Monday, February 25, 2013

A Quick Update

Hey'a, anyone who reads my blog!

The past almost-two weeks have passed more or less uneventfully except for a few things:

New books!- Two weekends ago, I finished the Blood of Kings trilogy. As I said in my last post, I listened to the first two books while I was knitting. My friend lent me the third book, which was even better than the first two, particularly since Vrell and Achan both seemed to mature quite a bit. I'd say more, but I don't want to give anything away. Anyway, last Monday (one week ago) I ordered two new books from Barnes and Noble: By Darkness Hid (since I wanted to have it in paper-and-ink form) and Starflower, the fourth book in Anne Elisabeth Stengl's Tales of Goldstone Wood series. In case you didn't know, the Goldstone Wood books are, in general, amazing, and Starflower definitely did not disappoint. (Well, at the end of the story, I was very disappointed that Bard Eanrin, the Wood, the Far World, Starflower, and various other aspects of the story weren't real. But what else is new?)

Knitting- I finished the cowl I was working on at the time of my last post the day before Valentine's Day. I then started a bandana cowl, which was the largest project I'd done yet. It also required circular needles, which drove me slightly nuts for a while. However, that project was interrupted when my youth group leader asked if I could make a button cowl (the first cowl I made) for him to give to his wife, and also offered to pay me for it! I was happy to do so, and finished that cowl last Saturday night. Then I finished my bandana cowl just this morning, and am currently wearing it. I plan to make another pair of wristers (or fingerless gloves, or whatever you want to call them) next. I spent most of the afternoon searching out patterns, and now I just have to pick which ones I want to make. Decisions, decisions . . .

Writing- I've written two short stories in the past two weeks, one on Valentine's Day morning and one last Sunday morning. I'm fairly pleased with both of them, particularly the Valentine's Day one, since it's an idea I had in my head for a while but didn't figure out how to do properly until that day. I'll probably post one or both of them on here at some point, and may also enter one of them in my library's writing contest. I haven't decided whether I'll do one of the two I wrote recently or if I'll enter Speak Life instead.

School- School in general is still going fairly well. My history is still trying to kill me, but I've managed to come out on top. My science (which I decidedly did not like at the beginning of the year) is getting better. I've started my Literature (which only takes up half a school year) and so far, I've been enjoying it. I'm supposed to be reading a Sherlock Holmes story tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading!

Calo anor na ven.*
- Sarah

*May the sun shine upon your road.


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Finally, a Post!

Wow. I haven't blogged for a long time. Sorry, everyone. I wish I could say I was busy, and sometimes I was, but mostly I was just a procrastinator. Sorry again. And anyone who still reads this, thank you very, very much.

I had a lot of fun over Christmas break. Grandpa came down to visit for the holiday, and Mommy made ladylocks. (Ladylocks are pastry tubes filled with cream and with powdered sugar on top. They're absolutely incredible.) Some of my favorite presents included the Legends of Karac Tor series, a Skillet cd, and a Middle Earth map poster. Shortly after Christmas, my friend and I went to see The Hobbit a second time. I almost think I liked it better the second time, since I could anticipate what was happening better. New Year's Eve was spent at our friends' house and was also a lot of fun.

New Year's Day was mostly spent in two activities: taking down the Christmas tree and matting and framing my Hobbit posters. In addition to the full-size poster I got for Christmas, I got four free posters the first time I went to see The Hobbit. They all look fairly similar in design to this:


That's actually one of the posters, which obviously shows Bilbo. The other three have Gandalf, Thorin, and Gollum on them. All four, plus my map poster, are now framed, matted, and hanging on the wall across from my bed. This meant I had to rearrange the items already hanging on that wall, but I definitely think I like my room better this way.

School is going fairly well. I'm not overly crazy about my history, and a few semi-recent tests have resulted in me uttering the phrase "I'm dead" more than once. Thankfully, the last two tests have gone somewhat better, and none of my other subjects cause me quite as much pain.

In other news, I've decided to start knitting. This is mostly because I wanted something to do while I listened to By Darkness Hid and To Darkness Fled, audiobooks written and recorded by Jill Williamson. They were originally recorded as podcasts, but you can get all of both books free on her site. I'm very much enjoying both the books and the knitting. So far I've made five pairs of wristers, and I'm working on a cowl. I have another cowl design that I want to try after I finish this one, so that will probably keep me busy for a while.

I haven't been writing much, though I have been doing plenty of editing. I've finished editing my NaNo Novel, and I'm finally done with the first round of edits in my Camp NaNo Novel. I'm planning to try to write more for the next week or two before I start the second round of editing on my Camp NaNo Novel (which is probably going to be edited more times than any novel or story I've written since I wrote Rosa). I have been reading quite a bit. One of my favorite books I've read recently is Princess of the Silver Woods. It's the third book in a trilogy by Jessica Day George, and the first book in the trilogy, Princess of the Midnight Ball, helped inspire my Camp NaNo Novel. I thoroughly recommend the trilogy, though I haven't read any of her other books yet. I'm also looking forward to reading The Fairest Beauty, the latest book by Melanie Dickerson, another author I'd definitely recommend if you like remade fairy tales.

Well, that's about all. Thank you very much for reading, despite my long absences. I hope that I'll do a better job of fighting off Procrastination in future. Thank you again!

Nai haryuvalyë melwa rë.*
- Sarah


*"May you have a lovely day."