Some Dynamic Snippets

Hi! Well, chores are done, and I should probably be writing, but I'm not, so I thought I would give you guys some snippets of the stuff I did write. The Dynamic Duo is written from Anthony's and Leslie's point of view.



She slid the picture frame out of the newspaper wrap and set it out. Her and her parents, standing in front of the Adventures in Odyssey building. Mom was smiling, arms wrapped around Dad. She still had her long hair and supermodel body. Leslie looked liked a littler girl. Her hair was long too, and sporting her first set of highlights. Her braces showed in her toothy grin. She liked it.
"Knock, knock." She glanced up at her dad walking in, loaded down with poster tubes. "Found these in the kitchen."
She laughed. "Thanks for rescuing them. The way we cook, I think they need to be as far away as possible."
"I'm not arguing." He smirked.


"Tomorrow we'll head to the school and get you enrolled. Do you think you can get caught up for the school year?"
"Yeah, no problem." She swiped a hand across her mouth.
"Grand Island is pretty big. Hopefully you can make some friends."
Leslie puckered her lips. 'Oh, that wont be a problem. I'm very approachable."
Her dad chuckled and tugged at a bright pink stripe in her hair. "Maybe not with this color."
She giggled. "Well, then I'll have to go after them."



"Mark, wake up." Anthony went to the dresser and slid open the top drawer. He pulled out a white t-shirt and the city boy jeans his brother liked to wear. "Get up. We got school." He slapped the outfit down on the pile of blankets. It jumped and growled.
"Anthony, leave me alone. I'm awake."
"Get up."
Mark's brown topped head popped out of the covers. "Don't tell me to get up when you don't even have a shirt on."
Anthony pushed the clothes toward him. "I'll have a shirt on, breakfast ate, and be out in the pickup waiting before you even get out of bed. Let's go."


Mark looked at his piece doubtfully. "You make lousy toast."
Anthony shrugged. "I'm not exactly dealing with a TV show kitchen."
"You're no Paula Dean either." Mark grumbled and took a bite. "You should get a toaster."
Anthony smirked. "Oh yeah. I'll add that to the list of things to buy." He finished off his own breakfast. "Think your mom has a toaster?"
Mark narrowed his eyes. "Duh. Most normal people have one."
"Your mom isn't normal." Anthony pointed at him and pulled his thermos out of the cabinet.
Mark ignored the dig. "She'd never let us take it."
"Dad then." Anthony spooned coffee powder in.


The principle spread his feet a little and drew himself up. Anthony rolled his eyes. Like that stance could make him look more manly and not like the sawed off wimp that he was.


Mister Peters wheezed, bobbing his head. He reminded Anthony of the little bobble heads that used to come in McDonald's Happy Meals. It was kind of creepy.


The new girl- Leslie- slid into the desk to the left of Mark, right next to the window. Anthony caught the slight tilt of his brothers head and resisted the urge to clobber him with his book. No staring at the new girl. Go back to worrying about prepositional phrases.


Anthony kept an ear on the teacher so he would know what to cover with Mark when he got home that night. If he could get his mind off Miss tough enough to wear pink. Mark looked like he had a kink in his neck for the rest of the class, keeping it turned just slightly to the left almost constantly. Anthony wished he would cut it out already. He was getting a neck ache just watching it.


"Geez man, haven't you ever saw a girl before." He glanced back in time to see Mark turn beet red.
"Well yeah, but she's different."
"Colorado isn't that far away. They still just grow girls over there."


He was a cute boy. Not super hot, but his smooth features and wide green eyes gave him an inviting, friendly look. She'd like to snap a picture of him and send it back to Amy. Just to prove that there were cute guys living 'in the middle of nowhere Nebraska'.

Leslie made her way through the swarm of people until she found Mark. "So, we're not totally moved in yet, and I don't know when my dad will have time to set up the internet, so can we work on this project at your house?"
Mark looked nervous. "Uh, I don't have a computer at home, so..." He touched his tongue to his lips. "Me and Anthony usually just come in to the library and use theirs when we have school work to do."
Leslie nodded slightly. "Okay that's cool. We can do that then." No computer. A flip phone from the prehistoric age. He was way too cute and dressed up to be Amish. So what was with the lack of modern day technology?

