R.M. Archer's Blog, page 31

Book Review: 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.

Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.

Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So he comes back. Again and again and again.

Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.

100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.

First off, let me just say that I ADORED this book and all of my emotions are a jumble of “OHMYWORDTHISBOOKWASAWESOME,” but I’ll do my best to write a coherent review anyway. XD

The characters were spectacular. Tessa was relatable enough and so well-written and realistic that I almost felt like I could put myself in her shoes and experience what she was experiencing. Which doesn’t happen very frequently at all for me, so I’m SUPER impressed. Top marks to Abbie for that alone. Tessa was a really enjoyable character, but I’m struggling to think up any specific things I loved about her (though I know they were there) because WESTON.

Weston… Where do I even start… This boi brazenly stole my heart, filled it with sunshine, and walked off with it. I think he wins the award for biggest book crush ever. He’s so sweet and stubborn and strong and courageous and HE PLAYS UKULELE AND SINGS, ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE. And he’s funny and sarcastic and WONDERFUL. He does so. much. to overcome everything, and it’s so, so cool to read. It’s super inspiring. OH. And his relationships with his brothers are so sweet and so much fun to read (I LOVE to read about older brothers with their younger siblings) and so relatable.

And their relationship! They’re so fun together, and so adorable, and I CALLED THAT ONE THING FROM CHAPTERS AHEAD AND I’M SO HAPPY IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I have no words for how absolutely wonderful their relationship is.

And then there’s the writing. Everything in this book was brilliantly described. It wasn’t flowery or anything, but it was enough for me to conjure up some of the clearest images I think I’ve ever imagined while reading a book. AND EVERYTHING WAS BEAUTIFUL. This book is SO. AESTHETIC. Even the less upbeat scenes manage to be beautiful. They don’t lose their potency–in fact, the beauty of the tone deepens the emotion and makes it all the more impactful. And the description isn’t all. There’s also a TRAINING MONTAGE. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those in a book, at least not done well, but this one was PERFECT and SO. COOL. Plus, the characters’ internal dialogue felt so natural and emotional and… *sighs* I could go on and on.

My only complaints about this book are about the consistent minor swears from Weston and Rudy and occasional inappropriate humor from Weston when the two of them are talking. But personally it was small and infrequent enough to not detract from the rest of the book.

To sum up, I squealed through the majority of this book and grinned like a maniac through the whole thing. It’s just a beautiful, bright, sunshiny, inspiring, adorable, wonderful, heartwarming… I could never think of enough positive adjectives to describe this book, y’all. Just go read it.

About the Author:

Abbie Emmons has been writing stories ever since she could hold a pencil. What started out as an intrinsic love for storytelling has turned into her lifelong passion. There’s nothing Abbie likes better than writing (and reading) stories that are both heartrending and humorous, with a touch of cute romance and a poignant streak of truth running through them. Abbie is also a YouTuber, singer/songwriter, blogger, traveler, filmmaker, big dreamer, and professional waffle-eater. When she’s not writing or dreaming up new stories, you can find her road-tripping to national parks or binge-watching BBC Masterpiece dramas in her cozy Vermont home with a cup of tea and her fluffy white lap dog, Pearl.

See the official blog tour schedule and find a HUGE 100 Days of Sunlight giveaway here!

 

 

Character Interview: Sarabrina Elfbourne

Sarabrina is the second-oldest of the Elfbournes, and she’s a total bookworm. She’s also super caring, cautious, and rational, and often lives in her head. Enjoy her interview. :)

Sarabrina: *comes in and shakes the interviewer’s hand before taking a seat* Hello.

Interviewer: Hello. *smiles* How are you?

Sarabrina: Doing well. How are you? *smooths out her skirt*

Interviewer: I’m good. Are you ready to get started?

Sarabrina: *nods*

Interviewer: What’s your name?

Sarabrina: Sarabrina Glen Elfbourne. Alary.

Interviewer: How old are you?

Sarabrina: Fifteen.

Interviewer: And you have five siblings?

Sarabrina: *nods* Including my foster brother, Arthur.

Interviewer: What’s your relationship like with each of them?

Sarabrina: *takes a deep breath and blows it out* Well, I’m decently close with most of them. Leafman’s pretty stand-offish so we don’t talk as much, but we do talk about Harry Potter sometimes. Arthur and I hang out the most often, I think; we tend to study together, and we’re often on the same wavelength so we come to each other to talk about stuff. Elk and I are pretty close; we tease each other a lot and I go to him either first or second to talk about stuff, depending on what it is. Saria is great; she’s super optimistic and fun, and I really enjoy hanging out with her. And then there’s Twilight. I don’t know her very well yet, but so far we’ve gotten along really well. We both like reading and astronomy and she’s really nice.

