Why Twice, Rosey?

Tags

artwork, avengers, blog awards, blogging, c.s. forester, captain america: civil war, college, crafts, creativity, doctor who, horatio hornblower, music, randomness, sewing

…otherwise known as “Erin Does the Sunshine Blogger Award” again. 😛

Thank you, Rosey!

…so why do I need to post the button twice???

WHATEVER. 

All right. Fourteen facts about me. Here we goooo!

1. I forgot what I was going to put in this space.

2. I play multiple instruments–guitar, piano, harmonica, pentatonic flute, recorder

3. I am very firmly on Cap’s side of the Civil War for various reasons.

4. Sometimes when two characters are played by the same actor my sanity does a backflip and tries to merge the two. Even when the two have practically nothing in common except for an eyebrow raise and occasionally identical elocution. Why this happens, I have no clue and I normally try to ignore it because it doesn’t help with anything at all ever.

THE ORIGINAL SONIC SUNGLASSES.

5. It is my firm belief that the Doctor ran into Lieutenant Bush at some point prior to his eighth incarnation and the “note to self” in this case was that a war was pretty much inevitable at this point… Oh no. That started out okay but I lost it halfway through. Sorry. I’ll shut up about Doctor Who now.

6. I completely misplaced all my other nominations for all other blog awards. If you’ve nominated me in the past please remind me… I should at least try to catch up.

7. I wish I could draw and play music better than I can. I’m already a perfect cook, designer, and seamstress.

8. Ongoing learning process… going on.

9. There comes a point in college when you’re done with  your general education classes and your university and college requirements. When that point arrives, they pretty much throw you in the deep end and walk away laughing. HAZING IS NOT DEAD. It survives at a bureaucratic level. Also, I am at that point in my life.

10. SWEET HEAVENS A GORGEOUS FEMALE CARDINAL JUST LANDED IN THE YEW OUTSIDE MY WINDOW!!! Who’s a lovely, gorgeous, incomparable bird? That’s right you are!

11. Fact #10 just made my day.

12. Don’t skip Nine. Falcon is one of my favorite superheroes. “I do everything he does, just slower”. But the thing is, he doesn’t just follow Cap’s lead. He takes the initiative. I wish they’d do a spin-off just about Sam Wilson and his time working with Riley. Does he have a girlfriend? What are his family reunions like? Does Cap just talk to random people in the park all the time?

14. One of these facts is actually a lie.

15. Who says that there has to be just fourteen facts?!

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this. 😉 I hope I saved enough facts to do all the other awards accumulating in my attic…

I really don’t. (This is still my favorite gif ever.)

I nominate… well, Iris, but she probably won’t do it, my other fellow superheroes Courtney, Sarah, and Rosalie (who also probably won’t do it), Bessie because she just started college and might understand the deep end thing, and the Professor, just because.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

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The Amazing You Tag

Tags

because it's cool, blogging, doctor who, history, superheroes, tags

Another day, another tag… I don’t remember who tagged me with this one. It was probably either Sarah, WriteFury or Proverbs31teen. IDK.

Anyway. Excelsior!

1. You’re on a deserted island, and you find a cave. What would you expect to find in it? Probably something dangerous. Like a mountain lion. Or a mutated pygmy. Or evil shrimp.

2. If you could have one superpower, which would you pick? Electromagnetism. There are so many ways it could be used… if you can create really super-strong magnetic fields you can levitate people, besides the obvious throwing lightning around. It’s awesome.

3. What one song would you choose for the theme music for a movie about your life?

(Because I’m really a superhero.)

4. You can only wear one color for the rest of your life. What color would you pick? Probably green.

5. What’s one thing you want to do that’s wild, crazy, or unusual? Randomly prank all the customers at my current job. But of course I can’t do that. I’m on good behavior for the next two weeks until I am DONE WITH IT FOR GOOD. I found another job, yay! And it pays better. I just hope it turns out well…

6. If you had to give a speech to the whole world for five minutes, what topic would it be about? Just one? Man, it would be hard to stick to one topic…

I’d probably talk about how we should keep working towards good things despite our mistakes.

7. You get to have lunch with any three famous people, present or past! Who would you pick? I’d like to meet Sophie Scholl, an obscure South American president (Garcia) whose whole name I can’t remember but who was an INCREDIBLE leader, and also Josephine (Napoleon’s wife) so we could hear all about Napoleon’s most embarrassing mannerisms. 😛 AWESOME blackmail and/or trivia material.

