Sunday, December 22, 2013

Vacation!

Hello! So, this is the second day of our little vacation outing to Puerto Vallarta. Here is the order I will explain things: yesterday: why, haha, THE EVENT, the envelope; today; breakfast, teens, beach.

Why

     So, our friends (they will soon have a BABY! Well, not so soon, you wouldn't guess that she's pregnant) invited us to join them on their second honeymoon. (the first part was in Canada, the second part here) Our plan is to stay two nights, pick up some friends of ours who used to be missionaries, and come back.

Haha

     While we were driving (we were using the church's van because our Jeep is too small to carry our parents, Brother, and my little brother Kai, plus them and their son Jonathan) we got onto the conversation of the rearview mirror, which has a writing on it that has confused me since I first entered that van, which is "82,000 serive". I had previously conjectured that perhaps it was "survive" spelled wrong. (though I had forgotten that survive had a "u") It turned out that Dave, the husband in the family we were picking up, had written that to tell the church how many miles is should go before getting maintenance, or, as he meant to put it, service. We're gonna bug him about that.

THE EVENT

     So, as we were going, we gave Kai some yogurt drink with medicine mixed in because he always gets car sick. (Seems like we'd prepare better for this *shrugs*) Anyway, it turned out the medicine was all at the bottom, and the moment he got to it he started complaining that it tasted terrible. He was half spitting it out, half letting it fall onto his seat, and I could tell something was wrong. Suddenly he threw up, and not a little bit, gushing. Three or four times he threw up with it (I'm feeling sick right now, ugh) coming out like that, then it started calming down. At the first whiff I nearly joined him, but managed not to and we pulled over quickly enough to let him spit outside. Seriously, he didn't throw up a single time after that. Mom started cleaning up and brother helped her, me and dad were just trying not to breathe, and Kai was jabbering about how happy he was to go to a hotel. (How can you recover that fast? And why pick now of all times to decide you like sleeping somewhere other than home?) By some miracle mom thought to put some of the body wash she had brought on it. Oh, that may have saved us. Needless to say, those of us who could moved further back and we drove with the windows down.

The envelope

     So, the friends of ours gave me an envelope for the whole family (they gave it to me because we were in our hotel room, not our parent's, Brother was blowing up an inner tube, and Kai was not an option) and I decided to bring it along with us when we went to see the movie (just now occurred to me to amend the previous table of contents a second time, but I'll just tell you about it later) because I wanted us to open it on one of the inevitable times we would have to stop on the way. (Kai needed new shoes, he had taken them off in the car and subsequently filled them with throw-up.) I at some point handed them to my brother along with some napkins, he told me he put them in the funky tray thing they have to hold drinks and popcorn, and in short, we left it. While we were in mom and dad's hotel room I realized it. There was a general sense of, well, doom. We had no idea how to get it back. I suggested that the lady who took those tray things might have noticed that it was in there and would have taken it to lost and found, but there wasn't much response. We went to the hotel room, and, too be honest, I cried. I felt so terrible that I had lost it that I cried as I prayed to God to somehow bring it back. After a bit I decided to trust Him and be cheerful even if He didn't bring it back. At most thirty seconds later (seriously, I had just come out of the bathroom and gone into the room) when the phone rang. I knew that God had answered. (As for the phone, my brother did) He said that mom had asked that he come, and less than a half an hour later they came back with the envelope. Turns out it was in the garbage in the theater, but they got it out. Not a single time have I earnestly prayed to God has He not answered.

Breakfast

     To put things simply, it was awesome. Our friend were staying at a different hotel, but we got a day pass to be there (it's an all inclusive) and it was amazing. The breakfast buffet was amazing, I got tea, and Mexican hot chocolate, and crapes, and all kinds of stuff. And a bird stole a sugar packet, which Kai loved. What occurred to me that day was that I want to someday have a lot of money, so that I can pay for my friends to go to a place like that. Seriously, we have some friends who do stuff like that for us occasionally, and that's what I want to be able to do.

