The Liebster Award

This is quite overdue, but a week or two ago Natasha Roxby @ Memoirs of a Tale Weaver nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thanks!

The rules are: 

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Answer the questions given to you by said person.
3. Choose eleven questions of your own.
4. Nominate eleven more people!

Here are Natasha's questions:

1. Who is your favorite character from your WIP? Why?
Difficult question. For a character I'd actually like if he/she were real . . .maybe Tyv, if he'd let me get close to him, or Gabriel. They're nice. But if we're talking which-character-is-your-masterpiece I'd say Tempe or Nitri. Both of them are really complex - but Tempe scares me. So Nitri is probably my favorite, though he's a bit unhinged himself.
Boy. That was tough to figure out. xD

2. Outside of writing, is there anything that you really, passionately love doing?
I would say reading, but that is a different kind of passion. This may sound weird but, I actually really like studying. *blocks ears against shouts of disbelief* Obviously it depends on the subject, but if I find a subject I like (say literature mixed with history and biblical theology) I'll really enjoy myself.

3. What made you want to start your blog?

I wanted a place to talk about writing and stories with other people who like the same things. However, I've continued it though for the blogging community I've now become a part of.

4. What is one of your funniest childhood memories?

I don't have many. One I do remember involves hitting my younger sister on the head with a rubber Tele-tubby toy when she tried squeezing between me and the fridge instead of going around me, which would have been easier.

5. Do you have any pets? If so, what are they?
Four cats. A parakeet. Sometimes they embody Sonic's chaos monster, so can I add that to the list?

6. Is there one particular trait that most of your characters have? If so, what is that?
Strong beliefs. All of them have at least one important thing that they have extremely strong opinions about. Tyv refuses to break his word, Tempe believes that she is on a quest of justice, Ambyr believes that kindness is the way to fix the world, Gabriel believes people can choose the direction of their lives no matter what, Keir refuses to break loyalty to his country, and Nitri just believes very strongly in his own importance and independence. All of them would fight over those beliefs.

7. If you could be any type of mythological creature, what would you be?

Elf? Maybe? I'm pretty happy being a human . . .

8. You have been handed a blank check by a billionaire. What do you do with it?
I don't quite get this question. I'm going to assume a blank check means any amount of money? I'd donate a portion to my church, invest some in different programs and charities to help abused kids and kids who are starving, and I'd stash the rest away in a bank account to pay for mine and my sister's college tuition.

9. If you could live absolutely anywhere in the world, where would it be?
England, or Switzerland. They stay neutral in every war. xD

10. Plotter, Pantser, or Plantser?
I typically think of myself as a Plotter, though I do Pants every now and then on small things, like those in-between scenes that only exist to get the story from one small plot-point scene to another, and these blog posts. So maybe I am a Plantser.

11. Do you keep a journal/notebook? If so, what is it about?

Yup. I have a diary, a spiritual journal, and a writing notebook for any ideas that strike me when I'm out or writing random snippets of things to keep myself occupied when I'm bored.

My questions for the nominees:

1. What got you into writing?
2. How many projects have you written/are you working on?
3. What is some of the weirdest research you've ever done - for writing, school projects, whatever?
4. Who is your favorite fictional character ever, and why? (I know, it's a toughie).
5. I'll rip off Natasha's question and ask:  what are you passionate about apart from writing?
6. Post a link to your favorite song.
7. What is your favorite blog post of all of the ones you've ever written?
8. What do you think of as your best trait?
9. What is your favorite candy/sweet?
10. Out of all your character babies, who is your favorite? (sorry again for sort of ripping off Natasha's question - it was a good one).
11. If you could choose any author to be your writing mentor, who would you choose?

Oh goodness . . . now I have to nominate a bunch of people. I don't know that many! Oh well . . . I'll nominate whoever I can think of.

Katie Grace @ A Writer's Faith

Victoria Grace Howell @ Stori Tori's Blog

Lily @ Lily's Notes in the Margins

Morgan LeAnne @ Back to the Drawing Board

Ryder Eclipse @ You Don't Want to Be Here - Go Away

Anyone else who is interested!

So, am I truly the only one here who sometimes enjoys school? Do any of your characters have one belief they will not compromise on? Do you have any journals or notebooks? How many?

The Creative Blogger Award

Opal @ Opal Swirls tagged me for the Creative Blogger Award, and I now give her my deepest thanks. *bows with a flourish* The rules are:

1. Nominate 15-20 blogs and notify all nominees via their social media/blogs 
2. Thank and post a link to the blog which nominated you
3. Share five facts about yourself with readers

I don't even know of fifteen blogs, so forgive me.