Cover Highlight!

Hi guys! So I've been following Gillian over at Of Battles, Dragons, and Swords of Adamant for quite a while now, and I've always loved her writing. Her stories are amazing, not to mention her Characters in Costume challenges.
Well guess what? She is going to be releasing a book later on this year. Now she's not doing a cover reveal, but she is doing a highlight, and I'm helping out with that, so such is the nature of this post.

Here is the cover in question. Isn't it cool? It's got a griffin on it! That right there is enough to make me want to read it.

 

And here is the blurb for the story, if the griffin and the fact that Gillian Adams wrote it isn't quite convincing enough.

 

Every generation has a Songkeeper – one chosen to keep the memory of the Song alive. And in every generation, there are those who seek to destroy the chosen one.

When Birdie’s song attracts the attention of a notorious Khelari soldier, she is captured and forced into a centuries old conflict plagued with ancient secrets and betrayals. Rescued by traveling peddler Amos McElhenny, Birdie flees the clutches of her enemies, determined to discover the truth behind the Song’s power.

 

Ky Huntyr has stolen many a thing in his time as a street-wise thief and senior member of the Underground—a gang of orphans banded together to survive—but he never thought he would be guilty of successfully stealing a priceless treasure from the Khelari and bringing their wrath on his comrades. Haunted by the tragic consequences of his raid, Ky joins Birdie and Amos in hopes of drawing the Khelari after him to keep the Underground safe.

 

But war soon threatens all of Leira, and the enemy is closing in. When Amos’ shadowed past threatens to undo them all, Birdie is forced to face the destiny that awaits her as the Songkeeper of Leira.

 

 

Is it weird to say I like Ky already? Because I do.

 

Here is a little bit about Gillian. You can check out her blog, because it's totally amazing, and this is the link to the kick start page where you can find hers and several other upcoming Christian fantasy books. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enclave/enclave-publishing-fall-releases

 

 

Gillian Bronte Adams was born with a pen in her hand, a sword at her side, and a saddle beneath her feet. As a speculative fiction writer from the great state of Texas, she delights in combining epic adventure and fantasy with themes that point to the greatest story of all—or, as she refers to it, writing to the echoes of eternity. During the day, she works as the Equine Director at a Christian youth camp, while at night, she kicks off her boots and spurs and transforms into a novelist. You can find out more at her blog: http://ofbattlesdragonsandswordsofadamant.blogspot.com/ or facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/gillianbronteadams.

 

 

 

 

 

A Novel Idea- Round 2

Hi guys! I was actually supposed to post this on Saturday, but life happened, so I'll just post it this morning as a nice little Sunday morning surprise.

I'll still be using Mark, from The Dynamic Duo (which reached over 17,000 words last night
*squee!*).

Here are this weeks questions and answers.

 

1. Where were they born? In a hospital, in their home, what city?
Mark was born in the hospital (St. Francis to be exact) in Grand Island, Nebraska. He had a very typical birth place.

2. Where do they live now?
He lives with Anthony in a one story, brick house, near the edge of Grand Island.

3. Who are the people they are closest to? Family, friends?
He is closest to his brother Anthony, but Leslie is a very close second. Outside of that there's not really anyone he would say he is close to. He has some friends (better termed acquaintances) at school, but none of them get to be personal with him.  

4. Where do they go when they’re angry and need to get away?
Oh...This one is tough. Mark is really hard to get angry. Usually if he does it's at Anthony, so it blows over fairly quickly, but when he does need to get some space from everything he hangs out in his room, or (if he really needs to make sure no one follows him) he takes a shower.

There you go! That's it. I'm so excited that I'm so close to my word count goal for this story. I was able to cross off six scenes from my list yesterday. I was looking it over this morning and there's still a lot that absolutely needs to happen, so I'm pretty sure that it will go way past 20,000 words, but working on it exclusively this month has been so much better than my usual writing style, so I'll probably just keep up this kind of schedule until it's totally done. I'm only writing the main scenes, so I'll have to go back through and put in more filler scenes during the next drafts, but as a first draft, I'm pretty pleased with it.  Have a great Sunday!

