A Christmas Poem

'Tis the Night before Christmas
And nowhere in the house
Is my computer working
Not even the mouse.

Sorry. Merry Christmas Eve.



~Margaret

An Apology

Hello!! Glad you've stopped by this lovely morning for.... Some tea? A biscuit? Scrambled eggs? Ahh see, there's my Yankee peeking through!

And before you yell at me........... Actually I'd prefer that you didn't yell at me at all, but I suppose one can't be picky in the blogging business. Like, if your computer goes ker-smash and decides to die for no apparent reason, you should just move on in a chill manner and get a new computer.

...but I don't have any money. And the next thing I wanted to post on here is on my dead computer. Are you putting the pieces together now? Yes, it's a true story. Not even like the "Based on a true story" movies that you see where they take everything you every admired in a historical figure and turn them inTO SOME SORT OF MANIAC AND I JUST-

Henry Percy

Hi guys!!! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! And if you're not in the States, I hope you had a wonderful day of giving thanks all the same;) I just got back from a delightful holiday with my grandparents, my only regret being that I slept through a lot of it:/
In other news me and my cold will be celebrating our one month anniversary next Monday, and lemme tell ya, it has been a whirlwind of a month. Both awesome and horrid, plus a few other things thrown in x) Christmas is coming up soon, and as usual, I am disgustingly negligent when it comes to preparation for the holidays. My desire to buy my friends and family thoughtful gifts is usually outweighed by my lack of realization that Time and Holidays wait for no man, and that a day which at one time seems far away is actually approaching quite speedily.

So why the odd title? you ask. I shush you and proceed to explain.
My friend Juliette and I (I can never get over the irony of a Shakespeare nerd having a friend named Juliette) have a writing journal we've been working on, where one person writes anything they choose in it and then passes it off to the next person. I got it back from her last Sunday, ad since we were leaving for my grandparents the next day, I decided  to bring it along.

Writing Prompts, DLFs, and Pirates

Just to shake up the already chaotic and entirely unorganized routine of my blog, I thought I'd bring you something new today.

For about two months now I've been receiving daily writing prompts in my inbox from Sarah Selecky, who also has all of her prompts in a more displayable form on Pinterest. They've been very helpful, and though I have not yet accomplished the goal of writing with them every day, several stories and scenes have been born due to these prompts. Here's today's:

Sick Day!!!!!

I do realize that exclamation points do not generally follow words so glum as "sick" and "day," especially when used by my health-preferring, nocturnal self. It was intended to throw you off, or perhaps to give you a sense of forced gaiety. Whatever happened in your mind when you read the title, (which will have some bearing in my post, I promise) sick days are a remarkably un-fun experience. Especially when you're public-schooled. You have to roll out of bed at un-earthly hours, make yourself look as presentable as you possibly can when you have absolutely no desire to do so, then go and do things with people for an entire day. (public-schoolers, help me out with this one. I have no experience in the public school world)

I'm homeschooled. I stay home with the people who have already seen me at my worst and probably don't remember ever seeing me at my best. ("best," in this case, refers to a non-existent state of appearance) I do cruddy algebra in the privacy of my own bedroom. I emerge out of the privacy of my own bedroom to run upstairs and get my dad, the resident algebra genius, to stop saving the world and help me with said cruddy algebra. I live in an eternal state of bliss in which nothing could be better.

UNTIL........


*pause for effect*

A Question

I realized I probably need to define my goal of writing a chapter of Lorelei a week by determining how long a chapter should be. But I really don't know. 3,000 words? 5,000? Help!!!



~Margaret

Birthday!!!

Today is my blog's one-month birthday.

Have some cake. You guys deserve it.

 

 

 

 

~Margaret

Why I Love (And Hate) Being a Writer

This post was due sometime. Perhaps it's overdue. But I felt that right now, while I am in a pensive and thoughtful mood, was somehow the perfect time to do it.