Five hopefully-not-entirely-boring facts about myself: 

I confess: I actually am an occasional pantser. I pants for blog posts, short essays, and novel-sized concepts which I don't think are good enough to put effort into planning. I only pants projects of that size if I have no ambition to finish them and only write them for my own experimentation.

I'm a fan of BBC Sherlock, but honestly a lot of it freaks me out. Psychotic . . . ness . . . is not something I'm comfortable watching. For this reason, I'm not one of those people fangirling over Moriarty. *shivers* Actually, the creepy cabby from episode 1 also freaked me out, and the guy in the last episode of season 3.

Yeah, this guy is scary, not cute. Kudos to the actor for being a proper scary villain.

I remember seeing the cloud deck above New York City on 9/11. I was only four, but my family could see the smoke from our home about forty-five minutes from the city. For this reason, there are few things that get under my skin like people telling jokes about 9/11.

I tried to find a gif for that, but guess what came up? Yeah. 9/11 jokes. I'm not promoting those.

I learned makeup from my little sister. I've never been exactly eager to fit into the "girls spend hours making themselves pretty" societal expectation. I'm still rubbish at using eyeliner. And if I've got it on . . . It was tough to get me to cry in front of people before? Well, now it is impossible. I SPENT TOO LONG ON IT FOR IT TO BE WASTED.

I have plans to get over to Israel via a one-year program in the college I'm going to next spring. We'll be touring all the biblical sites after learning about the history of Judaism and Christianity and all that wonderful stuff for a semester and a half. So excited!

So I do not have that many blogs to think of to nominate (especially none that haven't already been nominated). I'll list the ones I can think of, and then anyone else who wants to do it can go ahead.

Carissa @ Digressions of a Demented Scribe, Aimee @ To the Barricade!, Lily @ Lily's Notes in the Margins, and Victoria Grace Howell @ Stori Tori's Blog. 

Next up is that promised post on the difference between a protagonist and a hero!

What's your opinion on the BBC Moriarty? How about 9/11 - do you remember it? If you're a girl, how did you learn makeup, and do you like it? Do you have travel plans or dreams? 

The Infinity Dreams Award

I am sorry, truly sorry, for missing posts and entire week. Life is crazy. I promise, with school ending, that this probably won't happen again (at least until the next school year starts, that is).

I'd like to thank A Scattering of Light for nominating me for this award! So nice of you! I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your picture-thingy.

Rules: 

1. Thank and follow the blog that nominated you.

2. Tell us eleven facts about yourself.

3. Answer the questions that were set for you to answer.

4. Nominate 11 bloggers and set questions for them.

So I've already gotten the thanking and following part down . . . eleven facts about myself. Hmmm. I'll just write whatever comes into my head and hope it is in some way interesting.

1. I'm scared witless by bees, wasps, and yellow-jackets. I'm convinced it is because I saw my mum get stung when I was little and thought she was going to die (erm, yeah, she didn't).

2. I played the wife of the sheriff of Nottingham in my co-op's play of Robin Hood. I did more character development than anyone else in the group and my character had a crush on Robin Hood (her marriage wasn't very kind, I suppose).

3. I've been looking for a bottle of lilac-scented perfume for years, but have not yet found any.

4. I tried to assign a Myers-Briggs type to Jesus Christ (yeah . . . that didn't work). I came to the conclusion that He is all types, or else beyond typing. xD

5. Trying to figure out how the absence of time works in heaven is a topic I seem to ponder on every month or two. Does everything just happen at once? An instant containing everything in time compressed into just a flash? Does everything still happen in a progression? HOW DOES IT WORK. This will be the thing I try to figure out right after I get to heaven (after praising the Lord and thanking Him for everything He has done, of course). 

6. If someone rings the door bell and I don't recognize them or the company they're from, I will literally hide on the floor, make sure all sounds that may go outside the walls of my house are off, and then creep around the windows and doors making sure they're locked with my phone in my hand ready to dial 911. Yeah. Overreaction much? Probably.

7. I supremely dislike lip liner and, to a lesser extent, lipstick.

8. I cannot get a tan for the life of me. It is just burn, go back to being so pale that my feet glow in bright sunlight, burn, and repeat. Some of my friends find this much too funny. You know who you are.