Horses Sneeze At All The Worst Times

Last Saturday I had my county fair horse show. Naturally I didn't get to sleep for hours and hours the night before, and then had really creepy dreams that woke me up. Then we woke up at about 6, when it was still pitch black and started washing horses. We had done all the trimming of mane and tails earlier, along with some of the washing. I'm sure we had a five gallon bucket full of horse hair when we were through, and I was certain my lovely black gelding was going to come out of it bald, but he actually ended up looking better than ever.

We got to the show at 8 and it was actually raining, which was really strange, because usually we cook all day during the show. You know, dark blue jeans, and long sleeved white shirts. Not the coolest outfit in the world. We had the horses all clean and neat, and us girls were all spiffy looking. And my horse sneezed. All. Day. Long. My horses eat green hay. And that stuff gets in their nose when they eat. And when you're showing a horse, 90% of the time, you are standing in front of their head. So every time he sneezed, he nailed me. All over my white shirt. Thank goodness the judges can't take away points for horse boogers on shirts. Because I would have come in dead last.

The first class I was in was a halter class for geldings age 3-6. I took my black horse, Flint. Everyone thought he was really pretty and wondered why I hadn't brought him before. Well...you can't take a stud horse to fair, and I refused to geld him until he was three. I really wanted to keep him a stud, but now I think I'm glad he's a gelding. My friend did yell at me though. She wanted to breed him to her mares I guess. Sorry. Having been a stud so long though, he really packed on the muscle and he won his class.
When we did the aged geldings class Minion 2 and her horse (that I trained for her, and love to death) took first, Minion 1 and her horse took second, and me and my little Woody horse took third. We thought that was pretty fun.
When we combined all of the gelding classes Minion 2 won the top horse out of them all, which thrilled me, because I've been arguing for years that the horse she took is the best of all of them. Now maybe people will listen to me. Probably not though.

Then we started the riding classes. For the first time in three years I had another girl to compete against in the senior class, which I really liked, because it's just no fun winning be default. I like to have to try, even if I get beat. The first class was for 2 and 3 year old horses that don't know anything. Flint was scared of some kids playing on the bleachers, so he was going a little faster than he should have, so I didn't win that class, but Minion 1 got first on my dad's little palomino, and my friend got second.
This was my last year in 4-H so I was really hoping to do okay. I hadn't got in very much practice at all, so I was a little nervous, but my dad told me to just stay calm and ride. So I tried it.
I was able to win the Western Pleasure, Reining, Trail (like a horse sized obstacle course), Barrel Racing, and Pole Bending. The girl I was competing against won the Horsemanship class. I usually prefer to win that one instead of the Pleasure class, because Horsemanship is where they judge the rider's skill, instead of the horses skill. She did beat me fair and square in that one though. She did the pattern a lot better than me. She also won in the Showmanship class by one point, which we thought was pretty neat.

At the end of the show they tally up all the points they give an additional prize to the winner in each age division. Minion 2 won by 1 point in the Junior division. It was the first time she's ever won the all-around prize, so we were thrilled for her. Minion 1 did really good as a rider, but for some reason her horse Lucky just wasn't cooperating with her, so she didn't win the all around, but she did win several individual classes. I won the Senior all around, and I was really happy with that as an ending to my 4-H career. The prizes were halters with engraved leather nose bands, which was really cool, since I am running out of belts to put my belt buckles on. It's a really cool halter that I would be able to show my horses in for the future.

So that's the conclusion to my fair days.

Vacation Bible School and Other Happenings

Well, VBS came and went and I never did really tell you guys about it, so I guess I will now.

We had a really great time, and it was wonderful how people from church stepped in to help us when we were a little short of hand when Pastor and his wife had to leave to be with their family.
We had roughly 18 kids every day, which is a good turnout for our little town. The theme was Ridin' Strong With Jesus - cowboys - so we just packed up all my dad and us girl's tack. We took saddles, cowboy hats, spurs, boots. Everything. Half of the house decorations disappeared and went to the church for that week.

(I'll admit, I was tempted to make things a little more authentic for the lesson videos. I mean, since when did cow boss' take old ladies and little kids on cattle drives??)