Teens

     Met some teenagers today. (I know not the most astounding thing to do, but the people I meet are all fairly similar, being Christians coming down to do children's ministry or build something.) There was this floating trampoline thing in the water at the beach and we all just sat there talking for a while. I learned some things, one of them being that some teens swear for no reason whatsoever, while others don't. Yeah, I should know this before now, but I rarely meet non-Christians.

Beach

     Well, between the sand and the terribly rough pools, it seems that some of my sunscreen was rubbed off, so I have burns in patches. The front of both my legs are awful. >.< I hate sunburns. However, we did have fun. We buried most of Kai, then most of me. Because I had my lefts crossed in the funky meditation pose I ended up looking like most of a corpse, according to our friend.


     So! The movie. We saw The Desolation of Smaug in 3D. To be honest, I thought it would be awful. I hadn't seen a single serious movie in 3D, so it didn't seem like a great idea. But it surprised me. When they weren't trying to make gimmicks out of it, (Seriously, Peter Jackson? Stooping as low as gimmicks? You are one of the two directors who's names I know and you stoop to gimmicks?) it was pretty good, particularly with Smaug! However, it was rather blurry.
     For my spoiler-free version, let me start by telling you I didn't like the first one. It included Radagast (who isn't even mentioned!) and makes him an idiot with poop on his face. (He is a wizard! He is respectable! He just finds animals to be preferable to the thinking races, which I am occasionally inclined to agree.) I could nitpick that movie to put CinemaSins to shame, but I'm not going to. I'll simply say that it was terrible as an adaptation of a book. However, throwing the book aside, it's a different story. With that perspective, I thought it was a nice movie. Not amazing or wonderful or incredible, but certainly nice.

     From here on out I will not refrain from spoilers, so beware! Still from the standard of no book, I liked that they didn't have the whole thing in English. There are parts in Black Speech and parts in the Elven of Murkwood, whatever that is called. They added a nice part with Fili or Kili (It's hard to tell what they're saying, and the subtitles were in Spanish, so I tried not to read them because that just confuses me) having a romance with an elf, which I liked. They also included Legolas (XD He's not so thin anymore!) and made a love triangle which has not played out yet.

     Okay, this is not a spoiler. SMAUG IS AWESOME! It was aweing how they did Smaug (they don't pronounce it as smog, though, but rather as smaoog), simply his size, and of course in a theater you have amazing surround sound! He strangely only has two legs and then uses his wings as front ones, which seemed a pointless deviation, but he was still cool.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

