me wince. And I'm not sure I should go deep into editing it now, because this is the second book in a trilogy, and I haven't yet written the first book, Greenheart. When that is written, I'll probably have more things to add in and take out of Bluewillow, to make them fit together as a series in preparation for the last book, Redtail. I have lots of work ahead of me. And this is all for just one of my trilogies. *sigh* I love writing.

So, I think I'll start planning Greenheart soon and let Bluewillow rest for a few months. However, I'll let you see a little bit of the beginning, just to tease you. :) Remember, this hasn't been edited yet. So don't holler too much if you see a typo. And of course, all text is © 2010 Rachel H. No stealing. So there.

The Flicker Chronicles Book 2

Bluewillow

Chapter 1

The Willow Girl

I appeared on a blue and misty morning under and old man’s willow tree. That’s the beginning for me, though I must have been at least eleven years old. The old man later told me that I had a fever so high that my lips were white and my eyes were black and shining riverstones. All I can remember is the fog on my skin— cold and blank.

Hands lifted me away from my tree and wrapped me in quilts, and I slept. Whispered conversations floated in and out of my mind, but I couldn’t understand them. I did not dream. Only darkness smothered me.

I woke with two cats on my legs. They stared at me. Light came in from a rectangular hole in the wall, high above me. It was a morning kind of light. One of the cats began to purr.

“So you’re awake?” The sudden voice of a man made me sit up straight, scattering the cats.

There in the doorway, silhouetted by the brilliant outdoor light, stood an old man. He leaned on a twisted staff, and a bush of hair stuck out from under his cap. Behind him crowded several curious heads, all hoping to get a glimpse of me.

I rubbed my throat.

“You thirsty?” asked the man. He swung into the room and poured water from a pitcher into a wooden mug, which he held out.

I took a sip and looked up again. “Where am I?”

The old man looked back at the others, still in the doorway. No one spoke. His eyes glowed gray in the windowlight when he looked my way again. “Begging your pardon, miss, but who are you?”

And that’s when I knew. Or rather, I didn’t know. That was the problem. My memory was as clean as the waters in the willow-pond. I set the mug on the bedpost and let my hands fall into my lap. “I can’t remember,” I said.

To my surprise, the man’s lips cracked into a wide grin, and he winked at me. “Then I get to name you!” Several people behind him murmured disapproval, but the old man shook his head. “I found her, didn’t I? I found her, and I’ll name her!” He tapped his nose a couple of times.

I winced. With all those people, strangers looking at me in silence, I felt like a freak on display. I fidgeted, wishing I could crawl out the window and disappear.

At last the old man brightened. “Audrey!” he said. “Your name is Audrey. Audrey Bluewillow!”

A chorus of aahs rippled into the room. Something about it made me uncomfortable, like being left out of a happy ending.

“Why?” I asked him. “Why… Bluewillow?”

“Found you under a willow, didn’t I? And the first part is for obvious reasons.”

Now I was nervous. “What do you mean?”

“Girl, don’t you realize…?” He frowned at me in apparent sympathy while I waited helplessly. He turned and rummaged in a drawer, muttering to himself the whole time. He pulled out a shard of smudged glass. “Look in the mirror, Audrey,” he said. I flinched.

My fingers trembled as I lifted the milky glass to my face. At first I could see nothing at all. Little by little I began to make out my features— first just shadows, then my ordinary mouth and nose, and my blue eyes. I smiled at my familiar reflection in relief and almost gave the mirror back when a late ray of morning sunlight peeked over the edge of the window and blinded me for a moment. The gasps of the onlookers made me rub my eyes and look again in the glass…

Blue.

My hair was blue.

The Thing About Plot Bunnies

2010-02-02T16:05:00.001-06:00

What is a plot bunny?

plot bun•ny
noun
A seemingly exciting plot twist idea for your work-in-progress that takes the form of an adorable, infuriating rabbit who leads you down a winding trail that either goes on forever, and never ends anywhere; or takes you through a dark and scary forest; and sometimes ends up in a happy meadow; but most often it all ends up with you, the writer, falling into a rabbit-hole and having lots of wacky adventures in an insane world with oddly familiar people who vaguely resemble your characters.

How's that for a run-on sentence? Maybe I can get this definition into the dictionary. :)

March for LIFE!

2010-01-23T20:54:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, my sister and I rode a bus from our church to the State Capitol building to join the rally against abortion. We met our mom down there (she came from work), and marched around while "Amazing Grace" played on the speakers. About 6,000 people came to show that they valued human life... including unborn lives.

The Governor spoke, as well as several other important pro-life activists in our state legislator. It was awesome to hear that several small steps of progress are being made on behalf of the voiceless. But we need to keep praying that abortion will be made illegal.

Some verses (ESV):

"You shall not murder." ~Exodus 20:13

"For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance:

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there were none of them." ~Psalm 139:13-16

A New Adventure

2010-01-12T21:53:00.000-06:00

I have taken the leap and created a new blog.

Evergreena's Journal will continue to be my "main" blog, for my poetry, writing stuff, and other creative endeavors. I've done some things with photography here. But I began to realize, especially after seeing Hannah's new project for the year (which you can visit HERE), that I wanted to do more with photography.

The new blog is (tentatively) called The Adventures of Evergreena and Her Camera. You can visit it at camera-adventures.blogspot.com It's still under construction, but I would love it if you would comment on it and follow me there.

My 2010 Reading List

2010-01-08T14:42:00.001-06:00

Last year I read 36 books, from hilarious graphic novels (Rapunzel's Revenge) to non-fiction (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers) to awesome fantasy (Princess Academy, All My Holy Mountain and Curse of the Spider King, to name just a few).

Most of the books I read were children's books, with a few YA and one or two books from the adult section. I've decided that IN GENERAL, children's books are all-around best. They're mostly clean, vivid, fun, and full of action.

Here's the whole list from last year, in the order that I read them:
The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander (5 books)
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet
"Hook" novelization by Terry Brooks
Land of Elyon series by Patrik Carmen (3 books)
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (read it twice)
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale
The Restorer books by Sharon Hink (3 books)
IronHeart by Victoria Kasten
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis (audiobook)
All My Holy Mountain by L.B. Graham
The Magic Half by Annie Barrows
The Candlestone by Bryan Davis (audiobook)
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Operation: Red Jericho by Joshua Mowll
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (audiobook)
On the Run series by Gordon Korman (6 books)
Auralia's Colors by Jeffery Overstreet
Chosen by Ted Dekker
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
The Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper
Night Flying by Rita Murphy

These are just the books I read cover-to-cover, not including unfinished books.

And here's my tentative reading list for 2010:

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (Re-read)
Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright (re-read)
The Melendy Quartet by Elizabeth Enright
The Seems by John Hulme and Michael Wexler
Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson
100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis (re-read)
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (re-read)
The Simarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson
The Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale
The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen (she goes to my uncle's church)
Enna Burning and River Secrets by Shannon Hale

And I'd like to finish reading:
The Bones of Makaidos by Bryan Davis
Getting into Character by Brandilyn Collins
The Swords of the Six by Scott Appleton
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas
Volume A of the World Book Encyclopedia
Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, my pastor.

I will probably pick up more books along the way, but these are the ones that have caught my attention. I may post reviews for some of them, too. Which ones have you read?
Cheerio!

Hello, New Decade!

2010-01-01T21:02:00.001-06:00

My 50th post, and the first of the year 2010! It's also the beginning of a new decade! Huzzah!

In honor of all my blog followers, I'm giving away this award to all of you. The "Good Times" Award! I made it especially for you wonderful people.

I'm looking both behind and ahead. 2009 was a pretty good year, even though I didn't accomplish many of my original goals. Let's review my "Big, Fun, Scary Adventures" list from the beginning of last year...

1. Read the encyclopedia
2. Build a treehouse
3. Edit my novel
4. Memorize Fighter Verses
5. Finish geometry
6. Get a driver's license
7. Start a card-making/altered book business

So... The only thing on my list that I actually accomplished was number 5= I did finish geometry. *joy upon joy*

However, I did memorize most of the fighter verses for 2009, and I read half a volume of letter "A" of the encyclopedia. And I did edit some of my novel, just not all of it.