9. According to my parents, myself and my mother are descended from the Anglo-Saxons and my dad and my sister are descended from the Normans. I don't know how me and my sister aren't from both, but I think it has something to do with our hair color. *bemused shrug*

10. As a media form in general, I dislike TV shows (though I have seen a few I liked, I rarely like them for very long. I think Merlin and White Collar are the only two that have beaten this trend). 

11. When I was about ten, I had fears of a tribe of Travelocity gnomes doing war dances around a fire under my cot, holding disproportionately large machetes. I'm not sure whether it stemmed from a nightmare or just my half-awake brain junk.

A Scattering of Light's Questions:

1. What was your favorite book from when you were small?

The Skippy John Jones books. I don't know why but I absolutely loved them.

2. If you met the villain of your work-in-progress at the grocery store, what would he or she have in their cart?

Pre-cooked beef, lots of lettuce, grapes, wine, whole coffee beans, tortillas, horseradish, pomegranate juice, limes, extra-dark chocolate, steel-cut oats, blue agave nectar.

3. What was one of your best dreams ever?

Best? Um, I think I had a nice dream a week or two ago? I'm not sure . . . I don't usually have nice dreams, or bad dreams, just weird ones. This one is my most memorable:

I was in Hogwarts, with a guy friend, who I'll just call X. We were in the battlements, looking down at all the students in the halls (which apparently had no roofs). We were searching for someone but I'm not sure who. Then suddenly we were in the halls, and we ran into Cho Chang, who was running a tiki bar. We ran past her and outside - we were suddenly being chased by Bellatrix Lestrange and a bunch of indecipherable baddies. We were approaching a park, surrounded by one of those ankle-high garden fences made of wire arches. For some reason we saw this as an obstacle, and then we were actually riding horses and we jumped the fence, which had grown to be about as large as a building. That delayed Bellatrix and her evil baddies, But now, we were airborne and couldn't run on the ground (for whatever reason there was), so there were all these colored discs floating in angles in the air, so me and X jumped from one to the other like we were jumping on trampolines in low gravity. Bellatrix screamed and started jumping after us, the baddies all splitting up to leap around in the air. 

Then me and X reached a valley filled with a snow-dusted pine forest. The owl warriors of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole in their metal war claws and masks poured out of a rift at the opposite end of the valley and came screeching towards us, blocking our escape that way. X and I determined that we had to run up the mountains to the right, through the forest, to escape. So we ran through the forest, Bellatrix still coming after and the Guardians of Ga'Hoole flying overhead. We made it to the clear thirty or so feet before the mountain peak, and Bellatrix appeared in front of us, alone. X, who had somehow turned into Katniss Everdeen, then morphed into a raven and flew away laughing. Bellatrix turned to me, and suddenly I was Katniss. 

The end.

From that dream, you'd never guess in a million years that I'm a bookworm, would you? xD

4. Which do you like better: chocolate chip cookies, or vanilla ice cream?

Tough call . . . can I say both? No? I guess the ice cream then.

5. If you had the chance to go to France of England, which would you choose? Why?

England! Both my parents were born there and my grandparents are all over there but we haven't been able to go over to England in years and I really want to go see a castle again. Plus there are bridges for cows. And I want to visit Sherwood Forest and the oak tree. So yes. England. (Plus, it is ironic you chose to compare France and England since, according to my father, they don't like each other and never have). 

6. If you could pick one song to describe your favorite characters, what would it be?

I . . . don't . . . have any. 

All my favorite characters are the super-smart ones with somewhat stunted emotional expression, whether they're bad or good or whatever. I can't think of any songs which describe someone like that.

7. What's your least favorite color?

Yellow, or orange.

8. How do you stop hiccups?

This is going to sound strange, but it is what my grandmother told us to do and it does work. However, it is a two-person job. 

First, you get a glass of water. Then you plug up your ears, hold your breath, and have someone pinch your nose and hold the water up so you can swallow some. Then you drink some. I think you may have to wait a few seconds or something but that is how I remember it.

9. What's one book that really irritated you?

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick. Just . . . the main character . . . and her dumb jealous best friend . . . they were both such IDIOTS!

*shudders* It annoyed me no end.

10. What's something you were always scared to do?

Always? How about setting foot on anything floating? Boats, floating docks, etc. I can swim just fine, and I'm not scared of water at all, but for some reason I absolutely HATE being on the water. I think it has to do with the instability and the irrational fear that a River Monster is going to come out of the murky depths, capsize our boat, and eat us all. 

I also hate ice skating for similar reasons - I like to have control over my own body movement, thank you very much. No slippery ice for me. Oh! And roller coasters. No one will ever coax me onto one of those death traps. Or even water slides. Hate those too. 