As I mentioned, I was in charge of games, so we had a water gun fight, an obstacle course (mom said I took pretty much every piece of junk on the farm and hauled it in to the church yard), a roundup of Minion 1's numerous farm animal toys, some games involving blindfolds, boys who peek, and some unfortunate mishaps involving blind children and trees.... Everyone was a good sport though and no one was actually injured. The Lord really blessed us for the week.

Do you have any idea how cute- and utterly exhausting- it is to think you're going to have a 'horse' race, but instead end up being chased around my a hoard of 2-4 year olds armed with pool noodles? Because I sure do.

On the last day of VBS we announced that we would be doing a sort of continuation. We invited all the school age kids to join us one day every week until school starts to come and learn a class about creation science, all the animals God created, dinosaurs, and really cool things like that.

Last week was our first attempt at that, and it went amazing. There were thirteen kids, so almost all of the school aged kids from VBS came, and then several others, not to mention several families couldn't make it the first week, but will be attending the other classes.

The kids really like hearing about all the brilliant things God designed and that creation really does fit with science. We have video's from Alpha Omega Institute, and Minion 1 and I actually attended classes put on by the dude in the video when we were little. It is geared for young minds who don't understand giant science world jargon, but the truth is still very evident for them. I love them, and so do most adults who watch them too.

(These are the people in the video- I've met them)

So that's what I was doing on all those days when you were certain I fell off the face of the earth.

(Or maybe I was on a top secret mission into the heart of some foreign country and I'm only using VBS as an excuse. You never know)
 

Liebster Award- Round Two

Hi guys! So, Sarah over at Forever Changed nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thanks Sarah!

I'll start it off with the 11 random facts about me.

 

1. I talk to my animals like they can talk back. And when they don't, I make up what I think they would say based on their facial expression...I have very sarcastic pets.

 

2. I used to watch The Lion King every single day of my life. Then I memorized it, and then I made my mom play it with me. I asked her to play one part, and I played all the others. And she still couldn't get the lines right. And I got mad.

 

 

3. I have a purple feather in my hair right now, and it scares all my guy cousins because apparently they think I'm going to turn emo or something.

 

4. I have a weakness for guys with shaggy hair.

 

5. I've been to prom three times in my life, and one of them I snuck into.

 

6. I've only been off the high board at the pool twice.

 

7. Minion 1 broke my eardrum and it was the worst pain I have ever felt.

 

8. I have been in two car wrecks, in the exact same intersection, both on Sunday on my way to church.

 

9. I write parodies for songs all the time and sing them instead of giving direct answers to the people around me.

 

10. There is a 99% chance I will answer people with a movie, book, or song quote. There is 100% chance my mom will get mad at me when I do.

11. I want to have a son and name him Talon. My mom will end up calling my children Billy and Jane because the rest of my baby names she hates.

Now, on to Sarah's questions.

 

1. What is your favorite animated movie?

That is a hard one. I absolutely love Treasure Planet, but as I eluded to above, I grew up on old Disney classic's, so probably have to go with Lion King on this one. Or Lion King 1/2, just for kicks.

 

2. If you could be any mystical creature, who would you be?

I'd be a dragon...well, maybe I'd be an elf actually. I'd rather ride a dragon than be one.

 

3. If you could have any kind of accent, which would you have?

Oh that's hard because I can imitate so many and they're all fun...I'd probably want to be an Australian mate.

 

4. Have you been out of the country?

Nope, I have not. Have you watched Lost? No way am I getting in an airplane.

 

5. What is your favorite sport?

To watch and play, it would most definitely be football. Just to watch would be any kind of extreme sport like bull riding, dirt bike racing, skateboarding, UFC fighting- pretty much anything you have to be insane to do.

 

6. As if now, what is your favorite song?

You're killing me. I guess it would be Brother by NeedtoBreathe. I love that song. But really, how can you make me nail it down to just one?

 

7. Describe the place where you write.

Haha um, well, my couch is an old brown thing my parents got when they got married, and my bed is on the left side of my poster infested bedroom, and the back seat of my dad's Chevy is gray upholstery, so yeah, that's where I write.

 

8. What fantasy world would you like to live in? (Middle Earth, etc.)

Alagasia. Because Murtagh, and yeah.

