"Updates" On My Crazy and Uninteresting Life

Hey guys! So, I'm writing this from my bed. I have to sit up and type, so my legs are covered by the bedspread, but I have a nice, warm fuzzy blanket wrapped around my body so my arms don't get cold. That's how cold it is in my house. We have our power and everything. The problem is, my dad and brother burn up at night, so mom and I have to suffer and freeze.


I have been super busy lately. I've been babysitting my honorary baby brother some, and he and his mommy have been over a lot. I'm that introverted type that feels like she either has to lock herself in her room when there's company, or she has to stay in the same room as them the whole time and entertain. If they're friends, I entertain. And my baby brother's mommy is definitely a friend. I like to write these posts from the comfort of my bed, so I haven't really been able to. After spending some time writing and working out after she (and/or the baby) leaves, it's time for bed. But I finally found time!! So, this will just be a short update!:)


The weather here has been extremely aggravating, annoying, icky, and all other word equivalent. We got a ton of ice Sunday evening and through the night. Some of it melted on Monday, but it refroze Monday night. Then we got more on Tuesday. It's getting on my nerves! We have plans for the 14th-25th so it seriously needs to quit.


That last sentence leads me to something extremely exciting! I'M GOING TO PROM IN APRIL!!!!! It's my best friend's senior year and she really, really, wanted me to be able to go. For those of you who may not know, I'm homeschooled which means that a guy has to ask me to prom for me to be able to go. Well, my best friend talked to her guy friend and he said he would take me!! I've met him and everything and he's really nice. He's the shy guy type, so my best friend said, and I quote, "I mean, I don't think he'll be forever alone, but there's no one at school worth asking, and he's way too shy to ask anyone anyway, so this would be perfect! He gets a "date" and you get to go to prom!" I put quotes around date because it's not a real date. I'm too weirded out by that term. The plans we have for the 14th-25th consist of our annual Valentine's trip to Lambert's and going to Paducha so my grandma can go dress shopping with us. The only dress shopping I ever do is going to buy my "Easter dress" and that seriously stresses me out! So, I'm a bit worried about this. But I'm staying positive! And my aunt can do any alterations!:)


Next up, ANTHEM LIGHTS RELEASED THEIR NEW ALBUM!!!!!! It is amazing!!!!!! For those who don't know, Anthem Lights is a Christian band, but they sing other songs too, they're just totally clean!! I am in love with their new album!!! I'm listening to it as I type!


I saw the Croods! I loved it! It was hilarious! Guy is my favorite character! Belt is adorable, too!!


CRESS SHIPPED!!!!!! Cress is the newest book in the Lunar Chronicles! It just came out yesterday! I preordered it back in October! The wait has been killing me!! I will be trekking it out all the way to the driveway in the ice and cold to check the mailbox everyday until it comes!!!!!


I think I'm done fangirling, girl-talking, and "updating" now ahaha!:)


Vale!

New Look! And A New Goodbye!

I changed my blog template!!:) How do you guys like it?!:) Does the pink color hurt  your eyes? That's the only thing about it that I was worried about. 

Anyway, the new blog template was supposed to be in honor of the new year, but I had technical difficulties. I managed to figure out a way around it and managed to change the template!:) I, personally, love it!:)

Vale (that's goodbye is Latin:D I think I finally found my signature good bye ;P)

So, once again,

VALE!!!:)

Goals For The New Year :)

New Year. New me. Actually, you know what, that's annoying. New year, same me, new memories and goals! That sounds better! I promised and I always deliver (No, I don't, but let's pretend I do).

Writing goals 2014

There are quite a lot of these! Let's begin, shall we?

1. Finish the first draft of my current WIP, Midnight Run. No, that's not a linky thingy. It does sort of look like one, though. I've been working on this one since September 2013, and I would like to have it finished by the end of February. But, it decided to change on me, so I now have totally rework my FMC's back story! Don't you just love when characters do that to you? It's really my villain's fault. No, really! He's my FMC's dad and I'm having to change her back story because I'm changing his back story. I don't know what I'm doing with this story anymore! I'm ready to trash it and work on the sequel instead.

2. Finish the first draft of my other WIP, A Truly Mythical Story. Also, come up with a better title for this one, too. I've been working on it since August 2012. Over a year. It's given me a lot of trouble. I'm ready to be done with it.

3. Develop the plot of the sequel to Midnight Run a little better. I know the basic plot, but I need a more detailed one. I also need to develop the Villain for this one a little better. He is a different one that the villain from the first one.

4. Think about and possibly map out or time line the potential cross-overs I've been thinking about. You can do so much with time travelling characters!


