Nov. 7, 2009 - BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Currently on a field trip through Gettysburg, Washington D.C., and various places in VA.

Doing NaNo; 7.5k so far. Behind. Not my fault, I don't have much time to write! *bitter tears*

Fighting colds and freezing to death. Winter is fast approaching.

Behind in school because of this field trip. I've not yet started Psychology, Science, and a few other things for this year. Mom has yet to order them.

Might be taking the PSAT, according to my mother. Hm.

There are other interesting things.... Oh. Right.

Samantha Simmon's Synopsis: Book Two in the Bitter Truth Chron. (changed from TK; wasn't working):

Samantha Simmons likes her life the way it is. Quiet, independent, seclusive. Safe. However, when her grandmother begins telling stories about unnatural children and the supernatural beyond the fabric of Sommer's Harmony's existence, the safety vanishes.

After a freak draft locks Samantha in the attic, she meets Timothy Kaye, the strange boy her grandmother speaks of in her "radical fairy tales". He takes her hand and pulls her 19 years into the future, where everything is wrong. There are no unalienable rights, no freedoms; all America was founded on has been destroyed, and all by the doings of one man: Phinnaes Tenabrous.

Samantha soon finds herself entangled in both a physical and spiritual war against her nation's leader, the complacent who want to stop her, and her bitter distrust for her Creator, the one who made all things. Will she find it in herself to set aside her selfish independence and fight for the future--and ultimately the past--of her country? What of failure? Will she be able to live with herself and her decisions if she lets those around her down?

Maybe I'll update later, maybe I won't. Who knows? I'm tired. Let's keep up the mystery.

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Oct. 24, 2009 - The Bitter Truth Chronicles

[I cannot believe Liz wrote on my blog! I haven't seen her in forever, and she writes on my blog! *waves her arms around* Something weird is going on. . . Ahem. To avoid confusion and delay, moving on.]

Ah. *points to title* Right. So. *pinches the bridge of her nose* I have started a series.
Hold up! Not one of THOSE series! Not a 'you must read these books in this order' series, but a stand alone series. Each novel can be read on its own without confusion, but they all tie together in ways that make a big difference.
Has anyone read any of Dekker's novels? Kind of like what he does. He has a whole series that he's written and thrown multiple references into his other books of: two I just discovered tonight, actually, and found myself delighted and almost squeaking in excitement about. He ties it together in the most delicious way, and I realized about...three days ago I could do the same exact thing. Tie my books together into a running plot thingy and make it a Chronicles.
Hence, the Bitter Truth Chronicles was born! Muahaha! Hence the reason I am up, blogging at 3 am in the morning!
*pats her huge bottle of root beer and grins*
I guess I'll answer a few questions, for my own benefit as well as yours.

Q: What is the Bitter Truth Chronicles about?
A: Well. . . I will state here and now that I would rather read psychological/thriller/deeply intense novels over romance/sci-fi/fluffy fictional novels any day. Therefore, I am writing what I would want to read. I have really found interest in psychology and my faith; who I am and why I am on this earth, what I am here to do, who God wants me to be and what sort of relationship He and I have. We are all sinners. We all struggle with various different things. I struggle, still, with judging people. I struggle with being self-absorbed/self-righteous. We all turn away from God's loving hands and shun Him, conform to Normality. This is what the Bitter Truth Chr. are about. The various ways people turn from God, and the journey back to Him--no matter how hard, painful, or consequential it may be/might become. So far I have three different scenarios for this, but it could grow to be more.

Q: What books are in the Bitter Truth Chronicles?
A: There are three so far. Soren Brewer (and these are all working titles, though I may just leave them as they are, who knows), Timothy Kaye, and Thor Helson. Now. They all are in various different stages, and they ALL need to be edited. Badly. In fact, I have major work on my hands these next couple months. I have to finish editing TP (half way done!), edit what I have of SB so far before I can write more, tear up and re-write all of TH (which will be an interesting pain), and keep working/editing through TK (which I am editing as I write, heh). Like I said, more ideas may come up, but for now I am happy with these three.