Even though I didn't really finish all my goals, I did have a few unexpected highlights. For example:
-I graduated from high school
-My family drove down to the Grand Canyon on an epic road trip
-We made an award-winning movie
-I took first place in archery
-I wrote another novel, this time by hand.

And now, my goals for 2010, also known as Big, Fun, Scary Adventures!

1. Attend my first writers conference!
I am all signed up for the Florida Christian Writers Conference, and I'm excited and nervous about it. My mom and I are going together, and I'll be doing the Teen Track with Bryan Davis, the author of the Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire series. I encourage any of you who are interested in writing to come! I don't think it's too late to sign up.

2. Get my driver's license!
I've been putting this off for too long.

3. Write at least one song every month!
Ever since I got my keyboard, my interest in songwriting has grown, and now I've recorded a few short pieces. If I can figure out how to post them, I will.

4. Start a photography blog!
This is a last-minute idea I got from Hannah. I'm not yet sure what form my new blog will take, but I love photography, and she has inspired me to step out and try something new. I'll let you know more as this gets started up.

So these are my goals, my dreams, my adventures for the year 2010. I continually dedicate my life to Jesus my Savior, and I give all the glory to him. Soli Deo Gloria!

What I Gave for Christmas

2009-12-30T09:50:00.001-06:00

Instead of focusing on what I got for Christmas this year, I’ll tell you what I gave to other people, since that was more exciting for me this year.

To my parents, I gave audiobooks that they can listen to while they are driving. Both books are radio drama done by Focus on the Family’s Radio Theatre. To my mom I gave “The Hiding Place,” and to my dad I gave “The Screwtape Letters.” (Did you know that Andy Serkis is the voice of Screwtape? He’s insanely creepy!)

For my oldest sister, I got a candle. But this is no ordinary candle. It’s an artificial one that flickers either yellow or blue, and to turn it off, you just blow. And you also blow to turn it on. :)

For my next oldest sister, I made a recipe box, collaged with cooking-themed papers. She’s a great cook and loves culinary arts. I made recipe cards to go with it.

To my brother, who has his blog here, I gave the game Risk, but with a twist. It’s set in the year 2210 A.D. He played it with our cousin on Christmas night (stayed up until 3 in the morning!), and they both like it better than the original Risk game. Then I played with him… and lost. But I will triumph eventually!

And for my youngest sister, Hepzibah, who blogs at Beauty of Christ (among other places), I made an altered book about fairies. The book used to be "The Thousand and One Nights," but now it is all about fairies, with lots of colors and glitter. It’s my second altered book, and I learned a lot of new techniques for this project. This is probably the present I worked on the most. She loved it, and kept flipping through the pages in delight. I’ll try to post some pictures of it soon.

And for the whole family, I made a photobook. The title is "Faces: Looking Closer at the Personalities Around Us." You can view it here.

Safe and Sound

2009-12-29T23:12:00.000-06:00

I'm posting this from my newly updated and backed-up laptop! I'm now running Snow Leopard on my Mac, and everything automatically backs up to my external hard drive. Yay! No more do I need to worry about my computer dying on me and taking all my photos and stories into the endless abyss. I'm covered! (If only I'd done this last summer! I would have avoided a lot of headaches and expenses.)

Just in case anyone's curious: Time Machine is awesome. Snow Leopard is awesome. Macs are awesome.

Symbols of Christmas

2009-12-24T08:20:00.001-06:00

I've been so busy getting ready for Christmas, but I took the time to write this poem to remind myself of the importance of all the aspects of the celebration. And so, it's now my gift to all of you! Merry Christmas!

Symbols

To give someone a gift

Is a symbol of love

Just as the snow

Is a gift from above.

To light up the house

With colors so bright

Is a symbol of triumph

Over Satan's dark night.

To sing carols together

'Round Advent flame

Is a symbol of worship

Why the Lord Jesus came.

To ring bells in the morning

Spreading news of his birth

Is a symbol of joy

Ringing out to the earth.

Cookies, and a Recipe

2009-12-12T22:35:00.002-06:00

I can't cook, but I like baking! Here are some pictures of the first batches of Christmas cookies in our house. (My dad likes to call them Advent cookies, so we can eat them before Christmas Day.)

First up, Spritz wreathes, some with plain old sprinkles and some with red-hots for the adventurous soul...

Oops. I thought I had pictures of my decorated gingerbread camels... but I guess they got eaten already. :)

And here are the sugar twists, my family's favorite Christmas cookie. It's an old family recipe from my dad's side. They are delicious, and fun to make. The funny thing is, they have no sugar in the actual cookie dough, but the end product is very sweet indeed. THE BEST!

Here's how to make them:

INGREDIENTS
(for the dough)
2 tsp. yeast (or one package)
3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter (or margarine)
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

(for the sugar mixture)
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Mix the yeast with 1/4 cup warm water. Set aside.
Blend the flour and salt. Cut in 1 c. butter. Blend in 2 beaten eggs, sour cream, 1 tsp. vanilla, and yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly and chill for at least 2 hours.
Later...
Preheat oven to 375º
In a little bowl, combine 1 1/2 c. sugar and 2 tsp. vanilla. Spread half of the sugar mixture on a floured surface.
Divide the dough in half. Roll out one of the halves to 8" x 16". Spread with more vanilla/sugar mix and fold into thirds. Turn and roll again, and spread more sugar. Then fold and turn and roll it again!
Cut into 4" x 1" strips with a pizza cutter. Then twist each strip and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, and then enjoy!

THE END! And some excerpts!

2009-12-09T10:14:00.000-06:00

I'm DONE! Yesterday, I finally finished my NaNoWriMo novel, Bluewillow! I'm so relieved and glad to be done writing for awhile. The final word-count is 76,114, which is only a thousand words over what I estimated it would be. That's almost 200 hand-written pages!

Here's a brief synopsis of the plot:

Bluewillow

The Flicker Chronicles book 2
A girl with blue hair wakes up under a willow tree and can only remember other people's memories. She sets out to find a mysterious inter-dimensional portal that could somehow be the key to her past, but she gets caught up in a struggle between colorful worlds. Will she turn to the true King before it's too late?

Here's the banner I made for the book:

And here are a couple of short poems from my novel. I wasn't expecting to write any poetry, but these just appeared on the page without me really thinking about it. :) And then I put them to music, and turned them both into songs.

"In the wings of the morning, in the depths of the earth

Ring songs of great value and words of great worth

The birds of the air and the fish will cry out

When the people are silent, even stones will shout."

And then a silly one:

"My honey went away, away, away,

In search of another day, away, away.

My dear sweet girlie

Went all a-twirly

And fell into a portal swirly

And made my head turn gray, away, away."

Later, when I type out my book and start editing (it needs a LOT of editing), I'll post some longer excerpts. But for now, I need to turn my attention to other things, namely Christmas. I enjoy making gifts for my family, but that will require a lot of time and energy, so I'm putting my finished draft aside for awhile.

Swine Flu and Novel Writing

2009-12-01T11:02:00.000-06:00

Yeah... I'm sorry I haven't been posting at all during November. I wanted to keep you guys updated with my word-count goals and excerpts from my novel, but less than a week into the month, I got really sick. I never went to the doctor to get tested, but I had all the symptoms of the H1N1 swine flu. I had a fever for nine days, and felt poorly for over two weeks.

Of course, that didn't help with the novel writing. I've never been sick during National Novel Writing Month before, so it was a frustrating time for me. I wanted to make it to at least 75,000 words, and hopefully finish the whole story, but with several days in there where I didn't write ANYTHING, I was really behind. My parents kept telling me to give myself a break, but it was hard when I've been planning this book for months, and looking forward to NaNoWriMo all year.

It was also hard to accept that I would be writing alone this year. In all the other years of NaNo, my brother was writing with me, and then my dad tried it and my younger sister did it for a couple of years. But this year, the others weren't able to write novels for one reason or another, so I was alone. (And since I was sick, I couldn't go to any write-ins with local Wrimos.)