5. Finish my two fairy tale rewrites and decide of I want them to be full-length novels or just short stories. I'm doing a gender switch rewrite of Cinderella and a gender switch rewrite of Jack and the Beanstalk. In both of these, basically every character is the opposite gender and I've added at least one new character that isn't in the original.


6. At least plot out my collection of medieval short stories. I'm not sure if they are going to all be connected, so just stand alones. I'm thinking about making them stand alones. The main reason for this is because on goal #7.


7. Plot and begin my rewrite of the King Arthur tales. I'm changing quite a few things. I may not even try to publish this, but it's something I've wanted to do for a long, long time. I've always loved the tales of King Arthur and Merlin and I want to create my own little version. It won't be the most unpredictable thing, but it will be fun!


8. Decide which of all of my other, unmentioned ideas need to wait and which ones can start being developed.


Personal Goals 2014


1. Complete at least two writing goals.


2. Get in better shape. This one is going to be easy to stick with because my mom is my workout buddy and she never lets me skip a workout.


3. Start thinking about graduating, college, and a career. I want to be a writer (obviously), but I need a career that I will be able to fall back on if the writing doesn't work out, or if it takes a while to really take off.


4. Make new friends. I don't mean "only talk when we see each other" friends. I mean the type of friends that you talk to all of the time whether you get to see each other or not. My two best friends are going off to college this August. They'll both be at least an hour away. One of them might be 4 hours away! So, I need new friends to hang out with while they're at college.  Because I really hate being a loner ;)


5. Try to get over some of the introverted-ness. I'm not too bad, but I won't talk to people unless they talk to me. That makes making friends really hard!


6. Get my driver's license.


7. Maybe get a job.


8. Go to at least one new town/city/state.


Musical Goals 2014


1. Further my piano skills and learn to read sheet music a little better.


2. Get over my fear of playing/singing by myself in front of other people. Seriously, I'll hardly even play or sing in front of my family unless someone is singing with me!

Well, I think those are all of my goals for this year. It's going to be hard, but now I have you guys to make me accountable!

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

I just wanted to post and say a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my favorite bloggers and people, Cait over at The Notebook Sisters!
So, here goes nothing:

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, CAIT!!!

And, no birthday post is complete without cake:

And it's chocolate, just for you!:)

And, a couple more pictures because I found them while looking for the cake and thought they were hilarious:

Haha:) I have to tease you, Cait:) We can't let Mime have all the fun, now can we?;) And I wouldn't tease you if I didn't like you (yes, that was a compliment;P)!:)

Anyway, hope you have a GREAT birthday!:)

A List of Random Ramblings

I'm back! *grins evilly* (or nicely. Depending on your point of view)

A lot has happened since my last real post. A lot has happened in the last couple months that I never had time to tell you about. This is basically going to be a big, long post about random things that I want to ramble on about. It will also be in list form!:) Enjoy!




1. I went to see Thor 2!!!!!!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness!! I was on the edge of my seat from the first words!!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it! I was on a huge movie hangover for a week! I'm still confused as to where a loyalty lies. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If not, it's not hard to guess. I mean, what was up with that final scene! Is he good, or is he evil? And the after credit are setting up for a new Marvel series entirely! The next Avenger's movie will probably have something to do with an Infinity Stone.

I actually loved Loki in this one! I completely hated him in Thor and The Avengers (I know, shoot me.)! He was cocky and arrogant and annoying and I just hated him. Things were completely different in Thor 2! I loved Thor and Loki's relationship! It was hilarious to watch Loki taunt Thor and for Thor to just punch him. I felt very sorry for Loki. I honestly think that maybe he feels bad about what he did. Even if it was just for a fraction of a second. But he knows that he will never be trusted again. At least not by anyone but maybe Thor and Jane. And you can tell that he wants to be loved so bad. But he's blind to the fact that, despite all he did, Thor still loves him as his brother. Thor doesn't trust him and e hates was Loki did, but he still loves Loki.

2. I cut my hair!

That was a huge thing for me. I've had the same hair style for about 4-5 years and it's always been long. It was a little more than halfway down my back. I cut it to about an inch past my shoulders. I absolutely love it! It's so much easier to work with and it's so much cuter!!

3. We had our Christmas play and cantata.
It went really well. I'm not going into detail on it though.
4. Christmas!!!!!
We went to Kentucky for Christmas, like we do every year. I got to meet my Aussie step-cousins. It was a pretty good Christmas, overall!
5.The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.
Just wow! It was amazing! Extremely different from the book, but still amazing! I loved the whole Killi/Tauriel thing!:)
6. New year's. Obviously.
New year's was good. A little boring, though.