8. What is your favorite smell, and why? Petrichor! Or baking bread. Funny how they both involve ozone…

9. Share one of your favorite quotes. “Make all of space and time your backyard and what have you got? A back yard.” (That’s probably the one quote that really explained how different Ten and Eleven were. Ten’s sense of wonder was VERY different. It’s hard to explain. They went about it different ways? That’s the closest I can get.)

10. Give us two true statements about yourself and one false statement, and see if your followers can guess which one is false. Oooh, I love this game!

1. I have never eaten cotton candy.
2. I have scars on the heel of my hand and in between my pointer and middle fingers on my right hand, both from broken glass.
3. I hate impatiens.

Now, because I don’t know who gave me this tag, I’m going to just tag random people.

Coruscantbookshelf, WriteFury, Sarah, Proverbs31teen, and Miko. If you haven’t done this tag before, you’re up.

(I think for this one all the questions stay the same, so I’m good to go. Anyway, laterz!)

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

Authorly Bucket List Tag

Tags

author, authorly bucket list tag, blog events, blogging, j.r.r. tolkien, new tag, practice makes perfect, story dynamics, tags, the lord of the rings, worldbuilding, writing

Okay, I’ve seen tags going around and I had an idea for a new one. (So sue me.) (And please tell me why that quote seems so familiar, too. 😛 )

So, without further ado… The Authorly Bucket List Tag!

Otherwise known as the Stuff-I-Need-To-Practice-More-Slash-Stuff-I’d-Like-To-Be-Better-At Tag. (Partly inspired by this post. Also this one.)

Basically, the idea is to list a few things you’re not very good at, and a few things which you’d like to try. Three to seven of each should be a good number. So here we go!

Things I’m Not Very Good At

1. Holding points of view through a scene. It’s a bad habit of mine–I go omniscient sometimes, or I jump heads. Big thing that needs editing. You know. That’s part of the reason why I started writing fanfiction–it helped me learn a little bit better how to hold a point of view in a scene.
2. Detachment to objects. I’m not very good at leaving stuff behind, partly because my characters are so often either not very well off (and thus need to hold on to whatever weaponry they have), or are on the run (which needs no explanation, frankly–what is wrong with me?!)
3. Certain character types. I’m very good at blatantly and manipulatively evil characters, stern characters, etc. What I am not very good with is the chronically irritating character who just gets on everyone’s nerves, the clever clown, some kinds of traitors, the double-blind traitor, and so forth. I can write a charismatic leader. Not so much an outcast who is outcast through some fault of his own.
4. Finding out the middle bits of a plot. I don’t always have a direct path through the plot, and thus I tend to occasionally write myself into corners, or lose my inspiration, and have no idea how to proceed to the next plot point that I am sure of.

Things I Want To Try

1. Dystopian, Urban Fantasy, and/or Contemporary Adventure, as well as Science Fiction. I sort of have a few books in the works, but Fantasy is my strong suit, and I know for a fact I’m not very good at writing romance, and I can’t–simply can’t–write horror. I can’t watch it, can’t read it, can’t write it. And I’m better off that way. I’m better at psychological drama and character development. (This one is mostly because I love varied and strongly-differentiated worlds in fiction.)
2. Characters who are flawed. Characters who freeze up and there are consequences. Characters who are imperfect. (Besides, your own flaws are a much better reason to angst than things that you can’t help, such as your past, things that were not your fault, and such, don’t you think?)
3. Meals that are not just soup. I think I’m mentally reverting to soup because it’s homely and hot and that’s all travelers want after a long day on the road, right? I need to figure out other meals, sometimes even less appealing.
4. Better McGuffins to tie up loose ends with and hold the story together (in the Redwall series, it’s Martin’s sword; in The Lord of the Rings, there are several, such as the phial of Galadriel or Arwen’s tokens to Aragorn.) I need to learn how to write them well into the plot.
5. Small repeated cues from a character, things that recur through a story, color scheme, etc. Anything that shows up more than once in a story, even if it’s just an Easter Egg, is really rewarding for a reader; it makes them feel good that they were paying enough attention to recognize those. Especially if it’s important to the plot. The mark of a good book is that you see new things in it every time. I want to make my books that good.