 

9. Do you prefer modern day stories or science fiction/fantasy?

I prefer fantasy. I don't read science fiction much at all. I will read some modern day, but as a general rule I prefer fantasy.

 

10. Do you write stories? If so, what song describes your favorite original story?

Yes I do. My favorite? How am I supposed to pick my favorite?? Okay, the song that is the best match for one of my stories would be Remember the Empire by House of Heroes, and that would match Blaze, but Blaze really isn't my favorite story. I think Skillet's song Good to be Alive really fits Jake's Story, and I love that one.

 

11. What is your favorite classic book?

I really haven't read many classic's. I've been trying to start, but I'm still very classically illiterate. My favorite of what I have read is definitely Little Women though.

 

Woo! Alright then. That was hard to do. Now, for nominations...

I nominate-

 

Jessy Jones from Barefoot in the snow

Brooke from Teen Words of Steel

Skye from Ink Castles

Andrea from Fantasies and Fountainpens

 

And that's all I can think of. If you want to do this one and you're not tagged, feel free. I just tagged the first people who came to mind. Or, if you don't have a blog, but want to answer, drop them in the comments. I'd love to hear them.

 

Now, here are my 11 questions for you.

 

1. Who is your favorite band or singer?
2. Who was your first fictional crush? (can be movie or book)

3. What is a cartoon you loved when you were little, but can't stand now?

4. What was/is your least favorite subject in school?

5. If you had to dye your hair an unusual color, what would you choose?

6. Do you grow your fingernails out long, or keep them short?

7. How much makeup do you usually wear?

8. What is one song you can't stand to listen to?

9. Ford or Chevy?

10. What accent do you love to listen to?

11. How many (or any) kids would you like to have?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus With Skin On

I just want to say that I have some of the best friends in the world. It doesn't matter what crazy hour of the night I text them, they respond. They listen to my insane blubberings when I'm just certain that the entire world is out to get me and that I'm destined to live single for the rest of my life.

 

 

The other day something was said in church that really resonated with me....

Let me back up a little. Somewhere close to four weeks ago, my pastor got a call that his brothers house had completely exploded, and his nephew had gone to be with The Lord. He rushed to be with his brother and family and has since been with them, and just got home for yesterday's service.
Since the initial accident Mike's (that's my pastor's brother) youngest son Riley (he has four children, but only two were living in the house at the time) passed away, and last week he lost his wife.
It has been a very devastating time for them, but they have pulled together and drawn close to The Lord as a family.

(This is some of the debris that was left of their house)

Now, back to where I am in all of this. For the week of Vacation Bible School we didn't have a missionary planned for the kids to raise money for, so we decided we would raise money for Mike's family- His entire house is just a crater, and everything he owned is gone, not to mention hospital and funeral costs. The kids were so amazing. They raised Somewhere around $870 dollars. Of course lots of this came from parents helping them out, but lots and lots also came from change they scrounged up themselves. It was such an amazing thing to watch them pour out their bags and jars of loose change for a family they don't even know.

While Pastor has been gone, my dad has been teaching the adults Sunday school class, and his best friend has been preaching the sermons. He'd been giving an update on Pastor's family and all, and he mentioned that Yes, we need to take all our worries and hurts to Jesus, but it's good for people to be there too.

He told a story of a little girl who was afraid of monsters under the bed. Her parents told her to not worry, and go to sleep, because Jesus would be with her. The little girl looked up and said

"I know. But sometimes I need Jesus with skin on."

Wow.

That was really cool to me.

As Christian's, we all have Jesus living inside us.

We are his, bought and paid for.

We need to be Jesus with skin on to people who are struggling.

This last couple of weeks my friends have been Jesus with skin on to me, and a huge thank you goes out to them, because I know I must be pretty annoying at 1 am.

Is there anyone you can be Jesus with skin on to as this new week is starting?

A Novel Idea - Mark

Well since I've been absent practically all week, and I'm exhausted right now, I'm going to do a post that requires next to no effort but might keep you happy. Jessy over at Barefoot In The Snow did this link up earlier today and I thought it looked fun so I'm doing it. And since lots of you have expressed interest in The Dynamic Duo, and Mark more specifically, that is who I'll use for this post. (You can see the original linkup post here.
 