Q: And these books are about?
A: Soren Brewer focuses on a) how far Soren, the S.O.T.S., and other rebels will go to stand up for their freedom and their faith--their rights, b) what happens to those who let greed and power go to their head: what happens when you think you have the power of God, which NO one has but God Himself, and c) learning to trust through all hardships, no matter how painful, unfair, confusing, or hopeless it seems.
Timothy Kaye focuses on a) how humans are not dependent on themselves alone (lies and sin do not suffice and please the hungry growl of our souls. Nothing but Christ alone can fill the emptiness within); how they--and the world--needs God's healing hand and loving compassion, b) what happens when the government crosses their line of power and influence and takes away humanities rights of freedom, speech, religion--everything--and how far people must go to secure our liberty and rights, and [I think] c) how everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord, no matter their gender or race, and loved the same and respected. Let bygones be bygones.
Thor Helson focuses on a) how no manner of physical pain/mask wearing/lies can cover up the sin we all have rooted deep within our core (running from God doesn't help, He is always there and always watching. No matter who we are, He loves and forgives, but we must admit to our mistakes and reach out to Him); b) in being sinful, we can easily fall into temptation and turn God away for material things or, in this case, supernatural Evils/lusts/wants/needs that do not please the Lord. We naturally do not want for ourselves what God wants for us until we REALIZE what is there to be had, and those who turn a blind eye to God's eternal gift cannot see it, and c) once again, sin does not satisfy. No matter how far you run, how long you turn a deaf ear and dull your senses, nothing will be truly fulfilling without God there to make it richer, fuller, more awesome. [And I'm sure there's more. This is a deep thriller/Spiritual book I have only explored in very small amounts.]

So there you have it! I'm really excited. I found all these ties already connecting all these different stories, and inspiration is pouring from my fingers. . . 4k in two days! *pumps fist in the air* And more tomorrow! For now, however, I really should be off to sleep, or I won't get up in the morning.

*saunters off*

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Oct. 17, 2009 - A Challenge of Epic Proportions

I don't know if it would be considered "Epic" or not (Anna certainly claims so), but seeing as I will not vouch either way because I wouldn't know, you can make your own decision as to what it really is.
Before everything goes all over the shop, I should clear up a few things.
One, this is Liz, one of Anna's Kids. I'm a Brit, smart as a whistle, and, in conclusion, an all around neek (for all you Ruddy Yanks, neek is the cross between a "geek" and a "nerd". ;-)
Two, I'm writing this blog post for Anna because she is still stuck in that alleged "swamp" called editing. I have offered my help, but she's been rather dodgy and off doing her own thing as of late. She would rather be alone; I won't pretend to understand why. Still, it's not my story she's editing (which 'sa right shame, tha' is), but in the end it really doesn't matter.
The Kids who should be helping her aren't; silly buggers. Especially James, the pilchard. What can you do, though? The numbers of loyalty are growing thinner and thinner.
Even still, through all the complaining, editing is probably better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick. Right?
*shrugs*
So, Bob's your uncle.
Anna's "epic challenge" is this: she 'as decided to enter an essay challenge, which means she is required to write 1.2k- about a knight, fair maiden, king, and dragon. If you all know my authoress, you know that a) working with a schedule does not appeal to her in writing, and b) word limits are. . .well, word limits.
Still, it will earn her quite a lot of dosh if she wins. $1k. She has to hand it in by Chrimble, and should find out who the winner is by February 5th or so.
I believe she finished writing it this afternoon, but there is still a lot of perfecting to do. She's not as excited for the money as she is for having someone else read her work and deem it worthy of some sort of prize, as well as having her first published story. No matter if it is only two pages long, or only published online on one webbie. It should give her more credibility in the publishing world.
Once again, Bob's your uncle. I think it speaks for itself nicely.
Might I just say I am also hyped up? I think Anna means to write some in my book over this coming week. It's been too long. . . Much too long.
*sighs*
Oh, cor! Timothy got into the pantry.
Cheerio!
~Elizabeth Volsan

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Oct. 15, 2009 - I had a good title earlier, but I can't remember it now...

