30 Day Writing Challenge: 30 Random Facts

Day 18's writing challenge is to post thirty facts about yourself. I have to say, I kind of like making all these lists. It makes me feel so organized.

1. I am a student attending Community College.
2. I have strong opinions about what people say regarding Community College; it's not a place for slackers. You can receive just as good an education there as you can anywhere else. Don't mess with us college peeps.
3. My wardrobe is comprised mostly of blue and black, with a healthy smattering of geek-oriented stuff.
4. As far as fandoms go, I would say I am in a good many. However, I'm probably most invested in Harry Potter. I find myself referencing that the most, although Disney, Sherlock, and any classic literature fall in close behind.
5. I have my own box shaped like the Monster Book of Monsters from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, although I have not found anything worthy enough to put in it. Suggestions?
6. When I was little, I wanted to be a fairy when I grew up. Not much has changed, except when I die, I hope I'll be surrounded by Heavenly angels instead of fairies.
7. Wherever I am going, I always have either a book(s), a notebook and pen(s), or all of the above on hand. The reason I don't have one of those pretty clutch purses for weddings and stuff is because I can't fit all that into one.
8. One of my absolute favorite topics to study is mythology. It doesn't matter which part of the world it originates, I want to study it.
9. When I was a kid, a brick fell on my head. This was partly my fault. As I was climbing the tree in our backyard one day, I wished there were a shelf to keep my books on so when I was reading in the tree and had to go in for lunch, I could just leave the book on the shelf and come back out when I was finished. I started to work shortly after constructing a shelf out of blue rope woven from silk threads. Well, of course I needed to test it, and there happened to be a brick laying nearby. I tested my shelf with the brick, and it worked beautifully. Unfortunately, I forgot about it. A couple of days later while I was playing under the tree, the brick fell on my head and actually bounced off of it. I don't think I ever screamed that much. Mostly I remember my parents carefully pulling away bloody strands of hair to see if I needed stitches. Apparently I was just shy of needing stitches, but what I took away from that was my experiment succeeded! My shelf was functional! And so was gravity.
10. My favorite food is Taco Dip. It is a delicious layered concoction where you spread refried beans on the bottom of a pan, then taco meat, salsa, and finally Velveeta and chopped chili peppers. You cook it in the oven for about forty-five minutes to an hour and eat it with tortilla chips. There is absolutely nothing healthy about it, but it is so good!
11. Baking is one of my favorite hobbies. Cookies are probably my special-ity, although I've been getting into making my own versions of popular candy bars. My homemade Almond Joys? To die for.
12. I love spoiling my nieces and nephew! I will slap down an obscene amount of money for a stuffed animal or a nightgown if I know they will love it.
13. I was enjoying this whole list-making thing, but now it's getting kind of hard. Thirty facts? What is this, speed dating?
14. I love the TV show Sherlock, though one of my favorite Disney movies remains The Little Mermaid. Beauty and the Beast follows at a close second. I also miss the usage of choirs in movies like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. If you listen to those songs, you'll know exactly the sound I'm talking about.
15. I've read The Screwtape Letters at least three times.
16. In one year of high school, I read the Twilight Saga more than thought. (Shut up, I was fifteen, single, and hormonal.)
17. I loved the first season of Once Upon A Time on ABC, but now I feel like it's getting really weird. They brought in the Wicked Witch of the West, then they jumped on the Frozen wagon, then they brought in Cruella DeVil, and I know they've thrown in some Greek mythology in there. Stick with a realm, Kitsis and Horowitz. Disney was good, Grimm's was a really good move, but now you seem to be going on a Lost sort of path. But I will admit, Captain Hook is one of my favorite characters. Also, Belle cries, like, a lot. Is her weeping face a selling point? Miss the old Belle and Rumple.
18. Sorry, back on track. Random fact number eighteen, if I keep on the same track I've been going, I should be able to finish my degree in three years. Yay!
19. If I could have superpowers, which powers would I want? I think I would want the ability to control water, turn invisible, and fly.
20. If I had to choose one? I don't know why, but I think I would want to control water. Although being able to heal came to mind, if I had that ability, and just healed my family whenever they needed it, I wonder if I would become less faith-dependent. I've seen a lot of family members on hospital beds. Let me tell you, having faith during those times, when there are tubes down there throats, in their arms, and when they writhe in pain but you can't do anything but hold them, those are some of the moments where your faith is tested, and in some cases strengthened.
21. If I could go back in time and do something different, I think I would spend more time with my Pap Pap. He knew so much and spoke so little, his wisdom was sometimes in what he didn't say, or just the look he gave you.
22. I was homeschooled my entire life until I graduated high school. I loved being homeschooled, but I wish I had spent more being involved in theater productions. Not that I was social repressed, but I just didn't know they existed. I thought all actors were professionals, even the kids.
23. When the time comes that I am on an extreme budget and can only afford a few groceries, I have narrowed down what I personally would want for essentials, food-wise. If I had only $30 to spend on food, my entire pantry would consist of coffee, sugar, peanut butter, whole wheat bread, apples, and chocolate chips. Not including the coffee maker and filters, I can go without creamer in my coffee, so long as there's sugar. So my breakfast would be coffee with an apple or coffee with toast and peanut butter. Lunch would consist of a peanut butter sandwich or an apple cut into wedges with a side of melted peanut butter dip. For dinner, any combination thereof, except I would add chocolate chips for a treat. And that is my entire meal plan for when I inevitably will need to budget my food. There was actually a time not long ago where this pretty much was all that I ate, and I wasn't even buying the food. But I know that I can survive on these things. For a time.
24. I would LOVE to work on a movie set. Whether it's building sets, making costumes, doing interviews, working in make-up, making props, being the designated coffee-runner, or just being someone's personal assistant, just to be in that environment and seeing all of that stuff being created would be totally awesome!
25. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to be a fairy.
26. At the same time, I was convinced I was half-mermaid.
27. My favorite directors are Joss Whedon, Peter Jackson, and Andrew Adamson.
28. I have read The Screwtape Letters at least three times.
29. I am a YouTube and Pinterest junkie!
30. It took me a good two weeks to come up with this list.