Interviewer: It’s great that you’re so close with your siblings. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Sarabrina: Introvert. Makes it hard to have so many siblings sometimes *chuckles*, but it’s fun.

Interviewer: What is your favorite food?

Sarabrina: Rye’s waffles are delicious.

Interviewer: Who’s Rye?

Sarabrina: Oh, my foster mom. Sorry.

Interviewer: It’s all right. *smiles* Do you have a favorite color?

Sarabrina: Midnight blue.

Interviewer: Do you prefer movies or books?

Sarabrina: Books! All the way.

Interviewer: What’s your favorite book?

Sarabrina: Oh no… Um… I really like The Phantom Tollbooth, Harry Potter, most of the classics… I don’t know. *laughs* I love so many.

Interviewer: *smiles* What’s your favorite animal?

Sarabrina: I like birds.

Interviewer: What are some of your hobbies?

Sarabrina: Reading, studying–both for school and on my own, stargazing, bird-watching, singing, playing piano, playing chess… That’s just off the top of my head. *chuckles*

Interviewer: What’s your favorite constellation?

Sarabrina: Ooh… Probably Centaurus. I just think that one’s cool.

Interviewer: Which of these is most important to you: kindness, intelligence, or bravery?

Sarabrina: Kindness.

Interviewer: And honesty or selflessness?

Sarabrina: Honesty.

Interviewer: Is there anything you can’t leave home without?

Sarabrina: My purse.

Interviewer: That was the last question. Thank you for your time. *smiles*

Sarabrina: Absolutely! Thank you. *gets up and shakes the interviewer’s hand before leaving*

The Imaginary Assistant Tag

Rules:

1. Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their blog (assistants won’t work for ungrateful bosses). I was tagged by Eden at The Happy Hedgehog, who is a lovely individual and a new blogger with a great sense of humor. Definitely go check out her blog. Oh, and thank you, Eden. :D

2. Link back to the creator of the tag. That would be the lovely Mariposa and Aberdeen over at Dino’s Digest!

3. Tag 5-10 bloggers who need assistants (and if they don’t need them, tag them anyway).

 

Questions:

Please answer the following questions so the author assistant agency can find the right assistant for you:

1. What type of creature/species would you like your assistant to be (human, animal, dragon, dinosaur, figment of your imagination, etc.) and why?

Hmm… I think I’d like a two-inch-tall humanoid. (The second option was a dragon about the size of a kitten, but eventually the humanoid won out.)

2. What do you want your assistant to look like?

He’ll be a cute little fellow with pointed ears, spiky red hair, a million freckles, and a mischievous smile.

Something like this, except less malicious. I don’t want my assistant murdering me in my sleep. (And yes, this guy could do it even if he was only two inches tall, I’m convinced.)

3. What qualities are you looking for in an assistant (responsible, lovable, exasperating, etc.)?

Witty, talkative, a little bit exasperating and with a penchant for friendly insults and making dares, but truly encouraging when it gets down to it.

4. What job(s) would your assistant be in charge of?

Goading me into getting work done, keeping me accountable, pricking my finger with his tiny dagger when I’ve been scrolling through Facebook for too long, and rearranging my desk so I can never find anything. (Seems rather counter-intuitive, don’t you think?)

5. What would you like your assistant to be named?

*taps chin* Let’s name him… Zeke. Zeke seems to fit.

6. What would you feed your assistant (candy, books, pickles, etc)?

Apples, and hot chocolate in a thimble. I might have to find a new stashing place for my chocolate, though, so he doesn’t go munching on it…

7. How would you pay your assistant and what benefits would you offer as compensation for their work?

He seems like the type of creature to like shiny things, so he can have all the earrings I never wear. As far as compensation, he’ll have housing in my largest desk drawer, plenty of hot chocolate, and my friendship and terrible jokes.

8. What special abilities would you like your assistant to have (i.e. ice powers to freeze writer’s block, super strength to break writer’s block, or super stupidity to stare at you while you’re having writer’s block)?

Writer’s block is made of wood, right? So he’ll have fire powers to burn it away. After he makes fun of me for a while for not being able to move a little block of wood off my desk.

9. Where would you like your assistant to be from (Jurassic Park, Narnia, your head)?

Aerwiar. He might be a particularly small variety of ridgerunner.

10. Will you solemnly swear that you will not fire your assistant in either sickness or in health, for richer for poorer, smarter or stupider, writing or not writing, for as long as you both shall live?

