http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:32:00 -0600 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:32:00 -0600    Someone should write a book of prompts for blogposts. I literally sat here for five minutes without rational musings or logical bits of brilliance leaping to my fingers. *wild laughter* I've read way too many blogs with dull openings; the first sentence should create an impression that represents the post as a whole. But enough of this blah. Due to the disgracefully un-recent date to the last ramble on here, I have decided to once again haunt the cyber public. *shoves on nerdy glasses and gives her Reader a toothpaste commercial smile with sparkles and a blast of classical music*    The past two weeks have been a whirl of activity; the Jack Tale Players have had multiple performances which all require rehearsals and lengthy trips in a very old van. The director has also been running several performances of his Christmas play and I was one of the volunteers he had serving in the 'dinner' section of the dinner theatre. I've never tried my hand at waitressing, so it was a bit WOOOOOoooh at first but I warmed up to dashing back and forth with coffee and iced tea pitchers. Both Camirryn and Dadsy were waiters at one time, so I got some pointers in that regard. December has also brought me a singularly thrilling/terrifying experience: movie audition. *watches the Reader fall over dead* Paramount is remaking 'True Grit', an old John Wayne western, and they were having an open casting call for the state I live in. I prayed about it and my parents and I eventually came to the same conclusion that hey, I might as well. So Dadsy drove me up to the theatre they were holding the audition at and we stood in line for, I kid you not, three hours. Two cups of coffee were consumed in those three hours spent hopping around to ward off the cutting winds, not to mention an actual alley stretching out from our slow-moving meander to the glass double doors and a ton of normal girls who could honestly care less whether they made a professional impression (which they didn't to us, the ever-innocent bystanders). They had me fill out a form, rant at a casting director about who I was and why they should consider me (the rant lasting for a grand total of thirty seconds), and then we struck off on the long, snowy road back home. Drive for three hours, stand in line for three hours, talk for thirty seconds, drive for three hours. It was an eventful day. But I had a blast, despite unexplainable breathlessness and shaky legs as we walked out of the theatre, my eyes still scorched from the casting director's stony glare. *grins* I'm glad I was able to try out; I can technically claim to have auditioned for the lead role in a Hollywood movie.    I was asked by Momsie last week about the topic of a persuasion paper that would address one of the cultural issues I found lacking in justice. Years of observation has shown me an extremely troubling truth, one of those nasty little details that modern culture strives to cover with weak arguments which, shockingly enough, had been embraced by the crushing majority. Call me dramatic but this is one of those things which lurks behind prejudice! I'm speaking of the immediate assumption people make that homeschoolers are stupid. Count yourself fortunate if you've never had this blatantcy tossed in your face. I once heard these obstacle aptly described as a cross to be borne. One doesn't think about preconceived notions against the value of home educating when they think of persecution, but think about it: Johnny is educated outside of the government-financed school systems, he's not accepting the generous educational standards offered by the public school systems, thereby obviously not getting the correct or sufficient education he requires/deserves/shouldhavehad, so Johnny is stupid. Nice logic, huh? Not. I'm not out to flame public school systems, only state my opinion because I believe it should be addressed. If I were to write a persuasion paper, this would probably be the topic because no good argument can thrive without passionate belief in your viewpoint. Personally, I think that unless circumstances are such that the parents cannot educate their own child, communication between family members and the standard of education would be higher if Johnny was taught by his own parents, learning their world views and building his own based on the biblical values so savagely discarded from mainstream education. We lose ourselves to the constant stream of what beneficial citizens should behave like and discover that home educating is generally discouraged. Because of course, Johnny would learn better in a big classroom surrounded by detached peers, taught by an impartial teacher with an 'approved' curriculum (approved by whom, I might add? Is it possible that these teachers and the writers of their textbooks have world views which might conflict with the world view Johnny's parents wish to install within his heart and mind?), drenched in the cultural norm day after day instead of staying home and developing good character and a strong relationship with his family. I've noticed that when a homeschooler makes some sort of mistake, blame automatically falls on his parents for having raised him in such a fashion, or on the fact that he was homeschooled. And then when a public schooled or culturally accepted person messes something up, people are quick to make excuses because he was shoved into the ever-encompassing Flow. I thought the world owes us nothing. Apparently conformity is owed much! Why is it that those who set their gaze on heaven, rather than earth, are the ones to whom nothing is owed? Homeschoolers aren't robots without emotions, that the norm may slap a label bearing 'STOOPID' on and then throw away for useless. This rant shall now be ended. On a fringe note for this segment, I'd love to hear your opinion on this. The Hideaway has been very silent lately; what are your thoughts? Is there such a thing as an ideal mind, a cerebral level that a 'beneficial citizen' might chase after? If so, is it reached by public school systems, personal soul-searching, homeschooling or something else? Feel free to bash anything I've said. Opposition builds determination, does it not?    Our plans to go Christmas shopping were dramatically altered when it began snowing early this afternoon...and never stopped. The flakes are coming down in lashing sheets! In the almost-four years we've lived in this house, we've never had so much fluffy, milky, beautiful snow! The Girls and I were thrilled, running from one window to another and squeaking with delight at how much the drifts had grown since our last window-check. Falling snow is insanely inspiring. Which is a good thing, because my writing has recently dragged me through a laundry wringer, then chained me to a persnickety computer and shoved a leaky pen into my weary fingers. Exaggeration? I think not. I get into these weird moods where I doubt I'm even qualified to call myself a writer, and begin begging God to either blast me away with mad inspiration or distract me so I will quit worrying. I seriously can't imagine NOT writing, seeing as how when I don't write much of anything for a single day (*gasp*), I get all scared that maybe the words will one day just dry up and my fingers will curl idly around the handle of my cup brimming with tepid tea. Lately my writing has really suffered, whether from lack of time/inspiration, or from sheer exhaustion in trying to glean words from a scene where nothing.is.happening. This book is...a tad slow. So I threw in a rather violent curve of plot, which seemed to help. I am back on track and happily banging away the hours, loosely following my outline (*frowns at the wild laughter from her Reader and ahems*) towards a twelve-year-skip-ahead. My satisfaction is fragile when it comes to this particular book; it's given me way too much trouble sofar for me to say I'm now on safe ground.    