Pictures and writing update

I went to Mcdonalds to get ice cream with my little siblings and my friend Paige yesterday, and some if the pictures turned out really nice, or at least I think.

She alway poses like this.

Sweet girl.

Ice cream!

My brother and some of his friends showed up after we got there to hang out, so that was fun.

selfie! OHorrible picture, I know. But it looks a lot better than the original, so I'm pleased.

Sweet dude.

Another selfie wht my girl.

Jubby with her ice cream.

I was sitting next to her, so I got a lot of pictures of her.

This may be my favorite black and white that I've taken.

A favorite.

This is filed under "doesn't go with post theme, but posting it anyway."

This one was an accident, and I really love it.

Now, a writing update. I just finished chapter three of Mirror! Yay! So I'm posting the next two chapters soon. Stay tuned, because this is getting to be amazing fun!

Tea photo shoot

My little sisters were having a tea party so I took come pictures of my tea. Enjoy!

Mirror:Epilogue and chapter one

Epilogue

I still remember the whole thing. Everything he drilled into my head. Everything he said to me too many times, so many times that I almost dreamed it instead of the voices and demons haunting them. But what’s the point now? Now that they are gone. It repeats in my head now. The words my loving father said so many times. 

“Walk slowly into the room, careful not to trip. Sing. Dance. Smile pretty. Look at your suitors with an inviting look in your eyes, but no too inviting or course. Don’t adjust your crown too often, that’s not very humble looking. Feel the beat of the music in 3 beats, never 4. You are graceful. Always remember that. You are beautiful, even if you don’t think so. I think so, and until there is someone else to tell you that, I will continue to.”

Again, what’s the point? I am done. My mind hurts, and I just want it to stop, even if I have to kill myself. I look at the stone in front of me, the black of my dress, and I let the demons take over. Just let them go. I feel glass cover my body and I shatter.

Chapter 1

I’m here. I’m dying. I’m bleeding. But most of all, I’m dreaming. I’m in a hole of black, the voices I always hear surrounding me like a poisonous gas. They tell me exactly who I am, though I think I know. I try to stay calm.

 The voices invade my dreams so I can’t rest even when I’m sleeping. I feel myself writhe around, covered in sweat, trying to jump back into my body, finding it inhabited with three voices, just as it always is. 

I know it is just me, because I have asked, but I can’t keep asking, because what are you supposed to tell your father who thinks you’re impossible already? Who thinks you lie? Who thinks magic doesn’t exist, though his daughter is inhabited with a demon. But he doesn’t know that. And he never will. The voice says. How can I tell him, the one who thinks only three things, being honest, being strong, and trusting, bind the world together? I can not, but I can be just strong enough to control a dream. I stand up, imagining that blood is gone. It turns to glass and falls to the ground, shattering, 

I ignore the voices telling me what my life is, because I know already. My life is hell. No one knows it but one, and it is hell. I blink. I blink again. I imagine my room, waiting for me, my maids, arriving to dress me for the day, the stone of my father’s castle strong around me. My closet full of more dresses than I need. My horse waiting for my daily ride. My crown sitting on the vanity, waiting to adorn my wavy black hair.I take a deep breath and shoot up in bed. There it is, everything, the voices quieting down a little. I take deep breath in through my nose, and out through my mouth until my heart slow enough I can feel my body. I realize I am digging my long finger nails into the palm of my hand. I take one more breath and stare out the window, looking at the moon to see what time it is. An hour past midnight. I know I won’t be able to sleep anymore, the dreams were too bad. I sigh and take a piece of parchment from the table next to me. I go to my desk and pick up a quill, dipping it in the glass bottle full of  ink. I think about what my doctor said yesterday. 

Record your thoughts. Then burn them or let them fly away. This will make you honest, make you become more like the roots of a tree. I sigh and bring the quill, dipped deeply in green ink made from emerald grass. My hand glides across the page, writing words in English and Latin. et voces in meo capite. Make them leave. Non potero. I want them to go. Scribe, dicunt. They’re wrong. Me frangis, vivificabis me. Shatter me, make me live. I take a deep breath, setting fire to the paper. The smell seems familiar, and I think I have smelt it in my horrible dreams. It is oddly comforting, though. On the first page I wrote, about three months ago, I wrote that I wanted to die. Now I want to live. I wonder if it really did help, or maybe I am just getting better. The dreams don’t come as often, and the voices are quieter these days. 

