The Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award

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authors, autumn, award, baroness orczy, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, blogging, captain america: the first avenger, dee henderson, disney, dreamworks, editor, fall, fall break (finally!), frozen, irene hannon, joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat, louisa may alcott, madeleine l'engle, pixar, prince of egypt, roleplaying, sewing, singing in the rain, star wars, star wars rebels, story dynamics, the clone wars, writer, writing

I have been awarded the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award by Robyn Hoode of Spiral Bound… Thank you, Robyn! 🙂

Okay, the rules are to show the icon on your blog, answer questions, make up new questions, nominate bloggers, and notify them of the nomination. (It isn’t exactly fair to them if you expect them to just read your blog and see, “Oh, I got nominated!” A lot of us are really busy people, so it takes a while for us to get back and realize that we were nominated, if you don’t comment on our blogs to tell us. PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT pointing fingers at anyone. I’m just making an observation about something, because the last two times I got nominated no one commented to tell me that I had been. Don’t worry about forgetting if you did nominate me and don’t remember if you notified me or not, because you probably did, but if you haven’t seen your award up on this blog please comment and tell me and I’ll do my best to respond to the nominations in a timely manner. 😉 Don’t loose any sleep about it, just do your best to notify people of nominations, and no one will hate you if you forget, and the whole world will go a lot smoother. 😉 )

1. What is your favorite musical? Ooh, hard to say. I’m bouncing between Prince of Egypt, Singing in the Rain, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. 😉 Partly because the latter was the first and only real musical I’ve seen live. 😉

2. If you could guest star in any TV show, which show and who would you be? Any TV show? Including ones that have stopped running? Well, I have a lot, but I’ll have to pick three… BBC’s Merlin as an assassin sent to kill Arthur but who instead winds up siding with Merlin against a bigger threat (no romance, because that’s overdone!), Star Wars: The Clone Wars and/or Star Wars: Rebels as a Jedi (or maybe a Mandalorian, just because 🙂 ). I’d also like to be on BBC Sherlock, but I have no idea what I’d be doing there. 😛

3. Do you have a favorite number? I don’t know… Nine seems like a nice round number. For some reason, twenty-seven doesn’t seem nearly as perfect. But I also like the smaller prime numbers, just because they’re interesting…

4. What is your favorite thing about autumn? I don’t know. Probably the beautiful color of the leaves (and jumping in the piles). Or the hot beverages–wassail (spiced hot apple cider) is the best!

5. What’s your favorite girly thing to do with your sister/female cousin/best friend? Umm… I don’t know. Sewing projects. Sitting down to watch a movie and then discuss it. (I know. Not very girly.) Roleplaying. (As a boy, occasionally–so again, not very girly!)

6. Best movie you’ve seen this year? So far? At the moment, I rather think that that would be Captain America: The First Avenger. I haven’t seen many movies for the first time this year, and I was rather underwhelmed by Frozen, after all those stupid spoilers.

7. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? Wow… I don’t know. I might change it to Erin (as Erin is not on my birth certificate, if you were wondering :-P) I don’t really plan on saying here what I would like to use as a pseudonym, as that could be–could be–personal information. As to why I go by Erin online, it’s a long story. 😉 If you want to hear it, I suppose I could post about that… which should tell you just how bored I am and how low I am inspiration-wise.

8. How do you feel about chick-flicks? Not much into them. Don’t know much about them. That’s all.

9. GIFs? I like them, but I don’t use them much. (Oh well!) The first time I encountered a gif was over on the Merlin Wiki back in 2013, and I was a bit amazed at first–it’s a moving picture (minus the sound), after all!

10. Favorite female author? I know I’m probably going to have a bunch of angry people on my hands, but Madeleine L’Engle is my absolute favorite female author. Baroness Orczy is a close runner-up. I also like Dee Henderson and Irene Hannon. I haven’t been quite as “in” to Louisa May Alcott as some others… yeah. Rather limited, I know.

Now, for my questions!

1. How many times in a day do you look things up online, on average?
2. What is the strangest thing you have ever said to anyone?
3. Since my dad is having us watch The Avengers and all the movies leading up to them… who’s your favorite Avenger? 😉
4. Which Avenger are you most like, in your opinion? In your friends’ opinions?
5. If you had to pick one–just one–fictional character to be caught with in the middle of a natural disaster (or a nuclear war, take your pick) who would you choose?
6. Oddest thing you’ve sung in the shower?
7. What is the biggest thing you’ve had malfunction about your account or blog? (Mine is the elusive “like” button which I have often complained about.)
8. Favorite kind of fruit?
9. What book/movie/poem/short story has made the biggest impact on you lately?
10. And, last but not least, what was the funniest thing you read recently? Please share! 😉

Okay, so now I need to nominate people… let’s see…

Tara Therese (check out her new… well, relatively new, site! 😉 )

Miko (because she just nominated me, and so I can’t nominate her back on the other award reception post I’m working on.)

PinkDoughnuts15, because Winnie the Pooh, and relatability as well. 😉

Rachel Carerra, because awesome stories!