I did make it to 50,000, though, and then for the last three days of November, I wrote over 5,000 words a day! Yay! My final count is 70,213 handwritten words. So even though it felt like a terrible month, it was not totally unsuccessful.

And yet, my book is not yet completed. *sigh* Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to write I go... And when I finish, I'll come back and post a few excerpts for y'all to pick on and admire. :)

My Nanowrimo Survival Kit

2009-10-31T21:41:00.000-05:00

I've been inspired by Earwen and several others who have posted the essentials for them to survive (and hopefully win) National Novel Writing Month. Here is my own version of the NaNoWriMo survival kit!

1. Snowflake
No, it's not a real snowflake. I usually plan my novel ahead of time using Randy Ingermanson's wonderful "Snowflake Method." You start with a one-sentence summary of your novel idea and then it builds through several steps until you have a short summary of every scene you plan to write. I've found it to be VERY helpful in years past. I wrote down all my notes in a blue 5-star notebook, and I'll refer to it often during November.

2. Pens
I am writing my novel by hand this year. *gulp* So, I stocked up on pens today. I got a dozen of my favorite kind, the Tul gel pens-- I love the smooth, black ink.

3. Notebook
Of course I need something to write IN, so I bought a hardcover, unlined notebook at Borders. By the way, it's blue.

4. Index cards
I love 'em. I bought a whole pack of 300. I wrote out all my scenes on cards (53 scenes!), and I also stick a couple in my pocket for random ideas that hit me during the day.

5. My laptop, Phoenix

I'm not using it to write this year because I get headaches and eye strain, but I'll need it to update word counts, check the forums, and of course, blog.

6. Calculator
This I shall probably carry around everywhere I write...

7. Hot chocolate
For those chilly nights when I have to stay up late to hit my word-count goal.

8. Novel playlist
I usually don't listen to music, but this year I kept finding music that just fit perfectly. I created a playlist on my iPod full of the most inspiring tracks. Most of the music is from movie soundtracks such as Hook, Peter Pan, Chronicles of Narnia, etc, but I also have Jupiter from "The Planets" (by Holst) and some Enya. Some of the songs on my playlist draw specific images from my novel in my mind.

9. My Elven cloak
Something to inspire me when my imagination loses steam. And my character is likely to wear something like this. It's blue, by the way.

10. Cats
We have five of 'em, so there's always one who is willing to sit on my feet and keep them toasty warm. Scout, however, is MY cat. She's my best writing buddy.

11. Candy
'Nuff said.

12. Fingerless gloves
They keep my hands warm. And they're just plain cool. :)

13. Candles
It is soooo cool to write by candle-light!

14. My Journal
I've used my journals for everything from blog ideas to brainstorming for my novel to random scribblings that don't have much to do with anything but allow me to experiment. During November I'll use it for complaining, panicking, procrastinating, and doodling, so I don't do that in my novel.

15. My Bible
My novel is Christian fantasy, so I refer to this a lot. It's cool when you open up the Bible, and an amazing plot idea jumps out. It's incredible to be able to deepen the fiction with Truth.

16. My family and blog friends
You guys are awesome!

NaNoWriMo, here I come!

Ten Titles Tag

2009-10-30T23:00:00.001-05:00

Joraiem gave me this tag a looong time ago, and I (in a normal phase of inobservance) somehow missed it. I thought it was fitting to do it right before NaNoWriMo begins...

Instructions: Come up with ten titles for books that have not been written. (yet)
I'm assuming I can put down titles for story ideas I have. All but one of these titles has an idea attached to it already. Anyone want to guess which one is just a lonely title?

1. MindWrite
2. Twyndyllyng (it's actually a real word, though you might not find it in every dictionary)
3. Titantis
4. Treehouse (I'm realizing how many of my titles start with "T")
5. The Hotel Girl
6. The Secret Side of the Library
7. SoulWorld Traveler
8. Lira Larc

and for the last two, I have the prequel and sequel ideas for my upcoming novel, Bluewillow:

9. Greenheart
10. Redtail

I shall tag...
Bethany
Hepzibah
and Bracie!

Tomorrow I shall attempt to return with a run-down of the items in my NaNoWriMo Survival Kit!

It Came!

2009-10-27T20:10:00.001-05:00

Curse of the Spider King has arrived! I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are AWESOME!

In case you haven't heard, there's a cool contest going on to promote their book Curse of the Spider King, and if you haven't yet joined, get thee to this website and educate thyself! We need a few more "tribes" to get the game going, so if you think you could get at least 21 people together to form your own tribe, do it! And did I mention prizes? Attend a private party with the authors, get a character named after you, and books, books, books! I've also heard that they may be giving away a SWORD! (Tribe leaders seem to get the best of the booty, by the way.) If you want to join or create a tribe, there are a lot of helpful people at the official forum called The Underground, which you can find at http://www.heedtheprophecies.com/ Adventures await!

Exploring Sherwood...

2009-10-25T21:39:00.004-05:00

At last... my medieval costume entry for Maid Marian's Wardrobe! The rain stopped for a few hours today, so out I went into the forest. Pictures or bust!

I made the cloak, but purchased the dress from an african booth at our state fair's international bazaar. :) The blouse is from Kohl's.

My lovely mother took the pictures for me (it's rather hard to take one's own picture), and then she returned my camera so I could take pictures of my sister, Hepzibah. <--- Check out her blog, too!

Merry: a Sherwood Story

2009-10-23T15:37:00.007-05:00

I'm waiting for a non-rainy day to take pictures of my costume for the fashion side of the Maid Marian's Wardrobe event (so far no luck-- it has been raining constantly for days!), but here's a short Robin Hood story I wrote for now. Enjoy!

~Merry~

by Evergreena

Robin has been living alone deep in Sherwood for almost a year after fleeing his band in shame when his cocky plans went awry and he accidently killed a man due to a poorly aimed arrow. He's finally mastered the art of the bow, and now it is time for him to return...

I whistled a never-ending tune as I departed from my gloomy haunt in Sherwood. I didn’t know what pace to set, for my heart throbbed with both eagerness and trepidation about my destination: home. I would be there very soon. Too soon. Not soon enough.

I tried to focus my attention on the different kinds of trees and birds, and perhaps that is why I forgot to watch for lookouts. I was admiring the plumage of an especially talkative robin when two men dropped on me from above and knocked me to the mossy roots of an oak. I kicked at my attackers and managed to dislodge one of the men, but the other simply flipped me over and pulled back my hood.

“You!” he gasped.

I laughed. “John! Are we doomed to forever be at odds? First you knock me senseless into a freezing stream—”

He got over his initial shock and stepped back. “What are you doing here?”

The other man approached us. He bent over and picked up his fallen cap. “You broke my feather, Robin,” he said, and held it up to prove it.

“Ah, Will. You’re still the local fashion disaster?” I mock-frowned at my old friend.

John pulled me to my feet. “We thought you were dead!”

“Or deserted,” added Will. “Or captured, or hiding… We thought we lost you for sure!”

We entered the nearby clearing, and John looked up at the canopy of oak trees. “The men must be aloft.”

I put my hood up to hide my face and turned to Will. “Get them down here. We have work to do.”

Will and John exchanged glances. I could tell they were remembering last time. But this time was going to be different. Robin was back, but I was no longer the inept churl with unsteady fingers. No, the hard months of winter in Sherwood had made me more than just a man. I was poised to become a legend. And it was time to make my band into one too. Marian’s words rang in my head. “You just have to find your calling, and I will support you; the others will follow!” she had said when I told her I was leaving. “But first you have to grow up!” I still remembered her sincere, angry eyes.

Will rang the rousing bell, and avoided looking at me. I heard groans and complaints in the trees above, and then the sound of rustling foliage as the weary men dropped down ladders and ropes. They lined up in a rather messy group in front of Will. I could see that winter had been as hard on them as on me. Their faces were a mixture of exhaustion and disgust, and very little hope. There were some muttered jibes behind backs and ruckus guffaws. But no one smiled. No true joy. Things looked grim.

They had no idea what I was about to do.

