~Alyson
My Favorite Writer
on Monday, July 28, 2014
I found one of these images the other day and I decided to compile a collection of the struggles of my favorite writer. I hope you enjoy!
~Alyson
~Alyson
New Books
on Sunday, July 27, 2014
Well, I had a very profitable birthday last week. I received four books as presents. Later, we stopped by a yard sale and I bought six Mary Higgins Clark mysteries at 5 cents each. Even later than that, I got to spend an hour inside Barnes & Noble just wandering. The last time I was in a book store was the week before Borders closed. The best part was the smell. I love the smell of a bookstore.
When I was fifteen, I couldn't wait to get my license so that I could spend my afternoons working on homework and reading while drinking hot chocolate at the café in Borders. By the time I got my license, it had closed and that dream seemed unobtainable.
Anyway, I love bookstores, and I got to wander through shelves of books for the first time in years. Husband of mine let me pick out a book (Frankenstein), and I picked out a new notebook too! I'm saving it for the next book in the trilogy. Then I picked out a new bookmark, and on the next shelf over I found something that I have been looking for since December. I found 642 Things to Write About! I am so excited for that book. It has so many awesome prompts in it to help fuel my writing, so keep an eye out for those prompts in future posts!
When I was fifteen, I couldn't wait to get my license so that I could spend my afternoons working on homework and reading while drinking hot chocolate at the café in Borders. By the time I got my license, it had closed and that dream seemed unobtainable.
Anyway, I love bookstores, and I got to wander through shelves of books for the first time in years. Husband of mine let me pick out a book (Frankenstein), and I picked out a new notebook too! I'm saving it for the next book in the trilogy. Then I picked out a new bookmark, and on the next shelf over I found something that I have been looking for since December. I found 642 Things to Write About! I am so excited for that book. It has so many awesome prompts in it to help fuel my writing, so keep an eye out for those prompts in future posts!
Writing Challenges
on Friday, July 25, 2014
When I was in my first Creative Writing class, we spent one day doing a variety of writing challenges. One of the challenges was to write a fairy tale ending. I would like to challenge my readers to do the same thing. It was super fun to do, and I don't want to do ALL the writing around here. This blog is about the overwhelming urge to write. Does this challenge give you the urge to write? As an example, I'll share what I wrote. Being me, I couldn't resist the urge to add in a twist of my own.
"As the sun slowly dropped behind the distant mountains, turning the sky a darker shade of blue with some purple and pink clouds, it seemed that life could not get any better for Prince Will and his soon to be bride, Marie. The problems were far behind them, and they could continue to move forward in their lives. Marie’s dreams were all coming true. She had her prince, her knight in shining armor. He had come to rescue her from the horrors of her evil step-mother and gave her the courage to stop serving her two step-sisters. He stopped the huntsman from cutting her heart out, and he protected her from the fire-breathing dragon. After his evil step-mother had banished her from the kingdom, he had vanquished her as well and found Marie living in the forest with the dwarves. He even climbed up the tower walls to break her free after she had been kidnapped once more. It was a glorious day when he had brought her triumphantly back to his kingdom and romantically proposed on the steps in front of the castle. He had saved her life so many times, how could she possibly deny him when she owed him so much? She said yes, he slipped the ring on her finger, and they embraced for the whole kingdom to see. The crowds cheered and Marie could not hold back a laugh as she smiled wide. She couldn’t wait for their wedding the next day. She had won the heart of the prince and the heart of the whole kingdom just because she had been in danger. Her father’s plan had worked perfectly."
"As the sun slowly dropped behind the distant mountains, turning the sky a darker shade of blue with some purple and pink clouds, it seemed that life could not get any better for Prince Will and his soon to be bride, Marie. The problems were far behind them, and they could continue to move forward in their lives. Marie’s dreams were all coming true. She had her prince, her knight in shining armor. He had come to rescue her from the horrors of her evil step-mother and gave her the courage to stop serving her two step-sisters. He stopped the huntsman from cutting her heart out, and he protected her from the fire-breathing dragon. After his evil step-mother had banished her from the kingdom, he had vanquished her as well and found Marie living in the forest with the dwarves. He even climbed up the tower walls to break her free after she had been kidnapped once more. It was a glorious day when he had brought her triumphantly back to his kingdom and romantically proposed on the steps in front of the castle. He had saved her life so many times, how could she possibly deny him when she owed him so much? She said yes, he slipped the ring on her finger, and they embraced for the whole kingdom to see. The crowds cheered and Marie could not hold back a laugh as she smiled wide. She couldn’t wait for their wedding the next day. She had won the heart of the prince and the heart of the whole kingdom just because she had been in danger. Her father’s plan had worked perfectly."
More Old Poetry
on Monday, July 21, 2014
Just a few quick notes to start of this post-
1) Thank you to Husband of Mine for my lovely new logo! I absolutely love it and I hope you do too. He is awesome.
2) I apologize for the missing post last week, but I have really not been feeling well and my exhaustion has hit such a bad point. I have been so restless, but my headaches have been so terrible that it has prevented me from doing so many things.
3) I apologize in advance for the lack of posts this week. My sister is coming to visit for my birthday (hooray!) and I will be crazy busy this week. I hope I will find some time to post, but I cannot guarantee anything. I'm hoping even more that I'll just start to feel better and be able to return to normal.
4) I am getting extremely close to the halfway point of Rose, and after intense internal debating, I have decided to stop posting chapters as soon as I hit that halfway point. I know I have a lot of readers who are here specifically for Rose, but I can't have my blog interfering with my intent to publish it. As it is my first draft, I will keep the first half of the book on my blog, but I will not post anymore completed chapters. This leaves only about 3 chapters left to post. However, I will continue to post my free writes on here and maybe they'll end up in the book.
