April 2021 Doings!

Well, here we are! I keep trying to think of something vaguely clever to say here, but I'm . . . not really having much luck, to be honest. April's been a quiet month, and there's not a lot to say by way of introduction. So let's just get right to it, shall we?

Writing!

• So, I kind of forgot this month was Camp NaNoWriMo. I guess that's what happens when you have the same goals and project for Camp that you had for the last several months.
• Side note — at some point, I really need to settle on the name of the Midnight Show sequel. I've been working on the book half a year, and it's still just "the TMS sequel." I mean, yeah, it's anywhere near the longest one of my books has gone without a title, but . . . deadlines.
• Anyway. Progress on the sequel rewrite is going slower than I intended (I keep getting stuck on timeline things or how to make particular scenes happen in the new version), but it's still moving forward. I'm currently on Chapter 23, which puts me into the back half of the book. Given the level of changes I've been making (completely rearranging certain events, stitching scenes together, and writing some entirely new material), I don't think I'm making bad time.
• I'm also far enough along that I can start thinking about what I want to write next . . . I have two different ideas for the same fairy tale, one in the Mechanical Heart world and one in the Midnight Show world, and I'm not sure which I prefer.
• On the D&D front, again, I accomplished less than I wanted in terms of D&D writing . . . but I did run my group's first encounter with a legendary monster! And then promptly forgot about or didn't get a chance to use pretty much all its legendary abilities. Oh well.

Reading!

• This month has been a lot of "Well, I said I'd read this book/need to read this before the library demands it back, so I guess I'm doing that now," bookended between two mood reads.
• Warbreaker and Isle of Swords were my two mood reads (well, mood re-reads). Warbreaker also falls a little into the category of "Need to read before the library demands it back," but I originally picked it up because of my unofficial Cosmere reread (and the significance of certain characters in the Stormlight Archive). As with Mistborn, reading it is kind of a weird experience where I'm torn between "Wow, you can tell this is Sanderson's early work" and "This is still really good." Isle of Swords, on the other hand, I reread because I wanted pirates, and I didn't expect much of it (having grown disenchanted with Batson's writing some time ago), but it's honestly better than I was giving it credit for. It does what it's supposed to do very well, is I guess how I'd put it.
• Of the non-rereads, Sourdough was probably the highlight. It was a very enjoyable observation and celebration of food and the cultures it creates, with nice hints of magic and a very satisfying ending. Also, props to the author for not going the route with said ending that I expected her to.
• Anarchist on the Orient Express was also good, though I enjoyed Werewolf more. I think that's because half of it was more action-adventure than mystery — and it's a very good action-adventure, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't entirely what I expected. I am excited for Book 3, though.
• Broken and Delicious In Dungeon #9 were both about what I expected. There were some bits in each that I really loved (Delicious in Dungeon gives us some revelations about the nature of the dungeons and what our heroes are walking into that are just . . . !!! I am scared now!), and some bits that I wasn't crazy about, but the experience on the whole was positive.
• And The Last Unicorn, I read because I get the impression that it's a sort of "fantasy classic," in the same category as Le Guin's Earthsea, and . . . well, I can see why so many people like it, but it's not my thing. It's a story very concerned with ideas and theme, and it carries out those themes well, but . . . again, not my thing, really.

Watching!