This wraps up my month-spanning summary.  I could bore you with piddling details, such as the fact that I now own an actual black cloak (*pleased smirk*) that I'm soon going to freak Wal-Mart employees out with, or the fact that I've already done a year's schoolwork, or the pros and cons of being iced in for a couple days so that we find it necessary to walk down our very long driveway to the mailbox (pro being the beautiful scenery and a nice sister-sister talk with Katsy, con being there was no mail on account of the crazy amount of snow we got this afternoon)...but what is imagination for? I hope your own life is going as colorfully.    Merry CHRISTmas! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/753213/ Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/753213/    First sentences are always the worst. You sit and stare down at the happy little keyboard grinning up at you; you crack your knuckles and then instantly regret it; your head spins because there is so much seething around inside of you, trying to get out and prove something to all those people who innocently stumbled upon your bit of cyber-territory...and then horror swells up and conquers every other reeling emotion because you have come to a very dangerous conclusion: you have absolutely no idea how to start your post out. This is very often the case with me. I know what I want to say, I can't wait to say it, and then I traipse off disappointed because the first sentence simply refused me. Tragic, no? Heh. In my opinion, people should start their blogposts backwards and work their way to the beginning. Think Alice-In-Wonderland-Format; someone should copyright that and put it to good use.    It's sad how many people bypass God's fulfillment in the process of chasing after their ridiculous ideals. If we are so dead-set on reaching our own man-made goals, why do we strut around claiming to be a vessel for God's perfect plan? We can't see His urgings through the murk of our own standards! We make plans, we ignore open doors because we are still trying to tug some other door open by ourselves, we put all our effort into what we want to focus on rather than what God is whispering for us to do, to think, to become. We fail to reach our insane goals and then beat ourlseves up because arrogance snarls into our ears, "You just aren't good enough. What a terrible person you are! Stop trying, it's no use." Then we pay attention to the Spirit of God, the quiet presence that has been there all along, and we come to realize who we are and who we can become through God's mighty hand. Arrogance and despair literally run screaming. In their place surges joy, purpose, self-worth; life suddenly snaps into a fresh perspective. This is sort of what has been going on with me during this long, sad elusivity. The only way to become filled with God is to empty yourself of yourself. Sound easy? A divine smack-down is perhaps the hardest thing we can go through because as piddling little humans, we are forever straying from God's will to find a reality outside of His absolute truths. We want to rule our own existence, be the lord of our own lives. Big mistake, peoples. Base nature takes you down a shadowed path and danger lurks at every bend. Don't keep convincing yourself that you'll be alright, that a little sin is okay, that God's grace is sufficient for any rotten thing you might do in the meanwhile. "Oh, He'll forgive me because He's so good and anyway, I'm not that bad of a person. *nervous laughter* Right, guys?" [insert chirping crickets] In my personal experience, this is too often the little game we play with ourselves. Pretty sad, huh?    Now, dear Reader leans back in their chair and peer skeptically at the computer screen, wondering why this strange person always charges into her bit of cyberspace like this, ranting and railing about this that 'n the other. Wanna know why? I cannot contain it. If God has given you something to say, SAY IT. Don't hide your light just because you fear sounding like an idiot or making a fool of yourself. Yes, random person, I am talking to YOU.    *contented sigh* Now that I have that said, here's what's been happenin'.    Our internet upstairs has been turned off, and I must admit to feeling very...unshackled. I was throwing the wrong impressions of myself out to total strangers, putting too much of my energy into the wrong things. Now that I have stepped back to see what I'd been missing this past year, everything I'd let slip and all those convictions that had gotten weaker instead of stronger, I am thankful for the experience, hard a lesson as it was to learn. I feel more capable of facing other things, having that difficult time under my belt. Not continually being on the internet has allowed me to spend more time with my precious family, throw myself into my beloved writing with a new fervor, consider options for new dreams that I would never have thought about otherwise. I am sitting cross-legged in Momsie's big stuffed rocking chair, typing on her laptop and feeling a giggling autumn breeze tickle the back of my neck from the open window. 'Glad' is playing and we're having cold pizza for lunch. Life is good, no?    The week before last, we were blessed with the crazy opportunity of going on a weeklong vacation to Orlando, Florida. Dadsy had a business trip with the company he worked with, and financial resources were such that we were able to get five day tickets to all the Disney theme parks. Bewildered at the mere size and bravely facing the horrendous waiting lines and 90-degree weather, Momsie and the Girls and I bashed around every inch of every park [exlcuding Animal Kingdom, since we have a zoo somewhere nearby our own house] and had the time of our lives. Thankfully, we had a master plan copied from a guide to the parks we had purchased several weeks in advance, and were able to avoid most of the crushing crowds and general lost-ness. Being natural tourists and favoring wild laughter on the rollercoasters as opposed to terrified shrieking, we did almost everything there was to do. Dadsy got a half-day ticket on Friday, the last day we were there, and we ended our vacation with a kick, roaming around Magic Kingdom at night while the fireworks popped over our heads, feasting on crazy-big roasted turkey legs and slushies [!!!], unable to contain our smiles. I even had coffee MWAHAHAHA okay sorry. It was so much fun! Momsie took a ton of pictures, almost 300 if I'm not mistaken. On Saturday, however, we were spent and decided to brave the long road from Orlando to our tiny-town 11 hours away, on the same day. Stopping at a gas station in Georgia, we were startled to find the temps dropped down into the 40s! Talk about shock! It was freezing when we finally got home at 2:15 in the morning and we all developed sore throats and coughs. I don't care; it was worth it. This past week, we waded through school despite our maladies, and actually did very well all things considered.  I was informed that I am now one-fourth of the way through my entire school year. The weather in our absence had tossed all our surrounding woods into a fair miasma of autumnal colors and the temps have remained around a comfy 70s.    Several noteworthy events have occured since my most recent, rather sad post. If you find any of this a repeat, rest assured that this coverage is much more positive than the information found in its predecessor.    