So, that’s my list of things that I wish I could do better as a writer. What’s yours? Feel free to pick up on the tag, even if you’re not on the nominations list. 😉 Just make sure that you link back to this post on my blog, and to give me a link to your acceptance posts; I want to read them. 😀

I now hereby nominate:

Sarah of Light and Shadows

Tara Therese

Portergirl at Secret Diary of Portergirl

Rachel Carrera

Proverbs31teen of The World of the Writer

IcedMocha34

Liam of This Page Intentionally Left Blank

Erin (the other one!) at Laughing at Live Dragons

Rosalie at Against the Shadows

Shiekah of Dark Link/Light Link

Amy of The Monday Heretic

Bessie Lark of Firefly

Iris at The Road Goes On

Well, that’s everyone I could think of, anyway. 😉

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

TCWT December 2014: Learning from the Masters

Tags

a tale of two cities, blogging, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, charles dickens, dee henderson, fahrenheit 451, g.a. henty, irene hannon, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, ray bradbury, redwall, sir arthur conan doyle, story dynamics, teens can write too blog chain, the silmarillion, writing

We’re back again!

I am so sorry, I’m posting this a day late. I had planned to schedule it, but… well, let’s just say that though I know better than to excuse myself to my instructors at college, you guys might actually forgive me if I say that work and college conspired to destroy ANY plans I had for this week. AT ALL. Also, late happy St. Nicholas’ Day and on time happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

I know it’s been a while since I posted for the Teens Can Write Too blog chain, but I had good excuses. Crazy college and a new job made me take a hiatus from blogging for a while. I kind-of almost want to change to a history major, but I’m going to hang on with what I have now–I figure that if I want a history degree later, I can get a history degree later by transferring credits and attending part-time. Besides, I don’t think you need a degree to go to history conventions and get in on that conversation. History people are awesome.

Well, that’s enough about that.

On to the prompt!

Over the years, I have learned a lot, mainly by following the example of other authors. Remember how there’s that annoying little thing where your writing tends to mimic the style of the last author you read? Well, that’s part of it. But only part of it.

From The Lord of the Rings and the Redwall series, I learned about style and pacing. In Redwall, the style is very concrete, and the pacing is quick; when you get to the crises of the books, it’s a hard-hitting series of events leading rapidly up to the climax. The Lord of the Rings is paced slower and has a bit more of an ornate style. I have had my style compared to Tolkien’s *glares at Iris, sitting in the audience*, but I tend to prefer Jacques’ pacing.

From Irene Hannon, Dee Henderson, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I learned the value of not broadcasting your plot twists all over the place. Normally I have intuitions about whodunit, but in these cases I could not see the villain until he was right in my face. Genius.

From G.A. Henty, I learned that it’s okay to take detours. (Okay, Tolkien does that too, but I read Henty first.) Adding in side plots to prolong a quest+character development for side characters=an equation for 300 pages of a good read. (Don’t hate on me. 50k is all well and good, but I like books that are 150k or 200k, even. I read The Lord of the Rings in nine days straight and actually finished reading The Silmarillion.)

From A Tale of Two Cities, I learned the value of keeping up with history and using a cultural and historic background to my advantage. Realism is the name of the game, and while you’re simulating realism, it helps to be knowledgeable about the real history behind it.

From Fahrenheit 451 I learned the importance of keeping calm through criticism. (Don’t ask me how; that’s just the lesson I took away from it. I pick up on odd things sometimes.) I’m not used to being criticized in a negative light. If you’ve been reading my blog, and especially the comments on the posts, it’s only been once or twice that I haven’t received abject praise. I don’t know if that’s because I’m good at what I do or if I have a feel for what my audience likes or if they just can’t find anything to criticize. But it’s hard to be criticized since I’m so used to praise. I just have to find out what’s relevant, and not let the rest get to me.

From C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L’Engle, I learned that it’s okay to write the tough books, the ones that might get you hated on. You might be shocked to see how much criticism gets to me, even if you’ve known me forever, but I learned from reading Lewis’ and L’Engle’s works that you have to just kick fear in the teeth and write it. You’ll be surprised by how much support you garner.