• In the continuing saga of "Sarah finally watches that thing that all her friends were crazy about ten years ago," I watched Curse of the Black Pearl about midway through April, when I happened to have a Saturday night without D&D. And now I completely understand why everyone I knew (or, well, everyone I knew online) spent so much time quoting it. And referencing it. And why people are still quoting it and referencing it and circulating gifs of it now, albeit to a lesser degree.
• Like, it's a really fun movie. But also, it's an astonishingly well-told story? With surprisingly well-drawn characters? Like? I thought it was going to be, you know, the type of movie you watch for the humor and the cool action scenes and the inherently delightful dramatics of pop culture pirates, and you kind of overlook the fact that it's cliche and everyone's a bit flat.
• But instead! Instead we get the humor and the action and the dramatics from a story that is, quite frankly, better-crafted than some books I've read. We get characters who are archetypal, yes, but generally not cliche, and who are genuinely clever. (I also appreciated how it's never just one character saving everyone else. No one's infallible. No one's always right.) And I can really see why everyone loved it so much. And I'm sure the sequels won't be as good, but yeah. I want to watch them anyway.
• (I would also like to argue that the movie did a really good job with its antagonists/villains. Like, Norrington is clearly set up as an antagonist, but he's honorable and his decisions make sense given who he is. He'd be a hero in another story; he just had the bad luck to be in this one. And Barbossa — look, he's awful and a generally terrible person, but he makes sense too. And he's almost a more sympathetic villain (in the sense of a villain you're meant to feel sympathy for) than most of the actually-intended-as-sympathetic villains people are writing these days.)
• This has been your regularly scheduled Sarah-ramble-about-things-everyone-already-knew. Thank you for your patience.
• As per the usual, I'm still watching Critical Role, and I still am not very far along, and I still get anxiety when the group tries to talk to authority figures. Except now I get anxious about pretty much everyone doing it, not just Nott and Jester. But it's fiiiiiiiiiine. I'm having fun.

Life!

• April was, as I predicted, a pretty quiet month. Even Easter felt rather like just another weekend — we went to the Saturday service (to avoid the Sunday crowds), and once again, our Bible Study didn't have the usual celebration, so we spent the day at home. My mom did make a lemon-blueberry tart, though, so that was delicious and exciting.
• At work, we officially started livestreaming services with . . . minimal hiccups. They were not the hiccups I had expected and prepared for, unfortunately. But at this point, things seem to be going fine.
• I've also concluded that newsletters are one of the most challenging design types I have to do for either work or publishing. You'd think that books would be harder, but — no, not really. A book cover's really just a poster seen at a different scale. And book interiors, you design a chapter heading page and right and left sides to the spread and poof! You're done! Newsletters, every page in the spread looks different, and you're trying to figure out how to fit in all the information and make it look fun and exciting, and it's honestly kind of intimidating initially.
• Despite my best intentions, I did not start learning VBA. I did pick up the basics of Adobe Premiere and some aspects of video editing, though, so . . . there's that. (I quickly determined that video editing is a rather different animal than photo editing, and there are fewer transferable skills than I expected. People who do it for a living: you have my respect.)

May Plans

• May should be a little more exciting than April was, both because of holidays and because my sister will be home from for the summer! It'll be nice to have her around again. I've missed her. (Also, when she's home, I have someone to play Sentinels and watch stuff with.)
• I have high hopes of this being the month that I finish the TMS Sequel. Theoretically, as long as I don't have my timeline messed up, it should be doable. A lot of what's left will have very few changes to the actual scenes, just changes to the order of events. (And once I get past the chapter or two I'm writing now, there won't even be that many changes to the sequence.) I'm trying not to be too optimistic, though.
• Aaaaaand I really need to get things moving again with D&D writing. My problem is that I get caught up in making maps and background info, and then that takes longer than I expected, and then, poof, I'm behind. But I'll catch up again soon, now that the prep stuff is all done.

How was your April? Any exciting plans for May? What's something that you discovered ages after everyone else had already experienced it and moved on? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Defying SBS

We've all been there, right? We discover the first book in a trilogy or longer series, devour it, fall in love with the characters, world, and/or everything else about it, then rush to the library or bookstore to see if there's more. There is, and we grab the second book, eager for more amazingness . . . but what's this? The plot's stalling, meandering, or just isn't there? Characters spend more time angsting than anything else, make ridiculously stupid decisions, or lose half their development from book one? The requisite love triangle is played up for all it's worth? Everything just seems to be filler so the author can get to the good stuff in book three? The diagnose is obvious: the story's been hit with a serious (or series-ous . . . no? I'll stop now, sorry) case of Second Book Syndrome (SBS for short). It's terrifyingly common- so much so that it's easy to outright expect that the second book will be disappointing. A lot of very popular series (The Inheritance Cyle, The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Selection, the list goes on . . .) fall prey to it- storms, even Mistborn falls prey to it in some respects. (By which I mean that certain characters overdosed on the angst, particularly the romantic angst.)

But some books don't. Some books defy Second Book Syndrome. And those are the books I'm talking about today.