Portergirl, even though she might not accept the nomination, just to point more people to her awesome blog! 😉

Rayne Speryll of Writing in Rivendell, just because. 😉

I was probably going to nominate a bunch of other people, but oh well… I can’t remember half of who I wanted to nominate. *sigh* I’m trying to nominate mostly people whom I haven’t before, but one day after I receive the award myself, everything goes out the window. As I said, oh well. 😛

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Sunshine Award, Iteration Two

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a swiftly tilting planet, a wind in the door, award, blogging, brian jacques, dee henderson, dragons, gardening, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, ranger's apprentice, story dynamics, tea vs. coffee, time quintet

Once more, I have been awarded the Sunshine Award, this time by Robyn Hoode. Thanks, Robyn!

Now, to answer the questions…

1.What is your earliest memory? I think it is either going to the local Pumpkin Patch with my brother (who was a baby at the time) or demanding that my mother tell me a story.

2. What’s your favorite color? Green. And burgundy. But mostly green… dark forest green. 😉

3. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I think the best gift I was ever given was two of the five books in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet. (The books were A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.) Though I didn’t know it back then, those same books would spring-board both my fantasy and science fiction writing forward and help develop my imagination. Other than that, it was probably the time I received a camping stove toy as a child, or when I got the Lord of the Rings trilogy (though that was more of a reward for completing schoolwork on time.)

4. Who is your current (living) favorite author? Oh, wow. This is hard… Back before the late Brian Jacques passed away, I would have said him right off the bat… but I think that it’s really a tie between Dee Henderson (suspense/Christian/romance is her specialty; I mostly read it for the Christian and suspense bit 😛 ) and John Flanagan at the moment… *murmurs softly* Most of my favorite authors are dead… *hangs head*

5. Whatcha readin’ now? Right now? I’m working my way through the Ranger’s Apprentice series, and re-reading the books by Madeleine L’Engle mentioned above. 😉 Also, for new reading… lots and lots of non-fiction. :-S

Now, for my questions…

1. What is your favorite writing spot?
2. Tea or coffee?
3. Do you prefer to write at a certain time or in a certain kind of weather? (Shut up, Iris, I know you do…. That was the Halt moment of the day, by the way. ;-P )
4. Do you have a hard time coming up with these questions, too?
5. Are there any plants on the deck at the moment? (If so, what kind?)

And I hereby nominate Tara Therese, since she gave me the Scribbler Award and I really enjoy her blogging! 🙂

I would like to nominate PinkDoughnuts15, because her(?) posts make me laugh, and honestly, I have been there so many times.

Miko, because of short stories and general creepiness. 😛 And very good advice to boot. And she’s in college too!

IcedMocha34, because there was a push back when I first began blogging, and she gave it to me. 🙂

Erin, over at Laughing at Live Dragons, because Dragons!!!

I was going to nominate some other people, but now I can’t remember who they were. Besides, I don’t want to throw a second nomination at people I just nominated already… I’m sorry. I would like to apologize to everyone who would have received a blog award but for Erin’s memory blankness. (There’s always next time, right???)

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

The Scribbler Award

Tags

award, characters, editing, editor, kysherin, muse, selay'uu, story dynamics, writer, writing

I was awarded this one the same day as the Sunshine Award, but I decided to space them out a bit. 😉 I was awarded by Tara Therese; thanks, Tara! 🙂

So, the rules are to link to your favorite writing blog, share your favorite writing tip, or do both, and then pass the award along to up to five more people. (I’m doing both.) My best hint for writing would have to be to do it with a friend. It helps. My other favorite tip is that you should never, never, trust a typo turkey, no matter how many interesting names the misspellings crank out. Sooner or later it WILL betray you… Mostly kidding. Really, I think that when you’re telling a story, you should know your characters. (Sometimes it helps to get friends and roleplay random, even mundane, things as your characters. Even when you don’t think they’re getting it right, it helps; you’ll know where the pitfalls are and how to avoid them. Maybe even have conversations with your characters in your head… which is how Selay’uu got started, by the way.) It’s the characters who drive the story and keep your readers reading. They’re there. Use them to the best advantage. Know them well. Be true to your characters, and they will never betray you.

Since I awarded five people yesterday, I’m going to try nominating five different people today, so the awards get spread around more. Sound fair? 🙂

And now, I wish to nominate:

Proverbs31teen, because superheros and Bible trivia at one site and writing stuff at another! ;-D Though technically, as this is a writing award, I suppose I’ll notify her at her writing blog… 😛

PorterGirl, because I haven’t ever nominated her before.

Professor V.J. Duke, because of punchiness and dadblamery! X-D

Sarah, because she posts awesome lists!