I'm not a writer by choice. I do believe with all of my heart that God has chosen me for this. I don't think I ever had a say in the matter. It's how I was made.

Like any gift or interest that becomes more than just an interest, there are things I love and hate about it.
Writers have an incredible opportunity. They heal or destroy our society. Words are what change the people's mind. They can help or hurt. They can create or kill.
It's also a gigantic responsibility. Every word we say has tremendous potential for good or bad. Every word anyone says has this power.

Writing isn't a 9 to 5 job. (yeah, now I'm going to get comments about how I'm only a teenage girl and have no concept of what work really is. Just hold your horses.) You don't get breaks, you don't get to have the satisfaction of knowing that you've finished your work for today. It's spontaneous. It's unexpected. Although we do try to insert order when we can, writing isn't something you can always plan for.

More Questions And Finally, A Resolution

Character sketches have come to an end. I've even made a character page. That makes me really proud of myself.
It also means I'm responsible for coming up with a really cool idea of what to do next. And if you don't think that sounds like a nightmare, you may not be intuitive enough to understand the unclear ramblings which I post here with startling regularity.
I considered posting the story as I write it.... For about two seconds only. Guys, I'm not that kind of a writer. I pick and preen at my writing until I think it's absolutely perfect. That alone can take weeks. I feel like it would be unfair to you guys to promise to something I know I can't keep up with.
The other reason I dismissed the idea of some sort of weekly chapter-posting system is because even though I should confine my talents to one story at a time (or mostly one) I tend to be all over the place. Lately I've been writing on that one about Tiana and Lairke and Forge and Thrad. You know, that one. The one I don't have a name for.
I don't need to you point out that I am lacking names for almost every story I'm writing.
You just did, didn't you? *sighs* Well, it...... hampers my creativity. Yeah. I never name them until I finish them. *crosses fingers* (please don't let them bring up that one novel I actually have finished...)

That Time I Emailed Megan Whalen Turner

Wow, that makes it sound like it happened forever ago and I'm just now remembering it because I don't have much space in my brain for those writer people.

Actually it was yesterday morning, and I was biting my nails and then my knuckles when those were all gone because I was so nervous.
I don't know why. She probably gets thousands of emails every day.

I know, you guys aren't listening to me because you're distracted by what the email contained. Busybodies. But so you'll listen to me the rest of the time, I'll tell you. It was a short story I had written that was inspired by one of the legends in The Thief. Never once in a thousand years did I consider the possibility of copyright infringement by writing what some might consider a derivative work without the express permission of the copyright holder.
Oh great. That makes it sound like she got really mad and pressed charges and now I'm going to jail. It's okay. She didn't even read it. She sent back a nice little note that was definitely not a form letter, just to tell me that she read the note but not the story because of possible infringement. She said, and I quote, 'I am delighted that my work has been an inspiration and I hope you will keep writing.'

Character Sketch ~ the Duke of Amery & the Count of Jonte

I have officially accomplished something important in my life. I found the names. Big things are happening, I can feel it.

So now I can write the character sketches. Yay!!^.^
I go through phases of favoritism when it comes to my characters. One day it's the protagonist, the next day it's the villain, the day after that it's some nameless person that MC bumps into on the sidewalk who is never mentioned again.
I know favoritism is a dangerous game to play. I've read the story of Joseph. He had some messed up brothers. But the fact of the matter is, my characters don't even know I exist. For all they know, they're just living out their little lives, full of adventure or boredom as I see fit to give them. So it doesn't hurt that much, does it?
All that to say, I'm really liking these two characters right now, the Duke and the Count. They're diametric opposites. The Duke is an embodiment of every ideal of nobility. The Count is ruthless with a capital R, not caring at all who he hurts as long as it's not him.
Which is why they get a joint-post. They're too different to do them separately.

First, let me explain the names.
First, let me explain the characters of the two men who bear the names.
First, let me explain the country and the people in it.
Aghh let's just go to the very start.
'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.'
Lil too far back.