For starters, I was admitted into a traveling theatre troup at the local college called the Jack Tale Players. We act out the folk tales of the Appalachians, most of the scripts written by our director who also happens to be a Ph.D. in theatre, and we perform them at schools, churches, libraries and folk festivals. Sofar we've had two performances that went very well. The work is rewarding because I love performing, and the Girls like hearing me rattle about the rehearsals. I recently got somewhat of a stunning piece of news; the director wants me to play the main character, Jack. *squeak* Jack has a lot of lines. *another squeak* I dearly hope my role won't be switched with someone else at the last moment, but nevertheless, Momsie said that the practice of memorization is never wasted. I have been plunking away at the lines all week and confidence has only now descended. Even if something happens and I can't play Jack, it was glorious fun grappling with the role at the time. I was basically given around three minutes during that rehearsal to learn the first part and though I fumbled quite a bit, the part is delicious to wrap one's mind around and I enjoyed myself greatly.    The library has an annual speech class and guess who's joining it. Yours truly, facing the 'firing squad of audience eyeballs'. The two classes I have sofar attended have gone well, much better than last year, and I was even asked to be the big cheese for the most recent one. They called me ''Madam Toastmaster.' Toastmaster's Speechcraft...I wonder how in the world they came up with that title. What does toast have to do with public speaking? Something to think about.    It's hard to explain this next bit because it envelops so much of my thought. You might recall me speaking about my novelinprogress, 'Wizard', from the recent posts. Well, dear Reader, I finished my beloved novel yesterday. 130K in under four months, bigger than any other novel I've attempted sofar. It was so strange, typing the epilogue to the end, because that book has literally been my consumption ever since I started it back in July. I woke up thinking about it, I went to bed worrying over it, I dreamt about it and filled page after page of my notebooks with things I had to convey, phrases that sounded purty, mental images that whole chapters centered around. The material was probably the hardest and most bittersweet I've had to bang out ever since I began writing around five years ago. But I think finishing my precious novel gave me a sensation of quiet triumph. I allowed God to guide it and it became a defiance against other books in its genre, other darker temptations that have recently tried to pull my writing into an evil rut. I literally could not stop writing as I neared the end; I hurried through everything else so that I could go and write, and I would lock myself up in my bedroom for hours, completing sometimes over 6K in one afternoon. The victory of finishing it has given me joy, but my heart was physically aching when I finally packed Pussy Willow [my laptop] away. So much of my soul has gone into 'Wizard', and now that it's finished, it's like '...what now? ' It felt so strange, not having another chapter to mess with this morning. I don't regret writing a word of it, though. Everything held conviction and a manifestation of my own struggles during the time of the writing. I see now however that the title of the book is actually contradictory to several remarks my kids [characters] made in it. The title isn't wrong but it's not straightforward and immediately gives people the wrong impression of its content. I believe that, should my novel ever be published [*smirks*], it would have to bear another title despite my incredulity regarding it being called anything else.    The answer to my borderline remorseness over the lack of something to write will, hopefully, be amended by NaNoWriMo. Yup, I'm still going to seal my doom *coughs* uh, I mean attempt it. Considering I have been known to bang out 9K in a single day, NaNo should be small potatoes. As far as I know, the book for November is about a very dear character I have had almost ever since I began writing, Saffron [stop laughing at his name, I refuse to change it] and his history, from sometime around his preteen years up to present day. He was abused as a child, ran off into the inner city and joined a bloodthirsty gang that preyed upon the fading light of sidewalk ministries and street preachers, got fed up with his existence to the point of suicide and then experienced God in a very powerful way. The events preceeding his conversion draw a very thin parellel between the conversion of Paul; I think Saffron was a bystander to the violence of his gang towards some preacher or something. The basis of the novel is mainly about his gentle yearning for a delicate young woman and her protective father, the willingless Saffron has to improve his life in hopes of proving the depth of his love to the young woman, their tender courtship and eventual marriage after the woman's father gives his consent, and then the struggles the new couple face after their decision to start an outreach center for the 'scum of the asphalt' while being oppressed by the consequences of Saffron's life-changing decision to become the victim of those he used to encourage, the persecuted rather than the one doing the persecuting. The novel reaches through a ton of material and I am insanely excited to write it; Saffron, who appeared in several previous works of mine which have also undergone some changes, is a multi-layered character with a quiet strength about his faith. Since the novel covers so much time, I may find myself having to do that annoying thing we authors so often resort to: 'So'nSo Years Later'. Gah! Just when I have gotten used to describing almost every moment of every day! *grins* But the novel will be powerful, I hope, and I am eager to see where God leads me with it.    Good grief, this post is entirely too long. It should last you until I bombard you again. Go and have a laughing fit. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/738818/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/738818/    I find myself yearning for my Hideaway at the oddest hours of the night. *muses* Sleep has been coming in erratic bursts peppered with vivid dreams, dead-set on making no sense whatsoever, but at least on the weekends I have an excuse to while away the unholy hours by reassuring all you devoted readers [I’m talking to maybe, what? Two, three people here?] that nothing tragically fatal has happened since my last outdated post. *wild grin* If anything, life has improved. I found myself startled into a delicious summer of non-stop writing and tampering with college goals. If all goes well, I am going to take the PSAT in October. I no longer feel called to pursue a degree in English, however. My writing style has morphed into a genre of its own far beyond the fiddling tweaks of a stuffy professor. I won’t sit here and claim that I disregard tidy writing but that to have my precious trashes torn apart when in reality they are the expression of my soul and the tapering of my convictions would physically hurt me! I don’t want it! If I can write a good essay, I don’t feel the need to go further than that as far as ‘formal‘ writings. The genre I have finally thrown my goodies into is called psychoquantum, and to give it a description would sound something like this: 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. Sounds pretty perky, huh? Naturally I made it up, but it feels so much more sophisticated to be writing for a genre rather than random