I hope you enjoyed this because it took me forever to write. I started writing it two days after my last post and it has taken me this long to finish it. Coming up with thirty facts about yourself is hard. Anyway, I'm trying to cluster the rest of the writing challenges to at least fit them in before the official end of the year. We'll see how it goes.

-Grace

-Grace

30 Day Writing Challenge: Something You Miss

Hi guys. You guessed it: today's writing challenge is about something that you miss. Now, when I hear this, it makes me reflect on certain memories with sadness, and because I feel like a lot of my posts have been melodramatic lately, I want this one to be something happy and uplifting. So I am altering the challenge to "Something you miss and how you plan to fix it."
Number 1. I knew in high school that I wanted to be a writer, and so during those four years, I wrote my butt off, spending hours in front of the computer, not watching YouTube but actually writing. I remember the joy I got from that. While my activity hasn't really increased or decreased since high school, I would love to get back to writing with the intensity I had just a few years ago. At one point I had a notebook which I literally took with me everywhere and was writing in all the time. Maybe a new notebook is something I should invest in. Thus far I've been using old composition notebooks or mini notepads, but it's not the same. So I guess I need to get myself a notebook and also work on getting the story info in my head down on paper.
Number 2. I've been dancing since I was five-years-old, and when I decided to take a break from my studio, I was at first relieved. It had gotten to the point where I wasn't that thrilled to go to dance; it felt like a chore. Getting out of my studio was nice at first, but the love I still had for dance, despite taking a break, was still there. When going to the gym, I would spend the majority of my time doing ballet stretches or claiming one of the racquet ball courts to practice turns and going down the floor. This past semester has been awesome because I was finally able to take a dance class at my college, and I loved it! I know now that dancing isn't something I can really go without. It's a part of me, and even if it's in an informal location, like the gym, I need to make time for it.
Number 3. A clean room. How can my room go from Pine-Sol clean to where's my carpet in less than two days? I used to be so good at keeping my room clean. Now I seriously considering rearranging my entire room just so I'll have the chance to put everything away eventually. Right now I've shoved all of the clutter to the center of my room so I can sort it out and deal with it tomorrow. But there are a disturbing amount of spider webs on my walls, and as cool as I find spiders, my room is not an Arachnid halfway house. Sorry, Charlotte.
Number 4. You know what I really miss? Picking up a good book because I know I will be engrossed in it. There are books I would reread in a heartbeat; I've reread some of the Harry Potter books multiple times, and there was a phase in my life where I was devoted to all things Twilight. I'm over that now. I would willingly go back and read something like Wizard's First Rule or The Screwtape Letters again, but I kind of want something different. Don't you just hate it when you read a book you thought was going to be good, and then it's just... just? I hate that. I stopped reading the Lorien Legacies series because it got pretty meh. I'm considering starting the Outlander books, or maybe Inkheart. Are there any good standalone books? It doesn't have to be a series.

-Grace

30 Day Writing Challenge: Movies

Oh, here's a fun one. On the agenda today is a list of movies I would never get tired of watching.

1.) Coming in at number one is Nosferatu. My dad and I were fortunate enough to catch this movie playing at an old theater where they had brought in a musicians from an ensemble from New York to play live music during the movie. Needless to say, best date ever! Not only is this an incredible taste of the silent movie era, but it is also a shining example of a proper horror film. You can laugh at the funny face on the cover, but this movie is legitimately scary, and with live music, it easily takes the place as one of my favorite movies.