EDIT: Only the posts after Aug 11th or whatever can be seen by everyone. All the posts before are for registered users to see only. Why? Because I had changed it all to be RU's only, but then decided to only have my "smarter" more meaningful posts shown to everyone. Lately I feel I've been posting....more relevant stuff.

 Don't ask why, it doesn't make sense to me either. *shrugs*

~*~*~

It's funny how life gets so....odd.
No, really. For instance, I have been planning this blog post out for the last couple of days, wanting to file down my "brilliant" thoughts and everything, but when I finally write it out am I seriously going to sound all that smart and everything as I do in my mind?
HA. Unlikely. But I will try. Not that anyone reads my blog, but still, I will try. For the audience of one. Me! Hehe.
For another odd instance of life, by the way, my parents bought an old $900 trailer, with electricity and a working stove and heater and everything. Fancy that. My siblings love it. It's like a little club house. I hope they don't ruin it. Their friends and they go plunking around inside, screaming and making messes.... Hmph. We need it for the trip to D.C.
WHICH, by the way, is over my birthday. I'll be in Jamestown when I turn 17. Not sure if I am excited about this or nooooot. Probably the latter. It's gonna be cold and miserable. *le sigh*
Ahem. My thoughts are ALL OVER the place. I truly apologize. Let's see. My life, in order, followed by a little.....speechy thingy. *marches off to do such*

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Sep. 30, 2009 - The Things I Get Myself Into. . .

I have no idea what is possessing me to even TRY this this year of 2009, but I guess there is no time like the present and instead of having to wait a whole 12 months why not try? JUST try, not meaning I will be racing to get anywhere or anything silly like that (okay, so it's not silly, but I'm running out of rational ways of explaining my irrational thinking process; deal with me).

I have decided to try for NaNo 2009. God save me. *grin* How is this going to work between my birthday, schoolwork, and a two week trip out to Washington D.C.? Don't ask me those questions; I have absolutely no idea (however I believe we will be gone during my birthday so that takes care of that). My simple question is: when will I find the time and efforts to write between long school days, and how am I going to get 50k with just two weeks?! It's supposed to be a whole month gig, you know?

Which is why I won't be trying to get 50k out of this and/or write a whole novel. Instead I will use it as a challenge to write every day and get as much out onto the virtual paper of my computer screen as I can. So here's my planning for this all:

October: Continue to edit and finish editing chapters 3-12 of The Prophecy. Do it well, have mom read it through for any caught mistakes, print it out and save it on a backup disk or something (so I cannot lose it). If happy, publish it using Lulu for the family members who want it, and then set it aside to be pondered over as for publishing in the next year. Just let it sit (after all, this is the third draft I am editing through. A friend of my grandfather's edited it already for me and I just got that copy to use).

October 30-31: Read through what I have of Soren Brewer (and I am looking for a name for the book right now: Like. . . S.O.T.S. (Sanctuary of the Souls, a Group of Fighters) or something along those lines?) and refresh my mind on what is going on, who the Kids are, etc.

November 1st: Pick up in chapter 7 and write, write, WRITE as much as I can until November 30th at 11:59pm. See how far I can get in it, how much I can get done, and how close I am to finishing it.

December: Slow down and figure out where I am. Buy a copy of the 'Writer's Market' books and look through those for TP, just to see who is out there and get some helpful hints along the lines of publishing. Not so bad. Look through what I wrote of SB, have my mother and father go through it, see how close I am to finishing it. Depending on how I feel, I might continue through writing it.

January-February: Finish writing SB, then put it aside for the next few months.

March: Start studying for the SATs. AAAAAH! Also, take up TP and start looking for a publisher after one last sweep through.

April-May: Use these months to continue trying to find a publisher; also, write in any book ideas which come to mind, though right now I have no idea what these would be.

June-August: Finish up 11th grade, start looking for colleges, see where I am with publishing TP, writing any other ideas, etc.

September-October: Pick up SB and begin editing it.

November 2010: Turn 18, do NaNo for whatever new ideas. Etc.