Bessie Lark (whose blog is now read by invitation only, so maybe you’ll be able to ask her permission in the comments? 😉 ), because she’s an awesome writer and knows how I feel when I complain about an unruly muse (hers ships Kiliel, while she doesn’t–Kysherin ships Obidala, and I don’t, mainly because except in certain majorly alternate universes it’s pretty unrealistic to me. Besides, I like writing Obi-Wan for the character, not for any romance or shipping. 😉 My OTP, for those who are wondering, is most likely Arthur/Gwen in BBC Merlin, because they’re adorable and so sweet together, and Gwen knows how to put Arthur in his place when he’s being obnoxious! X-P)

Congratulations, everyone. 😀

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Pirates and Writers and Bedsocks, Oh My!: The Sunshine Award

Tags

a tale of two cities, arthur ransome, award, baroness emma orczy, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, being christian, bible, blogging, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, catholic culture, charles dickens, christianity, college, doctor who, g.a. henty, humor, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, randomness, ranger's apprentice, redwall, robert louis stevenson, roman catholic, sherlock holmes, sir arthur conan doyle, small rants, space trilogy, star trek, star wars, swallows and amazons, the chronicles of narnia, the scarlet pimpernel, time quintet, treasure island, who framed roger rabbit

I hope you are having a bright and happy day. Because this is a bright and happy picture. And I finally figured out how to insert a picture into a post without downloading it onto my computer! Yay me!

Anyway, Proverbs31teen has awarded me with the Sunshine Blog Award. Which is rather unexpected, ’cause the only award I’ve ever received before was the Liebster. (Four or five times, now. I’ve lost count. :-P) For this one, the rules are rather simple. Five facts about you, answering five questions, setting up five more questions, and nominating five other bloggers. From what I can tell, you don’t have to really nominate people with a certain number or less or more than a certain number of followers for this one, so this should be much easier. *crosses fingers, hoping she didn’t just jinx herself*

First of all, the five facts:

1. I snarked above, but unless your computer is not functioning correctly you probably can’t see it. MWAHAHAHAHAH.
2. Apparently my sense of humor is somewhat impaired; my dad thinks Who Framed Roger Rabbit is hilarious and I don’t even find it remotely funny. (All joking aside, if you don’t want your childhood permanently ruined and your innocence prematurely stolen, do not watch that movie! It is evil incarnate!)
3. Hot dogs, bratwurst, and fish fillets all taste different when eaten on a bun. Which raises the question, how much of the taste of your hot dog is the actual hot dog, and how much of it is the disgusting stuff they bake into the bun (and in the hot dog, too, if you bought the cheap ones)?
4. Apparently you have to send your information into this college’s website several times before it accepts you… *sigh*
5. As you can probably tell, my life is defined by job searching and college prep at this point.

And now, to answer the five questions…

1. You’ve got one day left of your life. What would you want to do? I think I would like to go to Mass with all my friends, and maybe meet a few of the people I know on the Internet whom I’ve never met in real life, and spend the rest of the day with my family.
2. Pirates or ninjas, and why? I’m told this is a “thing” now… I’m going with Sherlock on this one. Pirates, I think. Mainly because I mostly don’t know about ninjas, except that they make really popular Halloween costumes, and my only experience of ninjas is really from “Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu” (GO ZANE!), which is probably kind of sad, come to think of it… Besides, on the side of the pirates, I’m a big fan of Robert Louis Stevenson.
3. If you were turned into one of the Avengers, which one would you be most like? Some people I’ve talked to said Captain America. Others said Bruce Banner. I have never seen the Avengers movie, so I don’t really know.
4. What are your top three favorite Bible characters, and why? Oooh, John the Baptist, Moses, and Paul. (Our Lord TOTALLY goes without saying! And the actual apostles!!!) I’m sticking with more “secondary” characters, though, because, well, these people didn’t get much hype compared to the main players. Anyway, all three of them were amazing men who were rather outspoken but very courageous, and each had a message to get out. Moses is awesome because he’s a prefigurement of Christ, John got beheaded for telling Herod “no, you can’t marry your brother’s wife!” (and he also was preparing the world for Christ’s coming!), and Paul was a tireless preacher of the Gospel. (What is it with me and people who were beheaded? *smacks head against wall* Smooth, Erin, real smooth…)
5. (I’m going to be evil, too) What is your favorite book? Do you mean right-now-favorite, long-time favorites, or all-time favorites? (I have a lot…) Of course, the Bible goes without saying. 😉 For all-time favorites (drum roll, please!) it’s a tie between C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle and Lord of the Rings. I love The Last Battle for its beauty, apocalyptic feel, the resonances with the Book of Revelation (or Apocalypse, which is a totally better name in my opinion!) For shortness’ sake, though, I normally just say “LOTR FOREVAR!” and leave it at that. Probably ’cause LotR has about ten times as many pages… Long-time favorites? All the Sherlock Holmes books, Baroness Emma Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel and its sequels (and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, because I can’t very well forget Sydney Carton when we’re in the French Revolution, can I?!),  Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons books, Brian Jacques’ Redwall (and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, which probably would top this list if I were seriously counting,) C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy and Chronicles of Narnia (in fact, anything by Lewis), Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet (I think that I like Madeleine L’Engle’s stuff because it reminded me of Lewis, and I have always loved Lewis), and the works of G.A. Henty (though sometimes I just want to re-write the endings because it would have been TOTALLY better with a different happily-ever-after GAH!). For my right-now-absolute-favorite? John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series. (YAY GILAN! AND HALT! AND WILL!!!) What can I say? I couldn’t live without books…

Finally, for my five questions:

1. If you had to choose between the Doctor, Sherlock, Merlin, Luke Skywalker, Matthias, Jim Hawkins, and Sir Percy Blakeney to go on an unexpected and otherwise completely unpredictable adventure with, who would you choose?
2. Who would you be more likely to say “You’re weird!” (complete with exclamation point) to: Obi-Wan, Anakin, Sherlock, Watson, the Doctor, Merlin, or Halt? (If you would be most likely to say “You’re weird!” to Halt, then you have my undying respect. Either you are very brave, or just plain crazy.)
3. Do you wear socks to sleep in? (You’d better bet your fluffy bedsocks you do, young’un, wot?!)
4. What is the best plot you’ve ever had that originated in a dream? (Yes, a sleeping dream. Daydreams don’t qualify. Sorry, Sir Percy.)
5. Have you ever been to Boston in the fall?