1. What’s his/her name? Are they named after someone?

His name is Mark Beck. He's not named after anyone significant at this point, but I have been contemplating some possibilities. (Story world aside, he's named after my dad.)

2. Do they have a nickname? 

Nope, people just call him Mark. It's a hard name to create a nickname from. 

3.How old are they?

Mark is 18- a month older than Anthony. 

4.Hairstyle? Straight, curly, short, long, etc?

 

Mark has a basic boy haircut, but he does keep it a little bit shaggy. Nothing that you could really call long, but just that boy hair that sticks out past his ears and makes really cute hat hair. 

5. Eyes? Color, size, etc?

  

I had to go look at my character bio for this one. Mark has big green eyes. They're usually wide open and give him a very open, friendly look. 

So there you have it! Enjoy. I promise I will be back Monday with some fun posts about why I've been gone for days on end with little Internet interaction. But I'm way too tired and sore right now. Later dudes! 

A Little Something Different

Oh the joys of being young and useless,
When everything your small hands did was fruitless.
And though you offered help, you couldn't.
It wasn't that you simply wouldn't.
And then the measuring stick gave a shout,
and signs of adulthood came about.
And the grown-up people suddenly said,
that your growing hands now had a duty.
And you no longer could offer help,
the work was simply given out.
Oh the joys of being young and useless,
when everything your small hands did was fruitless.

 

So, I applied for a job yesterday afternoon. Just a little part time job at a Dollar General that's being built nearby, so nothing drastic, but still, it's the first job I've ever had to apply for. All the other things I've worked were just people calling me up and asking me to come work this or that for them. So it was a little daunting and a lot scary and I ended up crying, which frustrated my mom because she's been trying to help me figure out what on earth I'm supposed to be doing with my life and it's kind of just spinning in circles at the moment.

It's one of those things where everyone says "Trust God and pray about it" but almost in the same breath they're like "Well you have to do something."

And I know people mean well and are trying to help, so I'm not upset or anything, it just makes things a little hard for me.

A few years ago my dad said something that really stuck with me. I was sixteen and we were out doing chores and one way or another I ended up sobbing (I think it was something about boyfriends or my lack thereof- I can't remember for sure) and I said something to the effect that I had no clue what I was doing or supposed to do. And Dad looked at me and he said "You know how you're sixteen now and you don't know what to do? Well, I've never been a dad to a sixteen year old before and I don't know what to do."
For some reason that really drove home with me, because it never occurred to me that my dad might not know what to do. Sure, he had been sixteen at one point, but he had never been a dad to one. Which is really a duh, since I'm the oldest, but It was something I had never thought about before.
So I try not to get too upset with my parents now, because they're just as clueless as me. I'm not at all like they were when they were eighteen. They weren't in their parents head when they were at my stage. They've never raised an eighteen year old.

  

I am trying to trust God and pray about it, and I feel like applying for this job will at least be taking a step and seeing what will happen. Maybe the door will be closed, but maybe it will lead to something else. I'm hoping.

 

Beautiful People

 

Hello everyone! The new set of Beautiful People  questions are up, and since my brain is so fried from VBS and other stuff, but I'm severely overdue for a blog post, I thought I'd answer them for today. That and I did promise to give you some peaks into my NaNoWriMo story, The Dynamic Duo. Is anyone else doing camp nano? If you are, there's a standing invitation to anyone who wants to join the cabin I'm in. Anyway, on to the Q and A. I'll be using the two point of view characters in the story, Anthony and Leslie.

 

Ladies first.

(Leslie's hair cut and color change all the time, so it's hard to find a picture that really looks like her, but this is one that reminded me of her) 

 

1) What’s their favorite food? (Bonus: favorite flavor of chocolate!)
Leslie's favorite food is Lemon Pepper Chicken, but she doesn't get to eat it much anymore, because she and her dad are both pretty mediocre cooks. Her favorite flavor of chocolate would be milk chocolate.

 2) What do they absolutely hate? 
She absolutely hates when people judge by appearances. This is mostly because she get's judged a lot based on things like pink highlights and semi-punk wardrobes.