1. The Errant King by Wayne Thomas Batson. Not only does The Errant King defy SBS, but I actually like it better than The Sword of the Stars. Part of that may be because it’s less of a “direct sequel” than some books; after all, it takes place twenty years after the first in the series and focuses on an entirely new main character. That alone doesn’t leave many openings for SBS. But reappearing characters are as awesome as they were before- or, in some cases, even better- and the conflicts are very real and very immediate.

2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. Scarlet introduces Wolf and Thorne, two of my favorite Lunar Chronicles characters, so let’s face it: SBS never had a chance in this book. But besides that, there’s no character regress, no characters being idiots in order to move the plot along, and the scope and impact of the story grows in leaps and bounds.

3. North! Or Be Eaten! by Andrew Peterson. I almost didn’t include this one, since it is actually my least favorite in the series (even though it contains one of my all-time favorite scenes), but upon further thought, I realized that the reasons I don’t like it have nothing to do with SBS and everything to do with defying SBS. Characters make mistakes, heartbreaking ones, but it’s not because they’ve regressed from the first book. It’s because that growth is continuing and sometimes character growth hurts- just as it does in real life.

4. The King’s Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight. We’ve already established that it’s rare for a second book to be better than a first book. What’s even is for a second book to make me fall in love with a series that I previously hadn’t been crazy for- but The King’s Scrolls did exactly that. (The introduction of dragons helped- but what I enjoyed even more was the increased focus on Kyrin’s family, particularly Marcus and Liam.)

5. Words of Radiance (Brandon Sanderson). I’m not sure if this one quite counts since it's technically in a ten-book series rather than a trilogy or other shorter series . . . but I’m counting it anyway because Words of Radiance doesn’t just defy Second Book Syndrome; it assassinates SBS with a single swipe of its Shardblade and dances on the grave of its vanquished foe. Nothing here is just filler; there’s no pointless angst (angst, yes; pointless, no) or awkward maneuvering-characters-into-position. The book takes what was established in Way of Kings, builds on it, and brings it up to eleven. (And if the second book’s that good . . . what can the third hold?)

What are some of your favorite SBS-defying books? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)  

Random Fridays: Fall 2014 Reads

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Hello! It's that time again: time to talk about the new books releasing soon. And there are some very exciting releases coming up. Like . . .
  
1. The Mirror of Souls by Wayne Thomas Batson. Also known as Dark Sea Annals #3. Also known as the book I have been (im)patiently waiting approximately three years for. Sir Batson has not yet given a release date, but I have heard that it's supposed to come out some time this fall. If it does not, I will be most put out. (And I need Alastair to come back. Like, now. He was awesome and what happened to him was not allowed.)

2. Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I'm always excited about a new Tales of Goldstone Wood book, and this one sounds as awesome as ever. Apparently we'll get the story of how the Dragon was bound to the Golden Stone, though that's honestly not what I'm most excited about. I want to learn more of Sunan (from Goddess Tithe), and it seems like he's going to play a major-ish role in Golden Daughter. Yay!

3. Viral Execution by Amanda Davis. Like The Mirror of Souls, I've been waiting for this one for a few years now and it's finally releasing next month! Huzzah! I had no idea until I looked it up to write this blog post- Amanda Davis has been very silent on the blogging front- so it's a very nice surprise! I can't wait to finally find out what happens to Monica and her friends. 

4. The Princess Spy by Melanie Dickerson. These historical fairy tale remakes are a nice shift from what I normally read, and this one sounds especially promising. Spies! Intrigue! Romance! Plus, remade fairy tales based on "The Frog Prince" seem rather rare (I can think of only two, besides this one), so I'm looking forward to seeing how Melanie handles the story.

5. Scorpion Mountain by John Flanagan. It sounds like the cast of the Brotherband Chronicles might potentially meet up with that of Ranger's Apprentice. If it actually happens, there's no way it won't be awesome. Even just Gilan (who's a given), Will, and Maddie (and maybe Halt too- is he retired yet?) would be great. Of course, the Brotherband Chronicles are pretty cool; I'm sure this one will be awesome even without those old friends.

6. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas. Crown of Midnight dragged me into the story and left me in emotional turmoil. I've mostly recovered by now, but I still need to find out what happens next! And since Crown of Midnight was even better than Throne of Glass, here's hoping that Heir of Fire will be the best yet!