As soon as they had all arrived, I threw back my hood and stepped forward. When they saw me, they all began to murmur and shift feet. They hadn’t expected to see me ever again, I could tell. Ha. Let them see how much I had changed! Let them see my determination and newfound merriment! Yes, things were going to get good.

I whipped out my bow and showed it to them. “This, “ I said loudly, “is not just a bit of wood with a string. It is more than a weapon and more than a tool.” I held it above my head. “This is an icon! It is a symbol of our life. We are not much to look at, but we are strong, we are supple, and we are dangerous.”

At this I swept an arrow out of my sleeve, and to the men I suppose it appeared to come out of thin air. I drew back my bow easily, and took only half a second to aim… and released.

The goose-fletched arrow shot just above the ranks of men, who gasped and yelled and leaped away. It sailed on, right through it all, and disappeared in the thicket beyond.

I nodded to Much, the miller’s son. “You’ll find it in the knot of yonder oak.” He paled, but nodded and darted out of sight. A moment later he reappeared, holding the shaft of the arrow. “I— I couldn’t get the head out of the wood,” he said. “Too deep!”

The men looked at me again, and this time I saw fear. Did I go too far? Did they think I’d gone mad? Was there respect in that silence? I lowered my head and stared at my feet. One of my toes was peeking through the deerskin.

A sudden laugh burst on the camp with the shock of a hot stone falling from the sky. I looked up. All of the others turned to look, too, and in the very back of the group was Tuck, his eyes dancing and his robe quivering.

He laughed again, and this time it morphed into a giant belly-laugh. “Heavens, Robin! You’ve got your point across!”

A few of the others chuckled at Tuck’s joke while he doubled up and slapped his thighs. I grinned, and John came up behind me and gave my back such a clout that I thought I would fly all the way to the sheriff's front door. I coughed, and that made the rest of the band laugh.

John pulled my hood up and yanked it over my face. “We’ll have to call you Hood,” he said, “Robin of the Hood, because you don’t have anything else to your name!”

I spluttered and grabbed his massive elbow. “And you, my friend, I now dub ‘Little John!’”

The men roared. The whole forest rang with the sound of us! And that gave me an idea.

I hopped up on the speaking log. I rested my hands on my bow until the chuckles died down.

“I have returned to a merry band indeed. And we shall merrily revolt!”

Cheers rose up and gave me the resolve I needed. I belonged here. We were together again, and we had more than enough spirit to get through the coming storms. Laughter had united us.

John raised his voice above the rest and bellowed, “Huzzah for Robin Hood and his very merry men!”

“Huzzah!”

I received many hearty thumps and greetings then, and I became alarmed when a sudden hush fell on the group. I turned and saw a figure in a cloak and hat leading a black stallion out of the trees. I lifted my bow slightly and nocked another arrow. “Come no further, stranger! What is your business here?”

“I am no stranger, Sir Robin Hood of Sherwood.”

Marian! I sucked in my breath and tried to decide what I should do with my bow.

She lifted her chin and stepped out of the shadows. Her dark tresses fell over her shoulders and down her back, and under her velvet cloak she wore a dress of Lincoln green. She curtsied and briefly bowed her head. “Let me assure you, not all of your lively followers are men," she said. "You have at least one friend who shall fight for you in skirts." She drew out a light sword and held it up in a high salute. "Welcome home, Robin," she said, and smiled at me. The whole world could be lit with that smile! Oh, merry!

Quick Update

2009-10-21T14:00:00.003-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I'm feverishly planning my novel to be ready for NaNoWriMo (which starts in 10 days!), participating in an awesome contest* that authors Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are having in anticipation of the release of their new book Curse of the Spider King, and I DO have lots of ideas for posts, but no time to put them up. So bear with me, and I'll be back this weekend with a couple of posts for the Maid Marian's Wardrobe event (see banner above).

*If you want to know more about the contest or the book, check out Wayne Thomas Batson's website at www.enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com or the series website www.heedtheprophecies.com.

Snapshots of My Autumn Life

2009-10-05T21:15:00.002-05:00

A tree fell on our house a few days ago. The wind was pretty strong that day, and we didn't know it, but the limb was rotten. It made quite a clatter. I thought the cats had gotten into the dishes and broken a few, but alas, it was our maple. And I wanted to build a treehouse in that tree! I guess it's a good thing I didn't. (We made a movie instead.) The tree guys came and chopped it all up and put it through the TREE SHREDDER! *wince* Terrible. Just terrible. And they didn't stop there! Oh no, they had to cut down two other trees near our house! Of course, those were dead already, but I feel like we're losing trees right and left. Last time a storm came through we lost Gandalf and part of Treebeard (now he looks ever so much more like a real Ent).

Anyway, that's the pain of autumn storms.

A few nights ago was the first frost, so we raced down to the garden after dark to save the food! We covered my dad's (GIANT) pumpkins with cozy quilts and I picked my herbs. My dad also had a ton of tomatoes, so we filled two whole boxes of 'em and brought them indoors for safekeeping, a.k.a. canning. My mom has been busy making pizza sauce and salsa. And tonight we had sausage tortellini soup with fresh tomatoes and basil and parsley. Mmmm... perfect for cold weather!

I felt like taking a nap this afternoon, but when I climbed up my ladder to my loft bed, this is the sight that greeted me. Five innocent* cats had already claimed my bed, and there was no room left for me. So I was forced to lay on the couch instead. I know, I'm hopeless. I can't even fight off snoozing cats for my rightful place.

*Sarcasm.

The muted colors of early autumn...

And last but not least, a makeshift cover I created for my upcoming Christian fantasy/sci-fi novel, Bluewillow, that I'm going to write for NaNoWriMo. More on this soon!

Are You Ready?

2009-10-01T06:17:00.000-05:00

50,000 words. 30 days. It's coming... Will you be ready?

Join the fun! Write a novel! www.nanowrimo.org

A Quick Tag...

2009-09-30T12:27:00.008-05:00

Happy last day of September! Wow, this month has just zoomed by.

I've been tagged the Honest Scrap Award by... Jare & Lib, ElizabethMarieKauffman, and IvoryDancer! Thank you, all!

Here are the Rules:
1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.

2) Share ten honest things about yourself.
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs you find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged you.
4) Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

1. I'm sort of a picky eater. I don't like meat, but I'm not a vegetarian, per se. Just picky.

2. Ever since my horse died, I've been reluctant to get back into horse stuff.

3. I'm procrastinating right now as I write this.

4. I don't have any "real life" friends besides my family. I wish I did.

5. I won blue and purple ribbons at the state fair in 4-H, for photography! *squee*

6. I've stopped reading The Bones of Makaidos. I don't know why, but I can't get into it like the other books.

7. I'm weak, but I'm trying my derndest to get stronger.

8. Acne is my worst enemy. Die, acne, die!

9. I always have trouble writing about the bad guys in my stories. They always seem cliché.

10. My eyes hurt when I use my computer, so I'm going to handwrite my novel this year!

Some bloggers who have inspired or encouraged me are:

1. Earwen

2. Elizabeth J.

3. Bracie

4. The Reluctant Dragon

5. Bekah

6. My brother, DTH Rocket

7. And my sister, Hepzibah, who has three blogs.

Everyone, be sure to check out these awesome blogs!

Note: If you are one of the above and have already done this tag, you don't have to do it again. I'm just letting you know that I like your blog. :)

Archery at the State Shoot

2009-09-14T16:48:00.006-05:00

This past weekend I participated in the 4-H State Shoot! Other years, my whole family has been involved in events from shotgun to the wildlife knowledge bowl, but this year, it was just me. I competed in the senior class for bare-bow, no sights or releases. I've always competed in this class, but this was the first time that I went with a recurve bow (I always used compound Genesis bows before), so I was both excited and nervous. Back to the way Robin Hood might have done it!

There were a LOT of kids there, from little fourth graders all the way up to graduates from high school (13th grade). I was put right next to kids with fancy compound bows equipped with sights and weights and all sorts of doo-dads so that they hardly look like bows anymore. At least I wasn't really competing against them, but they made my scores seem pitiful. I got 187-- not bad, and a lot better than I've been getting while practicing at home, but it didn't seem like much. 300 is a perfect score.