You have to write the book that wants to be written, and if it’s too difficult for adults, write it for children. ~~ Madeleine L’Engle

5^th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/

6^th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/

7^th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/

8^th – http://introspectioncreative.wordpress.com/

9^th – http://semilegacy.blogspot.com/

10^th – http://kirabudge.weebly.com/

11^th – http://whileishouldbedoingprecal.weebly.com/

12^th – http://randomosityofeden.wordpress.com/

13^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

14^th – http://www.alwaysopinionatedgirl.wordpress.com/

15^th – http://www.juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com/

16^th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/

17^th – http://horsfeathersblog.wordpress.com/

18^th – http://unironicallyexcited.wordpress.com/

19^th – http://theboardingblogger.wordpress.com/

20^th – http://stayandwatchthestars.wordpress.com/

21^st – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/

22^nd – http://fantasiesofapockethuman.blogspot.com/

23^rd – http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com/

24^th – http://oliviarivers.wordpress.com/

25^th – [off-day]

26^th – http://butterfliesoftheimagination.wordpress.com/

27^th – http://missalexandrinabrant.wordpress.com/

28^th – http://www.pamelanicolewrites.com

29^th – http://jasperlindell.blogspot.com.au/

30^th – http://maralaurey.wordpress.com/ and http://theedfiles.blogspot.com/

31st – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain.)

Oh, are you still here?

I apologize again for posting late. Don’t stick around here, though! Head right over to the next blog and don’t miss out on their post!

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

The Epic Tale of How I Got My Username

Tags

angels' reflections, blogging, lego, merlin, star wars, stories of my life, usernames, writing

…or not so epic. It depends on your point of view, really. 😛

Rachel Carrera requested this story, so I’m telling it. 😉

Okay, so way back when I was still seventeen (before I got this blog), I wanted to join Lego.com. My brother was on there, and posting his awesome creations (he has a much better mind for construction than I do–I can envision how a garment goes together in my head, but I’m not nearly so good at figuring out the inner mechanism of a Lego construct. I’m serious. He should be an engineer.) Anyway, I wanted to join in the fun.

Back then, I had this character called “Erin Kenobi.” She lived before the Republic came into being, and was one of the founding members of the Jedi Order. Her story was a bit complex (and it’s only half-finished), but she was one of my favorite original characters. Anyway, when I signed on, I decided to use Erin’s name for my username. It automatically added the numbers “2893” to the end of my name, giving me the username I now use.

Fast forward a year, and activity was falling off among the denizens of Lego.com. Some friends of mine started a site called “The Lego Star Wars Creations Wiki”, which was basically articles on us. I joined up on Wikia under the same username, and that was where I first discovered the fact that there is such a thing as a chat room (which is such fun. 😉 ) Later, I would join Nanowrimo, and finally I would begin this blog.

I originally joined up under the same username so I’d be recognizable from site to site, but then I started to do it because it was my internet identity. (My only usernames that AREN’T ErinKenobi2893 are my personal email and Fanfiction, where I share an account (AnotherBook) with Irisbloom5.)

I haven’t decided yet if I will join other sites under the same name. I probably will. (Though I’ve been thinking about BarefootPadawan for a YouTube account. Or TheLastDragonlord. Tell me which you prefer in the comments!)

Anyway, if you see an ErinKenobi2893 around the web, chances are it’s me. 😉 If you see me around, please, send me a message! I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

(Oh, and by the way: to those who’d like to link up on social media, I don’t have it. Not Twitter, not Tumblr, not Facebook, not Google+. So if you see another ErinKenobi2893 on there, it’s a copycat. 🙂 Just so you know. 😉 )

TRIVIA: In my novel Angels’ Reflections, the action takes place in the year 2893, their calendar, as a nod to my username. 😉

The Best Blogging Buddies Award

Tags

authors, awards, bbc sherlock, blogging, c.s. lewis, catholic culture, christianity, chronicles of narnia, diamond, disney, dreamworks, frozen, guitar, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, music, owl city, rise of the guardians, star wars, the last battle, the lion king, thomas jefferson, writer, writing

Hey, there’s not actually a picture for this one? Hmmm… 😛

Instead, you can enjoy looking at my beloved dog (who passed away a few years ago… :’-( )

HEEEEEERRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE’S DIAMOND!

Okay, so Miko over at The Legendary Miko nominated me for this one. Thank you so much! 🙂

And apparently, this is a new award, and I’m the third recipient in the chain! Exciting! 😀

Okay, now to review the rules…

1) You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.