In Which I Talk To Myself Again

What to blog, what to blog, what to blog.....
Oh hi there, random reader!!! I'm blogging!!!
Errr, make that "trying to figure out what to blog." But hopefully, if you're very observant, you already knew that.
What I planned to do today was write a character sketch on either the Duke or the Count. But I'm in a serious bind, because I really can't write about them without giving them an actual name. So I plan to spend my day on baby name websites, trying to find the perfect ones.
Which still leaves me with a lack of post-able material. *sobs* I tried so hard....
The questions I usually try to ask myself to get me in a blogging mood didn't work.

Me: How are you feeling today?

Me: I dunno, kinda tired I guess. Even though I slept until 11:00 this morning.

Me: *stern face* Why did you sleep so late?

Me: I was up reading, okay?! It's what normally-weird people dooo!!!! Besides, it was one dinglehopping whizwhacker of a book!! (yes, I sometimes use the term "dinglehopping whizwhacker" in conversations with myself. My spellcheck hates me for it.)

Me: *sighs in a mature, disinterested way* What book?

Character Sketch ~ King Torvald

I wanted to blog today. I did.
I forgot that my Internet turns off at 10:00.
So here is my flurried, hurried, flustered attempt at Torvald's sketch. It'll probably be terrible. I'll probably completely rewrite it tomorrow.

Torvald, son of Tybald, son of Torgny, son of Stolt. High King of Ellyion. Master over the regions of Verta, Byrn, and many others. Kingdoms pay tribute to him, his own country loves him. He is kind, generous, and fair.
What more can you say of a king than that?
Apparently, the Count of ___ (c'mon guys, I really need a name!!!) thinks there is more. He's determined to dig up every inch of dirt and muck that he can concerning Torvald's past. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Torvald is strong and true, but he has one cardinal flaw. He trusts too easily. Many of us can trust a person simply because we've known them all our life. Perhaps we have grown close to them. Perhaps, we know them inside and out.
A king doesn't have this luxury. Countless plots against his life and his throne have been attempted by countless people, many of which come from his own court. Countless times, nobles have risen up against their sovereign. Many, perhaps, of whom he knew well.

The ACT

I got out of the car and immediately wished that I had Susan's fur coat in Narnia. Not so much because it was the warmest of all of them and the temperature at the moment was -68 degrees, but because it was by far the awesomest and, I admit, at the moment I was not. The awesomest, I mean.

So I entered the building, the school I might have been going to had I not been homeschooled. I gazed fondly at the bleak, empty walls. Ahh, what memories I might have made here. Although technically those memories would be a few years in the future. Wrap your mind around that one. Memoryception.
My sister, my brother, and I hopped swiftly into a line. Mark, who had already been through this experience, was soon lost from our sight. We never saw him again.
Just kidding. He was right around the corner.
But Claire and I thought he was long gone, and when the lady at the table shouted in Spartan tones, "Writing? Or no writing?" we gazed at her mournfully and didn't reply. Apparently this was enough for her - we obviously weren't the poor souls she was looking for.

After they decided that we were certified victims, (and showed the most horrific picture of me in the history of ever to the entire world) we passed the tables and were ordered to wait in a long, dark corridor. It was lined with small metal boxes which I can only assume held torture devices for those who failed to comply. But oh, we did not care, for there was Mark!!! He didn't care either, and was leaning against a box with a disinterested expression.

Odds and Ends

Hey guys!!! So for the final three character sketches, (there are more characters, but to say virtually anything about them would be major spoilers) I have King Torvald, the Duke of ____, and the Count of ____. Apparently, I should do some name research, or, knowing me, they will continue through the entire story unnamed. (Any links to name websites would be greatly appreciated;)

Writing has gone well lately, and I'm hopeful that when I'm finished with the character sketches I might begin posting chapters. *not a promise*

Big Brother turned 17 yesterday, which is both happy and weird. I have to say though, people who can drive are wondrously convenient. (*sniff* they do grow up so fast...)