5) After I have hit the halfway point in Rose, I am going to cut down the number of weekly posts to 2 until it is finished, simply because I don't want the blog to take away time from my personal writing. I won't stop the blog, because I love it too much, but it will slow down temporarily. Once Rose is finished, then I will start back with 3 posts per week and I'll begin posting chapters of the next book too. Any guesses as to which fairy tale I'll do next?
6) I hit 1,000 views last week and I didn't even mention it so I thought I would bring it up now. Thank you!!! That is so awesome! Currently we are at 1,117 views total. You guys make me so happy!
Anyway, I had so much fun going through my old poetry last week that I decided to share more of it. I wish I could find my old notebook so that I could add more, but it vanished a few months ago and hasn't been seen since. I will continue to hunt for it, but no guarantees.
1) Thank you to Husband of Mine for my lovely new logo! I absolutely love it and I hope you do too. He is awesome.
2) I apologize for the missing post last week, but I have really not been feeling well and my exhaustion has hit such a bad point. I have been so restless, but my headaches have been so terrible that it has prevented me from doing so many things.
3) I apologize in advance for the lack of posts this week. My sister is coming to visit for my birthday (hooray!) and I will be crazy busy this week. I hope I will find some time to post, but I cannot guarantee anything. I'm hoping even more that I'll just start to feel better and be able to return to normal.
4) I am getting extremely close to the halfway point of Rose, and after intense internal debating, I have decided to stop posting chapters as soon as I hit that halfway point. I know I have a lot of readers who are here specifically for Rose, but I can't have my blog interfering with my intent to publish it. As it is my first draft, I will keep the first half of the book on my blog, but I will not post anymore completed chapters. This leaves only about 3 chapters left to post. However, I will continue to post my free writes on here and maybe they'll end up in the book.
5) After I have hit the halfway point in Rose, I am going to cut down the number of weekly posts to 2 until it is finished, simply because I don't want the blog to take away time from my personal writing. I won't stop the blog, because I love it too much, but it will slow down temporarily. Once Rose is finished, then I will start back with 3 posts per week and I'll begin posting chapters of the next book too. Any guesses as to which fairy tale I'll do next?
6) I hit 1,000 views last week and I didn't even mention it so I thought I would bring it up now. Thank you!!! That is so awesome! Currently we are at 1,117 views total. You guys make me so happy!
Anyway, I had so much fun going through my old poetry last week that I decided to share more of it. I wish I could find my old notebook so that I could add more, but it vanished a few months ago and hasn't been seen since. I will continue to hunt for it, but no guarantees.
Some Old Poems
on Friday, July 18, 2014
I compiled some random poems from the past four years of my life to post. The first ones are the oldest, and the last one is the most recent that I wrote. The topics vary from my brief period running track in high school, to the emotional struggles of a teenager, to when husband of mine finally asked me out. It varies. A few of these poems are actually responses to others, for example Chance, Killing Me, and Hold Me are all kind of one big story. The last one was written for my creative writing class where I had to write an imagery poem. I hope you guys enjoy!
Race
My head is pounding.
My lungs are screaming.
My legs are breaking.
My arms are sighing.
I feel like giving up.
Is this worth it all?
The pain is unbearable.
I want to stop.
I feel as if I'm dying.
I cannot stop.
I must keep going.
Don't give up.
Don't start slowing.
The race is almost over.
Time is almost up.
I push my hardest.
Keep running to win.
Race
My head is pounding.
My lungs are screaming.
My legs are breaking.
My arms are sighing.
I feel like giving up.
Is this worth it all?
The pain is unbearable.
I want to stop.
I feel as if I'm dying.
I cannot stop.
I must keep going.
Don't give up.
Don't start slowing.
The race is almost over.
Time is almost up.
I push my hardest.
Keep running to win.
Books
on Wednesday, July 16, 2014
I love books. I love to read. I love to escape out of my world and into another one. My childhood was filled with them. So was my adolescence, and my teen years were too. I cannot fathom who I would be without books, and I don't even want to. Books have changed me for the better.
This week I have been feeling under the weather, and writing has been hard. When I cannot write, I read. Reading has made me feel infinitely better, if only temporarily. TV shows and movies do not have the same captivating effect as a book, even if it is a book I have read more times than I can count. I love everything about books.
Rose Ch. 11
on Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Yes, I know, it's been a while since I posted a chapter. All I can really say about this chapter is that this is so not what I intended to happen in this chapter. The picnic was supposed to be just the beginning, and then they were supposed to go someplace, but as I wrote the story developed in a way I didn't expect. I guess my plans will have to wait a chapter. Also, I am about two chapters away from what I am predicting to be the middle of the book, unless what happened while I was writing today happens more often. This is pretty exciting for me. I've never been this motivated to write. Hopefully I can keep focused on Rose and get the second half of this book written as fast as I am writing the first half!
**Yet again I completely forgot to update the French to English translations. Here's the link!
Rose
Chapter 11
The following week consisted
primarily of dark clouds and rain that barely relented enough for le marché. Rose never minded the rain, but she did mind how frizzy her
hair got because of the humidity.
In order to avoid the annoyance, she had braided her hair down her
back. She tread through the
puddles with groceries in hand until she saw Dahlia just outside La Mine, waving her arm to catch her
attention.
“Vite! Inside, out of
the rain.” She pulled Rose inside.
“Dahlia, quoi...”
“Surprise?” She giggled while Rose’s eyebrows
scrunched together in confusion at the scene in front of her. After a moment, she pulled Rose down,
maybe a bit to aggressively, onto the blanket spread out in the middle of the
shop floor.
“Qu’est-ce que c’est?”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
JL Website!