2) You must tag the person who nominated you in your post.

3) You must nominate all of your best buddies, and those whom you want to become best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated, for this award.

4) You must ask your buddies at least 15 questions on your post.

5) You must answer all of the questions your buddies ask you. On your post.

On to the questions!

1) What is your favorite TV show? I’m Sherlocked. No more to say. 😛

2) First song that pops into your head right now? “Fireflies” by Owl City. (My sister is a big fan.)

3) What are three guilty pleasures of yours? Fanfiction (technically), hot cocoa (I can’t often seem to actually finish a full mug), and reading C.S. Lewis when I’m supposed to be reading Faulkner (honestly, I need to find a new short story!)

4) Chipotle, Subway, Taco Bell, or McDonald’s? I’m going with Subway. I’ve never been to Taco Bell, and I’ve only ever had a hot cocoa at McDonalds. I got tired of Subway back in January, but that’s that. It’s been a while.

5) What is one thing that not many know about you? Well, Iris was surprised to learn that I play guitar. Other than that, I don’t advertise that I write much, except online. Since that’s the exception, though, and everyone here knows that I write, I don’t think anyone on here knows that I like to carve toy daggers out of wood. (I should post some pictures of them some time…)

6) If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor? Fictional or real-life? Well, for fictional characters, I’d love to have Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon as my mentor, though it would also be awesome to be mentored by Doctor John Watson. 😉 And real life mentors… Thomas Jefferson and my history professor at the private college I used to attend. *sniffle*

7) If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to? Ironic, I just got this question on another blog award… If I could really change my name, I’d like to change my universe as well… does that count? 😛

8) Where’s Waldo? Up in a tree. He’s in time-out and I won’t let him down… Never mind. 😛 (Who’s Waldo?)

9) What is your ideal boyfriend/girlfriend? Yikes. What a question… My ideal boyfriend will be a Christian, chivalrous, and kind. Other than that, well, I suppose I’ll have to wait to meet him. 😉

10) What color socks are you wearing? At the moment? No socks. Soon? Probably tan or gray. Wool is the best!

11) Blue or Black pens? Both! You see, I write with blue pens on even-numbered days, and black ones on the odd… Just kidding. I like to write with black and then do the primary edits in blue before typing everything up, tweaking as I go. (I like to print final drafts in purple. Unfortunately they don’t let you do that in college. :-S )

12) What’s the best book you ever read? The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. Runners up: Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet, Tolkien’s Smith of Wooton Major and Leaf by Niggle, and Lewis’ Space Trilogy. (Just finished them and I’m in heaven!!! I should totally review them!!!)

13) What would you choose to be your last meal? I don’t care what it would be, so long as it wasn’t cream of wheat, and was with friends.

14) If you were given the option to choose your death, how would you die? I would prefer to die defending my friends and/or my country. (Though I doubt that’s exactly what you wanted…) I wouldn’t care about the nonsense “go out in a blaze of glory” so long as I was doing that. (I’m not Eowyn, in case you were under the delusion that I am. 😛 )

15) What is one thing you wish you’d never heard/learned? Certain non-canon couples… Ugh. (That’s not the only thing I wish I’d never heard about, but you only asked for one! ;-P)

Here we go with my questions:

1. If society was clipped up Divergent-style and you had to pick a faction, which of these factions would you choose: Truth Seekers (scholars, archaeologists and explorers), Protectors (military and police forces), Aristocracy (leaders and rulers), or Underworld (spies, black-ops units)?
2. Are you more like Sherlock or Mycroft Holmes? (Be honest and objective! :-P)
3. For the library aficionados, what book do you not own that you would like to read again?
4. If you could re-write any pop culture catchphrase, which one would you re-write and what would it mean in its new form? 😉
5. What’s your number one underdeveloped character in a published work? (I mean, who is your favorite character that you wish the author had developed more?)
6. Frozen or Rise of the Guardians? Why?
7. Tangled or Brave? Why?
8. Do you prefer birdwatching or stargazing? Why?
9. Favorite Lion King character and song!
10. When you’re about to leave the house, what’s the first thing you grab?
11. Do you prefer the forest, mountains, or ocean?
12. Do you sing in the shower?
13. Gardening or fiber crafts (sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet) or sports? Favorite sport?
14. Do you have a particular official spot where you hang out with friends? (Mine was the library in my hometown. Now it looks like being Barnes&Noble, since it’s close to the university…)
15. Apples, oranges, grapes, or strawberries?