So there we have it. This is just a very, very sketchy layout plan, but I hope by 18 to have at least one book published. I dunno. I would like to be published simply because I need to raise money for college: costs are not cheap anywhere and my parents have NO money to put into college for me, so I'm going at this on my own time and effort. Writing is a gift and I am good at it, why not use it as a way to earn for learning even MORE so I can someday get a job in what area I want to get into? Of course there are other jobs I can get and I am looking into those, but writing is fun, so why not give that a shot?

Anywho. Off to edit/boil corn. *snickers* Fun stuff. *le sigh*

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Sep. 29, 2009 - I hate mornings.

Seriously. I do. I hate nighttime more though, lately, which is funny to me because I usually love it. There's just something to hate about spending two hours staring up at the ceiling, jumping at the shadows, unable to fall asleep because of your racing thoughts, the snoring coming from across the hall and through the door, the pain in my back, the funny sound of my heart beating when I lay on my side, the way I go through a blog post at 10pm but don't actually have the energy to get up and write it. . .

*laugh* And this is all amusing because there I was, 10:30 pm, 5 1/2 hours away from getting up and preparing to leave for the airport. I do, by the way, in less than a half hour. That should be so much FUN. . . *coughing sarcasm here* Yeah.

I am afraid to say this is not going to be a very intellegent post, but simply one where my fingers can be allowed to move across the keyboard with some semblence of freedom and pick out cool words to use, like semblence. *smirk* I haven't been writing anything in SB for a while--EDITING KILLS YOU DON'T DO IT!!!!!--and I miss it something fierce. I love writing, I need to write, I HAVE TO WRITE. . . and I have to wait until I get home. Probably until Friday and Saturday, as I am sure I will be mobbed when I get back by my pack of raving family members. Especially my parents, the dears have been worried sick about me for numerous reasons.

Random, but it's funny how highly reckless I have become since about over a week ago. There have been tons of times where I have almost died. *snicker* It's what happens when you climb up part of a mountain and sit on the edge beside the railing, not behind it, and lean out laughing because it's a LOOOOOOOOONG way down and nothing is there to keep you from falling but yourself and the trees look like ANTS and it is SOOOOO funny to see it, then you lean over further to get a picture and people yell at you to "get back" because it's dangerous.
I think it's joyous, but this is just me. *grin* Being reckless is fun. I do have people to thank for that. Why live life in a box when you could be out there, having a high time, being worriless and reckless but smart about it? *coughanditalwaysdependsonHOWsmartyouknowcough* Ehihihi. ;-)

Anywho, I should get out of here and grab my things. Yay, another long day of flying on a plane all by myself! But at least I will be home again, in the comfort of my own room. Maybe I will sleep better then. . .

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Sep. 27, 2009 - Musings on Writing. . .

I find it amusing how lately my mind has been filled to the brim with things to write about. Blogging, I mean, not noveling, which has crumbled into the dust since I am re-editing The Prophecy. Editing KILLS. I grow ill just thinking about it. *slight grin*

I was thinking about my writing yesterday during the long car ride home from the horribly busy and jam-packed San Francisco. Side note: SF is WEIRD. The roads are steep, traffic is awful, there are people laying homeless on the street who dig through the trash to find food. There are a bunch of lights everywhere, and then there are alleyways where it is dark and pumpkin lights from the street lamps cast eerie shadows about dumpsters. The Golden Gate Bridge is actually a burnt orange color, the ocean is beautiful to be seen from Fisherman's Warf, taking the trolly is DEFINITELY not worth the hour long wait to get on (no idea what that was about), and being surrounded by a gagillion French tourists is very, very scary. They like to push and shove you around, no joke. *le sigh* So there you have a taste of yesterday and what I did. Another side note, if you are in Berkley NEVER just randomly pick out a resturaunt and go there. We did because we were starving, and they were like this eco-friendly place? Trout with the head still on it, chicken liver, some sort of tongue, etc etc. We took forever just trying to find a decent meal! *laugh*

Moving on. My writing. Ah yes.