2.) Forgive me for being a '90s child, but I didn't think the 1998 Godzilla movie was that bad. My dad is a fan of the old films starring the King of the Monsters. However, I think the most recent release of Godzilla may be my favorite. I liked the approach they did with the guy in the military being the min eyes and ears of the film. To me, it made it more relatable than a geeky scientist who studies worms and had his heart broken by his college love interest. Plus, the movie was interspersed with nods to the classic films, like Doctor Serizawa and the kid with the red ball cap.

3.) Dial M for Murder was the first Hitchcock film I ever saw, and I was hooked right away! I love his style, the slow building, the intelligent dialogue, and he has this way of holding the camera that makes it appear as if someone is watching you. Very cool. Although it would be cool to see remakes of some classic Hitchcock, like The Lodger (another silent film), I suppose no one can really copy or imitate the Hitchcock style.

4.) This one is not a movie, but I love the BBC show Sherlock. I watch the episodes over and over again, mostly because I'm a huge fan of the books and I always see something new whenever I watch them.

5.) Narnia is in a category all on its own. You can only approach such ambitious, beautiful work such as C.S. Lewis with the greatest care and the highest respect. This movie is one of the most beautiful sources of fantasy you will ever see.

6.) Finally I have a TV show that I used to watch faithfully: Leverage. A show about a bunch of stand-alone criminals who band together to fight for people who can't fight for themselves, this show had a nice balance of comedy, intelligence, and intrigue. And drama. It was on TNT for a while, and you know... they know drama. I like rewatching these episodes a lot, whenever I have a day off, no school, no guests... just me and the TV. All day. Marathon, baby!

There you have it! My list of movies (and some TV shows) that I would never get tired of watching.

Journal Entry #5



(How I wish I looked while writing)

 

(How I actually look while writing)

I'm reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the second or third time. I'm less than a hundred pages into it and I already look forward to coming home, curling up on my bed and just delving right in. Actually, I take it to work with me so it gives me something to do while I wait for my bus. There's also something comforting about taking a book with you wherever you go. It's almost like a safeguard, but I think I just like knowing it's there, stowed away in my backpack. The weight of it is comforting.
One thing I notice a lot when I read blog posts about how to be a better writer or how o make characters better or something along those lines, one example that constantly comes up is J.K. Rowling. Whether it's her tenacity, her will power, or, more often than not, her characters themselves, there is always something to glean from her. But what I've become tired of hearing is to try and make my characters as rounded, dynamic, deep, and genuine as the ones in Harry Potter. As if it's that easy. The place I'm at right now in my writing -not in a story, but in my writing- is that no one can duplicate characters like Severus Snape, the Marauders, Harry... Faramir, Samwise, Sauron... Screwtape, Edmond, Eustace. These characters have become as real to us as characters can be. We feel we know them intimately. But I would ask that no one expect such incredible skill on my part, because I can't just twitch my nose and add more layers to characters. Do you want to know the reason I procrastinate? Why it takes me so long to write even a single paragraph? Because me knowing my characters as intimately as knowing Harry or Sam is probably more important to me than the actual story. In developing these... people, there grows an affectionate bond. I love them and I care how they react to something, how they process things, how they respond, on more than a physical level or with words, but how their mind wraps around the information and puzzles over it. 
I get the feeling I overthink the whole "writing thing" quite a bit. I read a quote the other day that said something like, "If I waited for perfection, I would never write." Still, you can feel if a character does something, well, out of character. A ding goes off in your mind and that action or sentence stays in your mind until it's explained later on.
Sorry, I'm not sure where this post went. My goal was to explain that I am no J.K. Rowling, that she is one of those beautiful people who have blessed readers with her wonderful talent and imagination. But that doesn't mean I won't try to show my characters as more than just princesses, pirates, Hunters, and Seers.

-Grace

Jounral Entry #3

(Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks)

 
How many Nicholas Sparks books have been adapted into movies? And of that number, how many have at least one person who dies in it?
I rewatched the trailer for The Longest Ride yesterday, and apart from a serious flashback to The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, the movie actually looks really good. But I couldn't help asking myself, "Who's gonna die in this one?"
If you don't see my point, let's take a moment to look at Nicholas Sparks's novels-turned-movies:

• The Notebook -They both die in the end.
• The Lucky One -The husband dies.
• Safe Haven -The ex-husband dies.
• The Last Song -The dad dies.

Suffice to say that while I still do want to see The Longest Ride, I'm hesitant because I know someone's going to be offed by the end of it.
But as I was thinking about all of this, I couldn't help comparing it to other books-turned movies, or either entertainment medium in general.
Let's have another look, shall we?