And now, I hereby nominate (in no particular order):

Iris, partly because she’s awesome and partly because I miss her.

Sarahtps, because awesome lists and fun photography. 😉

Proverbs31teen, because of Superhero Sundays. 😀 (She was the one who REALLY got me started on the Avengers!)

IcedMocha34, because she’s awesome and totally deserves it. 🙂

Roo, because I know her on Nanowrimo and she’s awesome. 😉

Superseaturtle (well, that’s what I know her as… ;-P) because she welcomed me to the Lego Star Wars Gallery, which is where I got my start on the web, and because she’s doing Nano this year–yay!

Andrew, whom I also know from Nano. 😛

FrenziedMythology, again from Nano, better known as Gandalf or the Panda of Awesomeness. 😛

C.N. Goodhue, aka Cedric of Chessington, who I first knew on the Lego Star Wars Creations gallery and who I’ve been having some trouble staying in contact with… :-S

Truthwillwin1. All of us need a bit more political incorrectness in our lives. 😉

Robyn Hoode, because… well, Minions for one thing. ;-P I just got nominated by her for another award, too. 😛

Professor V.J. Duke, for punchiness and dadblamery.

Sheikah, for her beautiful artwork.

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

Erin of Laughing at Live Dragons (we have to differentiate here, for obvious reasons. 😛 )

Eric, because Lord of the Rings! *happy sigh*

Wow. That’s a lot of people. 😛 But I was restricted on the other one by the fact that I couldn’t nominate boys for it. 😛 (It says “Sisterhood” right in the award name! 😛 )

Anyway, thanks for reading, congrats to the nominees, and God Bless! 😉

The Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award

Tags

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. 😛

Sunshine Award, Iteration Two

Tags

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!

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!

The Upstairs Archives Blog Birthday!

Tags

anniversary, blog birthday, blogging, celebrations, coruscantbookshelf, friends, insanity, iris, selay'uu, selay'uu (sort of)

Hello, my dear readers!

I’m posting for something very special today. Yes, it’s the blog’s birthday!

One year ago, I started this blog to connect to my friends who blog. I wanted to put my stories where people could read and enjoy them. One year ago, this post started it all.

And now, one year later, I look back in awe at all that’s happened.

1. Incredible amounts of insanity has been shared.
2. This blog has gained Allies!
3. Tales (such as Bound to the Flame and The Hero’s Dream) have been told.
4. Selay’uu was launched, to much acclaim, and (hopefully) evoking much laughter.
5. Last but not least, I began to figure out how to use html shortcuts, and learned that there is no real substitute for experimentation when it comes to the Internet (so long as one does not say something unforgivable, or forget one’s manners.) Also, I began to learn how to use the blogger’s key tools, such as scheduling, saving drafts, categories, tagging, and how to set posts as password protected (though I have not tried it.)
6. Erin-isms, such as typo turkeys, plot cobras, and poison ink were introduced to the world.
7. I got my hair cut. (This has nothing to do with the blog, but it sure makes me look different.)

But for a celebration, I’m not quite sure what to do… Perhaps you all can help me decide. 😉

Now, for the “State of the Archives” address. ;-P

Statistics are as follows:

Seven (7) Pages

Two hundred six (206) Posts

Two thousand, six hundred thirty-five (2635) Comments

Five thousand, eight hundred four (5,804) Views

Approximately five hundred four (504) Likes

One hundred thirty-one (131) Followers

And finally, I’d like to thank everyone who helped me to get to where I am now.

Coruscantbookshelf (aka Rosalie), who introduced me to WordPress in the first place.

Iris, who was forever encouraging (Also my BFF IRL!) and one of my long-time readers, even though she didn’t get her own blog or WordPress account until recently.

Professor V.J. Duke, who was crazy when I needed craziness (and Punchiness!) in my life.

PorterGirl, who helped and encouraged me to get the Selay’uu section of the blog started.

There are lots of others (if your name isn’t on this list, don’t worry, it’s probably on my “Allies” page 😉 ), so don’t be offended; I just named the people I could think of at the moment.