And now, I hereby wish to nominate:

Iris, because she’s awesome and encouraging and clever and reckless and everything a best friend forever should be!

Liam, because I couldn’t hit him with any Liebster awards. >:-D (If you were wondering about exactly how many times I’ve received the Liebster award, now, it’s four.)

Rachel Carrerra, because her work is amazing!

Shiekiah, because she deserves it and has written amazing stuff and draws amazing art and I really wanted to say thank-you-for-the-awesome-Bound-to-the-Flame-commissions 😉

Coruscantbookshelf (aka Rosalie), because she got me started blogging in the first place. 🙂

Thanks for reading this post all the way to the end. Thanks for nominating me, Proverbs31teen! Have a great day, everyone, and God Bless!

Liebster Award: Once again…

Tags

a wind in the door, award, camp nanowrimo july 2014, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, life, long rants, madeleine l'engle, nanowrimo, national novel writing month, secret life, small rants, star wars

Once again, I have been nominated for a Liebster award, this time by Proverbs31teen, over at The World of the Writer. (See, I finally did it! For the fourth time in the history of this blog, actually!) You can read about the previous Liebster nominations here and here.

And now, to answer the questions…

1. Why did you start your blog? Has your reason changed since then? I started this blog mainly for the sake of sharing my writing and connecting with other writers. I occasionally use this blog to vent, but yes, this is primarily a writing blog still.
2. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a would chuck could chuck wood? (No fair Googling!!! There’s a real answer, though.) The same amount of woodchucks Chuck Norris would chuck, if Chuck Norris was chucking woodchucks. (My brother told me this years ago.) 😛 But really, though, as much wood a woodchuck cared to chuck, I suppose. 😛
3. If you could travel to any fictional world, which one would you go to? Probably to either Middle-Earth or Narnia. I wouldn’t want to land in the middle of the Empire era, were I to go to the galaxy far, far away. I love democracy far too much. 😛
4. If you could meet with any person (real, past or present) for coffee, who would you meet with? Ooooh… Does it have to be just one!? I definitely would want to meet Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. Perhaps Napoleon Bonaparte, I don’t know. And now we get to the lesser known historical figures. I would like to meet Gabriel Garcia Moreno (president of Ecuador from 1859-1865 and 1861-1875), because the man was a genius (he actually balanced a horrible budget and helped to move Ecuador from dictatorship to democracy, among other things!), Jacques Cathelineau (you guys all know about my obsession with the Vendee rebellion by now, probably,) because he was an amazing leader, and Jose Luis Escriva. (If you don’t know about Jose Luis, then you need to go look him up, RIGHT NOW!!!)
5. If you could meet with any fictional character, who would you want to meet? Martin the Warrior and the Murry family (from A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels.)
6. Which country do you (or would you) most want to visit? It’s a tie between the UK, New Zealand, Mexico, and Russia. (Though, if I had to choose, I probably wouldn’t go to Russia.)
7. Mountains, desert, or beach? Mountains. That was easy. 😛
8. What’s your favorite genre to read? To write in? To read, I love family dramas, mystery, adventure, suspense, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, and dystopian best. I don’t care much for romance, especially romance with no side plots. To write, I have mostly written sci-fi and fantasy so far, with dystopian flavor and the occasional magic. I’m testing out suspense, though, with a little mystery on the side.
9. What’s your all-time favorite movie? Oh, War of the Vendee, hands down. With Courageous and Fireproof a close second and third.
10. What is your favorite movie quote? Book quote? Movies: “‘You brought the girls?’ ‘Yes! Er, was that wrong?'” (Gru and Nefario, Despicable Me), “So this is how liberty dies–with thunderous applause.” (Padme Amidala, Revenge of the Sith. Have not seen the movie, but still love the quote.) Books: “So do all who live to see such times, Frodo Baggins, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that has been given us.” (Gandalf, The Lord of the Rings.)
11. Which name would you rather have: (for girls) Gertrude or Beatrice, and (for guys) Ernest or Humphrey? Beatrice. Call it a result of 1. too much Hogan’s Heroes, and 2. enjoying the works of Beatrice Potter.

Now, for the eleven facts…

1. I dislike paperwork. Strongly.
2. I dislike being coerced into certain aspects of Raya-care (such as bathroom breaks and showers) nearly as much.
3. I love being outdoors.
4. I want to go camping this summer.
5. I have no idea who to nominate.
6. I secretly time travel with unicorns.
7. I can’t think of a fact number seven.
8. Where did I put my notebook, again? I can be very forgetful.
9. I normally procrastinate horribly when tagged or nominated for awards. (Sorry, people. Anyway, forewarned is forearmed!)
10. The last statement was a pun. (If a droid told Grievous, “Kenobi is coming,” Grevious would split his two arms apart each into two halves, because forewarned is four-armed. X-P)
11. I love puns. (Sometimes even horrible ones like that.)