There are a lot of things I've always been scared to do, apparently.

11. Would you eat garlic ice cream?

NO.

My questions for the nominees: 

1. What is the strangest food you've ever eaten? 

2. If you had to turn into some sort of plant, what would you choose?

3. A coconut and a pineapple are arguing over who is better. Write out their argument (do they focus on looks, usefulness, tastiness, etc?).

4. What is the most irrational fear that you've ever had?

5. Which is your favorite planet?

6. Why would you make a good President of  the United States?

7. What is the longest book you ever read? Tell me about it.

8. Have you ever received flowers? What kind and from who?

9. Did you ever watch Veggie Tales, and if you did, what was your favorite part?

10. Tell us a few facts about your first crush (celebrity, fictional character, real person, whatever. No names need be disclosed). 

11. Would you prefer a lightsaber or Excalibur?

And I nominate (I'm sorry for not making it to eleven): Aimee Meester @ To the Barricade!, Opal @ Opal Swirls, Carissa @ Digressions of a Demented Scribe, Cait @ Paperfury, and Cassia @ Dimensions of My Universe.

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Hi! I'm back . . .after yet another unplanned hiatus. Sorry.
So Savannah over at A Scattering of Light nominated me for this - the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Thanks Savannah!

The rules are:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.
2. Put the award logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten questions they've set you.
4. Make up ten questions for your nominees to answer.
5. Nominate ten people.

And these are Savannah's questions for me:

1. How did you start writing?
School. I'm home schooled and my mum was having us do a trial lesson from the curriculum One Year Adventure Novel. We were supposed to write a short story in one minute, and I managed to write maybe a paragraph of a fanfiction from my favorite book series at the time during the time limit. I liked that so much that I expanded it into a one-page story . . .and then it grew again. Thank goodness the writing hit on a weekend, or I wouldn't have gotten any school done! I remember writing for eight hours a day, two days straight, by hand. I still have the notebooks.

2. Favorite song?
That's hard. It changes depending on what I need, but my latest is "Limitless" by Colton Dixon. Listen to it. Now. It's so inspiring. Look, I even attached the lyric video to the post! Isn't that convenient?

3. Have you ever gotten lost?
Not in my memory.

4. If you could live in a fictional world for a year, which one?
They're all so dangerous! I suppose it would be one of Brandon Sanderson's worlds - either from Mistborn, or from The Way of Kings.

5. Which fictional character inspires you most?
I'm not sure. Right now the only one I can think of is Vin, from Brandon Sanderson's series Mistborn. She's not physically strong or attractive and doesn't seem to have much going for her, but she becomes a hero. She deals with strong emotional and mental problems, which she manages to overcome. Those victories were more inspiring than Vin's physical ones (though there were many of those too). xD

6. Favorite book of 2014?
Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. PSYCHOLOGY. PLOT TWISTS.

7. Flight or invisibility?
Invisibility. Hands down. Even if I wasn't scared of falling (and therefore, heights), I'd still prefer to fly under the radar rather than into it.

8. Tea or coffee?
Tea, generally. Especially iced tea.

9. Starlight or sunshine? 
Sunshine.

10. Why did you start blogging originally? 
I wanted to have a place to talk about writing and get my thoughts down "on page." I also like talking to people and hearing other opinions.

And now my nominees:

To the Barricade!

Digressions of a Demented Scribe

Back to the Drawing Board

Lily's Notes in the Margins

Opal Swirls

I am afraid I cannot think of any more right now. Next, I must rack my brains trying to think of ten questions.

1. Best writing music?

2. Favorite book/series?

3. Do you have a writing schedule of any kind, whether it is for blogging or for novel writing?

4. Have you ever written collaboratively?

5. Which fictional character do you know that you could (or even do) hold up as a role model?

6. Have you ever watched BBC's Merlin? And if you have, what is your favorite moment/episode in the series?

7. Do you have any slightly embarrassing cooking stories? (I know I don't appear all too bright when I attempt to cook.)

8. Which book made you laugh the most?

9. How did you start writing?

10. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type? (If you don't know but are interested in knowing, you can take the quiz at 16personalities.com. There's even more info about the different types at oddlydevelopedtypes.com.)

That's it! I promise I'll try to think of something to write a post about for next week.
Thanks again to Savannah!

Best Blogging Buddies Award

Wild Horse nominated me for this. Thanks!

You may grab this cute little owl for
your post, too. 