3) What do they enjoy learning about? 
Leslie is smart and enjoys learning about anything school wise. More recently though she's been enjoying learning about Anthony and Mark.

4) Who is the most influential person in their life? 
Her dad. She has a great daddy/daughter relationship with him, and will take nearly anything to him when she needs help.

5) What is their childhood fear? 
Her childhood fear was that the dentist was going to find a cavity in her tooth.

6) What is something they have always secretly dreamed of doing, but thought impossible? 
She has secretly dreamed of being a singer- music is her life- but small town Nebraska isn't exactly the best place to make it big.

7) What is something she is impractically afraid of? 
Thunderstorms. She does not like thunderstorms at all. Which is really sad for her because Nebraska get's those like a toddler gets under foot.

8) Are they a night owl or morning person? 
Leslie is definitely a night owl. Movies, popcorn, the whole shebang.

9) Do they say everything that pops into their head, or leave a lot unsaid? 
She says anything that pops into her head, which is usually alright, but some people -*cough* Anthony *coughcough* Mark- can get her all flustered (in two totally different ways) and then she starts blurting things that can be not so alright.

10) What are their nervous habits?
She pushes her bangs out of her face when she's nervous, which is odd since most people like to hide behind their bangs, but she pushes them back all the time.

Now on to Anthony.

1) What’s their favorite food? (Bonus: favorite flavor of chocolate!) 
Anthony really isn't too specific when it comes to food, as long as it doesn't give him food poisoning, but if he thinks he's got a little extra cash and is going to get something nice, he's going to hit McDonalds or some kind of fast food joint. And he's a white chocolate kind of guy. Zero bars all the way.

2) What do they absolutely hate? 
He absolutely hates touchy feely kind of people. He wants his space. Come into his space and there are going to be some problems. Mark is part of his space, so he also hates it when people try to get close to Mark. It throws off his groove.

3) What do they enjoy learning about? 
Anthony is a genius in school, but he really doesn't enjoy it that much. He purposefully flunked junior year so he could stay with Mark and help him out. Mark is always telling him he needs to just graduate and move on to college, but he's not about to do that.

4) Who is the most influential person in their life? 
His parents have had the most influence on him, but in a totally negative way. He looks at everything they do and runs the other direction. Even though he would never ever admit it, they are the deciding factors in everything he does.

5) What is their childhood fear? 
That he would lose Mark. That his mom would get custody, or his dad would come back, and they would be separated.

6) What is something they have always secretly dreamed of doing, but thought impossible? 
Anthony doesn't dream very far ahead. As long as he can pay the rent and keep an eye on Mark he's content.

7) What is something he is impractically afraid of? 
Anthony is impractically afraid of women, but he won't admit it. He'd say he hates them, but really it's mostly a crazy fear.

8) Are they a night owl or morning person? 
Under different circumstances he might have been a night owl, but as it is, he is so busy with work, school, and helping Mark that when he gets done he is totally ready for bed.

9) Do they say everything that pops into their head, or leave a lot unsaid? 
With Mark he will say whatever he thinks, but with everyone else he usually keeps his mouth shut, or makes things so vague that no one knows if he's insulting them or complimenting them. As a rule, he leaves things unsaid.

10) What are their nervous habits?
When he's nervous he pushes his fingers through his hair, or else rubs the back of his neck.

There you go! I hope you like them. I promise I'm going to have a non-writing related post coming up for next week. I've got a few ideas floating around, so there will be some fresh reading material for you guys.

I Always Did Love Cinderella

 

 

*spoken very tentatively*

I'm back. For now.

Never know what could happen to call me away from my computer at any moment.

 

This week I've felt an awful lot like Cinderella. Anyone out there remember the first movie- the good one- where Jacques and the other mice were singing?

"She turns around in circles till she's very very dizzy, still they holler "keep a busy Cinderelly"

Only it would be Keep a busy Maddie.

And boy I have.