Well, that’s all for this Award acceptance. Seeing as it’s the middle of Camp Nanowrimo, and I’m behind in my novel, I can’t take the time to nominate anyone (besides, I don’t know who I’d nominate… I can’t think of anyone whom I haven’t already nominated) or come up with any questions, except for one:

What does the fox say?!

Bwahahahaaha!

Answer in the comments or on your own blogs, I don’t care. But just make sure to link me back to your answers if they’re blogged. ;-P The song is obnoxious, but the question messes with people’s heads. >:-D

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Liebster Award (Again!)

Tags

about me, award, bbc merlin, brave, disney, frozen, j.r.r. tolkien, long rants, lord of the rings, more boring stuff about me, pixar, rambling musings, things that i didn't particularly think would be very interesting, wreck-it ralph

Hey, look, guys! I finally got around to answering that third Liebster nomination! Yay me!

For those who only just dropped by, I was nominated by both coruscantbookshelf and Shiekah at once. (Or rather, coruscantbookshelf nominated both myself and Sheikah, and then Sheikah got to it first and nominated me again. :-P) So, this was my third nomination in May but I’ve been insanely busy and only just got around to it.

Okay, so I was nominated by IcedMocha34 this time. Here goes…

1) What is the one thing about yourself you like best? Well… that’s hard to say. As a matter of fact, I know the things I don’t like about myself better than the ones which I do. Thinking about it… I think that my best ability is to recognize when I am wrong.

2) What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about? Lots of things. Social injustice is probably the least serious on the list. Oddly enough, death is not on it. I can laugh at death. I can not laugh, however, at the Final Judgement or Hell. Things like politics are serious, but I normally express my opinion by making fun of certain ideas.

3) Which song always makes you sad? Happy? Feel like dancing? The first song that makes me cry that comes to mind is “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof, and the second would have to be “Butterfly Kisses.” One happy song is “Now and For Always” from the Lord of the Rings musical. (Yes, there is a musical! It’s probably my favorite music of all time, and it’s not as bad as you might think, though, naturally, it’s not Howard Shore.) It is so bittersweet and beautiful it always brings me a mile. Then there’s “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Tarzan. My best dancing song is also from the Lord of the Rings musical: “Cat and Moon.” It’s hilarious, and a whole lot of fun. Then there’s “The Road Goes On,” from the same musical, “Fireflies” by Owl City, and anything by Heather Dale (especially “Mordred’s Lullaby”, which I am actually choreographing a dance to.)

4) What’s one of your favorite habits you have? Lighting candles as I write. I write fantasy, so lighting candles helps me get into contact with those fantasy worlds better. It’s uplifting, as well.

5) Who is your hero and why? I think my hero–not counting fictional characters–would have to be Mother Theresa. She was so compassionate! Close runners-up are all the enlisted men in the military. Remember our troops! Because freedom isn’t free!!!

6) Would you kill an innocent person if you thought it might mean saving a dozen other people? I don’t think I would. I’ve read too many stories and seen too many movies where a morally ambiguous act such as that causes horrible repercussions. (Case in point: Merlin’s distrust of Mordred, who didn’t turn evil until his girlfriend died, which was partially Merlin’s fault, in the BBC show Merlin.) I wouldn’t mistreat for something that they might do, that had not happened yet. I mean, some of my more hard-core, ruthless characters might do it if they were in those circumstances, but I would not.

7) Would you rather be hated or forgotten? I think I’d rather be hated. Maybe it’s my thing for needing attention. Besides, in the practical world, I don’t think that if I keep on doing my best to be a good person, I can’t be hated by everyone!

8) If someone were to make a movie about your life, who would you hope would play you? Oh. Yikes. Well, if I was a boy, I’d say Paul Schofield, but since I’m a girl… oooh… maybe Kate Blanchett? Or… well, Katie McGrath looks most like me… but I think that the person best suited to play me would actually be whoever played Calhoun from Wreck-it Ralph, or whoever it is plays Bo-Katan in the Clone Wars, or the actress who plays Adi Gallia on the same show. (I can’t remember any of their names, sorry.) “Calhoun” seems like a versatile actor, even though I’ve only seen her playing the hard-core sergeant; so do all the others. I don’t know, really.

9) What flavor gummy bear is your favorite? So there are easy questions on this list… ;-P Lemon.

10) What is “the usual” when you go to Starbucks? I don’t go to Starbucks… but the closest thing would have to be hot cocoa.