So I know I haven't been blogging for the last week or so - I have valid excuses in the form of NaNoWriMo and Thanksgiving. But I'm back! Off schedule, but back, nevertheless.

The Rules:

• You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.
• You must tag the person who nominated you in your post.
• You must nominate all your best buddies, and those whom you want to be best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated for this award.
• You must ask your buddies at least fifteen questions in your post.
• You must answer all the questions your buddies ask you on this post.

Alright. Let's do this thing.

Why do you blog?
Honestly I want to be able to share my writing with people, and hopefully get others to share theirs with me.

Purple or pink?
Purple. Pink is too . . . common. And it reminds me of Pepto Bismol (yuck).

Summer or winter?
Errr . . . winter? I hate the heat because I sunburn at a ridiculous rate and don't even get a tan out of it. That being said, I don't really like either one. I much prefer spring.

Have you read/seen The Book Thief? Tell me if it ripped you up like it ripped me up.
I've seen the movie - and I think it was a good one. It did get an emotional response from me (not to the point of tears, though). It wasn't really my kind of story, though. It was good, but not a favorite.

A book you keep re-reading?
I've re-read many books. But in my memory the record holder for the most re-reads is John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice #1: The Ruins of Gorlan. Eight times. Maybe more. I'm losing track. And that doesn't even count the number of times I go and re-read just sections of it for the humor.

Do you have any pets?
I share a house with four cats and two parakeets. Only one cat is officially mine, though. His name is Joshua, but his name should be Mr. Grump.

Type or handwrite?
I prefer handwriting for most things. I find that I'm more creative when using a pen and paper than when I'm banging on keys. But handwriting isn't efficient for writing 100+ page novels, plus character sketches, plus setting sketches, plus outlines, etc. Nor is it efficient for any writing that I actually will have to show someone someday. Therefore, while I would love to handwrite everything, it isn't feasible, and I type everything instead.

Has a book ever made you cry?
YES! When I first started reading at bookworm levels, I basically read this one series by Erin Hunter called Warriors. I cried several times through the course of that series, but it's been so long that I couldn't tell you which specific books. I have also cried during John Flanagan's The Ranger's Apprentice #9: Halt's Peril. Probably a few others jerked a few tears but I can't remember them.

Favorite school subject?
Hard. I don't feel like I have one particular subject I'm good at (except English, but just because I'm good at it doesn't mean it is my favorite). It's either between science (Advanced Chemistry this year) or my Omnibus class (sort of a mash up of history, literature, worldview, and Bible). Probably the latter because it doesn't cause as much stress.

The best sport in the world is . . .
Umm, for me, none. Does chess count? Or writing sprints?

Do you live in town or the country?
Town I guess?

What is better? Sunrise or sunset?
I haven't seen many of them because I'm lazy and like my sleep, but I like sunrise better.

It's midday, you're still in your PJs, at home alone, when someone knocks on the door. What do you do?
Ignore it and stay away from windows where they might see me. Also make sure I have a phone nearby. Wait until the person goes away (and if he doesn't I've got my phone). I may even try to sneak over to the alarm system and set it without the person seeing me through the windows. What can I say, I'm a bit paranoid.

A quote that is important to you?
They're all Bible verses and the one that means most to me depends on how I'm feeling or what I'm struggling with. Most of them relate to peace, and I usually only know snippets of the verses and not the location. Most of them are along the following lines:

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:7

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul." - Psalm 94:19

If you had to eat one food forever, you would eat . . .
Gosh. I don't know a lot about nutrients but I'd choose something that would keep me healthy. I wouldn't want to die from poor diet.

And now I nominate . . .

Carissa Barrows

Aimee Meester

Morgan LeAnne

Questions for nominees are . . .

1. Silver or gold? Why?
2. Action movie or romance?
3. Favorite super-hero?
4. Favorite character of all time? (Yours count).
5. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
6. What story has made the biggest impact on you? (Again, yours do count).
7. What book/movie/tv show that you've read/watched was the biggest waste of time? 
8. Real book or ebook? Why?
9. What is the weirdest thing you've ever researched?
10. Who are your writing/blogging role models? 
11. What character (any character) do you identify most with?
12. What fandom are you most obsessed with? (If there aren't any, don't be ashamed. You're more sane than us, if that is the case.)
13. Have you ever met one of your favorite authors in person? Tell me about it.
14. Here's a big question: Loki or Thor?
15. Have you ever been obsessed with something typically considered academic? Like astronomy, ancient history, psychology, mathematics, economics, physics . . .something along those lines?