Anyway, we came back on Sunday to see where I placed and maybe attend the awards ceremony. I went up to the boards and scanned it carefully. I found my name and blinked rapidly a few times...

I got first place.

What?!?

I just about fell over. Luckily, my parents were behind me. I checked again. Sure enough, my score was the highest in my category, and the next highest score was 145, not even close!

The only disappointment in the whole event was that I'm just a few months too old to go to nationals. And they're in Texas this year, too. *sigh* Oh, well. I had plenty of fun at State.

Now I just need to get my own bow, and I'd like to start working on my medieval dress, and if I could get my hands on some leather, maybe I could make a new quiver, belt, and arm-guards...

Musings on a Shy Grasshopper

2009-09-13T20:29:00.006-05:00

This evening, while I was watering my white pine sapling, I saw the sun shining on the wet needles and I ran to get my camera. When I came back, I noticed that I had a guest. A grasshopper had taken up residence at the very top of my little tree. I tried taking a picture of him, but I soon discovered he was camera-shy! He kept moving around to the other side of the branch to hide from me. But I just walked in a circle around my tree until he finally stopped hiding and let me have a peek at him.

I'm not very fond of insects. Yet as I looked at this tiny, frightened grasshopper I saw beauty. The almighty God of the universe created and cares for all seemingly insignificant bugs because they please him and bring him glory. God knows how old this hopper is, and how many stripes are on his body, and what he sees with those dark eyes. God gave him a place to perch in a nice young tree, away from cars, robins, and other potential dangers. God provides food and water and warm weather, and the grasshopper lives to give God glory.

Jesus said, "Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!" and "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you!" (Luke 12:24, 27-28)

I admit that I often feel about insects the way this grasshopper felt about me-- I'd rather just hide! But if God loves bugs, maybe they aren't so bad after all. And if God so cares for a tiny insect, how much more will he care for you and me!

A New Cover for My Novel!

2009-09-05T22:30:00.002-05:00

I was out taking senior pictures for my brother and my cousin this afternoon, and towards the end of the day, we discovered a tunnel under Main Street and I instantly thought of my novel. I handed my camera to my brother and made him take MY picture for once, as I ran through the tunnel.

Then I brought it into Photoshop and played around with color, levels, and my new "tech" brushes. And voila, I became my main character, Kimble Haansvoy, STEW agent 1121!

(Click to see a really large version) What do you think?

An Award and a Tag and Good News

2009-08-31T10:17:00.000-05:00

First off, MY LAPTOP IS FIXED! *rejoicing in the streets* I had to pay dearly to get my precious data recovered, but now my trusty MacBook Pro is whizzing along fine with a new 500 GB hard drive. I have finally given it a name: Phoenix, because it rose from the ashes of computer purgatory.

And, I got my first award! This is The Artistic Writer's Award," from Bethany. It's beautiful, Bethany. Thank you!

And finally, I was tagged by Isirian. This is the "30 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me" tag. This excludes all family members who read my blog, by the way.

1. I'm an INFP (and proud of it!) Did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien was an INFP? And Peter Jackson, Helen Keller, Princess Diana, Anne of Green Gables, and Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes?

2. I hate driving. A lot. Why can't I ride a horse everywhere?

3. But, since driving is pretty much a requirement these days, the vehicle you'd most likely find me in is a Jeep Wrangler, preferably yellow.

4. I'm a reluctant night person.

5. For my birthday I'm going to ask for old books, a recurve bow, and leather.

6. I recently discovered that archery is not easy to do when you're wearing a cloak. How did Robin Hood manage? Or Faramir, for that matter?

7. I once met a yak.

8. The book I've read the most times is probably Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie.

9. Besides piano and flute, I also play the ocarina.

10. At this moment, my cat is either happily sitting on my lap, or meowing at my bedroom door, or cranky because I'm not home.

11. I think it would be awesome to have a pet hedgehog, but my mom doesn't agree. Besides, my cat would probably get jealous.

12. I'm not strictly a cat person, by the way. I also love dogs, horses, flying squirrels, birds, and pretty much everything except spiders.

13. I have a crooked toe.

14. I like to whittle sticks into Beanie Baby swords.

15. I was unable to whistle until I was 14 years old. I discovered how while walking the streets of Washington, D.C. in the rain.

16. I can touch my right ear with my right hand, but with my arm all the way around my head.

17. I love languages- and all forms of communication except the telephone.

18. I tried the Harry Potter series, but quit after book five. Pointless to keep going, really.

19. I'm a shelver at the library. A lot of people know that already, but what they don't know is what REALLY goes on there. For example, did you know that the library is only a cover for a top secret government operation, and that most librarians are actually undercover FBI agents? My mission is to infiltrate the underground network and make sure that a certain book makes it to the 8oo's. Now you know why I keep my identity a secret!

20. I like to name trees.

21. My brother and I like to play "The Random Game." Rules: You take turns blurting out random words that are NOT related to each other. It's harder and funner than it sounds.

21. I am deathly afraid of bees.

22. I can read and write Anglo-Saxon Runes, also known as "futhark."

23. I wish I could fly.

24. I used to always use a pencil, but I was finally lured over to the dark side. I now use black gel pens for almost everything, even drawing!

25. I sometimes worry that I have too many interests.

26. I've written over 430,000 words of fiction.

27. I'm a Mac person. My mom calls me a Mac "snob." How can I help it if Mac is the best?

28. I have too many story ideas to know what to do with. I can't possibly write them all!

29. I like my middle name. I modified it to use as my main character's name.

30. I am enrolled in the Imagination Institute of Creative Arts and Self-Directed Studies. In other words, no, I'm not really going to college, but I'm learning all the same. :)

And, a special BONUS, because this is my 31st post:

31. I'm planning a new trilogy, and this time, it's going to be Christian Fantasy!

I now tag Hepzibah, my little sis!

The First Chapter of My Novel

2009-08-20T13:00:00.001-05:00

While I anxiously wait for word about my computer, I'm letting you have a sneak peak at my book, The Shadow of Rebellion. I was in the process of revising and editing it when my computer stopped working, but I printed out the first two chapters before the big crash, so I didn't lose all of my hard work. Please read and comment!

Some background: The Shadow of Rebellion is the sequel to my first completed novel, The Shadow of Greed, a science fiction/spy adventure about a secret academy that trains elite warriors for the galactic government, and how two students are targeted by assassins when they discover a sinister plot. (If you click on the link, you can purchase it at Lulu.com) I wrote the first draft of the sequel last November, and it ended up at about 100,000 words-- the longest thing I've ever written.

Note that while these books aren't explicitly "Christian," they were written by one. I brought up themes that are important to me, such as loyalty, family, truth, and sacrifice. Now, without further ado, Chapter One!

The Shadow of Rebellion

Chapter 1

Kimble struggled against the grabbing mud at her heels. Panic overruled her senses and she gasped in the darkness. They were coming for her! She couldn't run. She couldn't scream. In a wild spasm she broke free and her hand fell on fabric.

A sheet, damp with sweat.

She closed her fist around it and forced herself to breathe in, though the sour air caught in her throat and made her gag.

Light. She unclenched her fingers from the sheet to turn on the lamp. The closet door loomed across from her, draped with a clean uniform. Her roommate's pets shifted in their cages on the wall. Dilly's bed was next to hers, empty.

"Dilly?" she whispered.

No answer.

Kimble shivered. She slipped out of her clammy bed and itched her elbow. Dilly was not in the room. No one was supposed to leave their room after curfew, and Dilly always abided by the rules. She must have had a good reason to risk her good reputation.

Had she left because of Kimble's nightmares? Her dreams often caused her to groan and call out, and Dilly was a light sleeper. Kimble winced and sank to the end of the bed.

The door broke open with a bang. Kimble jerked her head up. Dilly jumped inside and fumbled with the lock for a long moment before it finally clicked shut.

Her friend's face was in shadow, but her sharp breathing betrayed her. Fear ducked into the room.

"What's wrong?" Kimble asked urgently.