11) Why do you write and how does it make you feel when you’re scribbling furiously in your favorite notebook with your favorite pen? I write because it helps me to stay sane. I write because I enjoy it. I write because I have stories to tell. I write because I have to. (Was that a question? :-P)

All right, now for eleven facts about me:

1. I love, love, love Merlin! Everything Merlin! And young Mordred is adorable!

2. I watched Frozen last night and LOVED IT!, but except for the scene where Hans’ sword breaks toward the end of the movie nothing impressed me too much because everyone was so hell-bent on giving me spoilers. (Darn you, pop culture.) It wasn’t that fresh and real and new as it would have been if it had been like “Wreck-it Ralph” and I could’ve avoided all the hype. So one of the movies I was most looking forward to seeing was ruined by the fact that I had heard so much about it. (So, *Jedi Mind Trick* You will not give me spoilers about the Hobbit movies. I’m hoping to actually enjoy those.)

3. I hate spoilers. I hate people who don’t alert before they give spoilers even more.

4. This puts my younger sister Jewel on the list of people whom I am currently mad at because she was “in” on all the hype and searching all the songs on YouTube. It would’ve been better if I could have kept it down to “Let it Go”, but instead I’d heard ALL the songs before and it was almost dull as a result.

5. I am probably going to go cry, read Tolkien, and watch Merlin clips on YouTube to try and compensate for my extreme disappointment.

6. I probably won’t write a critique of Frozen for a while, until I’ve seen it a couple more times.

7.  My baby sister is currently sitting under my chair and trying to lick my feet. Ewww.

8. For some reason, I don’t like anything cherry flavored, or bright red. Duller reds look less artificial. Real cherries, though… mmm.

9. I am allergic to bananas, cantaloupe, and blueberries, unless they are in baked goods. (Bananas and blueberries, of course. Really, who would eat cantaloupe in baked goods!?) This makes buffets awkward for me. I am also allergic to popcorn.

10. I don’t particularly like root beer. Perhaps the cherry-flavoring and root beer dislike is genetic?

11. I should have done this much earlier.

Now, for my eleven questions:

1. Why do you blog? (It’s always on there, and who am I to break tradition?)

2. What do you think of every night to help you go to sleep?

3. What sorts of movies do you dislike? (And don’t just say violent, gory ones, since that’s a given. Or should be.)

4. Do you still keep your imaginary friends around? (Most writers say yes.) If so, what are they like?

5. Do you have imaginary friends who seem to have lives and minds of their own? What are their personalities like?

6. Do you have imaginary friends who sit around and comment as you write? What are their names?

7. Do you have a designated “Muse”? (I have Kysherin.)

8. What outside forces and events have had the greatest impact on your outlook?

9. Do you have a place (or activity) that helps you think better? When, what, and where?

10. What are your favorite songs to work to?

11. What is the worst attack of plot bunnies you’ve ever had?

I hereby nominate coruscantbookshelf and Shiekah (again) because it’s not a tag-back if someone else tagged you in the interim (Hah!), and evenstararwen2 because she’s sweet and I love her blog about her adventures with her brothers–I always laugh so hard when I hear about Elladan and Elrohir’s antics!–and her father. Oh, and I have an extra question for her:

12. Why does everyone always call Elladan and Elrohir in that order? Is Elladan older?

Thanks for reading my boring post about myself, everyone, and I hope you enjoyed it–as far as something that’s about me and not by me can be enjoyable. ;-P Oh, and for those who were wondering… I have 103 followers now. Yaaaay!

Liebster Award (Awarded twice in two days… I don’t know if anyone else understands…)

Tags

author, award, barbie, barbie is evil, baronness emma orczy, blogging, c.s. forester, c.s. lewis, dumas, g.a. henty, i have probably been misspelling sheikah's name all along :-p, i'll stop adding tags now lest i add too many, i've added too many tags already, j.r.r. tolkien, merlin, nanowrimo, rule of elevens, sherwood pictures, star trek, star wars, the lord of the rings, the three musketeers, the war of the vendee, writing

Rule of Elevens!!! 😛

Okay, so I was awarded the Liebster Award first of all by coruscantbookshelf (aka Rosalie, or Nasriel if you prefer) of Against the Shadows, and then again, by Sheikiah, of Dark Link/Light Link. And I have no idea who else to award it to, unless it’s okay to award to people on Blogspot? If so, please tell me and I’ll do so. (On second thoughts, I’ll do it anyway. :-P) And I have no idea how many followers most of the bloggers I know have, so forgive me if I accidentally award someone who has more than a thousand.

I guess that since I was awarded twice, I have to answer TWO sets of questions. Okay, here goes.

Since Rosalie awarded me first, I’ll answer her questions first.

1. Which do you prefer: Old or New Republic, and why? (That’s Episodes I-III and IV-VI respectively, for the old people out there.) I think I prefer the Old Republic… mainly because I have only read Jedi Apprentice and Clone Wars-era Expanded Universe, and I don’t quite care for the angle they took the post-Return of the Jedi stories, mostly because (as I’ve said before) I am a biased supporter of the celibacy requirement for the Jedi, just because it made it cool and more like an actual religious order to me. Also I am a history nut. 😛 Which is the probable reason for my bigoted preference… 😛 Also, the prequels had Obi-Wan! 😛 And the “sequels” aren’t likely to! 😛

2. Which do you prefer: Old or New Testament, and why? Oooh… this is a tough one. I don’t think I have a preference. Though I do love Luke and John’s lyrical and symbolic styles, respectively…

3. Who is your favorite actor/actress absolutely of all time? I’m having a hard time choosing. I don’t think I can pick just one. Because, honestly, I’ve seen people who are really good, but I have to say that Paul Reilly, who isn’t even professional, and Alex Kendrick, who is really a minister. Paul Reilly is Jacques Cathelineau in The War of the Vendee from Navis Pictures, and Alex Kendrick plays the protagonists in all the Sherwood Pictures films except for Fireproof. But professional actors… I’m going with Liam Neeson (no surprise there,) Ewan McGregor, and Colin Morgan. (Because the Jedi team of The Phantom Menace was awesome, and Colin Morgan is just brilliant as the title character of Merlin.)