I get up and pace around my room a few times, my heart slowing down a little, then heating up again. A sharp rap at my door comes and I pull on a robe over my sleeping clothes and run to open it. The wood creaks and a young guard I’ve never seen before stands there, a pitcher of water in his hand. His brown eyes bore into me, worry creasing his brow.

“I smelled smoke, your grace. Is everything okay?” I sniff the air and remember my burning paper. My voice becomes formal and I cover up my hoarse voice. 

“Oh.” I shake my head, a prim smile crossing my face. “I am fine, thank you.” He takes a deep breath. “Just getting rid of some documents I don’t need.” I take a deep breath and the guard nods. 

“Alright.” He turns to walk away, but I put a hand out to stop him.

“Excuse me one moment, sir.” I say softly. He turns around.

“Yes, mam?”

“You can call me Crystal.” I tell that to all the guards, even if They work for me, they obey me. They never call me by anything but your grace or Princess Crystal of the house of <name.> Why would they treat me as a friend? I know he too, because that is what he was taught, will continue to call me by my royal name. Your grace. That is who I am to everyone. No one is my friend. He  smiles a little.

“Thank you, Crystal.” My gasp is small and short, barely visible. He accepted me too fast, almost. “And you can call me Samuel.” I smile, a real smile for once. I can’t remember the last time I smiled. Stop. I chide myself silently. It is too late for such thoughts. I go into my room and pick up my quill, scratching out the guard’s likeness onto a paper. Samuel. I don’t even know if I’ll see him ever again, but he called me by my name. It felt real, but I don’’t know. But his name. Samuel. I fall asleep with my face against the desk, and a smile against my face. I feel just a little giddy that I might have a friend, and the rest is worry for my many problems. Life is too fast and yet too slow to know who is your friend and who is an enemy. 

I take a deep breath and put the quill down, looking at the face in front of me. It ended not looking like the guard, and more like my father looked when I was younger. A crease in his brow, light brown soft hair, like the color of maple milk. A smile on his face, love in his eyes.  A small child’s hand is wrapped around his finger. I imagine he is looking at my mother, before she died, her blonde hair and green eyes beautiful and regal. 

The picture is one I have drawn too many times to count. Its lines come easily to my hands, and when I draw it, tears come easily to my eyes. I want to let go of the good times, but I can not. I close my eyes and remember that fateful day when the link between me and my father was severed. Nothing keeps me from thinking of that day at this hour. This is the best time to remember. This is the best time to die again.

The drawbridge is let down, and the carriage is driven further and further away from my view. My small hands, the hands of the child  I am, rub against the window, rubbing away a little of the frost on it. Tears stream down my face and my other hand reaches down to tug at my heavy black dress. 

“I miss her.” My sister Willow sobs into a maid’s lap. “I miss my mommy.” The tears spread wetness all over my face, making it a flood of loss and pain. I sigh,because she will never know the pain I feel. She will forget the next day. I, however. Will never forget. I run out of the room, leaving behind crying people and a trail of tears. 

“Why?!” I scream, a shiver running through my body, as if something is awakening. “Why should I live, if she must die?” A voice comes from the depths of my chest, right next to my heart. 

You are alive, it says. Because I gave you the blessing of life. I run into my room and shut the door. I'm sure fear shows on my face, ad I can't have people see me like this. Not when father’s reputation is running away, not with the rumor, untrue as it is, that he killed her. Though I am a young child, I still understand that he needs me to stay strong, for him, for the kingdom. 

“Who are you?” I ask, trying to calm the tremor in my voice. “Why do I hear you so closely? How can I hear…You?” I listen carefully, but no more sounds come out from anywhere, inside of me, nor outside. I walk over to my window, pressing a hand to it, trying to steady myself. A shiver runs through my tiny frame again, and The window frame begins turning to glass. I scream and back away. It stops spreading, and I stare at my hands. My breath are quick and scared. I close my eyes, sitting on the very edge of the bed, trying to ground myself . My little hands reach up to my mourning wimple, crumpling it in my hands and holding firmly onto it. In a moment, it feels cold and stale. I move my hands away, and it looks like frosted glass. I rub my fingers against it. It is glass. Solid glass. The voice in my soul comes back, joined by others, so loud I can’t hear what they say. I do my best not to scream. Because a young child screaming will not do well for my father’s reputation. 