*raises hand* I solemnly swear I will not fire my assistant in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer, smarter or stupider, writing or not writing, for as long as we both shall live.

 

Nominees:

Allie at Of Rainy Days and Stardust Veins

Hallie Jenkins

Chelsea R.H. at An Ordinary Pen

Cassandra Hamm

Zoe at A Weirdo Who Writes

Character Interview: Elk Elfbourne

Last week I interviewed Leafman, one of two POV characters in my latest Half-Elves rewrite, and this week I’m interviewing his older brother and the other POV character, Elk. He’s been the oldest of his siblings for the past nine years, and he’s a natural leader. He does his best to be a good brother, but he has a tendency to overlook things or only see the surface of his siblings’ issues and fail to support them effectively. Still, he’s super compassionate and protective and loving and I really enjoy writing him. I hope you enjoy his interview. :)

Elk: *comes in and shakes hands with the interviewer* Hello.

Interviewer: Hello. How are you?

Elk: Doing well. How are you?

Interviewer: Doing fine. *gestures to the chair across from him* Have a seat. *takes his own*

Elk: *sits*

Interviewer: Are you ready to get started?

Elk: *nods*

Interviewer: What’s your name?

Elk: Elk Elfbourne… Alary.

Interviewer: How old are you?

Elk: Sixteen. I’ll be seventeen next month.

Interviewer: Do you have any siblings?

Elk: *nods* Four– five of them. I have a foster brother, Arthur; two younger sisters, Sarabrina and Saria; a younger brother, Leafman; and an older sister, Twilight.

Interviewer: What are your relationships like with them?

Elk: I’m pretty close with most of them. Except Leafman, who doesn’t let me close, and Twilight, who I didn’t remember until just a few days ago.

Interviewer: What led to you forgetting your sister?

Elk: My sister and my parents, actually. My siblings and I–Leafman, Saria, and Sarabrina–were apparently princes and princesses of a place called The Hylands, but we were sent to earth when we were younger so we’d be protected from a foreign king who wanted to kill us, or something like that. I’m not quite clear on the details, still, because it doesn’t really make sense to me. But anyway, we lost our memories when we went to earth and we’ve just been regaining bits and pieces since we got back.

Interviewer: Interesting. What are your parents like?

Elk: Laik is really cool; he’s a good king, he’s really warm and welcoming, he’s a good teacher. Zelda is pretty closed-off and quiet, so I don’t know much about her yet.

Interviewer: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Elk: Introvert.

Interviewer: What’s your favorite food?

Elk: KFC.

Interviewer: Mm. Good choice. Favorite color?

Elk: Dark green.

Interviewer: Do you prefer movies or books?

Elk: It depends. I think if I had to pick, I’d choose movies. But that might just be because they don’t have them in The Hylands. *chuckles*

Interviewer: What’s your favorite movie?

Elk: Rudy is really good.

Interviewer: Are you a football fan?

Elk: *nods* I’m the quarterback at my high school.

Interviewer: Do you play any other sports?

Elk: Nope. Just football.

Interviewer: What are some of your other hobbies?

Elk: Reading, watching movies, playing guitar, and occasionally singing.

Interviewer: Which of these is most important to you: kindness, intelligence, or bravery?

Elk: Bravery.

Interviewer: And honesty or selflessness?

Elk: Selflessness.

Interviewer: Is there anything you can’t leave home without?

Elk: My keys.

Interviewer: That was the last question. *smiles* Thank you for your time.

Elk: Absolutely. You too. *stands and shakes the interviewer’s hand before leaving*

5 Ways to Support Indie Authors

Do you have a friend or family member who’s an indie author? Have you ever wanted to support their work but been unsure how? Here are five ways you can help support them and their work.

1. Buy Their Book

This one’s fairly obvious, but if you want to support an indie author then the most direct way is to buy their book. You get a cool book, they get royalties and the satisfaction of knowing they’ve reached another reader (and also the imminent panic of “WHAT IF THEY DON’T LIKE IT???”, but that’s far outweighed by the joy of knowing their book is being read). It’s a win-win. And you’ll help produce their next book, because the knowledge that their stories aren’t going unread will encourage them to keep writing and the royalties will help fund their next publishing venture.

2. Review Their Book

Reviews mean so much to indie authors. Even if it’s just a few sentences, your honest opinion of the book helps to build the credibility of the author and inform potential readers whether or not the book is a good fit for them. Even if you didn’t like the book, an honest review is of huge value to the author and future readers alike. The most helpful places to post a review are on Amazon and Goodreads.