True love and stuff

     Hello. Yeah, I know, I missed my deadline. I probably will consistently. For some reason my interest in this blog has plummeted. (I've got some hunches on why, I'll tell them later) I've got a lot of other things to do, too. I need to edit Violet's book, and a friend from the forum asked for me to edit his, and I'm doing one for my first fan, Kylen. Also, I'm starting a contest blog with another friend of mine from the forum named Catsi, (possibly why my interest has dropped) and I'm planning to start one for review sometime in the future. Other future plans include starting my next novel (after Christmas) and learning how to do copyediting. Or is it copywriting? Whatever. Anyway, that all means that I'm going to post less often. I'll still post, though.
     Oh, in terms of news, we announced to the church that we are leaving in April, so... Well, it went better than I thought it would. Mixed feelings of course, but now it's less of having a ton of conflicting emotions, more that emotions don't seem to want to come. My stomach kept hurting every time I thought my dad would say it though. The Christmas event my church does is coming up. I wonder what I'll do. As clarification, during this event each person is allowed to go up on the stage to sing a song, say a testimony, whatever. Last year I did a poem, (quite the experience, I'll relate it later) but I don't think I'll do that this time. But I do want to do something. Maybe with my brother. What can I do that isn't poetry? I write books of course, but I'm not good at writing in Spanish (not sure if poetry or prose is harder, haven't tried prose) so I don't think that'll work. Besides, I need very specific inspiration for short stories, otherwise they turn out terrible. I won't have a recorder by then, and certainly not time to practice. The musical kind, not the electronic. What other talents do I have? I've never sang other than in church and with my brother (we do Simon and Garfunkel pretty well, too) and me and him don't do it in Spanish. Heck, maybe I will do a poem.
     Okay, to the story I promised. Last year I decided I wanted to write a poem about Christmas, and I also decided that I needed to feel Christmas, and thus experience it, before writing it. We open presents in the morning, and the service is at eleven or ten (Mexicans celebrate Christmas Eve rather than Christmas, kind of like us doing Halloween rather than All Saint's Day, [Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve, the old way of saying All Saint's Eve] so it isn't problematic for them) so that meant that I had to write it in the last minutes before we left. I wrote it on my computer and emailed it to myself to have on my Kindle, and did a few edits. Once it was my turn I got up (and discovered the meaning of stage fright) and began to recite. I consulted my Kindle because I hadn't had near enough time to memorize it, but halfway through it, my Kindle died. Managed to finish with only one mistake (I reverted to the original version, but it didn't mess up the rhyme) and got down. I felt terrible. My head was all cold and my vision was funny like sometimes when I get up too fast. (You people with low blood pressure know what I mean, your vision kind of clouds over and your head feels funny) It took a lot of time to go away. I'm so glad Henia came up and told me it was great. (She's the wife of one of the other missionaries, but she's from Cofradia) That was wonderful, and I was worried that it had been awful. (A note here, poetry is different than other writing types in that knowledge of the language is not enough. I've lived in Mexico nearly my whole life and am fluent, but I can't understand Mexican poetry. I get the words, but I can tell I'm missing something, and I don't get the feeling I do when I read poetry in English)
     Wow, that was long. Anyway, as I wrote this (about when I started explaining our church's Christmas event) I found that I liked this. So apparently I won't be dropping off. I won't stick to a schedule (Heck, I might post more) but I'll still post a good bit.


     Oh, and if any of you were interested in the contest blog (I'm not certain how many readers I have, the only one I know is Josie, and I know that you know about the blog already) here's the link: http://windowtothesoulcontests.blogspot.com/
     We're still setting up, (if you hurry and check out the "About Us" page you can see what I put for filler) but Catsi'll be running a little start-up contest from my friend Josie's prompts. Our first full contest will be to make our top illustration which is currently an image Kylen sent me to show me a color. Yes, Josie, we want you to participate. :)


So, as for the "true love" thing, it was something I realized when reading a poem. There isn't any such thing as the true love that Disney made up, but there is true love as in love that is true, and that is love that is unconditional, and applies to children and siblings way more often than romantic partners.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Done!

     I have finished my first ever first draft! It totals at 8 chapters, 68 pages, and 23,611 words. I have once again fallen in love with the story and will begin editing it later and will eventually publish it. So excited!!!

   So, as I am done with that one (for now) I will begin a new novel. Well, two actually. One is a true novel which shall be my focus. It is currently named The Milk-fed Dragon, and it is about a little dragon named Kahia who is adopted by humans. In this world dragons are fed fire by their mothers so that they can breathe it later in life, but milk puts their fire out. Not knowing this, her adoptive parents feed her milk from their cow. She lived a very happy, fireless life until one day she comes home to find her family gone. Her search for them also brings her to know her aunt and cousin, who have watched her at a distance for years.
     The other one is a children's story. My little brother Kai is six, and I've been trying to convince him to let me teach him to read. (An activity complicated by the fact that he's learning two languages and is supposed to learn Spanish first) He asked me if reading "takes you on an adventure". I told him yes, but that he would have to wait until he was older to read those books. So I've decided that I want to change that by writing novels of a low reading level that have good plot. It's going to be a four book series, each increasing in reading level and complexity.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Lesser Kindred- Book Review

     I suppose I've given you guys enough time to read Song in the Silence, so here's the review for the second one.
 
 
     This book is a wonderful continuation; is completes what is expected, brings in new plot pieces, and leaves enough for a third book. A new subplot is brought in that revolves around several very enjoyable new characters.

