Grace Writing

To start off - THIS IS OFFICIALLY MY FIFTIETH POST!!! I'm so excited! Thank all of you for supporting me and reading my blogs, and know that I couldn't have gotten this far without every single one of you. I look forward to seeing you and talking to you more and more as I continue to write these posts! And now onto "Why We Won't Be Celebrating Halloween This Year" . . . A lot of Christians don't celebrate Halloween, and I respect their decision, but I, personally, LOVE Halloween. It's one of my absolute favorite holidays (besides Christmas, which obviously comes first because it's just so amazing). I mean, you get free candy and people don't look at you weird for putting on a costume. I could do a whole post about how weird the idea of Halloween is - I mean, all it is is that you aren't technically trespassing on someone's lawn when you go up to their door and bang on it, begging for sweets while dressed like some sort of fict...

Book: To Kill a Mockingbird Author: Harper Lee I recently read To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee for school and I decided to do a book review on it. So here's a quick description of the story, in case you haven't heard much about it:    Living in a small town called Maycomb and experiencing the fun of summer and the sufferings of school, a young girl named  Scout Finch watches her father  Atticus Finch,  an attorney, risking everything - his job, reputation and even his life - to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of a crime he didn't commit.  The characters - Atticus Finch, Scout Finch, Jem Finch and Calpurnia, as well as others - were well-rounded and had a sense of reality to them that I know as a writer I struggle to create. They spoke, acted and thought like one would think them to, but not in an overdone or annoying way. I loved the perspective on the story that it had. Written in light of the events of the C...

I have found my new favorite song. Go ahead and click on the video, listen to it if you haven't heard it, and then read on. This is a pretty popular song right now, I think (I don't know for sure because I'm in another country), so I'm sure many of you have heard it. But, out of all the songs on the planet, why is this my new favorite song EVER? For one simple reason: they're saying something every girl - and guy - needs to hear, but rarely does. How often is she (or he) told these things? Let's look closely at my favorite lyrics in the song: I see you dressed in white Every wrong made right I see a rose in bloom At the sight of you Oh, so priceless Irreplaceable, unmistakable, incomparable Darling, it's beautiful I see it all in you Oh, so priceless How often, really, do we hear this? How often do we tell people this? How many little kids grow up not knowing their worth? E ven now, all grown up, h ow many of us don't know o...

Children's books - the foundation of a love for reading. - Magic Tree House, Book One: Dinosaurs Before Dark -    Author: Mary Pope Osborne    Back Cover Description:  Where did the tree house come from?    Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark…or will they become a dinosaur’s dinner?     I loved these books growing up!! I'm pretty sure everyone in our family read them, and they were some of the best early reads ever! - Frog and Toad, Book One: Frog and Toad are Friends -    Author: Arnold Lobel    Back Cover Description:  From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.     I learned to read with these books! They're great for early readers, an...

    Melissa Gravitis @ Quill Pen Writer has tagged me in The Dual Character Inquisition Tag! I'm so excited to participate. Thanks for tagging me, Melissa!    I've decided to use Wolfe and Clio, my characters from Forsaken , as I've already told you a lot about Endings and his brothers. Here's a quick, rough blurb:    Wolfe isn't a very good person, but he's on the right side in the raging civil war, and that's all that matters to him. Struggling with PTSD and drug and alcohol addictions, he forces himself to endure and keep fighting - whether fighting is what's best for him or not. All that matters is defeating Claudius and saving the people that Wolfe refuses to admit he cares about. Clio, Wolfe's best and closest friend since childhood, is desperate to convince him that not only is he worth saving, he CAN be saved, by the One and Only person that matters. Unfortunately, she hasn't yet realized that in trying to push Wolfe c...

   And on to the treasure! - The Christy Miller Series, Book One: Summer Promise -      Author: Robin Jones Gunn    Back Cover Description: As fourteen-year-old Christy leaves her family's Wisconsin farm to spend her summer at her wealthy aunt and uncle's beach home in Newport, California, she realizes this could be the best summer of her life. Her aunt is bending over backward to see that Christy's every wish is granted, the popular beach crowd is talking to her, and she catches the attention of a cute surfer named Todd.    But the summer doesn't turn out as Christy hoped. Suddenly, she is faced with choices she's never had to make before, and the safe world that she's always known comes crashing down around her. Through it all, Christy struggles to keep her promise to her parents to not do anything she'll regret. But will she stop at nothing to get Todd, to be accepted, and to force her summer to give her everything it promis...

   What's it like being a teenage writer, you ask? (Or, maybe you didn't ask, but I'm going to continue anyway . . .)    I'd like to say that it's filled with adventure and excitement at every turn, but in reality it's just sitting at a computer and helping other  people (who are apparently "not real") go on adventures and face excitement. Let's start with a basic overview, shall we?    1. Wake up at around eleven, groggy because I stayed up until 3 AM last night    2. Lay in bed scrolling through Facebook for twenty minutes    3. Finally convince myself to get some breakfast    4. Eat said breakfast    5. Read. A lot. Like, probably for two-five hours. Maybe longer.    6. Realize that I should be writing    7. Get distracted by television for thirty minutes while eating lunch    8. Convince self to go write    9. Get sidetracked by...

   Today is something a bit different. It's more like a list and a mini-description of fantasy novels that I've loved over the years and what I loved about them. Looking for new fantasy books to read? Well, these are all parts of series - all of them pretty long series that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Let's get started! - The Secrets of Droon, Book One: The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet - Author: Tony Abbott Back Cover Description: Underneath the steps leading down the Eric's basement is a hidden storage space. It's dusty and old - nothing special at all. But when Eric, Julie and Neal all huddle inside the gray room together, something unbelievable happens. A rainbow-colored staircase appears. And as the kids take their very first step down into the mysterious land of Droon, they know that only magic and adventure awaits them!    Flying cities, hidden palaces, and magical ocean storms - Droon is full of secrets. And for Eric, Julie and Neal,...