I found I write the way I do, Psychoquantum, because it is fulfilling and inspiring to me. I guess I should begin by explaining what my genre is. A dear friend made up the description: A name given to writing dealing in the crossing of parallel realities, the invasion of supernatural influences, the motives behind sin-nature occurrences and the psychological existence of the individual.  Basically, I get indepth into what I write. I use tons of parallels from everyday happenings (sometimes without even knowing it), there is supernatural influences above what we all can see (not bad ones; like...hm, it's hard to explain. Angels, crossed realities, things the own human mind can create without really realizing it (and I'm thinking Dekker's 'Thr3e' here), I get into the motives of why Evil beings do what they do, because villains always have a reason, and I delve into the though-process of every main character and side character: the psychological existence. Simple, right? *grins* I guess not really. I find it indeed fascinting, though. Maybe I should explain it more.

When I write, it's not all rainbows and ponies. It's not fluff and cotton candy. Not romance or adventures of pirates and fair damsels in need of rescuing. When I write, I get under the surface, I go deep. The Evil in my books is TRUELY Evil. It is very Evil, simply because there must be no graying lines between Good and Evil like in, say, Harry Potter. You read about the villain and you fear him, you fear what he represents, you are aware of how Evil he/she is because Evil cannot be ignored or hidden, covered by other things. Evil is out there: every day we fight temptation, fight the urge to rebel against our Creator. People are out there who are bad, who do not listen to God, and to turn a blind eye to them and to Satan is not a good idea. Ignoring it is not going to make it go away. Sin covers the world like a blanket; there is no escaping it. We are all sinful, but it is the choices we make that define who we are and what we stand for. I get into those choices in my writing; i.e. the motivation of Evil and why. Why does this villain want to kill that hero? Why is he Evil, why does he insist upon rejecting God?

Once you see the Evil is not to be liked (in some books, you like the villain, and that is not okay with me), there are those in my books who fight for Good, for the Light, for God. I get into that, once again delving deep, and the reader sees just how far the heroes are willing to go to stand up for what is Right. For their morals and convicitons. How far would someone go to stand up for what they believe in, is what I am getting at. Would they suffer pain and agony and not back down? Would they be willing to die for their faith? When you are cornered and your faith is brought out into the open, when you are told to throw it away, would you listen to save your skin? Or would you cling to the very, bloody death? THIS is what I am getting at. At the last moments of life, when your very existance is threatened, the true person underneath the every day facade comes out into the open, and your beliefs are shown to both yourself and others, all depending on what choice you make. This happened back when people were burned at the stake for their beliefs. It wasn't pretty and it certainly was horrible, but it happened. People died because they would not reject Christianity. They embraced God instead of embracing their sinful natures. Indeed, they died painfully and suffering, but we are all called to Fight for what we believe in and cling to our convicitons to the end, no matter what we may be put through. This is what I write, this is what I make pains to show. It is very important. Instead of being complacent and going through life ignoring everything, we should build up our faith and convictions, pursue the gift God has given us, and use it to glorify Him. I believe I am doing that by writing. And no, my writing may not always be pretty and happy, but since when is life always beautiful and happy?

That's just it. It's not. Life is hard. It is ugly at times, filled with distress and despair, filled with grief and anguish and fear. Isn't that what molds a person? We are not just made by all the good times we have in life, but also made by all the times we are filled with pain and confusion and utter despair. It all changes and molds us, and this is what I wish to show in my writing. *nods* My heroes go through a lot of hard things, a lot of deep things that touch upon their true nature, touch upon who they really are and what they REALLY want underneath the mask they constantly wear. It makes them human, because we all are tested at one point or another. We all come to a point where we must make that decision of who we are and what we truly believe in throwing off our careful complacency.

I hope you all will understand that. *grins* I sort of just rambled my ranting all the way through. Hehe.

Not sure what we're doing today. I leave Tuesday morning at 6 though. Hm... Soon I'll be back in Minnesota. Mom says it's 50 during the day at 30 at night, a far cry from the 85 degree weather here. *shudder* I'll be needing my olive jacket and heather gray hoodie more often now, I think. *wild grin* How exciting. I love the Fall.

May God bless and guide your day.
~Onna Chareth

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