3. Recommend Their Book

Ultimately, an author’s main goal is to reach readers and entertain and impact them. You can help with this by spreading the word about their book. Do you have a niece who loves the genre your indie author friend writes? Do you just LOVE the book and recommend it for EVERYONE? Has your best friend been wanting a book with family dynamics just like the ones in your sister’s indie book? Tell your friend or sister or niece or co-worker about your indie’s book!

You can also request the book at your library and potentially open it up to discovery by a lot more readers.

4. Become a Patron

Tools like Patreon and Ko-fi allow users to support creators with monthly donations, sometimes as little as $1 per month. Patreon does this with reward tiers, so if you pledge above a certain amount each month you get rewards from the author in exchange. Rewards can be anywhere from regular writing updates to behind-the-scenes artwork to free books. Ko-fi has a set donation of $3, which is about the price of a coffee. On either platform, there’s generally a low-cost option that still makes a huge difference to the author and helps them fund their publishing projects.

Plug: I recently revitalized my Patreon page, and if you’re interested in supporting my writing projects and getting access to exclusive content, you can find it here.

5. Help Fund Their Projects

Sites like Kickstarter work similarly to Patreon with their reward tiers, but with a large one-time goal and deadline. If an author is aiming to raise funds to get their current project edited and formatted, for instance, they may start a Kickstarter campaign. This is generally a more expensive way to support an indie (though not always), but I promise you’ll have their eternal gratitude if you do have the resources to share (plus whatever awesome goodies they have as rewards).

What’s your favorite way to support indie authors? Who are a couple of your favorite indie authors?

Two-Year Blogiversary!

Scribes & Archers is turning two! At least the scheduled, halfway-professional version of Scribes & Archers; the amateur, sporadic blog known as Alpine Writer is just Scribes & Archers’s backstory. But anyway, to celebrate I’ll be answering your questions, reacting to your assumptions about me, and sharing some things I’ve learned, and what I’ve been up to lately. Enjoy!

Two(ish) things I’ve learned in the past year:

1. How to let go of people

I tend to get hyper-focused on people I think are cool and then only try to get to know them and overlook everyone else around me, which has led to a lot of frustration when I try to get to know those people but they don’t make any effort in return. I’ve learned over the past year to let go of people, both that I’ve already gotten to know who have left and that I haven’t really gotten to know but I’ve gotten hyper-focused on, and I’ve learned to see who I should turn my focus to instead and who’s willing to return the effort in building a friendship. I’m still not perfect at it, I still get hyper-focused on people, but I tend to be more aware of it and more able to ease back on it.

This isn’t quite related, but I’m going to put it here anyway: I’ve also become more aware of the need to let go of people in a more general sense and stop letting them take priority over my relationship with God. I’ve been aware for a while that I tend to consider God “not enough” when I’m lonely and I’m constantly striving to get people to notice me and talk to me, even though I’ve seen people disappoint me time and again, but I haven’t done much about it because I was rationalizing with myself that it’s okay to want an edifying community and to want human interaction. After all, it was not good for man to be alone. And it is okay, but not when you let it take the place of God, and at camp I finally saw consequences of those wrong priorities, and I’ve realized I need to make an effort to change them.

2. How to see the good in a situation

Over the past year I’ve gotten much better at seeing the good even in bad situations and not letting stress and discouragement totally overwhelm me. Obviously I’m not impervious to those things now, but I’ve regained some of the optimism and hope that I was discouraged about losing at the end of last year, and I think I’m less cynical than I was then. I’d like to think I also appreciate the good times and give God praise for them more consistently, but I’m not sure I’ve actually gotten to that point yet.

Questions:

Do you have a favorite TV show?

Probably Psych. It went the longest without me growing extremely frustrated with the characters or thinking the writing sucked or the story went in a bizarre direction. (Runners up are Chuck, which went in a million bizarre directions in season 5, and Once Upon a Time, which has a handful of extremely frustrating characters/storylines even though the writing is generally fantastic.)

What was the most recent book you bought?

I can’t tell you, because it was a birthday gift for one of my best friends and she’s probably reading this. The one before that, though, was Sounds of Deceit by Hannah Heath, which was FANTASTIC.

What three fictional characters would fit your personality?

TOO MANY OPTIONS. OVERLOAD. FORCED SHUTDOWN IN 3…2…

Just kidding. Ish. I’d say Scarlett Baine from Chasing Jupiter by Rachel Coker, Chasity from The Coronation by Livy Jarmusch, and… either Hermione Granger or Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter.

Do you bullet journal?