     While the second in a series is often the most boring if not well done, The Lesser Kindred doesn’t lose any of the urgency or interest; the latter actually increases. In this book the light of villainy moves to Berys, and we find his plans getting more frightening and far-reaching than before.

     Once again, this book is for dragon lovers and those who like female protagonists, and particularly if you are female yourself, though not exclusively. This book is for those who are over thirteen at least, as it contains a little language and mature subjects, so consult your parents if you are a minor.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Never mind

Never mind the last post. :P Yeah, I should be consistent, but I decided that I like my blog the way it is, and I'm not ready for what I was thinking anyway. Seriously, I don't even like the book I'm writing, and have no intention of publishing it. Besides, from what I heard it's best to release a book every six to nine months (I'm self publishing, by the way) and I can't write and edit that quickly, so when I've got a couple of books ready I'll just make a website and have the "attention grabbing" stuff there.

Huh, that's rather short, I suppose I should write some more. Well, I'm hoping to finish my book by December, and then I'll be starting on a dystopian book. I'm also thinking of starting a blog where I'd host writing competitions after we move up to the United States, which should be in April.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Some Changes

     So, I've been reading about how to make a good blog, and have come to the conclusion that my blog doesn't fit anywhere near that category. Perhaps my only worthwhile post was the one of my poem. Because of this, I am going to re-vamp my blog, give it new color, style, and purpose. I'm going to making things brighter because this seems too dark, and I'll make it more paper/scroll themed. however, the important part is that I will now be posting only things of good value. I will still post book reviews, but my other posts will now be purely poems, book excerpts, or other things related to my book. So, if anyone is reading this, do these changes sound good?

     Given that this is the last time that I will be posting anything but very large events of my life, I'm glad that I get to tell you this: my little brother Kai lost his first tooth! Last night we were eating smores and he said that his tooth moved when he bit stuff, so he stopped eating. (More sense than I'd expect from him, considering those were marshmallows he had stopped eating) A while later he declared, "My tooth fell out!" I now have it in a Ziploc bag. :)

     The other two things I have to say aren't as happy. The first is that my older brother left at 9:15 today to go hunting with his grandpa for two weeks, and as I am writing this at 9:38, I already miss him.

     The last, is a request for prayer for, complicated, things happening with the little girl I call my niece and her family.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Blogging Month ~ Part 2

     My thoughts are less organized this time, as I didn't have time to write them down. However, me, my mom, and grandma went to Forks, Washington (where Twilight took place). It was an amazing place, and we learned that Stephanie Meyers had been there only a week earlier, on Bella's birthday. Realizing that I could have met a successful author was very interesting, and I realized that I would have loved to. I have thought very little about the Twilight books, largely because I don't like romances, and it was even more enforced by how much those on the One Year Adventure Novel forum hate it. I realized that I had come to find the writer ridiculous as well. I realize that that isn't only unfair, but a very wrong thing for a Christian to do. And, as a writer, I should respect my fellow writers. So what if I thought that the Dragons in Our Midst series was laughable? That doesn't mean Brian Davis is. So what if Lois Lowry got her math way off in the Giver? I should still respect her. I'm very glad to have learned this.
     Also, my brother has been in Mexico while we were in the States, and he ARRIVED!!! It truly is wonderful to have him back.

     Finally, I have been thinking a lot about the future, in many ways, such as whether or not to go to collage and which dreams aside from writing I should invest my time in. I'm still uncertain of whether I should pursue music in any way, though I do want to keep making video games. I might also want to make videos, but I don't know if I should.

     Another note, for those of you who write too, I recently got a book on Kindle about being a self-published author that is really good, (and teaches formatting!) called The Manifesto of Independent Writing & Publishing. It's free right now, though I'm not sure if it is going to stay like that. I should also warn you, he does use some swear words.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Blogging Month ~ Part 1

     I'm very sorry that I haven't posted for so long, I've been really busy visiting with family and friends. So, I'm going to do Blogging Month in two parts rather than four.