Dilly didn't answer right away. She hurried over to her wall of animal cages and knelt in front of one of the smaller doors. She gently pulled out a snoring ball of fluff, which she held to her cheek.

"Dilly--" Kimble began, folding her arms.

Dilly slumped on her bed. "Someone is creeping around the halls out there," she said at last.

Kimble sat up straighter. "What? What are you talking about?"

Dilly looked away. "I-- I couldn't sleep, so I just went out in the hall to stretch my legs. But all the lights went out, and then I heard someone sneak past me in the dark! I'm sure they were up to no good." She twisted her fingers in the animal's long fur.

Kimble frowned. "All the lights went out? That is strange. They're supposed to be hard-wired..." She got up and opened the door.

Sure enough, darkness filled the hall. Kimble looked both ways. To the right, she could see a distant cross-hall with the ceiling panels glowing as usual, but on the left, the hall faded into black. "Weird. No one should have been able to turn them off," she whispered.

Dilly came up behind her, still stroking her pet frantically. "And what about the person I heard?"

"I'll check it out. It was probably just another student, out to stretch her legs or something."

"In the dark?"

Kimble shrugged. "There's got to be a reasonable explanation. Don't worry about it. I'll be right back." She snatched her gun off the dresser and slipped into the silent hall, and began to run. She trailed her fingertips on one wall to guide her, but she couldn't see where her feet hit the floor.

When she came to an intersection, she stopped to catch her breath. Both halls were pitch black. She strained her ears, but her pounding heart drove away all other possible sounds.

Then the lights suddenly blazed to life. Kimble covered her eyes with her palms and groaned. She had to find out what was going on. She had to get to the utility room. She blinked a few times in the intense light, then turned and ran again.

It was odd to be out at this hour, when all the STEW agents slept and all the halls were empty. She felt as exposed as a crater on the moon. She almost wished the lights would go out again and hide her.

When she reached the heavy door to the utility room, she was dismayed to find it locked. She rattled the handle and tried a code in the keypad, but the door refused to budge. She had forgotten to bring her computer unit, so she couldn't pick the lock. She turned and found a woman staring at her. A hall monitor.

"Agent 1121, is it?" the woman said. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing? Don't you know the rules? You ought to by now."

"The lights went out in my hall, and I came to check it out." Kimble swallowed. It sounded so trivial now.

The monitor rolled her eyes. "The lights cannot be changed. Even the Headmaster can't turn them off. They're designed to stay on always, even during emergencies."

"Of course I know that, but somehow they were turned off. I was going to check the computer system to see if anyone had hacked into it. Someone was sneaking around the halls--"

"Yes, I noticed," the monitor said, and frowned at Kimble. "You will receive a warning this time, but next time I find you wandering about past curfew, you won't get off so easily."

"But I was just trying to find out what was wrong! At least let me see the utility system!" Kimble hated pleading with the smug monitor, but she had to know what was going on.

The monitor jangled her keys. "I don't have to let you in there. In fact, I shouldn't. I should march you right back to your room and stand guard outside the door."

Kimble clenched her fists. It was all she could do to hold back a sharp reply.

The monitor sighed and motioned Kimble out of the way. She grumbled as she fiddled with the lock until it clicked and the door shifted.

Kimble pushed past the monitor and entered the humming room. She bent over the main computer screen.

The monitor leaned against the wall and folded her arms. "Well?"

Kimble scanned the utility files. Nothing was out of place. The computer registered that the lights were on the entire time. "Whoever it was must have hacked into the computer system," she said. "And they covered their tracks completely."

"Face it, girl, you dreamed it," scoffed the monitor. "The lights can't be turned off."

Kimble shook her head. "I'm not the only one who saw it." She logged out and turned away from the computer.

"Then I'll have to report that several students are experiencing hallucinations. I always knew the pressure was too much around here. Maybe final exams did you in." The monitor leaned forward. A hint of sympathy creased her forehead for a moment, but it was soon covered with contempt. "Maybe I'll be next. Everyone knows I have way too much to deal with in the middle of the night."

Kimble tapped her gun on the wall and glared at the monitor. "I'll talk to the administrator about it tomorrow. This isn't normal."

"You're just paranoid. Now go to your room and don't come back out!"

Kimble watched the hall monitor secure the room again. There was nothing more she could do tonight. She could only go back to bed and hope that her nightmares stayed away for the rest of the night.

Kimble focused on her opponent. His lanky form made it difficult to pin him down, and he enjoyed taunting her with glib remarks about her height. He wasn't more than an inch and a half taller, but he was also growing like a vine. He would end up a giant, most likely, and he knew it.

Still, he was several years younger and overly confident. Easy prey.

He dove towards her with his knife extended. She batted him aside as if he were only a rowdy kitten, and hooked his ankle with her boot. He sprawled on the mat at her feet. She touched the tip of her knife to his ear. "Nice try, wise guy," she said. "Your feet are as big as your mouth."

He groaned. "Why do I have to be so clumsy?" He rubbed his shin and frowned.

"I've got to get back to my exams, Danny. We'll practice again tomorrow." Kimble sheathed her weapon.

"Aw, can't we do it just one more time?" His gray eyes grew large. "Please?"

"Sorry, can't do that. I've got to graduate first." She grinned. She was ready to move on to bigger missions as a level five agent. No more decoding endless documents and training first-year students.

Her computer unit buzzed. What now? She glanced at it. An emergency meeting had been called for only select students, and she was ordered to come to the conference room at once.

She looked back at her pupil. Danny was still sitting on the mat, picking at his boot-laces. She snatched up her shoulder bag and dashed out the door without another word to him.

She ran through the halls of the STEW Academy, her bag thumping against her leg every step of the way. A secret meeting! Could this be about a new mission?

She slowed as she passed the library, next to the conference room. Several other STEW agents were already standing in the hall. She stepped towards them, but someone grabbed her arm. "Kimble! Wait!" It was her brother, Angle. She allowed him to pull her into a corner of the library entrance.

"What's going on?" Kimble demanded.

Angle looked into the hall. More agents were gathering by the conference room. "It's about the meeting," he said. "I talked to Banu already. He's really upset." His gaze flickered between her and the other agents.

Kimble put her hands on her hips. "And?"

He rubbed his face. "He wants you to lead a team of agents--"

"That's good news, isn't it?" Kimble said eagerly. "I've been hoping for something like this!"

"No... you don't understand." He closed his eyes. "The M2 document. It's been stolen."

Kimble grimaced. She turned away from him and leaned against the wall. "Great," she muttered. "Just great."

"I know you've been in charge of that project since the Headmaster was arrested," Angle said from the shadows.

"So, it's my responsibility to get it back, right?" Kimble clenched her teeth. "Oh, this is wonderful."

Angle put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. Then she lifted her head and started towards the meeting room across the hall, but Angle grabbed her again.

"That's not all," he said. "There's something else you need to know."

Kimble folded her arms.

"The document disappeared last night, so few clues have turned up already, but the preliminary evidence points to a notorious thief called 'The Slippery One,' named so for his uncanny ability to slip in and out of the most high-security government institutions without ever getting caught. He escapes without a trace every time."

"And what does all that have to do with me?" she challenged.

Angle's electric eyes locked with hers. "The Slippery One is our father."

Our Award-Winning Movie!

2009-08-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

My computer is still not working, but now that the film contest is officially over, I can let you see the movie that my family made. There were 68 entries in the "Quiet on the Set!" film competition, and they were all shown over the weekend at the Central library in Minneapolis. Then the top 12 films were shown at the awards gala last night, and surprisingly, our film was one of them! We received an Audience Choice Award as well as Honorable Mention for "Best Special Effects!" We never expected something like this!

My cousin won "Best Film," but she went to school for this, so that's no surprise. :) The whole event was exciting, almost like being at the Oscars. Anyway, enjoy our film, and let me know what you think!

Computer Woes :(

2009-07-24T22:19:00.000-05:00

My laptop is sick right now, so I won't be posting for a time. It won't even start up. (I'm using my dad's computer right now). Apparently my hard drive went bad. I'm worried that I won't be able to save my files. We took it to the Apple store Genius Bar, but they couldn't do anything there. They've recommended me to another place, but it isn't guaranteed that they'll be able to rescue my stuff, either.