spurting. Wouldn’t you agree? *flails*    This summer brought many new experiences, and a solo trip out of state to visit my good friend and dear sister Laura for her birthday was one of such instances. I was able to fly down to their house for a visit extending five whole days! We had a glorious time making brownies and sword-fighting, and being able to hug each other in reality as opposed to meager virtual condolences. I had a beautifully memorable time and simply being with her for any number of days made up for my pre-conceived nervousness about making a connecting flight from another state. *winks*     School has taken many twists and turns in recent weeks. Momsie, as always, has thrown herself into a feverish thoughtfulness about our education; I believe most of it has been worked out thus far. The trick is trying to mesh together what I am learning with what the Girls are learning, and matching the different subjects into a streamlined continuity. Fun, fun. I respect my mother as a true genius for all the care she puts into every single year. I can’t help but wonder if she will have an easier time once I hopefully get admitted into a college? My educational options have somewhat changed; I found several resources in the field of drama and have become wildly infatuated with psychology, spiritual counseling, the study of the human mind and etc. If God so wills it, I may pursue something of that sort.    The Girls continue to amaze me in all their colorful talents. I found myself gaping when Katsy displayed a homemade puffy-sleeved Colonial shirt she had created out of a spare bed sheet. She sees something that looks like it has homemade potential, and she creates it. G.B. has been toning her singing out on the swings and in the shower, but mainly her surprising tendencies lies within her perceptivity. Her mind works in a different way from her impatient friends and one has to look deeply beyond her wild sugar-highs to find a soul mature as someone twice her age.    My dearest Onna and I have decided to co-author a book. Unlike several of my failed attempts at co-authoring, this novel is flowing with an almost alarming speed and promises to be a rich, rewarding venture. It’s been interesting, twisting minds with such a thoughtful person. Rumor has been spreading of us perhaps meeting in reality sometime in the near future. I pray God will work that out into His will for the months ahead, because it would be absolutely thrilling!    The days are moving steadily towards a productive autumn; one can smell chill in the wind. And thank goodness, too! The chiggers and sweltering nights were becoming old hat.    Writing has been, as I stated above, interesting. Several of my smaller works were shot to pieces in my face. Realm, for instance, hit over 54K and died. As of now, and besides the nameless co-authoring with Onna, I am rewriting my novel M’aine and it has been so much more fulfilling to bang out in. My other novel caused a bit of hesitance with me simply because Christian fantasy is so controversial. Momsie possessed the natural grace to listen as I explained my views about ‘magic’ and such. The conversation the two of us had over this, probably my most preciously beloved work, stretched for 2 1/2 hours and she pointed out some things which should be addressed over the course of this book. I am calling it Wizard not because wizardry is looked kindly upon in the writing but it conveys the depth of what the usage of magic could become if channeled in incorrect ways. Meaning, technically, when I think of a wizard I think of someone who uses their magic for their own selfish gain. I have always been a fan of writing in the sense that God created magic, He gives it to His children like He gives gifts of peace or joy. Momsie pointed out that magic is not one of the spiritual fruits mentioned in the Bible, but IF God HAD created magic, it could be regarded as such. I am still smoothing out the obvious kinks which will unavoidably arise in such a project; I probably will be until I finish the novel. But I would not be writing it had I not been called to, had I not been convicted that the events in the novel should take place on the page. I am fair-enough decided in most of the views manifesting themselves in these concepts, but if you have some burning desire to know why I would take up a project like this because it is ‘wrong’ or ‘worldly’, then I will do my best to reply to your concern as I am able to. Please pray for me, that I will be a humble vessel so that God may fill me up with the words He wants me to write.    Writing in general has become more of a glorification of God’s power over Evil by the conflicting forces in my scribbles; I no longer seek out publication as a dire necessity. I find fulfillment by simply writing, and Onna has been somewhat my tech support, reading everything I give to her and providing very encouraging and helpful feedback. In return, I read her amazingly well-written pieces and we continue in a very even two-waying. Laura also found herself reading Wizard upon her own request, which I am grateful to her for.    Since it appears I have no time and often no desire to fervently keep this place updated with everything required of it, I hope to post a couple times every month or so with my poor musings. I have always considered blogging as another form of self-expression as well as an outlet for social ministry. Not implying, of course, than I am some perfect preacher who will redeem your fabricated stupidities, but rather, you may find some sort of enrichment in reading what I think about certain things or at the very least that you will take things into a new sort of consideration, a different angle by which to sit back and grin at the world. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/722214/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/722214/ Fridays are usually very happy go lucky and pleasant at our house; the Girls and I typically get the bulk of our schoolwork for the week over with so there's not a whole lot to do, and we alternate between Dadsy getting pizza and Momsie making it from scratch [they're both about the same awsumness in the way they taste]. As the Girls and I waited around for Dadsy to come home this evening, we tried all stuffing onto my bed, Katsy and I with books [The Preacher has recently been taken with the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy series, and sofar "Left Behind" has fascinated me] and the CD player cranked up. G.B. came along and decided she wanted to watch a movie. I have a tiny television set and the only VCR player we really use, so I often get booted out of my own room. :-D She started a movie with music which clashed terribly with the Jim Brickman thing I was playing, and we started some sort av weird game as we tried to read, listen to the CD, make sarcastic comments about the movie and focusing on everything at the same time. Not an easy task, dear Reader, I assure you. After that we jumped around downstairs and when we'd eaten supper and after the darkness had fallen into our woods, the Girls and I made our way to the shed we have on the top of the North hill. Inside, it was eerie with the sound of leaves scuttling across the wooden floor and the light of the fading blue sunset light streaming in between the slats in the side of the shed. The Girls and I sat around the table we'd drug up in there, with a little plastic lantern between us, and commented on how weird each other's faces looked in the ghostly light and how deliciously spooky it was, sitting in the darkness in a drafty old shed. It was very inspiring! Speaking av inspiration, I got sucked into a bad mindset of