(The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling)

• The Fault in Our Stars -Gus dies.
• Jurassic Park (the novel) -John Hammond dies.
• The Little Mermaid (the book) -She dies.
• The Hunger Games -EVERYONE dies.
• The Lunar Chronicles -Garrett, Grandmere, and Dr. Erland die.
• Dracula -Dead-ish.
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe -Jadis dies.
• Pretty Little Liars (the first book) -Toby dies.
• Little Women -Beth dies.
• The Jungle Book -the one wolf dies.
• 80% of Grimm's Fairy Tales -People be dead. Very, very dead.
• 90% of Disney films -Someone (usually one or both parents) dies.

I guess this is a long-standing a tradition in storytelling: someone has to die. From oral cautionary tales to Big Hero 6. Even I'm guilty of offing people in my stories. I wonder if it's supposed to be more of an art-imitating-life kind of thing. It may be that the character or characters represented a symbol or a specific person to the writer, like Hedwig from Harry Potter representing Harry's innocence. It could very well be that the death of each character tries to show how the protagonist deals with death, and how they try and recover from it.
What do you think? When you read about a death, or see it in a movie, how does it effect you/the character/the story/the environment?

-Grace

The Interpretation of Ichabod Crane

Sometimes on-screen interpretations inspire me. And baffle me. For instance, I was reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the other day, and the description for the protagonist Ichabod Crane caught my eye.
"He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose...." (606, qtd Irving "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Fiction)
And while reading this, I couldn't help thinking about the T.V. show Sleepy Hollow, and the actor who portrays Ichabod. As I said, character interpretations both inspire me and baffle me. But what I want to know is...
                        How did this...               Turn into this...?

 

(Painting of Ichabod Crane courtesy of http://dickiemotherwell.com and Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane on Sleepy Hollow)

 

-Grace

2015 Reading List

(Photo courtesy of http://thegospelcoalition.org )

Is it too late to make a New Year's Resolution? I feel like last year (and the year before that... and probably the year before that) I spent WAY too much time in front of the screen. Therefore I am determined to read at least three books a month this year. And, taking it a step further, I want to start writing more books reviews, too. Yeah, we'll see how well those go. But in the meantime, here's a list of books I want to read this year:

• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• Captivating by John and Stasi Elderidge
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
• The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
• This is Spain by Ignacio Olague and Walter Starkie
• Princess Napraxine by Ouida
• The Crystal Portal by Travis Perry
• Life in a Medieval City by Joseph and Frances Gies
• Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• Dubliners by James Joyce
• Outsider by Klaire De Lys
• Cress by Melissa Meyer
• Winter by Melissa Meyer
• Castles of the World by Gianni Guadalupi and Gabriele Reina
• Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

This is by no means a finished list. I am open to suggestions.

-Grace

"The Call" -A Cool new Blog

As preluded above, I've discovered another wonderful blog that I've added to my list of blogs to share. This one is called "The Call" and it is kept up by sisters/writers Willow Silver and Darrion Marine, and Ammelia Gabriella and Billie Catherine. There they post chapters of the books they are working on and devote pages to the characters introduced, among other things. Definitely take some time to peruse their site. It's intriguing to say the least.

http://willow-the-call.blogspot.com


-Grace

PS: You may have noticed the slight difference in font size. I did this because I've been noticing that it was even hard for me to read the "Normal" lettering on my homepage, and I wondered if it was hard for anyone else. Honestly, though, if I couldn't read the font size on a blog, I probably wouldn't visit it again. Hence the change. Hope it's a bit easier for people.

Remember

I had forgotten what it felt like to read into the night. But thanks to my sister's copy of Ella Enchanted, I remember.

-Grace

Book Series

Question: Why are book series so popular? Is it the suspense you get when you reach the last page, the last word, and know you simply have to read the next installment? My friend Karen Vogel, an excellent writer, writes Amish Fiction, which seems to be in vogue, and all her stories save two books thus far are in installments, about thirty pages each or so. Believe me, they are worth the purchase, for she fills each page and paragraph with truths, lessons, and wit which we can all relate to in one way or another. I've never read Beverly Lewis or Suzanne Woods Fisher, but Karen ties in all these wonderful concepts and parallels them with classic literature, like Pride and Prejudice, The Secret Garden, and Mansfield Park, to name a few.
But back to the thing about series.... I have nothing against them, I'm just curious to see what people say. Is it the writers? I wonder if it is easier to write in segments because then you can focus on certain things and hone your story's focus with each tidbit. Consequently, I think that tactic also makes the series longer if they're, say, condensed into a single volume, but I don't mind lengthy books. In fact I prefer them. Still haven't tackled either volume of Les Miserables but I'm gearing up to it. The musical is wonderful.
What do you think? Are you as a reader or writer attracted to series? Why or why not?

-Grace