Photo Mishmash

Here's a bunch oof photos I took in the past while.

ANGEL FOOD CAKE!!!!

Not really sure where this came from... But it's a bit fun...

Anyway... Also, I'mgoing to post an interview on Wednesday and Chapter  one of Mirror on Tuesday! Yay! :-)

Kids and flowers...

I went to the park with my little siblings and a friend of mine yesterday, and took some pictures of the pretty flowers. :D 

I like this one so much. I edited it twice. I couldn't decide between black and white or bright, contrasting colors. Which one do you like best?

I got this shot between EJ climbing off the bench and running off to play and Clara complaining about how she wanted to sit in the middle. Considering, I like the way it turned out. 

It's not very often that I like black and white on my pictures, because I only have one black and white filter on the program I use, but by combining it with other filters, I can sometimes get one I like. 

I love the way the colors turned out on this one. 

And this one leaf on the ground I found there turned out being one of my favorite pictures ever. 

I didn't actually take this at the park, it was in the yard at a friends house, and the yellow made me so happy. 

Thanks for reading! What do you want me to write or photograph next? Would you like to see more pictures of people? More simple meaningful pictures like the one of the bench? Comment and let me know,and I'll see what I can do.

Interview with Imogen Elvis

Like I said, I'm going to be doing interviews on here, so you can get an idea of what it's like to be young writer. I know it took me forever (14 days) to get the first one up, but I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. Sometime this week I'm going to post another one, then going to post them every Wednesday after that. So, this is a talk with Imogen Elvis (Awesome name, I know. I'm totally jelly.). She's in a writer group called Go Teen Writers with me. Enjoy! (If you want to read some of her writings, and see her thoughts about Writing, Books, and Music for Writing. go to her blog here. (Among other things...About writing. (Basically, It's a writing blog.) 

Questions about YOU.

1. Age? I’m 19.

2. Hair color? I have shoulder length brown hair.

3. Favorite genre? (To read) My favourite genres to read would be fantasy, sci-fi, and a little dystopian. If I had to pick just one though (and that is very hard for me to do as I love all books so much) it would probably be fantasy, with sci-fi making a very close second. I especially love all the imagination that goes into making the awesome fantasy and sci-fi worlds, and of course all the creatures and different races that writers can, and have, added to their books.

4. Do you have siblings or are you an only child? I have lots of siblings. I have three brothers and four sisters, which is really awesome as I never run out of company. And if I ever need to brainstorm for my book, there’s always someone around to help me out!

5. Favorite genre? (To write) My favourite genre to write has to be fantasy. I guess it makes sense that I write the sort of books I like to read. Again, sci-fi runs a close second, but fantasy is by far and away my favourite genre to write in because of all the things I can do with my plot and characters. There can be dragons, magic, elves, epic quests, huge battles and a cool world that doesn’t have to stick to the rules of everyday life.

6. Height? My best guess is short. I don’t dare to measure myself in case I turn out to be shorter than I imagine myself to be. The good thing is that all my sisters are short too, so I end up being the tall one. Let’s just say it’s easier to climb under a fence than over it for me.

7. What is the last book you read that you would recommend to someone? That would be Dreamtreader by Wayne Thomas Batson. I won an ARC from the author, and I devoured it in a couple of days. It has adventures in a dream world, an epic bad guy, and a plot twist at the end that I did not see coming at all, but that made total sense. I’d highly recommend it.

8. Favorite book? Favourite book? Oh I couldn’t pick one of those. I like too many books to be able to pick a favourite. However, one of my recent favourites is The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. If you’re looking for a great read, then you should definitely try this book. It became an instant favourite the moment I opened the cover.

9. What inspires you to write? I write because I have stories to tell. For me, writing is like discovering a new adventure. I have so many stories to tell that I would like to read, but I have to write them all down first. Plus the characters might murder me if I didn’t write their stories.