feeling I had a certain sequence to follow here at the Hideaway, and couldn't post unless I reached that level. Yes, I have a standard here, but my motives had gotten mixed up. I simply don't have the time nor the energy to post a theological sermon every time I come here. This is not in answer to any of your expectations, Reader, but rather a mistake on my part. It's to be simply whatever I feel called to blah blah about that day. People so often either get infatuated with blogging so that it grabs away their time, or they think every single post must fire a thousand thoughtful reflections on the part of the blog's reader. Yes, you want people to come away with something, but you should be coming away with something as well from the experience of writing your posts. Stuff to consider. Schoolwork has been plugging right along; I finished Latin and science, and have a bit less than three weeks to go with math. In a couple days I'll be starting that reading challenge, which'll be nice because I've been saving a lot of books until the summertime to read. I'd rather be busy during the summertime than have too much time on my hands and be dead bored. Boredom gets turned into foolish or even harmful time-wasting hobbies, and goodness knows we don't want that upon any of us! We made a trip to the library the other day, and I think I have a summer position for volunteer work once every week or so. There's a meeting for new volunteers on the fifth, so hopefully I'll get a more structured view of what's up with that. It'll be a new experience as opposed to the stage productions which I've done for the past  two years. For some reason, I've found myself to be extremely busy. Mainly with writing, which might explain my lack of rambling on my poor widdle blog. *dumps a slushie over IH* I'd mentioned in the most recent post here that I was planning my own NaNoWriMo for the rewrite of FaM, called Realm, and I am indeed doing it. It's been, I guess, more than two weeks now and I have almost 21.5K! So that's going very well. A few days ago was hard pressed regarding inspiration; my musings seem to get shot and then take me by storm. Hopefully this craze of ideas won't leave me hanging somewhere around the middle. I realized the day before starting my NaNo for Realm that Anna and I, and maybe a couple other of the Peoples, are doing this thing from June 20 to July 20 where we write 40K. Unless I can't stand to look at Realm by then, I'm going to continue on with it to reach around 90K. Whoot! There's just so much to convey, so much that needs to be in there, I'm pretty sure that'll all go okay. In other writing news, Anna and I have two more TMCs done, Syd and I posted chapter one of "Last Man Standing" [go read it!] and are doing a Iwriteonechapteroneweek and shewritesthenextthenextweek deal. Not to mention I had a failed attempt at some weird random thing, and a magazine article with a deadline that I'm going to edit and hopefully send in tomorrow. I tend to wait until the last minute if it's something with a deadline. Meh. Oh, and the Rodents struck my HSB messings-around once again, and messed up Inkstains so bad that it'd freeze up every time I forced the RC there, so I used up the third space on this account for a writing blog, Noir. I'm keeping Inkstains only because I've saved and backed-up so much writing there just in case the RC decides to pull a total crash like it did during last December.  Dear widdle Loomis Tunut continually charms us with how plain adorybuhl she is. *grinz* Today she climbed into an empty Ramen Noodle box and decided that it was an ideal place to play in. We carried the box around and she pawed at us through the plastic. She's also fallen in luve with Momsie's desk chair and sleeps in it for hours. I've never seen a kitten more cute when sleeping, or one so downright Clovisish-crazy when hooting. She keeps us on our toes, that's for sure. >:-D There was a tag which Syd dumped on top av me; I don't usually do tags anymore but basically my middle and last names are Joy and Armour, I'll be 16 on August fawth, I live in a random state in the Appalachians, I don't know what my favourite state ish but Washington State is high on the list, I have an animal [Loomis, and G.B. has Tootsie Zee Terror Mutt] and one av mah favourite colours is aquamarine. Laura also awarded me with a LotR fan doodad, many thanks to my dear sister! The weather here was gloriously inspiring; high winds through the leafy green trees, billowing clouds threatening us with rain, lots of shadows once the sunset had melted away. *blissful sigh* That and black cawfee has rectified me for a raw dry cough which has taken too much av a liking to me. May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/694083/ Fri, 29 May 2009 23:15:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/694083/ Fascinating it is how the creative juices flow. I was under the impression a couple days ago that my new novel, "Fire and Moonlight", was simply something wherein I could care less if the wording sounded weird and where I could jolly well have a loose, skeletal, shaky, disjointed plot if I wanted to. *shakes finger at herself* So much for that idea! I was basing that old idea off mere poetry and pretty pictures from my imagination. Writing, for me, is like eating chocolate; the process is not for money or publication, or even for the sake of writing itself, though the last is indeed a very large part of it. It's the beauty of working with the talents God has given us, however rough [in my case] these talents may be. Writing is, for me, also like a battle. I show Evil for what it is instead of ignoring it [you show something for what it is; don't overdo it but make one aware of its depth], or delving in deep with it so that it makes me angry and dark myself. I don't write something "because it needs to be written" or because I am rebellious against pleasant plots [I'm having a blast with the crack novel, my playful "Sundapple" about the Peoples of one of the writing blogs I'm a member of]; I learned my lesson with "M'aine" about dark writing like that. I hate it. I don't let darkness guide my pen, I am God's child and He guides my writing. If I write something, it is because He inspired me for it and because, even if it's very trivial, it's for Him Who gave me the words to write it with. *falls off soapbox* That said, one now realizes that this section of the post is to be a writing update. Run!  So I'm rewriting FaM, and it's NOTHING like it was. It's much fuller, richer; the geography and history, not to mention the allegory which startled me by popping up in there clear as crystal at times and annoyingly elusive at others, is better grounded now. But, dear Reader, I did not only decide to rewrite FaM new and improved-like, I decided to do a NaNo for it! *weakly tosses confetti* As far as I can recall, I started the rewrite on the 19th., so June 19th. and I should have a full 50K. Unless it decides to stop there, I might take it further. For various reasons, I am NOT rewriting Heveria. I am going to incorporate characters/elements/junketh into my other works, and I may even go so far as to write a book like it. But it's been so precious to me, and it took so long and is so sentimental, that rewriting it would be, to quote Momsie, like killing it. I just don't feel led to. So I'm not. [The Kids had an interesting episode directly following my breaking the news to a couple of them, they posted a bit of that at RAP] In other writing news, "Sundapple" is going very well! It's so much fun to ramble about the Peoples with a quirky plot. My main character, however, suddenly turned Renegade. Not against me, against Bethy The Real Person who she was based after! Bethy said that Beth The Character wasn't like herself. *confused grin* But that's okay; for now, she's doing alright. Anna has been plugging away at TP and we've been holding various WWs earlier to up various wordcounts. Our "Midnight Chronicles" are on hold till I make myself write the next one and she finishes TP so she'll have more time. LMS with Syd is going, but slowly, my fault. The co-A with Laura is even slower but who could weld inspiration as a sword? We can't just go snap and there it is. It has to be sent. Hmph. And no, that is not an excuse, it's not my turn to write in it.  