     First day (Just having left home, my brother stayed behind): It hurts to do something that you once enjoyed with another. I then began to think of the word enjoyed. We normally think of it as a very passive thing, but if you try to separate it at the right point (en-joyed) it suggests putting joy into something. I realize that this is a better way to think of it, because then we can remember to enjoy things that we do not naturally have fun doing, such as a long drive.
     Second day: Pretty much same.
     Third day (I got sick, having a fever): I found that your really can enjoy anything, if you can find a reason. Being a writer, I found that I could use my fever to learn what it truly is like. After all, a fever is a common symptom of sickness, as well as when a bad injury is received.
     Fourth day (my mom realizes that I could have dengue a mosquito-carried disease that includes fever, as well as bone-ache): I found that I could simply trust in God that is was not dengue, and I was rewarded for my trust when I found that I simply needed to drink more water. I also realized that worry and doubt are not the same thing. Everyone worries, which is simply to wonder what could happen and perhaps be fearful, but doubt is when we do not trust in God, and doubt whether or not He can or will help us.
     Fifth day (I have begun reading Pilgrim's Progress): I find that allegories don't work very well when trying to translate physical life to spiritual life.
     After this, I have no notes or clear-cut memories as to what happened when, but I also came to the conclusion that the rush and stress of American life is not healthy, and that I am certainly not made for it. I've also learned that compromises must be made, not only with others, but with yourself. For example, me and Vi would like to be roommates when we grow up. Well, she certainly isn't moving down to rural Mexico, now is she? And thus I have made the compromise with myself that I will not return to Mexico as soon as I had hoped, but instead will send the beginning of my adult life in America as Violet's roommate. Though, I suppose, most people simply call this "picking the best option".

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Little Darling

     Finally things are a little more stable: we're leaving to the US on Monday for a month-long visit. As I said last week, I will be journaling my thoughts for September and will post them each week, though I might have to post at rather odd times as we will be very busy.
     Also, I've decided to take up photography again, so I'll probably be including photos sometimes.
     Today I've decided to share with you a poem, one inspired by my dear little "niece". For those of you who don't know, she's a little Mexican girl, just turned three, who's father my mom sorta adopted.



Little Darling

 

Joy in my heart

Little darling

Spin you around

Feel your weight

So light

 

Delight of my heart

Little darling

Brown skin

Black eyes

Bright smile

 

Bliss in my heart

Little darling

To see you

To know you

To love you

Friday, August 23, 2013

Blogging Month

     A ton of stuff has and is happening this week! First, a short story I wrote called "A Real Man" was published on the Sharp Pens blog! Oh, it's so exciting! The comments people have left has made me feel even more amazing. As I said, though, there is more happening!
     Next week we will be going up to the United States for a month-long visit, which means going through nearly half of Mexico, then basically all of the West Coast all the way up to Washington. But I like drives, so it'll be fun. Plus, it's always nice to get to see my friends and family on my birthday, which is also in September.
    Last, I'm going to be participating in Blogging Month, which means that every day I will write about my thoughts, what I learned, etc. and at the end of the week I will post all of them, and then my thoughts of the whole week. I hope you find it interesting! Below I have the links to all the blogs that I know that are participating in Blogging Month. To my knowledge, they are all Christian. If you have a blog and would like to participate, you could post a link to your blog below. I'd love to see yours!


Dreams in Darkness
Curious Ramblings
The Tears of a Hawke
Writing, Life, Joy
Unveiled
A Ghostwriter's Scribbles
All Things Go To Recreate Us

Friday, August 16, 2013

Sharp Pens

     Have you ever seen a cause or a call to action that touches you? Not just you think "Yeah, this is a good thing they're doing.", but really touches you, and makes you think, "I want to be a part of that." I saw one recently, and I am sure that God is calling me to it. Truthfully, I think that He is calling every writer to it, though not necessarily from this particular organization. (How thrilling that word is, concidering we are only a couple of teenagers!) Yes, that's right, it is an organization of about five teens from the One Year Adventure Novel forum, but we will grow much larger! All ready there are many other writers interested. We aim to make Christian writing that challenges our culture, that truly edifies those who read it, and at the same time be quality writing. I can't explain it any better that our brilliant founder, Ms. Dougall, so I won't try. If you want to see what she said, check here.
     I have taken up the challenge to write a SO WHAT? book, and I hope that you do too. Even if you are a non-writer, I hope that you keep us in mind, so that if you ever see a book bearing the SO WHAT? symbol, you know what it means.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Contentment