From March through July the answer to this was almost entirely “No,” but I just rebooted for August and so far I’ve been making use of my journal again, so yes. I started in August two years ago (the same time I developed a schedule for my blog), and I mostly use it to keep track of goals and habits and that sort of thing.

Do you find it more awkward to talk about your blog or your books?

Ummmm… Online, definitely my books. In person, probably still my books, because the people I know in person are less likely to read a blog than a book, so there’s less concern of “WAIT. SOMEONE’S ACTUALLY GOING TO READ SOMETHING I WROTE AND FORM AN OPINION ABOUT IT. O_O”

If you could have one of your books made into a movie/series, which one would you pick first?

The Dark War Trilogy. (Yes, I cheated and picked a series.) Except that would mean I have to actually get it finished…

Which of your characters would you most want to meet in real life?

Halder Eckard. I feel like we’d be really good friends, ’cause we’re both musical, we both have a bunch of younger siblings, faith is important to both of us… And he’s one of those people I’d really want as a friend, because he’s super encouraging and supportive and fun to be around and musical and I feel like we’d be able to encourage and edify each other and it would be great. (Plus, he and his family are basically a package deal, and the rest of his family is also awesome.)

If one of your characters had to haunt you for a week, which would you prefer it to be? Which one would you not want it to be?

I would NOT want it to be Pellan Shyle, under any circumstances. Even Clissa Hiara would be better than Pellan. Pellan’s fun to write, but he would not be fun to actually know. The dude’s creepy observant and psychopathic. No thank you.

As far as who I would want it to be… I feel like Madi Thompson would be fun. She’s the type who would do random little helpful things as a ghost, like catch a pencil that’s rolling off the desk, or stop the row of books on top of my bookcase from getting off balance and sliding off the end, or other stuff like that. She’d also ship me with every boy I ever talk to, but considering I don’t talk to a whole lot of guys in a month, much less a week, I don’t think that would be a significant problem. Besides, I basically deal with that from my two best friends anyway. ;)

What is one story you started and wish you had finished? One you finished and wish never existed?

I kind of wish my very first story had never existed. If I could have skipped to the campy fantasy I wrote next, that would be cool. My mystery story had a really creepy resolution, looking back, and it was just a total dumpster fire even leading up to that. XD The campy fantasy was a web of cliches and had the stupidest character names ever, but at least it wasn’t creepy. XD

One I wish I’d finished… Probably Scarlett and the Wolf. It was a Red Riding Hood retelling that actually had some pretty cool ideas in it, but I ran out of plot and stopped and the writing quality was so bad I never picked it back up. Eventually I’ll probably go back to it. But the base ideas were cool, and I kind of wish I’d finished and seen those to their end.

Which of your characters would you want to be when you grow up and why?

Probably Lauren Avery. She’s so optimistic and hopeful, and her faith is so strong, and she’s a great older sister, and she’s encouraging and selfless and just… really cool and very much like I’d like to be.

What is your favorite fandom?

Probably the Harry Potter fandom. I hadn’t actually read the Harry Potter series until May, but I’d seen so many of the fandom posts on Pinterest that it was already like I was part of the fandom. XD It’s overall a pretty positive fandom, and they have some really awesome theories that deepen the series even further.

Would you rather explain the premise of your WIP to a friend, a mere acquaintance, or a complete stranger?

A mere acquaintance. Explaining it to a stranger would be too weird, and explaining it to a friend is definitely too weird, but an acquaintance falls somewhere in the middle, where I don’t feel like it’s the end of the world if they don’t like my story but I also don’t feel like they have 0 interest in my book. (It’s a rather strange middle ground.)

Assumptions:

– You don’t talk about your writing that much off the Internet.

Mostly true. I don’t tend to bring it up, but I do have family and a choir director who will bring it up semi-regularly and make me want to go hide in a hole. XD

– You like instrumental tracks.

Mmm… I used to more than I do now. I still like them, I just get bored with them more easily for some reason now than I would have a year ago? So yes and no.

– You prefer dark chocolate over milk

Ding ding ding! Dark chocolate is the best, up to 70-75%. Milk chocolate comes in second, and white chocolate doesn’t deserve to be called chocolate. It’s creamy sugar. XP

– You are an only child (or at least the youngest)

BAHAHAHA. Sometimes I wish. But no, I am the oldest of five siblings.

– You once wrote a story about a princess kidnapped by a dragon

I don’t think so. However, I have written about princesses kidnapped by orcs, and in that story the protagonists had to fight multiple dragons before saving the princesses.