And that's about it.
I couldn't change my blog design. There's been something wrong with it every time I try to change it and it won't let me even try to change it.


I'm putting together a post about my goals for 2014. They're going to be reading goals, writing goals, personal goals, and, yeah, that's it.


Alright, I'm done rambling for now. See you guys later. Or rather, talk to you guys later!

2013, The Year of Scary Happenings, in a List

Alright, people, this is my last post until next year :P Aren't New Year's puns awesome! This really is my last post in 2013, though, so I wanted to do something cool. It is kinds of cheesy, too. I'm going to make a list of all of the good things that happened this year! It probably won't be chronological.

2013 in a list

 (Come on, you guys had to know it would be a list)

 

- The year started with a Merlin addiction! Seriously! When the clock struck 12:01 we were watching Merlin! It was the very first BBC America show we had ever seen, and by the third episode we were all hopelessly addicted.

 

- On February 20, 2013, I wrote my first blog post. It was on my mom's birthday and I was watching The Wizard of Oz as I blogged. I've come a long way since then.

- I made several Blogger friends, as I lovingly call them! They are Cait and Mime, Caitria, and Jonnah! I've also met Jack Baillot since then!

-We went on vacation! I got to go to Lexington, KY, Petersburgh, KY, and Cincinnati, OH! Cincinnati is the farthest North I've ever been. I also got to ride a horse for the first time while in Lexington. I realized my love for it that day! Too bad there's no where to ride around here.

-We started visiting different churches. This was scary for me especially! I'm an introvert and for four years I hadn't met any new people or had a reason to try and make new friends. I also had been going to the same church for about eight years!

- We visited North 10th Street Baptist Church. We instantly fell in love with it! We knew way more people than we realized! Soon after, we joined.

- In August, I went on my first Youth Trip with the 10th Street youth group. I hadn't met hardly any of the people in the youth group and decided to get on a bus and ride a total of 4 hours on a bus with them! On top of that, we were going to a water park then Lambert's to eat! I was terrified (being an introvert and all) so I made two of my best friends tag along! I actually had a great time!

- In September, I started playing keyboard for the praise team at church. I had only played in front of people once! So, of course, I was scared (I'm beginning to see a pattern here)! But, I did great and I still play every Sunday! Praise Team practice on Sunday afternoons is pretty much the highlight of my week every week.

-In October, I was drafted into the church Christmas program. The director decided to film it instead of doing it live. That was a ton of fun! I played the teenage lead and the next month or so was extremely busy!

- Also in October, I turned 16! I still don't have a license (I've had bad experiences. They weren't my fault and were never serious, but I'm still scared), but I'm working on it!

-In November, we wrapped up filming the program. I also went to go see Thor 2! It was awesome!

-My honorary baby brother was born in November, too! We went to the hospital with our friends and mom, her pregnant friend, and I stayed up all night! And mom and I stayed up all of the next day! There were complications with our friend and the baby, but they were all soon taken care of! Now, I have the explain why I call the baby my honorary baby brother! Our friend doesn't want to have any more kids (she lost one last year and had tons of trouble with this one). So, she told me and my brother that we have to be Logan's (her new baby boy) brother and sister. My brother will let Logan call him Bubba, but I refuse to be called Sissy! It's because of a little inside joke between our family and Logan's family. I told Logan's mommy that I would be sis, big sis, J, JorJor, JoJo, but NOT Sissy. So, while he still can't talk, he's my honorary baby brother and I'm calling myself his honorary big sister!

-I met several new people through NaNoWriMo, which I did not win. Some of them are: PJ, AJ, Olivia, River, Andrew, Tame, Erin, Britt, Iris, Flame, Pendragon, Myth, and several other. Those are their forum names, btw.

- In December, we showed the Christmas program to the church and did our choir cantata, which I sang soprano in. Again, terrifying! But, both were a huge hit!

-We went to see the Hobbit 2! BEST MOVIE OF 2013!!!! I'm reading the book now because December 2014 is too far away!

- My honorary baby brother turned one month old! He also had his first sleepover! His mommy had to go to the hospital, and we had him for three days and two nights! Mom and I got almost no sleep. but, it was interesting! Practice for when I'm older, huh ;P

-We went to my grandma's for Christmas. It was fun!

-On Christmas day, I met my Australian step-cousins for the first time (again with the meeting new people! I honestly don't know how I managed!)! The younger one, Austin, and I talked pretty much the whole time they were at my grandma's house. What can I say, we had sixteen years to catch up on (we're both 16, and the other one, Dallas, is 17-18. I'm not entirely sure)!