Now that that's over with... I must be becoming one of those more infrequent blogposters, mainly because when I update here, I'd like to have something of worth to say. This past week Dadsy went and came back safely to/from Chicago on a business trip and we've had sickness in the house, including one day where I hardly got out of bed at all, so schoolwork was interesting this morning. I'm nearly done with science, one-fourth of the way to go through math, and finished with Latin as of today! Whoot whoot! I got a pair of thick-rimmed [Riley Poole!] reading glasses, which I wanted as opposed to needed; I look like such a geek wearing them but hey! They feel nice when I'm writing but I wouldn't use them for reading because I do a lot of it. Something I was thinking about earlier is perhaps creating an informal writing workshop for any of the younger Inklings or aspiring writers interested. Any suggestions for that? By the way, if Momsie ever got a blog, what sorts of things could she write about on there? We'd been talking about that earlier...advice from veteran bloggers? I have cookies for helpful comments. *grinz* Why is it that people on commercials, usually the ones selling something, find it necessary to YELL OUT THEIR LINES?! I mean, we have volumes on our remotes, people... Here are a couple peekchurz to whoever may so desire to look upon them...You can see a bit of Appalachia there against the sky...[that's a peachy shurt, not a nasty light pink] May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/690307/ Fri, 22 May 2009 19:47:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/690307/ Have you ever noticed that getting up on time, doing everything you need to in time to stare out at the rain falling down in the green yard with a cup of tea in your hand, feeling the cool breeze blowing the lacy curtains, generally makes one feel better? =^D Somehow hot tea, lacy curtains and Mozart mix beautifully, as I found out this morning. I decided to go ahead and keep doing two weeks' worth of math in one week and I'm finishing science this month or I'll...I don't know what I'll do! Go on a coffee lent for a day or two. o_0 Can't have that! Seriously though, black coffee is beneficial. These days there is a contented kind of joy I've been feeling; a lot of things have happened recently to make me realize just how important grasping onto God's joy is. Not that black coffee is the root cure-all for joylessness. But I'm positive it helps. :-) Life is more interesting if you take pains to make it so. One of the most dangerous things to our culture nowadays is boredom; when you're bored, you get into all kinds of trouble. Which is why I'm only playing around when I grimace at Momsie's announcement to the Yavanenskis that I was doing summer school. I don't want to be bored! I'd rather do something productive with my summer than have hours and hours with nothing to amuse myself with. Besides the glorious Read A Thon [ http://www.incredibooks.com/ibdicsuss/, see the forum for details about this unique summer challenge] to participate in, I'm doing some SAT Prep work and an Italian course Momsie got at some cheapy store, plus a ton of other stuff. The only thing which would bother me is having to do science during the summertime. Blegh. Hence, my mental overload of epidermis and photosynthesis information. *grins* Another thing I plan to do over the summer issa challenge my friend Anna came up with; basically you try and write 40K of something, even if it's random doodads and various novel-progressions like I'm planning to do, from June 20-July 20. I don't by any means wish to drop my writings over the summer, especially since I've been on an inspiration high. FaM isn't really included in this; I finished chapter two last week but I'm not happy with the whole thing in general. Not the plot, which is okay, but the way it sounds to me, reading it. It's like the styles shifted from chapter to chapter. RAWR! I'm not going back to it until I jolly well feel like it. *saunters* Anna and I have been doing this wacky thing called "The Midnight Chronicles"; it started when I was talking to her on the phone and we mused over how interesting it would be for us both to walk in a graveyard at nighttime and get names from the graves for our characters. We did a Word War [WW] that night and I wrote a doodad about us doing just that. She decided to write one where we and our characters had a parTAY inna graveyard at night, and it's growing from there. I call it comic morbidity because even though it's graveyards and nighttime rambles, it's hysterically insane. Something only an Authoress would enjoy, I suppose. It's a nice break.  Also in the writing news is the co-Authorings I've recently taken up. Some of you might have seen my little announcement on the Inklings about how Syd and I were coAing. o_0 Yeah, it's still on, and we're loik nearly halfway through chapter one. *sheepish grin* It's fun, though! We have a blog for it and we're calling it "Last Man Standing", or LMS. Syd wrote a ridiculous tragedy about it where we both die because we had to write together. We got a surprising amount of comments from just that. I suppose the poem is mainly to warn people that PipNSyd are co-Aing, so RUN. "Strange House" [SH] is still on, like I keep saying, and we're considering redoing the way the chapters fit together. More on that when I know something. Also, and here is something exciting...LAURA AND I ARE CO-AUTHORING. Andwehavethefirstchapterdone!!!!!!!!! *shrieks* It's been amazing sofar, I got wildly inspired while stirring noodles for supper. Emails between the both of us have been flying like mad and, despite the fact that we called our two villains [two sofar, hahaha] Creepy Dude and Ultimate Creepy Dude, the kinks are slowly starting to get themselves worked out. I think we may begin outlining for each chapter to make it run smoother. Guess what? The Girls got blogs!!! They're on the same account we post "Popchanka" on. Katsy's was actually a surprise from me;  she has this thing going about Perry Mason and his private detective Paul Drake, called "The Paul and Perry Files", so we made a blog for it. =^D The address is http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/PaulandPerry/ and she would be thrilled for someone to read the first file. G.B.'s blog is typical cute little girl's. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/puppies/ I was forced at swordpoint to edit the first chapter of a book she's practically written out in her head called "Fairy Tale", and she comes to me every twenty minutes asking whether anyone has commented. So forget commenting here, go see those two blogs! The first entry on G.B.'s blog ish foony and gloriously random. My sistahs rocketh! I was reading a Philip Yancy [WAHOOEY!] book this morning and suddenly began scribbling a bunch of thoughts down on a notecard; these are questions people might ask about sin and Goodness. ... Did God "punish" Eve because she was curious about the heightened view of Good and Evil she could gain by eating the apple? Didn't she have free will to do it if she wanted to? Did God want us to be blind to the stark reality of Evil? To rephrase, if you want to protect your child from something bad, is it right to lie to them about whatever it is? On the other hand, if Evil is out there, why try to hide it? Should we cover it up and walk away from it, ignoring it completely, or should we show it for what it is? How much content learned about the nature of Evil is too much? If Eve had not eaten of the tree, would we fight Evil [with God's strength] like we find ourselves doing now? "They chose to deny their creatureliness by reaching for more than God had granted them. Distrusting God, they brought the burdens of [God] upon themselves." ~Yancy. If we have eternity set in our hearts, doesn't that erase the socalled evidence for predestination? These things are fascinating to me and I hope to get on my soapbox about them in future entries. In the meantime, it's certainly something to think about... I am continually amazed with Dadsy's servant's heart. He isn't feeling well [sore throat, sick stomach, headache, that sort of thing] and he's still able to work nights all this week. Please pray for his quick healing. [See, Dadsy?! That's what comes from putting creamer and sugar in your coffee!!!] Go and create an inside joke, and let someone inside the box. It's awesum. Oh, and random: I deleted The Attic blog because I have too many different cyber places and it was confusing me! Not like I can't put book reviews on here. ;-) And I have started using Photobucket instead of Webshots for peekchurz and things on zee sidebar; it's much cleaner-looking now. Dudn't have those wretchedly-annoying blue outlines. This Mother's Day we went to Syd's granny's house. Syd and I drove around in Nanny's golf cart! Those things are my new obsession. Golf carts and jaw harps. This golf cart was automatic and all one had to do was press down on a pedal to move and press on another one to stop. And you have to steer, av course. =^D We drove along, grinning at the surprised people in their yards, enjoying the cool wind blowing on our faces and the wooden Indian-style tassles hanging on the sides of the awningthingy. The lake was sparkling to one side and the woods were standing there being all inspiring on the other. Ah, bliss! I want a golf cart now.  May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/688063/ Mon, 11 May 2009 18:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/688063/ Note: the "coherent" post is the one below this. You awaken on Mother's Day and see sunlight streaming through your flowing curtains. You hear crashing around your closet and, blinking, you see Pip stuffing a bunch of clothes into a suitcase. "Come on," she says, "it's Mother's Day and you're going to Switzerland!" You fly on an airplane [you left Dadsy to babysit the Girls and Pip to burn the spaghetti], and after hours of gorgeous scenery and smothered giggles about the other odd people on the plane, you arrive at your destination. After shedding your suitcases in your room at the L'abri fellowship center, you look out the window and catch your breath at the stunning beauty. Is this Heaven?! That night you sit at a table and have coffee......and cheesecake...[and of course the cheesecake is chocolate!], and you ponder over whether to write an email to Dadsy saying to come on up to Switzerland because there ain't no way you're ever coming home. The evening passes on very happily; you sip your coffee, which is loaded with sugar just this once, and listen to the quiet thrum of voices debating presuppositions ["IT'S ALL RELATIVE!"] and the like. All of a sudden you happen to look around and there stands this weird guy whom you recognize as Michael Buble! He just *happens* to be singing "Home". That night, you sleep at the L'abri. They have very comfortable beds with a multitude of beautiful quilts to choose from. You fall asleep to the sounds of coffee being brewed for the late-night debaters. The next morning, after taking a deliciously long shower without having to worry about the well running dry, you go downstairs to find a wrapped package with your name scrawled on it, tantalizingly mysterious, resting on your table. The return address is your own home address; Hubbie Dear must have sent you some extra clothes. You grin and open the package, but instead of boring old clothes, you find...Whoot whoot! And under the chocolate...The Kindle DX is conveniently programmed to "Affliction" by Edith Schaeffer.  Later that day, you decide the Girls must be getting tired of burnt spaghetti and Dadsy's attempts at amusing them. [Thank goodness their school was finished before you left!] You catch a plane home. As you drive into your own little yard, you are startled to find that the wildflower medley sprang up in your absence! [POPPIES!!!!!!!] HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOMSIE! *hugs* May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/687450/ Sun, 10 May 2009 07:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/687450/ It's very quiet in the house as I sit in this uncomfortable chair, glancing every now and then outside where the fresh green leaves of growing things are silhouetted against a lightening sky. How inspiring!!! I was wakeful last night and found myself wildly inspired for FaM. Alas, I did not write anything in it, but the inspiration is there for when I do, which, I dearly hope, may be today if I can finish my abscript for SF [right now I stand at around 95 pages; I'll be able to finish this challenge!] and the multitude of schoolwork I racked up for myself. I get bursts of scholastic madness and start a bunch of new curricula, and then find myself lagging behind in various things. Grr. Thankfully it's not so crazy that I can't get caught up and stay on schedule. Right now, there are numerous things that will have to be drawn through the summer, but that's simply because I started them after Christmas. All in all, I'm doing an average pace with most of the stuff. Reading the Bible is such an interesting experience because it's so seemingly elusive, yet the answers to all our questions are right in front of us. Oftentimes what I read makes no sense whatsoever until I put it into some kind of analytical perspective and draw conclusions as to the meaning by looking at the general foundation of the verse/s. For example, sometimes reading a devotional book [currently I'm infatuated with the writing of Philip Yancy; I highly recommend it!] will help make a point the Bible offered, or make us see something we perhaps never thought about. Other times, though, I make no attempt to understand and wonder why a certain set of verses or a reference to whatever was even included. There must be a reason because the Bible is God-breathed, butstill. Oh, here's a commendation of sorts; if you find yourself in need of a good laugh, read Proverbs 30. Agur had problems. Syd and I found ourselves laughing so hard over it early this morning that we could hardly read the words aloud! The other night I watched "Through the Shadowlands"...oh, dear Reader, I cried fit to flood Kentuck! Basically the movie, if you've not heard of it before, is about C.S. Lewis and his attraction and eventual marriage to Joy Gresham, and the point in their lives when Joy was dying with a form of cancer and Lewis had to stand by her side, helpless, helping her cope with it. Yeah. Man, though, it was good! It made one think about things and especially about Lewis, about his personality and the meaning behind so many of his wonderful works. The camera work was a bit fuzzy and I hesitate to say but the music did nothing at all for the movie, but it's an awesome movie and I would highly reference it to you if you're in need of a good cry or want one of those thoughtful "Hmm..." movies. :-D I was startled at the quick feedback for the beginning of an extended short story [or maybe a possible novella, I'll haveta see where this takes me] at Inkstains, currently called "Authoress". I actually found a picture off the web which inspired me for this odd tale. I posted the second section of it at Inkstains last night and am eager to see where this thing goes. My main character, who has no name that I know of, is a skeptical English professor at an academy somewhere in the country and the main theme [right now, anyway] is the color of life. Life is full of color and sorrow is gray, that sort of thing. Anyway, it's fun to ramble in that because I'm bringing out several of my own personal convictions into it and those are always glorious to ramble on. :-) Right now it's a bit over 2K.  