10. Favorite thing about blogging? My favourite thing about blogging would have to be meeting new bloggers and chatting to them through comments. I love being able to share my thoughts and my discoveries with other people and hear their thoughts in return. Other bloggers are so friendly that it’s a pleasure to get involved with them.

Questions about your WRITING.

1. What is the book you are writing about? My current project is a book I’m writing for the July session of Camp NaNoWriMo. It’s called Ember and it’s a sci-fi retelling of Cinderella. It’s also the second book in a series of these sci-fi retellings I’m writing. In my version, Cinderella has superpowers, and must use them to stop a supervillain with the help of some other mutants with superpowers.

2. What was the first thing you wrote about? The first book I ever wrote was a messy fantasy book with ninjas, an epic quest, and half of Tolkien’s The Hobbit thrown in for good measure. The book itself was terrible, but it was the first one I ever wrote and that was what really got me into writing novels.

3. What is one piece of advice you have for other young writers? There are lots of piece of advice I would love to give, but one of most important, apart from never give up writing, is read about the craft. Read writing books, writing blogs, listen to writing podcasts, anything that’ll teach you about the craft of writing. I can’t count the amount I’ve learnt just through reading writing blogs alone, and how my writing has benefitted from that.

4. Will you ever stop writing? At the moment I can’t see myself stopping writing. I love writing so much that, even if I were never to be able to get anything published, then I would probably keep writing, simply because I have stories to tell. Until I run out of stories, which I hope never happens, I don’t think I’ll be stopping writing any time soon.

5. If you could finish and publish an entire trilogy for free, but you had to never write again, would you? It depends on whether I could still keep writing and trying to get published, whether or not I had to write. If I could publish a trilogy for free, and I was still able to write, then I might. But, if it came to a choice between easy publishing and actually writing, then I would choose hard work any day.

Questions about your DREAMS.

1. What is your lifelong dream? My biggest dream at the moment is to be a published author. And then hopefully be successful too. I would love to have my books out in the world where everyone can share the stories that I enjoy and meet my favourite characters. That would just be amazing. 

2. What do you enjoy doing other than writing? Other than writing I love to read. When I have any spare time I just gobble up as many books as I can. I also love to sing and play the piano. Music is very important to me as a hobby.

3. Would you enjoy having a film adaption of one of your novels? I think I would definitely be flattered by having my book chosen to be adapted for film. Whether I’d actually enjoy having an adaptation of my book would depend on how good the film was. I wouldn’t ask that absolutely everything be the same, just that they don’t take my book and turn it into another story entirely.

4. What did you want to be when you grew up? When I was very young, I thought I was going to become a nun when I grew up. I knew some very lovely nuns, and I wanted to be just like them. Then, when I grew up a bit more, I decided that I was going to be a doctor instead. I studied all kinds of things like advanced mathematics and physics and such as preparation for that, before I realised I didn’t want to be a doctor either. But it wasn’t until I was about to start at university that I worked out what I really wanted to be.

5. What do you want to be now? My dream job now is to be an editor and also a writer. I knew that it’s very hard to live completely off writing, and I knew I wanted to work with books for my job, so when I thought about being an editor and working in publishing, I felt that that was what I really wanted to do, and that’s what I’m studying towards now.

Here's the blurb for her current novel:

Hector, the leader of the mutant rebellion, is determined to stop the Mutant Registration Act, which will require all mutants to be registered and exposed to the public. When negotiations with the government fail, the children of leading politicians start disappearing, taken as hostages.

As a mutant and foster child, Lee has never lived in one place for long. When he wins a scholarship to a prestigious high school, he never imagined he would become friends with Rachel Brand, daughter of the Minister of Mutant Affairs.

Meanwhile, Sara and her mutant friends have been hunting for Hector without success. When Hector threatens Rachel, Sara goes undercover to protect her. After Lee helps her foil one kidnapping attempt, they join forces.

Time is running out for Hector. Rachel’s birthday party gives him the perfect opportunity to kidnap her too. Now he’s threatening to kill the hostages unless the act is repealed. Can Sara, Lee and the team rescue them before it’s too late?