What I’ve been writing:

I realize that I often just throw posts at you referencing stories I’m writing and don’t actually give descriptions of those stories (unless I work on them for a NaNoWriMo event) or fill you in on where I am in the process or anything, so here’s a quick run-down of my current projects (and hopefully soon I’ll figure out a better way to keep you up-to-date on my constant cycling out of projects. XD)

1. The Half-Elves

I did give a basic description of this one in Leafman’s interview Wednesday, but here’s a clearer description in case you missed that (or just want a more detailed description).

The Half-Elves is a story I first wrote between the ages of 7 and 11 and then edited with my Abuela (grandmother) when I was 13. It’s about a set of four siblings, living on earth, who learn that they’re princes and princesses of a fantastical land called The Hylands but were sent away when a foreign king threatened their lives. Now they’re being called back, but the foreign king is still a threat to them and to their kingdom, and it’s up to them (and the rest of their family) to defend the kingdom, all while navigating new relationships with parents and a sister they don’t remember, as well as learning new royal responsibilities and important skills they never needed before.

I’m working on outlining The Half-Elves while I write it (outlining a chapter or two ahead of where I’ve written), and it’s been fun to delve into the familiar world and characters but also deepen them as I go.

2. Calligraphy Guild

Calligraphy Guild takes place in an Asian-inspired fantasy nation where calligraphers are held in high esteem and have the power–with a magic ink produced by ancient dragons–to rewrite time. This practice is forbidden, because it messes with the balance of the universe, and the ink is used to solidify events that have already occurred rather than to write new ones. Unfortunately, someone does use the ink to rewrite time and the ancient dragons in charge of protecting the universe’s balance come knocking on the door of the main character’s calligraphy guild looking for the culprit. The members of the guild have to find the traitor and deliver them to the ancient dragons for punishment, all while banished to the the jungle by the emperor so that the dragons won’t destroy anything more than the guild members.

The story also features miniature pet dragons, which are super awesome and adorable, and cool family dynamics (both birth-family and found-family).

I’ve been working on outlining this one, and I haven’t solidified the plot and subplots enough to start writing it yet, but I’m super excited to explore the world and the character relationships.

3. The Shadow Raven

I took a pretty long break from this story, but lately I’ve been dipping my toes back in and I’ve had a little bit of luck with it, so it’s my aim to make 10,000 words’ worth of progress on it by the end of this month. I think that should be manageable, if I can get myself to sit down and do it. (This is one I’ve already described in the past, so I’m not putting in a description here, but if you’re unfamiliar with it you can read the synopsis here.)

4. The Masked Captain

I drafted The Masked Captain between the beginning of May and end of June, and now it’s waiting for me to insert several scenes to fill it out thematically before I go through and edit it. I’ve been procrastinating. A lot. This is another one I’ve described in the past, and you can read about it here.

5. Short Stories

I’m working on a couple of short stories at the moment. One is for a writing contest and is a very fractured retelling of Cinderella. (heh. that’s a pun. I’m the only one who understands that pun.) The other is set in my desert fantasy region and is about a girl who’s straining against her mother’s traditionalism and ends up befriending a likely criminal from a neighboring district of her city.

What I’ve been reading:

I won’t bog you down with everything I’ve read this year, because it’s a lot (if you’re really curious, you can check out my Goodreads reading challenge page), but the highlights include

a 10-day binge-read of Harry Potter books 2-7
Sounds of Deceit by Hannah Heath
Mirage by Miranda Marie
Rosemarked and Umbertouched by Livia Blackburne
and The Monster in the Hollows by Andrew Peterson

I’m currently reading

Child of the Kaites by Beth Wangler
100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons
and The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson

I’d recommend everything on both lists, though I’d recommend Rosemarked and Umbertouched for an older (15-16+) audience and still advise you to read with caution due to a handful of small things (as far as I recall).

What have you been reading lately? What would you like to see on the blog over the next year? Do you bullet journal? Which of your characters would you most like to meet?

Best Birthday Ever Tag

Let it be said that Julia at Lit Aflame takes the cake for best birthday emails to her newsletter people ever. They’re stuffed full of her lovely humor, and they include… an entire blog tag? (And that’s just the first email.) If you had any doubt that Julia’s newsletter would be awesome, this should quell that fear. (But you should sign up because Julia’s awesome, not just because she’ll make you feel awesome on your birthday. ;) ) Anywho… there’s a blog tag. So I’m going to do said blog tag. Enjoy. :)

RULES:

~ Link back to the Creator of the tag (Done)

~ Answer the questions!

~ Have FUN!!!!

 

THE QUESTIONS:

How old are you turning?