I'm REALLY glad that I backed up most of my novels and stories to Google Docs, but I didn't back up the edited version of my latest novel, which is a little scary to me, because I worked really hard on that. And most of my 8,000+ photos are not backed up anywhere... yikes.

I've learned a tough lesson: don't put too much trust in your computer. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR STUFF! Believe me, this isn't a fun situation to be in. As soon as I get my computer up and running, I'll back up my photos and the edited version of my novel.

So bear with me... I'll be back as soon as I can.

County Fair Project #2- Photography

2009-07-19T22:17:00.001-05:00

I turned in all my open class pictures today. *Gulp* It was a lot of work to select, print, mat, and enter all 29 photographs. And the fair registration website wasn't working right, so I had to fill out almost all the entry labels at the fairgrounds! But it was worth it, because I love it so much.

I'm only entering one picture in 4-H. It's of some seed-pods that grew by our pond. Here it is:

I'm hoping to go to the State Fair with photography this year, but there's a LOT of competition. I'll have to wait to see if I get picked. In previous years I've gone to State with performing arts (piano), self-determined (a display about writing a novel), and fine arts (a large-scale digital collage I made in Photoshop). Now I'm shooting for photography.

County Fair Project #1- Photo Book

2009-07-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at my projects for the county fair! This is my photo book "A Jaunt into the City: Exploring Minneapolis with a Camera." I'm going to enter it in 4-H photography.

Click here to view this photo book larger

It's Done!

2009-07-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

We turned in our finished movie today! Yay!

It's titled "Imagine That!" and it is 4 minutes and 52 seconds long, credits and all. We don't have it up on the web yet, but we're hoping to sometime in the next few weeks.

I haven't posted in a while because I was crazy busy writing the music for our movie. It was my first official scorewriting experience, and though it was a bit stressful as the deadline approached, I had fun and learned a lot. And I had the joy of writing it on my new keyboard!

I've been saving for a LOOOONG time to get it, and when we realized that I needed to have something in order to make music for our movie, I finally had my chance. Here it is in its new home under my loft bed (which was built with this in mind!):

It's a Korg M50-88 music workstation for those of you in the know. And I love it. Right now I don't have any really great programs on my computer, just GarageBand. It was enough for our movie project, but I've got my eye on Logic Studio.... *drool*

Now I need to get back to work. Our movie may be done, but the County Fair is coming up next week, and I have a bunch of 4-H projects to work on!

Making a Movie!

2009-06-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

The mystery project is revealed-- We're making a movie!

I mentioned it a few months ago, but now we're actually doing it. My family is entering a short film contest at the library called "Quiet on the Set!" We started filming on Saturday, and we got lots of great footage at the library. My mom is the main character in our film, and a friend from church agreed to be the dreamy librarian, who imagines my mom as characters in the books she checks out. So my mom got to be a scientist (hence the chemistry), a detective (wearing a trench coat), a cowgirl, and a spacewoman (what the white gloves were for)! We made the books shown in the last post, one for each of the aforementioned characters.

We had to have one scene where all of these characters are in the same shot, so we needed a few stand-ins to pretend to be my mom. I ended up being the scientist for that scene. I don't know if I'll show up at all in the film, but it was fun anyway. :)

Honest Abe watched us the whole time. I believe he thought we were quite entertaining.

We spent four and a half hours at the library, but we still have a lot of filming to do. The finished product has to be less than five minutes, including credits and such. And the deadline to enter is July 15th, so we have less than a month to finish it. *Gulp*

Here's a picture of the cast and crew:

The Mystery Project...

2009-06-26T10:32:00.001-05:00

Here are some snapshots of what my family is doing today:

Spray painting a pair of gloves white-ish...

...a little chemistry...

...and some light reading!

How are all these things connected? For mystery like this, I had to break out my trusty trench coat. (Which is also related to the other things, by the way)

So, what do you think we're doing?

Cute Chicks (the fuzzy kind)

2009-06-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

My mom's new chickens arrived yesterday! They're only about three days old, but they already know everything a chicken needs to survive- it's embedded in their fuzzy brains. Isn't God amazing? His handiwork is evident in even the tiniest birdies.

No, we're NOT going to eat them.

More Math

2009-06-16T16:10:00.000-05:00

I finally finished reading that horrid article about Algebra, and then I moved to Algeria.

I'd love to dive into some of my other projects (like editing my novel, building a treehouse,altered booking, making a movie, etc...) but since I'm apparently graduating this year, my mom has proclaimed that I need to finish Geometry. *gulp*

Since it is on my list of Big, Fun, Scary Adventures for 2009, I really can't complain. I just need to change the deadline from the end of the year to the end of June. Bother. It's not impossible --I only have ten lessons left-- but it means I can't do much else.

Once I finish Geometry, I'll be free to study what I'm interested in, and though my high school days will officially be over, I'll continue learning till the day I die. But not in college.

But that's another story...

Big Ideas, Big Books

2009-06-04T12:32:00.000-05:00

Early in the year, I mentioned my big, fun, scary adventures for 2009, but now I think it's time for an update. They're all pretty big goals, and I haven't completed any of them. Yet.

Ahem.

The first one on my list is READ THE ENCYCLOPEDIA. Most people ask me, "What? Are you crazy?"

Yup.

It was really fun for the first few months. I took notes on interesting subjects that started with "A," and I Amazed my family with my Astoundingly Accurate knowledge of Articles from Aardvarks to Alfalfa. Unfortunately, then I hit Algebra. Ouch.

But I'm still working on it, and though I don't think I'll finish reading the entire set of volumes in four years, I'm optimistic that I can do it in at least twenty. Maybe twenty-five years. Fifty, max.

Meanwhile, maybe you can help me solve for a.

Summing-up Script Frenzy

2009-05-12T12:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I did it. I completed my first screenplay on April 30th with 104 pages. Not only did I learn how to format a screenplay, but I learned a lot about persistence, plot, and wombats. Yes, wombats.

I did no planning whatsoever, which resulted in a wild adventure, both for me and my characters. An interesting allegory began to appear, which surprised me, because though I am a believer in Jesus, I've never attempted to put the full Truth of the Bible in a fiction story. I guess all those books I've been reading are rubbing off on me-- Dragons in Our Midst, Binding of the Blade, The Door Within, The Restorer, etc.

The allegory was only one of the unexpected aspects that turned up. My main characters started out as quirky and comic-bookish, but as the month went on, they began to grow and mature into people with deep and painful secrets, and they revealed strong moral convictions. All very astonishing when I don't even know what's going to happen next!

But, despite all these wonderful gems I discovered, I know this is one rough story. I may take my newly-developed characters and put them in a future novel someday, but my Script Frenzy manuscript will hide away on my laptop for now, while I turn my attention to bigger projects...

Script Frenzy!

2009-04-02T10:04:00.000-05:00

The funny thing is, I wasn't planning on writing a script in April. I have no idea what I'm doing. I always thought it would be cool to do Script Frenzy, another of those crazy Office of Letters and Light programs (like NaNoWriMo, for example), but I didn't think I would do it THIS year. It just happened that I recently found out about a short film contest that Minnesota libraries are having, and I decided that I wanted to enter.

The only problem was, I didn't have a script.

So, I decided to take the leap and do Script Frenzy. I'm starting with a "practice" script, a crazy, seat-of-the-pants adventure about an 18-year-old girl who is named, strangely enough, Author Gal. *cough* I'm learning how to format a screenplay, and waiting until I have more information about the contest before I start my REAL project-- "Secrets at the Library." More on this later...

A New Song

2009-03-19T22:11:00.000-05:00

To my Grandfather, who went to be with Jesus

On this earth you no more roam

I know that you are home

Where it is always day

Where the sky is never gray

This life is not the end

I'll see you once again-

my grandpa,

my friend.

The King is there to greet you

At his table he will seat you

I know that you'll be blessed

With joyous, song-filled rest

This life is not the end

I'll see you once again-

my grandpa,

my friend.

