Category: Life

My Day as a Logophile

Hello my friends. I hope you are having a lovely Saturday so far. Today, I’m going to be giving you a sneak peak into my life as a logophile. If you haven’t already Googled it, a logophile is someone who has a love of words. Not your everyday word such as “pizza” (which is still good by the way) but words such as…..

Irrupt; to rush in forcible or violently
Lorn; lost, ruined, or undone
Eldritch; eerier; weird, spooky
Gerful; wild and wayward
Tristful; deeply, yet romantically melancholy
Cockalorum; a small man with a big opinion of himself
Hobbledehoy; an awkward teenager

 

Aren’t those last two hilarious?

It’s fascinating to me to find a word that sums you up perfectly. Just the other day I found the word thalassophile. which means a lover of the sea. And you know what? That is me, I am a thalssophile. You can also use these unique words to make an impressive profile.

 

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Previously, I had been saving words to a Pinterest board, but that wasn’t enough. I wanted to do something with these words besides save them to a board I will rarely log into to look account.  I had to do something special, down to the very pen I used. Recently, I was gifted with a fountain pen by my lovely cousin.

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I’d been wanting a Ravenclaw journal for a long time, so I used this as an excuse to finally buy one. 🙂 

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Now, you can’t write in a Ravenclaw journal with just any ink, you need blue. So, I bought that, too. 😉 

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GATHERING MY WEAPONS

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The Process

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First, I open my word board on Pinterest or someone else’s on Pinterest. 

 

 

I choose ones that stand out to me, regards of whether I love them or not. Then I copy them into my journal. I love the way my fountain pen writes, and how it looks on paper. I take my time to make my writing as neat as possible, and I love the connection I feel with the pen, ink, and the words that pour out of them.

 

The Final Product

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Old Pages

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This is how I relax at night, three days a week. This is my chance to breathe and create. I have unique words in my head I can use in my writing, or I can just grab my journal and search for just the one I need.

The cool thing about all this? I’m a Ravenclaw, and Ravenclaws love to learn, which is me in a nutshell. When I’m writing words in my Ravenclaw journal with the blue ink and fountain pen, I feel very Harry Potterish (yes that’s a word, I invented it).

Talk my friends. Is there any special writing thing you do?

The Road Through

And though where the road then takes me,
I cannot tell

The Last Goodbye by Billy Boyd

 

We all travel paths, roads, in our lives. Some may be rocky, others even.  The paths may lead through rough terrain, or a small forest. We may have friends with us on our walk, or we may walk alone.

But sometimes we walk through a Mirkwood.

A forest of deceit, of darkness, of loneliness.

We tell ourselves to stay on the path, that this will end soon, but still we wander.

And become lost.

There seems to be no end to the far-reaching forest of Mirkwood.

The Road Through was the theme at the OYAN Winter Workshop, and I’ve been thinking for days what I would blog about. What did I learn exactly? Last year’s workshop helped me reclaim my lost joy. But nothing this year hit me in the face with, “this is what you learned, or needed.”

I had to dig deep, and as I write this, I think I know what it was I learned.

My life has been a hurting mess since August. Yes, I had joy in my writing, but it never completely eased the ache. When I stepped away from my computer, away from my fantasy world, reality hit me like a punch in the gut.

A giant crack of Mt. Doom that had my heart bleeding down the middle. And I just wanted it to be over.

I share Thorin’s sentiment when he screamed “Is there no end to this accursed forest?”

But I was reminded at this workshop that I’m not only loved by friends, but by Jesus.

Mr. and Mrs. Schwabauer and Mark and Teckla Wilson make Jesus seem so real, like He’s right there beside me, holding me in my physical and emotional pain. Letting me cry on His shoulder. The night of the questions and answers the four of them made me feel like He was in the chair beside me, holding my hand, squeezing it tight.

I know people have problems more drastic than I do, and I’ve wanted to reach out, but my pain had left me feeling numb. My well of compassion was dry and rocky.

Jesus is pictured as Aslan in Narnia, a large lion who gave directions, advice, and wisdom. When I was nine and saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, that is what I thought Jesus must be like.

That large lion whose mane I can cling to, who will shield me and protect me from the dangers of Mirkwood.

Who can guide me back to the path.

A path that will lead out of Mirkwood.

His paws will walk beside me, His gentle voice talking to me.

If we run into giant spiders He won’t let them touch me.

If we meet Smaug He won’t let him touch me.

Till we reach the other side, to the sunshine and green hills. To the shining stars that no darkness can touch.

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I traveled many roads to get to the Winter Workshop and I learned that my road through Mirkwood will end.

Because I have friends who love and pray for me.

Because I have Frodo’s journey to inspire me.

Because I have Aslan.

Because I have Jesus.

And that is how, one day, I can step through my round green door and say,

Well. I’m back.

 

August Highlights

August is over.

What even?

But now I can start listening to Christmas music guilt free.

Book Things

 So. Reading this month. I was invited by my friend Rachel to participate in an August reading challenge. So I picked out twenty books to read.

*laughs nervously* 

I read three.

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I was going to take a picture outside, where the lighting is much better, but the ground was wet from all the rain we’ve been getting. So here is a very bad picture because  the lighting in our house isn’t good.

Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight I give 3/5.  The books were good, and had a solid plot, I just didn’t care for some of the content. Throne of Glass was a book I bought in Olathe back in June.  I was in Half-Price-Books and a girl struck up a conversation with me on books we had read. She had read these books and loved them. She placed that book in my hands and we fan-girled over a shared loved for books. It was magical.

The Fairest Beauty I give 1/5. It was okay, I just didn’t think it was well written. 

I didn’t read Unwritten Melody in August, but my friend Tessa got her book published in paperback form (it used to be only in Kindle version) and I’m so happy for her.

And slightly happy for myself because I have a hard copy book to put beside Purple Moon.

Life

 

Earlier in August I went to a friend’s wedding in Kansas. She is an OYANer and we OYANers pretty much had a takeover of her wedding. I made a new friend and had fun seeing old friends again.

At least forty of us OYANers met up at a restaurant called Spin Pizza and took over that for about two hours. It was some of the best pizza I’ve ever had. But I’m home now, and we do not have Spin Pizzas.

I started a new job! I work in the afternoons at a local private school’s after care. I’ve never been busier or more tired, but I’m enjoying it. My days are filled and rich, and I’m meeting new people and making new friends.

I saw Moana for the first time. Definitely give this a 5/5. Moana loves the sea just as much as I do and I can relate to her on many levels. Moana has become my favorite animated Disney movie. I have spent my days singing How Far I’ll Go and enjoying myself.

And did you know that Moana is of Maori and Hawaiian origin, and means “ocean; deep sea?” This made the fan-girl in me extremely happy. *adds name to list for future children.*

I went to the theater and saw Dunkirk with my family. I had sat down for five minutes when I spilled my coke all over my lap.

Lovely.

Besides this unfortunate mishap, I did enjoy the movie. You find my review here.

Writing

I finished my first novel—my retelling of The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pirate.  Before me now lies that beast called editing.

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I’m trying to let it sit for 6-8 weeks before I start editing, but I REALLY want to start now.

My next book, Ashes and Frost, is one I’ve been planning for the past week and having SO MUCH fun doing.

How was August for you?

Read anything good?

OYAN Summer Workshop, Wordcount Wednesday, and Life

Hey again everyone.  It’s been quite an interesting week. I went to an LSU baseball game, and I’m going to another one tomorrow as a matter of fact. I’m insanely happy with this picture that I got. Can you believe that my cheap phone captured thus? Me neither. But I am in love.

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I also passed my World Religions DSST test, which is a huge relief.

The OYAN Summer Workshop is coming up and I am so excited. I’m gearing up to actually pitch my novel to Steve Laube, which is exciting and nerve wracking. I need to stop procrastinating ad actually prepare for what I want to say.

Besides Steve Laube, there is, of course, Daniel Schwabauer,  Jeff Gerke, Robert Treskillard, Nadine Brandes, Mark Wilson, Stephanie Morrill, John Otte, and Jenn Bailey. Lots of awesome stuff happening.

But you want to know about my writing. So Beauty and the Beast. It hasn’t changed much since the last Writing Wednesday. I have been so confused about why a story I loved so much and that is near and dear to my heart could be so hard to edit. I so badly want to send it to friends, but it is definitely in no such shape to do so.

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My answer came last week from author Anne Elisabeth Stengl in her fairy tale Facebook group. She mentioned that maybe we have trouble retelling dearly loved fairy tales just because of that— we love them. We want to do them justice, and that’s hard. And I want to do this story justice. It is the first story that really stuck with me. That time I saw the Beast dance with Belle and I knew I wanted something just like that one day.  To little me that movie was very much real. Little me could see the love the Beast had for Belle, and I didn’t know how to handle that feeling. I still don’t.  All I know is that I want this retelling to be the best it can be.  My dear friend Adrienne wrote a sweet article on how she felt, which I enjoyed reading. 

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Retelling The Little Mermaid is at 38,188. Loving this more and more each day. My new map is drawn and I have some more character sheets to make. This retelling is much easier to write.  And I believe it is because I don’t like it as much. The Disney movie creeped me out as a child (cough, Ursula) and the original is depressing, so I wanted to have a happy retelling. Yes, it has its downs, and depressing times, but it is definitely different. *evil grin because I’m not sharing any details*

Want to see my inspiration board for The Little Mermaid? Click here.

How is your writing this week?

See you next Wednesday.

Book Sale Haul & An Update

Hey friends, I know it’s been a while since my last post.I fully intend most days to do a blog post and…..

It doesn’t happen.

But I do have good intentions. 🙂

This week got me like Cogsworth falling down the stairs.

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Tuesday I cleaned out and straightened my mom’s curriculum closet. It took me six hours, but it was worth it. Everything has been organized and is easy to find. The rest of my week consisted of college, putting a new floor in one of our bathrooms, college, keeping up with laundry and dishes, and yet more college.

I haven’t been able to write any, so I’ve focused on making character sheets and organizing my writing binder. Taking notes of scenes I want to write is something else I’ve scribbled down on papers that are scattered I have no idea where.

Saturday I was able to go my cousin’s wedding shower and I loved getting to see and visit her. And then, what should happen that night but one of my best friends got engaged!

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                                                                                 So, details. 

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Amongst all the craziness, I was able to go to a book sale with two of my brothers. We had a lot of fun and laughed and spent too much money.

This is live footage taken of me in the building.

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This was my brothers pretending not to notice. 🙂

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Don’t you love seeing people’s books? I know I do, so here are some pictures of what I bought.