-And now, on New Year's Eve, I sit here writing this post.

And there you have it! My year in a list! Looking back,  realize my year has been full of meeting new people and scary things. Both of which are definitely related!

If all goes well, you guys will be reading my next post on a fresh background! I'm revamping my blog for the new year!

Talk to you guys next year! ;P

Book And Insanity Linkup Part 2

Ok, so here's the writer part of the linkup!

 

And the rules:

1. Grab the Book and Writing Insanity button above! (Or link to our blog, notebooksisters.com, somewhere in your post.)
2. Pick a set of questions. We have TWO sets. One for writers. One for readers. (Psst! You can do both if you so wish it.)
3. Copy the 20 questions below. You can use all of them or just pick out a few!
4. Add your link to our marvellous linky widget below. It'll be open all of December.
5. Visit AT LEAST the blog linked up in front of you. (The point of linkups is to meet new bloggy friends and squeak over books/writing together. Plus who doesn't like comments? Share the love!)
6. WE LOVE BOOKS!!! (Okay, that isn't really helpful, but who cares?)

 

(Remember: Answer these questions out of what you've written this year!)

1. How many books did you write this year? (Estimate your overall wordcount for us too!)

I didn't actually write a full book this year. I did write lots of short stories. I probably wrote a combined total of about 150,000 words. Not much, but I went through about four months where I had absolutely no motivation to write whatsoever.

 2. Which was your favourite to write?

So far, Midnight Run has been my favorite to write! It's set in 2015 and it's a sci-fi novel about time travelers! What's not to love?!

 3. Which was the hardest to write?

A Truly Mythical Story (that's my working title. I'll change it when I come up with something better) has been the hardest so far! I've been working on it for a little over a year and I just can't get it to work. I have about 30,000 words and can't get motivated to write any more of it.

 4. Tell us about you favourite Male Character you wrote this year!

That would be either Shaun Fields from Midnight Run, or Amicus Fortis from A Truly Mythical Story (that will be ATMS from now on)! Both of them are the main male characters.  Shaun is a caring person. Amicus is too, but on a much larger scale. Shaun only shows it in situations where he's going to lose someone he loves. Amicus shows it all of the time. Amicus is a fighter, where Shaun hates any kind of violence. Even when it's to save someone he loves. 

 5. And how about your favourite Female Character?

By far, that is Midnight Storm! She's a kick-butt kind of girl! She's not the "I'm so tough nothing can phase me" type, but she is a particularly strong girl. She's also a genius! She broke the code for time travel and invented a time travel machine! She also invented inter-time travel comms units! No matter where you are in time, the comms unit connects with the other person!

 6. Can you introduce us to some awesome sidekick(s)?

Finnegan Birdle, aka Finn, from ATMS! He's a very nervous/cautious person. He has several nervous ticks. A friend of mine said he reminded her of Pippin from The Lord Of The Rings. I'm not so sure I see it, though.

Also, Emmet and Eddie, aka the Twin Terrors. They are red-headed twins. Emmet is a total jokester and is always getting into trouble! Eddie is a bit softer and nicer. When he's hiding something, though, he becomes a jokester and trouble-maker like Emmet. He hides behind the jokes and snark.

 7. Any romances in your writing? Which couple didn't go together as expected?

In ATMS, I originally had Georgie, the FMC, and Finn together. I very quickly realized that wouldn't work. So, I put her with Amicus.

Shaun and Midnight are together in Midnight Run. They have a very close and mushy relationship, but there is a very good reason for that. Midnight is quite insecure, so Shaun has to show his love for her often.

Robyn and Emmet in MR are also together, but they don't like to admit it or show it. Mainly because Shaun is an overprotective brother bear when it comes to his twin sister.

 8. What's your favourite Pinterest Board for one of your books? Can we see some pics for the book they inspire?

I don't really have a pinterest board for my books. I just screenshot the pictures so I have them even if I don't have Wi-Fi. You can see pictures, though! I'll post them at the end to avoid formatting problems!
 9. What challenges did you compete in this year? (NaNos? Personal goals? Challenges run by

other blogs?) And how did you go?

NaNo. I got 25,020 words. I'm still happy about that! I also competed in the Go Teen Writer's 100 for 100 challenge. 100 words for 100 days! I completed it with a total of 34,176 words! Triple what I needed to get!

 10. Show us the full cast in pictures from one of your books.

Again, I'll post them at the end.

 11. Epic quote(s) you wrote?

“You think I’m scared? Go ahead, pull the trigger.” (This was said while a gun was pointed to Midnight's head in MR. All of the quotes will be from MR)

“My dear Midnight. You’ve grown up since the last time we saw each other.”