Ah, what a wonderful word! To trust in the Lord truly does bring happiness and ease from worry. Through many things, hardships, worries, and other things, I have learned to trust the Lord. Just yesterday my parents came back from Tepic (the capital of our state) and told us that they were requiring us to have a new paper to renew our visa, one they had never asked for before, and that the church that was helping us might not want to give it. A little bit ago my dad talked on the phone with them, and then I heard him talking to mom. All I caught was “He said…” Before that would have worried me, made me wonder what had he said? Would we be forced to leave Mexico? But now, I didn’t. I don’t know what has happened, what he learned, but it doesn’t matter. I trust that things will turn out okay. And I am content. Because I have no worry I can easily enjoy simply being here, and trusting in God. I’m grateful that God has given me this faith, and I pray that you may have it as well. It’s an awesome, wonderful thing.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Masks


       Ever since I saw V for Vendetta I have realized that almost all my favorite characters have had some sort of mask. Boba Fett, Jango Fett, Darth Vader, Master Chief- they all have hidden faces.
       I believe that the simple, immobile “face” works because they have been engineered to look like the character’s personality (or the other way around). Plus, they’re just plain cool.
       For example, Master Chief’s helmet, being of military make, shows his strength and determination, while the large, slightly-reflective glass shows that he is reserved. Add his deep, commanding voice, and you have one of the most awe-inspiring characters in any video game.
       While I don’t do much science fiction, which reduces my ability to use such masks, I do have the opportunity in golems. However, rather than making the reserved, stoic, imposing character that are so common, I have made a character that is honest and simple, much like the impression given by Atom from Real Steel.
       I think that this is a great technique for writers to use, though it is more visual than anything else, so a book with illustrations would be able to harness it much more effectively.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Book Review: Song in the Silence


       Song in the Silence is a good beginning to a series, as it introduces a likeable main character as well as several great side characters. The good guys are believable and don’t seem plastic; they aren’t perfect, some are even slightly questionable. The villains are believable as well: they don’t trust each other and they are only out for themselves.
       The protagonist, Lanen, has dreamed of going to the fabled dragon island and meeting the dragons, but when her chance comes it turns out to be more wonderful, and quite a bit more frightening, than she would ever have guessed. The plot is surprising but believable, and doesn’t hedge a bit.
       This book is great for dragon lovers and those who like a strong female protagonist. This is, however, for slightly older readers. While not at all graphic, it does touch on some mature topics, mainly just acknowledging that they happened. The writer is Christian, and her book reflects that, though They have different names. (Shia, the Old One, and the Laughing Girl of the Waters.)

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Leaving

       For those of you who don't know, I'm a missionary girl from (or to?) Mexico, and I love it here. But my parents are talking about leaving. A few years ago one of the other missionary families here left, and now my parents may do the same. As I said, I love it here. The idea of leaving has made me cry several times, and I'm not a cry-y person.
       I've been trying hard to think of the positive things, such as being able to see Violet and Alex, two of my friends from the U.S., and being able to see my family, but it's really hard sometimes. I'm like a cat, I hate change.
       In a way I think this is happening as a learning experience. I've learned to be happy here, but I think God's trying to teach me to be happy in any circumstance. It's hard, but little by little He's changing my heart. More and more I'm becoming attached to the things, ideas, and plans of going there. Violet and I have talked about becoming roommates when we turn eighteen, and I love the idea of being able to see my cousins and other little ones grow up.
       In my heart, I know that Mexico will always be my home, that I will always love it and long for it. But maybe, just maybe, I can learn to love this too.