 

NOTE: I LOVE Jacques

It's been great though. Tomorrow will be the last day of Vacation Bible School, and I'm working on uploading four camera's worth of pictures right now to fit into a slide show.
I've kind of been designated the movie maker for the last couple of years, which is fine by me. I love making video's for vbs, and fandoms, and stuff like that. I'm still trying to decide which music I want to use. 
Throughout the week I led the games, and also helped lead music and run the computer and projector for the lesson video and song lyrics.
The theme this year was Riding Strong With Jesus, and let me tell you, we have some darn cute little 2-6 year old cowboys running around out there.

Can I just take a moment to brag please? When I was like 9 or 10 I went to a VBS where we sang Days of Elijah. And everyone loved that song and I still loved that song. So when my family took over doing VBS for our church I always suggested we sing that song. And my mom always fought me because the verses were too long, and it was confusing, and yada yada. So this year I just put the song on the soundtrack, typed up they lyrics and Minion 1 started it up on day 1. And the kids loved it. We get requests to sing it every single day. So, haha mom. Haha.

It rained last night so I won't be going to horse practice tonight since the arena is absolute soup, so I'll hopefully get some writing done on The Dynamic Duo. I've got somewhere around 7,000 words written in it. I had to bump my goal word count down to 30,000 because I don't think I have enough scenes planned out to write my original 40,000. Either way, I will definitely be happy to have a rough draft done in one month. I think I'll just keep going in August and use the same type of schedule to write my Beauty and the beast retelling (which really does need a name). The Duo is going great. I think when I'm finished with video's and baking cupcakes for the 'chuck wagon' parent dinner tomorrow I will post some snippets for you guys to see.
I've also decided there needs to be a new character.

This little guy.

His name is Shane.

 

That's all I've got for you guys right now. Catcha later.

Announcement

Hi guys! Just a quick note:
I haven't forgotten that I run a blog and I will be posting this week. Since my mornings are full of vbs though, I probably won't be adding new posts until the evenings or late afternoons.

The Selection- A book review

Hi guys! Today I will be reviewing The Selection by Kiera Kass. I wanted to read this book for a long time. Minion 1 started it before me though and when she came across a kissing scene in the first chapter she got really worried and took the book back to the library and yelled at me whenever I tried to check it out. Finally my librarian saved the day and told her that the book was clean as a whistle, so she of course checked it out and read it before me, then ordered me to read it immediately when I was in the middle of other books. But, I finally got around to it and I'm glad I finally got to read it.
Here's what goodreads has to say about it.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

The story is based off Esther from the Bible and I'll give it four hearts.

 ♥♥♥♥

I loved this book. The plot was interesting, and it there was a love triangle, but it was not the typical one because Aspen wasn't there to fight for America's heart, so it cut out a lot of the typical love triangle drama. The book only covers a short period of time, but so much goes on in the book, it feels like everything is happening. There is never a dull moment. The only knock I would give it is that there are quite a few cuss words. Nothing too terrible, but lots of D and a few H words. The romance stayed appropriate and I appreciated that very much. There were several twists the story took that I did not see coming and they were very exciting to read. There were several moments where I was screaming at the book "Get out of there! They're going to find you, you idiot!" Very nerve wracking. I also loved how odd the story world was. You kept thinking it was fantasy, because they're wearing ball gowns, and there's a prince, and angry rebels, and a castle, but then that same prince turns around with a digital camera and says "smile". Very fun to read.  

 

I have a theory about what will happen with the rest of the series. Minion 1 has done a pretty good job of keeping quiet about spoilers, but after reading the first book have a theory that the books will ultimately end much different than everyone thinks they will. I'm not sure if you guys have read them yet though, so I won't say anything. Minion 1 covered her face when I told her my thoughts, so I wasn't able to tell by her eyes if I was right or not (she has the most obvious lie face in the world).

 

To sum it all up, it's an awesome story you should probably go read right now.

 

Also, how is everyone doing on their Camp NaNoWriMo? I have wrote every day, but not the right word count to finish with 40,000 words at the end of the month. I'm not too terribly worried yet though, because I set my word count higher than what I thought I would actually need to finish the first draft. I picked the big number to motivate me to write more, but I think I can still finish the story on time without writing quite that many words. I guess time will tell. I've got Vacation Bible School coming up next week. I'm the game leader and that's it, so I usually have several hours of down time while waiting for the different age group to come through for games, so I usually get a lot of writing done. Maybe I can bump up my numbers then.