Seventeen. I’ve actually felt seventeen for a while and almost told people I’m seventeen when they asked how old I am. Time and I have a strange relationship.

What’s your favorite thing about Birthdays?

CAKE. No, I’m kidding. They’re an excuse to actually get friends together to hang out, which isn’t something I get to do very often because it’s really difficult for my family to have people over. But this is a time there’s more push to work around that and figure something out, and I really enjoy getting to spend time with my handful of friends. :)

What’s your favorite Birthday meal?

I don’t really have one. *shrugs* Although last year I had an entire hobbit feast throughout the day, and that was pretty cool.

Favorite Birthday Dessert?

Cheesecake. Hands down.

What’s your favorite Birthday memory?

Two years ago, my sister was going to make me a blue cheesecake because we thought it would be cool, and I like blue, and for the Percy Jackson reference. When she was doing it, though, my mom suggested it would look better if she marbled it blue instead of doing the whole thing, but what ended up happening was all the coloring ended up bunched in the middle of the top of the cheesecake, which then browned over. It still tasted just fine, but it looked, to quote a friend of mine, “like moldy pizza.” And then we also forgot to get it out of the freezer early enough, so it was half frozen and murdered several of our plastic spoons, which spawned a whole conversation about spoonicide and spoon murder and fun stuff like that. ;) So that cake was very entertaining.

WAIT. NO. For my thirteenth birthday, my mom put together a book of memories and encouragement for me from friends and family, things like how they remembered my birth, or from when I was little, or what they most love about me… I cried. It was incredibly thoughtful and encouraging. I need to dig that out and dust it off and read it again.

Worst Birthday memory?

I don’t have a whole lot of bad birthday memories, so I’m returning to the cake (maybe I lied when I said that wasn’t actually my favorite part) and giving a not-so-bad bad memory. For my seventh birthday we had a tea party, and my mom made a (very impressive) tea-pot shaped cake, but she made it with fondant and the fondant was nasty, so we had to peel the cake out of the fondant before eating it. Which is a very minor inconvenience, looking back, but it sticks in my brain for some reason.

If you could do ANYTHING on your Birthday, what would you do?

I’d spend it going on miniature adventures and just hanging out with friends. Going out for Sweet Frog, exploring the local walking mall, playing board games, going swimming up to and after dark, and stargazing somewhere there isn’t as much light pollution and we can actually hunt out constellations.

If you could get anything for a gift, what would you ask for?

My own room, I think.

What’s your favorite Birthday gift you’ve ever gotten?

See #5b

What does a typical Birthday day look like for you?

Like any other day, with the addition of birthday messages and Facebook posts.

What are your plans for today?

Mostly writing stuff. I have five different writing projects represented on my to-do list for today. XD A short story I’m writing for a contest (which I may need to totally overhaul; we’ll see if the unlikable protagonist works or not), The Shadow Raven, Calligraphy Guild (Asian-inspired fantasy novel), Caithan (fantasy short story), and The Half-Elves.

Any plans for the future?  What do you want to do (as in career, etc)?

I want to be an author– *collective gasp* –and a youth music minister. Maybe also an editor; I waffle back and forth on that one due to imposter syndrome. XP As far as the next year, though, my biggest plans are to go on a New York trip with the other choir seniors, go to Realm Makers, go on an out-of-country graduation trip with my dad, and go to camp (probably this year as a counselor; I’m not sure what the cutoff is). And to graduate. And publishing Slander & Steel would be cool.

Choose three B-day resolutions!

1. Don’t slack off on the harder writing projects on the to-do list (mostly The Shadow Raven)

2. Enjoy today

3. Reread my birthday book thing

How do you want to see God work in your life?

Over the coming year? I’m hoping He’ll grow me in leadership; I was team leader at camp, and that was a great experience and a great challenge, but I know there are things I should have done better, and I’d like more opportunities to practice and get better.

I’d also like to be more confident and depend on God more; I tend to get caught up in what I can or can’t do at a given moment instead of asking God to help me where I struggle, and I tend to put a desire for human relationships above a desire to grow closer to God, so I’d like to get better at putting God first over the next year.

Character Interview: Leafman Elfbourne

Over the past few days I’ve been digging into planning a rewrite of The Half-Elves, which is a story I initially wrote between the ages of seven and eleven. It’s getting a massive overhaul, but it’s been a lot of fun to deepen the characters I’ve known for years and flesh them out to be more realistic. The story centers around four siblings–Elk, Sarabrina, Leafman, and Saria Elfbourne–who find out they’re originally from a fantastical place called The Hylands. The story follows Elk and Leafman most closely, and so far Leafman is my favorite in this version (even if he is a ball of angst). Without further ado, his interview.