“Grown up? Me? I suppose I have. Having to run for my father for the last two years and being on my own must have changed me some, after all.”

 “Don’t you realize? I’ll get you in the end.”

 “You’ll have to pull that trigger for that to happen. I won’t go willingly any longer. I entered this world kicking and screaming, and I have no problem leaving this world the same way!”

“Do you really think you can win? Honestly darling, why are you fighting against the very force that created you?”

“Because I like to! Seriously, why do you think? It’s the principal of it. You locked me up for all of my life. I finally escape and get my own life, and you come along and try to ruin it all! Well, I’m not letting you do that anymore!”

 12. Last word from your manuscript(s)! Go!

Doesn't an go.

 13. First sentences from your manuscript(s)!

Cardiff and Is everything about you black, white, and red?

 14. Show us your favourite funny scene!

In this scene from ATMS, Georgie, her brother Gin, his wife Gwen, Finn, and Amicus are having breakfast. Ron and Willow are Gin's kids. The scene was inspired by my own fear and hatred of frogs.

I heard the kids out back squealing and laughing. Ron had frog and he was chasing Willow around with it. A few minutes later Willow came running into the house and jumped into Gin’s lap. Seconds later Ron ran into the kitchen and was holding the frog in Willow’s face. She was squealing and Gin was failing at getting frog. He finally grabbed it and then it jumped into the floor. Then things got chaotic. Gwen jumped onto the counter and kept yelling at Gin to get it and take it outside. I stood up in the chair and started yelling at the boys, who were trying to find the frog, telling them where it was going.

      “By the plant!” I yelled. Then,
      “Beside the broom!”
      “Now it is in front of the door!” But every time they would try to grab for it, it would jump away.
      “Oh, for the love of Pete! Would you boys just corner it and grab the thing! How in the world did you catch it anyway, Ron?” I asked.
      “I snuck up behind it and just grabbed it,” he said.

      “That is it!” The boys all yelled in unison.
      “Amicus, it is by that chair,” I said, pointing. Everyone got quiet as he snuck up behind the frog and grabbed it. Everyone shouted for victory! I opened the back door and Amicus came to it.
      “Here! You want it!” He stuck it in my face. I squealed and run to the opposite side of the room.

      “Amicus! That is what set the frog loose in the house! You better just put it outside and leave it there!” I warned.

 15. Show us a snippet of dialogue you're proud of.

Refer back to the dialogue I put under the epic quotes question.

 16. Tell us about some funny typos or writer-bloopers you've had this year!

I keep making the typo of Midinhgt instead of Midnight!

 17. What has writing taught you about yourself this year?

That I like a lot of action! And that I love snarky and funny characters.

 18. Best piece of writing advice you learnt this year?

Write the book that you would love to read.

 19. Anything big on the horizons for next year? Plans to query? Publish? Edit?

I want to finish and edit Midnight Run and possible query for an agent if I finish editing next year.

 20. Tell us a bit about a book you're super excited to write in 2014!

I'm planning on compiling a book full of medieval stories. Possibly writing some fairytale rewrites. I also want to write my own version of the King Arthur story. I may not get to all of them next year, but I want to try to.

Ok, for the cast of Midnight Run! Drum roll, please! *plays drum roll*

Karen Gillian (right) as Midnight! Give her blue eyes and not as much make up and there's Midnight!

Emma Watson (left) as Robyn! She is pretty much perfect for the part!

 Luke Benward (Right) as Shaun Fields. Maybe give him a couple years. He's 17 where Shaun is 21, so he's not the right age here, but in a couple years he'll be perfect!

David Henry (left) as a possible Jacory. I have two choices for Jac and I'm not sure who I like better.

Gregg Sulkin (right) as another possible Jac.

These guys are Max and Charlie Carver (left) I know absolutely nothing about them and I don't know what movies they've been in, but if you gave them red hair they would look like Emmet and Eddie. Emmet would be the taller one on the left, and Eddie would be the shorter one on the right.



Now, as for pictures that remind me of my story, all of them are on my phone and I can't post them right now, but I do have one picture that goes with a future scene I'm doing!

I'm going to do a pirate ship scene for the simple fact that Karen Gillian is in this picture and I cast her as Midnight! I was looking at pictures of her since she's who I picked, and I came across this one. Since Midnight's a time traveler I figured this would be perfect!
 

I have to go now! The impending ice storm and power outage is supposed to hit tonight and I have a few more last minute preparations to help me last a week without power.

I'm trying to come up with a catchy signature way to say bye, but since I haven't yet I'll just say bye.
BYE!!