Speaking av which...I am indeed going to finish my Script Frenzy thing today!!! It's the last day of April and I only have around 5ish more pages to go. My folder is full of a delicious stack of first printed, then handwritten scipt pages and it's been a fun stretching experience. I am going to celebrate by drinking lots of coffee and plotting for my next forced writing project. >:-) Hopefully now that SF is nearly done I can focus a bit more on the blooming plot for FaM. Cherry and Anna and I have made each other friends IRL [in real life] !!! I am so excited to have such Godly, inspiring young women to encourage me in my writing and my walk with the Lord. Such doings in relationships! *grins* I was reading a book last night and came across an interesting quote by George Bernard Shaw [yeah, he's the My Fair Lady guy], who said "There are two tragedies in life. The first is to lose your heart's desire. The second is to gain it." Isn't that an odd quote?! I sat there thinking about what it means, especially the second part. Is is better to have something to dream about, to wish for, to work after, than to simply have something with no dreaming and no effort? It reminds me of the Will Smith movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" [spelling intentional] and a part where the main character wonders why it's a pursuit after happiness and not the possession of it right off. Is something better for us when we have to chase after it, when we live without it to really know what it means? Of course, our main heart's desire is a close relationship with the Lord. In that sense, the quote is very frightening because it means people, once they have accepted Christ, find themselves no different than who they were before their conversion. [Whose fault is that? If you feel far from God, ask yourself who is taking steps away.] They don't find Christianity sufficient because they're expecting some big bang, some huge turnaround in their religious life, a streaming light from between the clouds to descend upon their heads. Uh, it doesn't always work like that. In fact, often people who have just accepted Christ wonder if they're supposed to feeling anything at all. "What you're feeling right now is exactly what you're supposed to feel." If we think a Christian conversion is not sufficient, it is not God Who is lacking.  There I go, wasting all my soapbox sessions in one lump post when I should be doing science.  May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/684347/ Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:14:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/684347/ Duz anyone know how to delete an HSB account altogether? I'd created a couple under the impression that I needed them, and now don't, and I want them GONE! BTW, I now have over 500 comments. Wow. May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/684232/ Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:12:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/684232/ This is something I copied from Inkstains; several people were confused about where I stand with my writing pursuits, so here goes: I had to get it out! Sometimes I get on my soapbox to ramble about something; half of the time it's for outreach or opnionated junketh, but sometimes it's for organizing something to myself. So tonight, I need to organize myself about my writing, the bulky stuff, i.e. the novels. Here's what goin' on currently with it: Shaddai: I have the whole thing written and in a final draft form, the changes written out on the printed version, and have only to make the changes in the document before ignoring it completely or considering publication. Ha. FaM: is rather at a standstill in the wake of other inspirations; I've got a nice start on chapter two but just don't know what will push me into getting a lot done in it to where I'm assured of it's success. The kind commentors seemed to like it, so...*shrugs* Popchanka: is going WELL!!! The Girls and I got wildly inspired for it this afternoon and wrote two chapters. We now stand at a little over 14K and eight chapters under our belt with many more in the making. It's so much fun working with them; Katsy and I talked today of perhaps tackling a law mystery story together. M'aine: is at a dead standstill but there issa wild, WILD chance I may be able to redeem it. That novel gives me pains. The Crack Novel: I'm nearly ready to post chapter one; each chapter is about four pages long. SH [Strange House {of Mr. White}]: we've started chapter six but like to take our time. Roh: it's most glorious, I've been wildly inspired for my poor abandoned novel!!! I'm having scruples about the way some things are clicking, whether I can keep the plot together without it falling apart in my fingers, but lately I've been madly inspired to work in it and am enjoying meself. Looking through the first two chapters, I'm afraid I'll haveta go back and re-edit them. Dangit! Heveria: The other day I came to a frightening decision. After Part One, which was okay enough to where it didn't require tons and tons of rewriting, the rest of my first novel must undergo a dreadful, horrible, terribly nasty and no-good REWRITE. The word sends chills down my spine but it can't be helped. There are so many things I'd like to change, such as the characters' looks, who I even throw in there, the things that happen to them, the geography, the place names, the plot twists, the spiritual sense of the novel...so yeah. Don't be expecting that goody any time soon. *grins* But I'd rather make it the best I can before giving so precious a thing to my heart out for others to scrutinize and critique. Someone said to me the other day in a comment that they'd like to see an actual, whole novel instead of bits and pieces of my writing. I'm sorry that I can't give you more than what I can here, but if it's any consolation, I have the first raw draft of Shaddai at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SaviouroftheLands/, which was posted in the NaNo form it was written in, typos and all. The changes I made with my first and only edit were mostly checking grammar, spelling, killing contractions, rearranging sentences here and there; minor changes. If you don't mind a rough view of the novel, you can read the whole thing there. Technically it's to be read at Advent, day by day, for that was how it was written [for the most part], but really one could read it anytime. So there ya have it, dear Reader. Still clear as mud? Kewl. May God bless you, and may His light pierce your darkness! ~PIP~ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/682939/ Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:39:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/islanderhideaway/682939/