4. This one seems to be part of the rules: Why do you blog? Oh, I don’t know, really. Several reasons–it’s hard to pick a primary one. I think it’s mostly an outlet, in case I need to rant or just yell at the world in general, and people commiserate, which is awesome. It’s also gaining me a reader base, since I want to become a published author. But I think it started when I was over on Wikia, which some of my friends used to connect on–they had a blog option for registered users, which was great. I started posting The Hero’s Dream over there, and then when some of my Nanowrimo friends (thank you Rosalie!) wanted to read it, I started this blog and posted it serially. (Actually, the story is way more complex than that, but I think you want your answers in less than 500 words. If you all want me to post and explain how I began blogging in full, please comment and tell me so!)

5. If you could live anywhere in this world other than where you do, where would you choose? Practicality aside. Ireland. It’s a beautiful country. (Also, I want to learn Gaelic.) That, or New Zealand. They filmed The Lord of the Rings there–how do you beat that?!

6. Favorite dictionary: Oxford, Webster, Cambridge, Chambers, Collins – what? And why? The old edition Oxford–it was clean and got you what you needed to know–and Webster. Because it’s the first, and because it’s American, I guess. 😛

7. For those that write for fun: how many plot bunnies (story ideas) do you have on the go right now? How many do you think will get finished? (For those that don’t, go listen to this to kill time. Utterly epic.) Mmmm… Nine or so, I think. Probably more, if you count my Star Wars stories. Go to my Novels page if you want to see most of them. There’s another original novel brewing, but I haven’t got it clear in my head yet, so it’s not up yet. (Hint: It’s about Mordred! 😉 )

8. What’s your opinion of fictitious superheroes? I don’t really have one. I don’t particularly care for superhero movies, except for The Incredibles (which I absolutely love!), and I’ve never read any books about superheroes. However, I love anything Jedi and most fantasy, so I don’t know. I might like them. Still, I rather enjoy my non-Avengers fan status… 😛

9. What’s your opinion of fictitious everyday heroes? Cynically? People love to hero-worship. Practically? We need people to lead us and be shining examples, both fictitious and real.
Idealistically? I think that fictitious heroes give us something to strive to be, and I really wish they were real.

10. What’s your opinion of factitious everyday heroes? (Do not quote Sherlock!) (Okay, I won’t. :-P) I think that factitious heroes may not be quite the same way people envision them, but I believe that they do exist. For instance, the firefighters and other emergency response teams at the Twin Towers terrorist attack on 9/11/2001 were true heroes.
Ironically, though, I think that most people who have been named heroes by popular acclaim really don’t think of themselves as heroes, just people doing their jobs exceptionally well, or ordinary people trying to help. In this sense, I think anyone who tries to do the best they can to help others, both in the pursuit of duty and on the spur of the moment, is a hero.

11. Have you ever been given this award before? If so how many times? Never. Though I’m about to… 😛

Now for Sheikiah’s questions…

1. Why do you blog/What is your goal for your blog? Well, you know why I blog already. ;-P I already said. 😛 My blogging goal, though, is to just give people some enjoyment in fiction, as well to explain why I fiction. 🙂 (Yes, I used that as a verb. If that is NOT a verb, it should be. ;-D)

2. Out of all the established fictional realms you know of — Middle-Earth, Narnia, etc. — pick one you’d like to live and one you wouldn’t want to live in. Oh, I’d love to live in Middle-Earth, Narnia, the galaxy far, far away… Mostly because the rules are different… and in Star Wars, if you’re a Jedi, you also do not have to worry about the tax paperwork. 😛 (I hate paperwork. I recently started doing some of my own, and I repeat: I hate it! Even though hate is the path to the Dark Side!) But if I had to just make one that I would love to live in… Probably Middle-Earth. And the one I would not like to live in: drum roll, please… the world of the Harry Potter books.

3. Why those two? (I admit this is probably cheating, making this a separate question.) I have not read Harry Potter, but I wouldn’t like to be the one out who had to fight magic-using enemies without magic (or special training.) Same goes for Supernatural. Besides, I don’t feel comfortable with the way that J.K. Rowling reputedly handles the idea of magic in her novels. It doesn’t seem like something I could enjoy in all good conscience. To Harry Potter fans: I’m not attacking you! I’m just saying that I don’t think it would be my cup of tea! And the reason why I’d love to be in Middle-Earth: I’m a scholar. I would absolutely love to study with Elrond or Aragorn, visit all those places… And I’m not bad with a sword, either. 😛

4. Where on planet Earth would you most like to live? Most like to live… Well, I think I like where I do live. ;-P But otherwise… New Zealand (see above.) Mostly because it’s not in such a bad condition, politically, as other countries are… viewing it with my American Constitutionalist lens again here… 😛

5. Which film adaptation do you think is the most faithful to the original book? Why? The Lord of the Rings. Much as I like to whine about how they changed some situations, eliminated Tom Bombadil, etc., it still didn’t mangle the book as badly as some other movie adaptions. *mutters* The Three Musketeers… Barbie… I have a lasting grudge against Barbie. So insipid and sugary.