Leafman: *enters the interview room and hesitantly takes a seat*

Interviewer: Hello. How are you?

Leafman: Fine.

Interviewer: Are you ready to get started?

Leafman: *nods*

Interviewer: What’s your name?

Leafman: Leafman Elfbourne. Or Alary, apparently.

Interviewer: How old are you?

Leafman: Twelve and a half.

Interviewer: Do you have any siblings?

Leafman: Two– Three sisters, a brother, and a foster brother.

Interviewer: Did you just have another sister?

Leafman: No. The new one is the oldest. *frowns*

Interviewer: You don’t like her much?

Leafman: She’s conceited and snobbish.

Interviewer: Do you like your other siblings?

Leafman: *shrugs* Elk’s always perfect at everything, Sarabrina’s constantly got her nose in a book… *softens* Saria’s all right.

Interviewer: What about your foster brother?

Leafman: *shrugs* He’s pretty much the same as Sarabrina. They’re both bookworms.

Interviewer: Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Leafman: Introvert.

Interviewer: What is your favorite food?

Leafman: Blueberry pancakes.

Interviewer: Favorite color?

Leafman: Black.

Interviewer: Do you prefer movies or books?

Leafman: Books.

Interviewer: What’s your favorite?

Leafman: I like the Harry Potter books. *mutters* Too bad I’ll never get to read the rest.

Interviewer: Which have you read?

Leafman: One through three.

Interviewer: *nods* Why can’t you read the rest?

Leafman: First, they haven’t been written yet. Second, I’m now stuck here in The Hylands and won’t ever see Earth again, so I won’t get to read them once they are written.

Interviewer: I’m sorry. What’s been most frustrating about moving?

Leafman: *stares for a minute* ‘Moving’? You think ‘moving’ covers this? It’s being completely uprooted from everything and plopped down into a new home, a new family, and the responsibility–apparently–of being a prince. *crosses arms*

Interviewer: Surely there are some good things in all that?

Leafman: *scowls a minute longer* Well, I get my own horse. And I don’t have to share a room with Arthur anymore. But everything else stinks.

Interviewer: What are some of your hobbies?

Leafman: Skateboarding–at least I got to bring that along–reading, and going on walks.

Interviewer: Which of these is most important to you: kindness, intelligence, or bravery?

Leafman: Is this a test?

Interviewer: *shakes head* Just a question.

Leafman: *watches the interviewer a minute, but apparently decides he’s telling the truth* Bravery, I guess.

Interviewer: How about honesty or selflessness?

Leafman: *shrugs* Honesty.

Interviewer: Is there anything you can’t leave home without?

Leafman: Not really.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time. *smiles*

Leafman: Sure. *leaves*

Return from Hiatus

Hello, everyone! I’m back from my hiatus (more or less, at least), and looking to prep for my two-year blogiversary post. I have three questions for you:

1. What do YOU want to see in my two-year blogiversary post?

2. What are your assumptions about me? (FYI, I’m very hard to offend, so don’t be shy.)

3. Do you have any questions about me, my writing, the blog, etc. that you’d like me to answer?

I want to make the post fun for you, so please let me know down in the comments what you’d like to see. :)

Hiatus Notice

Due to a hectic schedule, I haven’t managed to post according to schedule for the past three weeks, and since my schedule is just going to get more hectic going into July I’ve decided to take an official summer hiatus. I’ll still be sending out my newsletters every other week, so if you’re on the list you won’t be completely out of the loop. (If you’re not subscribed and would like to be, you can sign up via the form on the right. Just be sure to check off “Reader,” “Writer,” or both so I know which newsletter(s) should go to you.)

I’ll be back at the beginning of August, just in time for my two-year blog anniversary, and I’ll be doing some special stuff for that. I’m thinking primarily of doing a Q&A and answering your assumptions about me. I’ve been curious about the assumptions thing for as long as it’s been a trend, but I haven’t done it yet mostly because it is a trend (and also I wasn’t sure if you’d be annoyed to see yet another assumptions post XD), but I’d really like to hear your assumptions. So if you’d like you can go ahead and comment on this post with questions and assumptions, and I’ll answer them in my blogiversary post, and I’ll probably ask for more near the end of July, in case not everyone gets to it now.

Also, I’m writing for a group blog called Masterful Manuscripts now and I’ll put up about three posts there between now and the end of my hiatus, so you can continue to get writing tips, not only from me but also from a group of other talented authors, over the summer.

Have a great summer!