Spring Song #2

2009-03-17T12:39:00.000-05:00

Spring Song 2

It's fun to watch snow

melt

down, down

into the ground

like a shrinking island

like Atlantis

like a vanishing cloud

poof

plop.

The snow is no more

I can't wait to see

what spring has

in store.

puddles?

plop

SPLAT.

Snow is wetter

on days

no better

than a haze

of clouds.

melt

down, down

into the ground.

Tiny stranded islands

like white white sands

soon they will

melt

down, down

into the ground

icicles fall

and hit people

on the

head-

like that

plink

-smack-

The sun laughs at me

I jump over a snowdrift

it will

melt

down, down

into the ground

where the gophers dig

where the worms hum

where life

stirs

stirs...

Spring Songs

2009-03-14T19:08:00.000-05:00

The stirring of spring has urged me to write poetry about March and Spring. Here is the first of my "Spring Songs."

Spring Song 1

March

snow marches

Fall

snow falls

Spring

snow springs

March.

March

lion marches

Blow

lion blows

Sleep

lion sleeps

March.

March

flowers come dancing in like a song,

like a robin-bird,

dancing, singing, blooming flowers

March

birds come in flocks from warm places,

coconut beaches,

winging, singing, gliding birds

March.

NaNoEdMo: March 1-31

2009-02-16T12:32:00.000-06:00

I have finally decided to try my hand at editing. I recently signed up for National Novel Editing Month, a program inspired by NaNoWriMo, but with the goal of completing 50 hours of serious editing during the month of March. It's a big goal, and something I've never tried before. I did some editing on my novel The Shadow of Greed before I self-published it, but it was mostly to correct spelling errors and little things like that. I didn't really get my hands dirty.

But now I have a hefty rough draft waiting around--the sequel, The Shadow of Rebellion, and I know that this book will require a lot more attention... yeah. It's almost frightening to read the thing.

That's why I put "Edit my novel" on my Big, Fun, Scary Adventures list for 2009. I know it's important to learn how to self-edit, so right now I'm reading a very helpful book titled Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to edit yourself into print, by Renni Browne and Dave King. I plan to use the checklists at the end of each chapter as I'm going through my draft in March.

This is all very new to me, but I'm eager to learn as much as I can through this project. Self-editing is one of the "courses" that I need to take in order to become a successful, published author, and I'm ready to start learning.

More trees...

2009-02-04T10:06:00.000-06:00

I went to a used bookstore on Saturday, and I got a new book!

Actually, it's an old book, Trees: Yearbook of Agriculture 1949. It caught my eye because I was looking for a good book to alter, and the cover with the leaves and the title seemed just perfect. It has some great illustrations in it that I can highlight on my pages, and it has maps of the US inside the covers. I'll use it for a nature or tree theme. I can't wait to get to work on it!

Oddities and Trees

2009-01-18T18:49:00.000-06:00

More altered book pictures! I completed two more pages. Yay!

This one is titled "Whims and Oddities," and it's supposed to be a collection of odds and ends... and a vain dude admiring his reflection in the little mirror. (The vain dude is actually a picture of Lord Byron that was already in the old history book I altered). I used gold thread to stitch around the mirror to add some elegance to the page. I put in a gold leaf, and the gold squares are pieces of a credit card. :) I also put in a photocopy of a skeleton key. This page didn't turn

out as good as how I imagined it, but I'm just having fun and learning. This is my first altered book project, after all!

Enter the Forest! This is the very last page of my altered book. I wanted to do more pages, but I'm afraid the binding is going to fall apart if I do any more. I painted the trees on the pages, fleshed them out a little with colored pencil, attached a paper butterfly and some leaves, and finished it off with some larger gold and

green leaves (they didn't show up very well in the picture). I might do a repeat of this theme in other books, because nature is one of my favorite themes.

On to new altered books! I have ideas for about 8 different themes I could expand on, but I haven't come to a final decision yet. I'll let you know what I decide. I got some cool papers and inks with my Christmas money, and I can't wait to try them out on a new project!

Big, Fun, Scary...

2009-01-10T11:27:00.001-06:00

What are Big, Fun, Scary Adventures? It's basically the same thing as New Year's Resolutions, but it sounds more exciting. It got started on the NaNoWriMo forums, where hundreds of people post their big, fun, and scary goals for the year, support each other, and share helpful resources. I participated last year, and the adventures I accomplished were starting this blog, getting my driver's permit, and finishing biology.

So what are my adventures for this year? I was only going to have 3 things, but others came along and the list just had to get longer. Anyway, here they are:

1. READ THE ENCYCLOPEDIA

I plan to read the entire World Book encyclopedia over 4 years. That's 22 volumes, so I should read half a volume every month! I'm at "Adjective" right now. (More on this later)

2. BUILD A TREEHOUSE

I've always wanted a treehouse, and this year I'm going to build one, even if it has to be a simple platform. I've never built anything before, so I'll probably make some mistakes... but that's what makes it Big, Fun, and Scary!

3. EDIT MY NOVEL

I plan to get going on this one after I finish reading the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, one of my Christmas presents.

4. MEMORIZE FIGHTER VERSES

See http://www.hopeingod.org/VerseOfTheWeek.aspx

5. FINISH GEOMETRY

This one is awfully scary for me... *shudder* But I AM going to do it. I just need to get it over with!

6. GET MY DRIVER'S LICENSE

Even scarier! I just don't like driving, but I need to do it.

7. START A CARD-MAKING or ALTERED BOOK BUSINESS

This is a pretty recent development. I'll probably post more on this one, too.

That's it! 2009, here I come!

Sewing for the Imagination

2008-12-31T15:31:00.002-06:00

For me, sewing is not a passion or a main interest, but I like to sew things that I can't easily buy. The very act of sewing is not what I love so much as the finished product I get when I'm done. So I sew things like Beanie Baby clothes, medieval cloaks, and leafy curtains for my room. I sew things to help awaken the imagination.

My first true sewing project was an Elven-esque cloak. I spent $1 per yard on some amazing blue fabric that had a wonderfully whispery sound about it. I loved the finished product, but I soon realized how impractical it was. I made it one size too large, so it swallowed me up every time I put it on, and the bottom hem dragged about three or four inches on the ground. The brilliant blue color is very pretty, but just a bit too eye-catching for me (for example, how could an elf disappear in the forest while wearing such flashy clothes?).

So I made up my mind to sew a new cloak, one that was more practical, less conspicuous, and would fit me better. I wanted a green cloak, but the fabric store didn't have the right kind of fabric in that color, so I ended up with brown, which was my second choice anyway.

I worked on it occasionally, but I didn't have a reason to work hard at it until I found out my family was going to the Renaissance Festival. Then I worked on it constantly! I finished just a few minutes before we pulled into the parking lot of the festival.

I enjoyed wearing it at the festival. I could almost imagine what it might have been like to live in that time. I was surrounded by other people dressed much like myself, so I didn't feel like such a geek. I am fascinated by many aspects of the Medieval and Renaissance eras, mostly things like archery, swordsmanship, horsemanship, clothing, and legends and stories from that time. (But not much of the food. Yuck. Who would want to eat roast boar? Not I!) I had a lot of fun wandering from shop to shop, hefting swords, learning how a waterwheel mill pounded rags into a pulp used for paper-making, watching a ridiculously choreographed joust (ugh), listening to the singing of a musical troupe or the lilting melodies of a skillful harpist, and just letting my imagination wander back in time.

I'm very happy with the finished cloak. I put some gold braid around some edges, and a silver clasp in the front to finish it off. Here are some pictures:

And finally, here I am wearing it at the Renaissance Festival!

Winter Night

2008-12-25T11:57:00.000-06:00

The stars are a box of gems so bright

On this clear winter night.

The rising moon is a smiling face

Laughing at the snowflakes' lace.

The leafless trees are statues grand,

Entwining branches hand-in-hand.

The searching wind sings a taunting song

Reminding of cold months so long,

But his cruel threats fall on ears

That are deaf to his terrible sting

They are full of birthday cheers

For the wonderful Savior-King.