6. Which adaptation is the least faithful? Why? Well… of the movies I’ve actually seen… the adaption of The Scarlet Pimpernel that stars Richard E. Grant. Much as I love this adaption, it’s very unlike the book. But as a stand-alone movie… *swoons*

7. If you had the chance to make one event in history not-happen, which and why? And don’t say “the Holocaust”, that’s just too obvious. Oooh, this is so hard… The French Revolution in general. It did something similar to France as Hitler did to Germany. I mean, left scars that are still there to this day. (And it’s been longer since, too!) Especially, I would take back the subjugation of the Vendee. Also, I would make the Vendee better remembered. The people there were so gallant and courageous! I hate it that they portray them in some movies and books as making an effort doomed to failure that only makes things worse for them! They were fighting for what they believed in, passionately, against overwhelming odds, and no such gallant action can be called “useless”! Besides, they almost succeeded–they could’ve taken Paris and stopped the Revolution right there, but they had to choose to take Nantes instead.

8. If you were in a band, what would you name it? Unless you ARE in a band, in which case come up with a different name for a hypothetical other band. Dickenson. (I love her poetry. And classical music. :-P)

9. What is your favourite book? Favorite… hmmm… I have way too many. But right now… The Lord of the Rings. I also like Tolkien’s other works, books by Madeleine L’Engle, G.A. Henty, Brian Jacques, C.S. Lewis, Meriol Trever, Constance Savery, C.S. Forester, Baroness Orczy… 😉

10. Of all the characters in your favourite book, whose life would you rather lead? Oohh…. I would rather be Faramir. (Outside of my chosen book, I know that I’d rather be Ahsoka than Obi-Wan, Luke rather than Padme, Eustace rather than Susan, and Charles Wallace rather than one of the twins. ;-P)

11. Kirk or Picard? (If you can’t answer this question, that’s fine. There are those who consider that the RIGHT answer.) I have not seen enough Star Trek to be a good judge.

Eleven random facts about me (wow, this is going to be hard):

1. I don’t particularly like to talk about myself.

2. I have thought about giving politics a try, if only to see their faces at my ideology and idealistic cynicism. (Yes, that is a term… or it should be. :-P) Also to annoy them with my arguments against certain plans that they have for this country.

3. I have been known to make up words as it suits my purposes.

4. I can be extremely sarcastic at times. (Bet you never saw that one coming!)

5. I love cats, but have an allergy to them.

6. I am also allergic to blueberries, cantaloupe, bananas, food coloring, corn syrup, and popcorn. I can eat blueberries and bananas if they are in baked goods. I also have a contact allergy to the adhesives from some Band-aids and stickers. I might just be allergic to hickory, as well. (Not the nuts, but the wood might be the culprit for my hives.)

7. I do not particularly enjoy traveling.

8. I should have done this whole thing earlier, probably.

9. My baby sister seems to be alternately a Jedi Knight and Sith Lady.

10. I know a couple of Sith via the internet ;-P

11. Depriving me of sleep is not a good idea.

I hope that satisfies!!! Now for my questions:

1. Why do you blog? How did you start blogging? (because it’s tradition, I guess)

2. What eats most of your time on the internet?

3. Have you ever attempted to write a novel upwards of 50,000 words?

4. Have you failed writing a novel and never come back to it (yet)? If so, why?

5. What is your biggest impediment to doing what you love? (Mine is my siblings)

6. Which do you prefer: more regular, tended gardens or naturalized ones?

7. What is your favorite season, and why?

8. Do you prefer historical fiction to fantasy, or science fiction to both?

9. Do you ever feel that the language you chiefly work with is confining and should have more expressive words?

10. Would you prefer some form of rodent (gerbil, hamster, rat, etc.) or some kind of bird as a pet?

11. Why do you spend time with your family? (If you don’t feel like answering… *shrug*)

And now, I hereby nominate Rayne Speryll, of Writing in Rivendell, Klarabelle Candy, and the brilliant writers of “Sink Me!” because it’s hilarious. (Don’t blame me for this, most of my friends IRL blog on Blogspot and I have no idea how many followers most of them have.) Since I don’t really feel like tagging people back (you’re off the hook, Rosalie and Sheikah!), I will also nominate Bessie Lark at Firefly (trust me to nominate a restricted access blog! ;-P), and Rachel Carrera (even though I have no idea how many people have followed her.) Congrats, ladies! (It also says something about me that I’m nominating all girls… Shut up, head-voice! Sorry about that. :-P)

Okay, so I’m finally done with this post… three days after I started working on it. Sorry if this is my longest post ever, but I had lots of crazy stuff happen and lots more crazy stuff to say and I definitely feel a lot better now. 🙂