The Importance of Art

Hello.  I return.  My absence on this little blog can be accounted for by exactly one thing: the NCFCA.  In case you aren’t in the homeschooled Christian community, it stands for National Christian Forensics and Communications Association.  It’s a fancy way of saying national stress and exhaustion association. (Or basically, speech and debate.)

Anyways, I’ve been traveling to across my state and neighboring states delivering speeches for judges at competitions.  

Now, when picking out my topic for a speech, I looked through the blog archives (and promptly realized I need to go back and clean it out), and found a post that looked promising. (Appreciating the Creative Side {the unfinished sketchbook})

So I wrote a speech.  I illustrated boards and props to go along with it.  And I gave it.  And now I’m making it work for me, and making my blog-post-turned-speech back into a blog post. (As you do.)

Enjoy.

---

When I was a kid, I wanted to be an artist.  Eventually, reality set in, and I realized two things:

1.  Artists aren’t paid very well.  And there would be a very likely possibility that I could be a starving artist, doomed to eating ramen noodles for all eternity while mice skittered around the floor.  (A Little Princess style.)
2. I had little natural talent.

Advertisements

Blank Mastermind Review

BLANK MASTERMIND IS AMAZING AND I LOVE IT

But apparently I actually have to be sane for a blog tour.  I first read Blank Mastermind on Rosey’s blog, writefury.  It was a serial story and I was hooked.  I looked forward to every Thursday.  So imagine my delight when Rosey said she was publishing it in book form!  (lots of excitement and gleeful cackling)

So, without further ado, here’s my review of Blank Mastermind, by Rosey Mucklestone.

You Know You’re A Writer If

If you’re a writer, I pity you.

The rest of the world has no idea what you’re doing.  And then you have to try and convince them that you’re not a serial killer.

Writers are a unique breed.  Especially fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, and all the other speculative fiction writers.

We know things.

*The Twilight Zone theme song starts playing*

Anyway, if you’re a writer, you’ll probably relate.  If you’re not, steal up your courage to take a glance.  You might be enlightened. (Or horrified, but that’s a small consequence.)

The gods of Writing

I’m rather fascinated by Greek mythology and their plethora of gods, and I thought “What about the gods of writing?”  The Greeks have so many gods, why not add a few more to the pantheon?  So here is a completely true, not at all fabricated list of the deities of writing.

May you never encounter them.

The Fangirl Cycle (As explained by gifs)

Prepare for a lot of Disney gifs.

I did a life of a writer in Pixar gifs before, and I wanted to do reader follow-up version because while writers have a lot of problems writing, readers have to experience the emotional journey for themselves with no idea of what’s ahead.

It’s pretty easy to get sucked into the fandom life.  In fact, most people don’t even realize it until they’re in hopelessly deep.  And it can all start with a single book.  After that, you’re ensnared forever, doomed to repeat this cycle forever.

When you start a glorious new book and you’re ready to sacrifice your sanity to it:

 

And it’s fun for a while.  But then you KNOW something bad is going to happen and you rant to the author, even though it won’t do anything.

Babysitting the Hacker 2!

Nothing says love like spies, crime, prison, and death.

My type of Valentine’s day.

Babysitting the Hacker remains one of my most popular short stories.  It’s one of the few times I’ve attempted humor, and I’m frankly surprised that it even worked.  It’s been a year, and since then I’ve gotten requests to continue it.  I never did because I liked the way it ended, and sequels are rarely as good as the first.

But here we are.

With a sequel.

For those of you who are new, babysitting the hacker’s premise is:

We have all these crime-fighting kids in books and movies, but really, how many eight year olds are going to be on the streets by themselves while working?  It’s crazy.  Someone has to babysit.

Lavender, a child genius, ended up on our doorstep.  She was one of the best, even before training.  But she was eight.  Therefore, I, Chase, was tasked with the job of babysitting a scary-smart, little ninja of a girl.  Things got a little crazy sometimes.  Actually, a lot of times.

the witch’s children- short story

It’s almost Christmas!!!

Thus, the lovely “snow” falling on the webpage.  But I’m avoiding a small thing:

I haven’t posted lately. 

There’s many reasons for that, but a big reason I don’t post Stories in general is because the stories I write are a part of me.  I have to be vulnerable to put these writings up to the scary internet.  My stories can be attacked every time I put them up, and then I spiral into self doubt and negativity, and that’s always a fun place to be in.

A Writer’s Life– In Pixar gifs

So, I saw a post similar to this on his instrument’s rad blog with Disney gifs.  So go check that out.  I was inspired to do the same, only with Pixar gifs.  (Because Pixar is amazing, and shouldn’t be left out.)

When a story idea comes to you

#Hello2017.5

I like making sarcastic posts.  This is one of them.

Recall, if you can, to all the posts around the last week of December/ first week in January.  If you can’t remember, I’ll tell you.  There was lots of “Goodbye, 2016, you were an awful year.”  And “Hello 2017!  I have resolutions and goals and you’re going to be an awesome year, not like 2016!”  Do you remember now?

Yeah.  I got a little sick of it too.  After all, years are just a celebration of making it once around the sun.  Like, YAY!  We made it around again!  I wasn’t too sure that we’d make it this time!  And  by the time 2018 rolls around (it’ll be here before you know it) everyone will hate 2017 and applaud 2018 just because.  

So I got thinking.  (Always a dangerous business.)

The Many Positions of a Writer

Writers and their weird poses and positions.  This is a widely used guide by all writers about the wheres, hows, and whens of writing places, poses, and times. 

(Warning:  This may be dangerous information for the beginning writer.  If you like writing in one position, at one place, stay away.  You stay just how you are.  It’ll be better for your posture in the long run.)