I told you this was going to be random. If you didn't read the title, you should probably do that now. And I'm not going to wait for you and sing Under the Sea again, if that's what you were wondering. That ship has sailed. HAHAHA GET IT? SHIP? UNDER THE SEA?
Ahhh, just forget it.

Character Sketch ~ Queen Ina

Coming up in today's edition of Character Sketches: Ina is being haughty, the faculty of Let's Find Character Reference Photos is grossly understaffed,  and I lose my mind!!

Let me explain.

As was aforementioned (several times, probably) I abhor loathe detest dislike stereotypes. I'm sure we're all aware of the stereotypical queen mother in stories like this. She's prim, proper, and always completely disapproving of her daughter, who is always the protagonist, shown to be completely innocent of everything except following her heart. Which of course, is always the right thing to do.
deep breath, Maggie. Don't get too uptight.
But you see my problem. I want to avoid this stereotype. I want Ina to be unique, awesome, wonderful, her own person in every way. For those of you who have read Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief series, I envision Ina as a combination of Attolia and Eddis. She's firm, she's diligent and noble, yet she's kind and caring.
The problem isn't defining the character, the problem is writing her. It's a delicate balance that would ruin the character should I lean too far one way or the other.

Life Goes On...

“In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.”
― Robert Frost

Life is going on. In the past several days, I've felt a strange sense of anxiety. ACTs are coming up in a few days, and I must admit, I've spent more time worrying about the test than preparing for it. The weekend was a bit of relief from three very full days of school.
That's the other thing about me. (I know what you're thinking. Maggie, you keep saying that and I don't know if you're trying to be funny or not, but it's just coming across as annoying. I know that. I'm just super forgetful. That's another thing abou- Oh. Right.) I have an extreme case of a mild malady: Procrastination. And homeschooling doesn't help. It's pretty convenient for me to take it easy the first half of the week, then work my tail off trying to get my school done during the last half. You'd thing I'd figure out how to not have to do it that way, but no.

So where was I? ACT. Panic. Procrastination. Never trust a plastic hippo. Right.

So there I was at 10:30 on Saturday night, trying to finish chemistry. And here I am right now, blogging, after having done school and managing to get a hefty bit of ACT prep done. (is it even legal to put those kinds of math problems in a high-school test?!) The difference between the way I felt then and the way I feel now is evocative of the height difference between my friend Kate and a tall person. Basically a HUGE difference. (analogies aren't my thing; sorry Kate:/)
On Saturday I was panicked, harried, agitated, pressured, anxious, at wit's end, beset, distressed, harassed, hard-pressed, troubled, besieged, you get the picture. Not happy. Today, I am quite contented, knowing all that I have been able to accomplish in a few short hours. Okay, a lot of hours.

Character Sketch ~ Ella

I was mad. I'm still mad.

Lela is a PERFECTLY good name and it sums up her character exACTLY.

But, turns out if you rearrange the letters of Lela, you get Ella. (yes, I too have read Ella Enchanted. It was my favorite book for about 67.5 years)
Why did I change her name? Well, the L name was already called. A writing principle of mine. If you don't want to remember one at the mention of the other, don't use names beginning with the same letter or ones that have the same ending. Comedic writers use this to their advantage sometimes, but unless you're doing that kind of work, (I never will) it's probably best to avoid it.

I promise this is not a post on writing technique. I just had to get that out of my system.
Right, on to business.

Ella is just exactly the kind of character who I can write for fun and not have to worry much about weighty emotions or intense inner conflict. She is just as she appears, honest, transparent, flighty, impulsive. She is gossipy and coquettish, with a general lack of ambition. Candid and kind, she has a way with people, and charms everyone she meets. Were it not for her status as a servant, she would be the belle of every ball. She has classic beauty, blonde and blue-eyed. Her sole goal in life is to enjoy herself and live comfortably. Obviously, with a cushy job at the palace, she manages both quite nicely.

Life

It was only a moment ago that I realized with a shock: I needed to write my next character sketch!!!
Actually, it was more like this:

Me: electronconfiguration1s2s2p3s3p4selectromagneticcoefficientspowersequationstrianglessquarestrigonometryalgebraACTOctober26panickingstudiescrammingknowledgeintomybrain-

Me: I need to blog.

Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! WHYYYYYYY?!?!?!??! WHY GOD?? WHY ME??? I'M ONLY ONE YOUNG GIRL!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! *sobbing hysterically*


That might be a little bit of an exaggeration. I like blogging. I like you guys. But do you ever get that feeling when you're really busy  that every little added thing is weighing you down and smothering you slowly? It's kind of like the sinking of the Titanic. Except way less music and swimming by a raft that could easily hold two people. 

BUT ANYWAYS. I promise I will post the next character sketch soon. Life, as always, is proving rather hectic. Ella is next on the list, and I'm really excited to take an in-depth look at this very lovable, yet shallow character x)



~Margaret

Just a Note

(In case you were wondering, I'm not blogging for you guys in the United States of God Bless America. I'm holding out for those two views from Russia I've gotten. Russian reader, if you are reading this: This blog and I are dedicated to you and your religious reading of this website. Thank you.)

Character Sketch - Vyrrn

Today is a fun day because I get to talk about one of my favorite characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to write.

I admit, as much as I dislike stereotypes, (or rather, hate with a burning passion) Vyrrn is rather the perfect hero. He’s brave. He’s been unjustly accused. He wants to clear his name because he’s noble and loyal and true. But guys, these characters are so fun to write x)

My goal in writing this character was to take the stereotypical knight in shining armor and give it a twist. Like Ashley recently posted on her blog, every character needs a few quirks, something that makes them their own person.

So, who is Vyrrn?

He is a man of few words. He was born at court and lived there for many years, yet he feels much more at home within the endlessness of the Forest Verta. Maybe one day I’ll make a map of the kingdom so you can see where everything fits. But that’s off topic.

Vyrrn is courteous to all and harsh to none. He believes in chivalry and the courtly manners he was raised with. He is a true gentleman.

Character Sketch - Lorelei

By popular demand, I decided to begin a series of character sketches, beginning with the protagonist of Lorelei: Lorelei x) (but seriously, if you guys come up with any better names or ideas, I'm so sick of not having an actual title)

Before I wrote this, I got on Scrivener to look at the character template I already had for Lorelei there. I found it to be disgustingly brief.

 Role in story: protagonist

Occupation: princess

Physical description: rather short, with auburn hair that seems to always be tousled

Personality: outgoing, bright, doesn't seem to be suited to the life of royalty, yet she cares very much for her people.

In Which I Debate About What To Blog Then Change the Topic

Me: So, you need to post something today. You're not going to sit back and let this blog rot like the other two.

Me: BUT THERE'S JUST SO MANY DECISIONSSSS!!!!

Me: .....what?

Me: Like, do I put myself on some sort of schedule? Do I only post excerpts of one story so I don't confuse people? Do I find character photos even though I have a hard time confining my characters to only one face? Am I allowed to blog about my life outside of writing? And what if the new Lemony Snicket book just came out and I want to talk about it? WHAT THEN?!?!?!

Me: Okay, let's calm down here! Let's talk about this in a calm manner like the mature adult we are.

Me: WE AREN'T A MATURE ADULT!!!

Lorelei and Vyrrn

I'm going to pretend that I've already written that awkward first post, and just skip over it completely.

Today, I shall introduce you to a little bit of my writing style with a clip with a scene from my Lorelei story. If you haven't already read my synopsis of sorts from this story, I suggest you hop right over to the 'My Stories' tab. Or just click on this. Don't worry. We'll wait for you.


.............