What fall releases are you looking forward to? Please tell me in the comments! Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Want to join in the Random Fridays fun? Feel free to make a post of your own on the week's topic! Please just be sure to use the Random Fridays banner, link back to Awkwordly Emma, and post the link to your post on the Awkwordly Emma blog so other participants can check out your post. For a list of future Random Friday topics, click here.  

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Secondary Characters

Hey everyone! This is a new blog feature that I discovered through the blog of my friend Emma. It's called Top Ten Tuesdays. Each week, there's a different book-related theme, and participating bloggers make a top ten list for that theme. I think it sounds really fun, so I hope you all enjoy reading it! This week's theme is favorite secondary characters. As a note, some of these may border on main characters, but I'm defining secondary character as anyone who's not either the main protagonist (or one of the main protagonists, in the case that there's more than one) or the main antagonist. Also, if a character is a secondary character in one book but becomes a main character in a later book, he's still a main character. Thus why Bard Eanrin and Walter Foley, among others, aren't on this list.

http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/p/top-ten-tuesday-other-features.html

1. Angela from The Inheritance Cycle. She's probably my favorite character in the entire series, as well as one of the only ones I never yell at. She's mysterious, and yet she's bright, funny, and generally cheerful. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to dislike a character with lines like this: "I suppose I won't see you for a while, so farewell, best of luck, avoid roasted cabbage, don't eat earwax, and look on the bright side of life!"
2. Captain Valithor from The Door Within Trilogy. TDW is full of very memorable characters, but Captain Valithor undoubtedly tops them all. He's everything a hero and a hero's mentor should be, and the end of The Door Within (the first book in the trilogy) . . . Well, I won't give away any spoilers, but I'll just say that some of his actions make it pretty clear why he's on this list.
3. Cruedwyn Creed from the Legends of Karac Tor series. He's absolutely hilarious. His tall tales, his sword and his attachment to it, his entire personality- I can't give enough. Also, tall tales aside, he has seriously awesome skills.
4. Faramir from The Lord of the Rings. It's kind of difficult to determine who's a major character and who's a secondary character in LOTR, so in the end, I decided to call the Fellowship the main characters and go from there. The main reason I like him is how noble he is. He's willing to risk everything to defend his people and see Sauron defeated, and though he's faced with what must've been a nearly impossible choice, he makes the right decision. 
5. Puddleglum from The Silver Chair. He's a large part of why The Silver Chair is in my top three favorite Narnia books. I love how he's continually predicting that they, their mission, and pretty much everything is doomed, yet he goes on this quest willingly and puts up with Jill and Eustace even after they get more or less insufferable. He sticks by them through the good and bad of their mission, and I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he's truly a hero by the end of the book.
6. Wizard Fenworth from The DragonKeeper Chronicles and The Chiril Chronicles. He says the oddest things, and hilarity is sure to ensue whenever he's around, but he's still wise and isn't afraid to stand for what's right, even against incredible odds.
7. Daryl from Echoes from the Edge. While I'm a bookworm, not a movie geek, Daryl is a girl after my own heart. And a movie geek who also happens to be something of a genius? Even better. 
8. Mr. Charlie from The Berinfell Prophecies. If you've read the series, I don't think I have to explain. If you haven't read the series, just know that he's awesome and epic and you really should read the series so you can find out why.
9. Peet the Sock Man from The Wingfeather Saga. He's funny, but at the same time, he's a bit sad. And I never saw the twists coming later in his story.
10. King Ealden from The Dark Sea Annals. I wasn't crazy about him in the first book, but I liked how his character developed in the second. Also, he was willing to admit that he was wrong. That takes a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this! Thanks for stopping by!

-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

Summer Reading Plans

When I think of summer activities, there are many things that come to me: swimming, biking, writing, and most of all, reading. For as long as I can remember, I've done the summer reading program at my library every year, and if I can find others, I like to do those too. This year, however, I'm doing something I haven't done before: a summer reading list.

Most of the books on my list are ones I haven't read in a year or more and want to make sure I reread sometime relatively soon. There are some new titles on the list, however, and if anyone has suggestions of other books I should add to it, I'd be happy to hear them. I'm always on the lookout for new books to enjoy.

First on my list is The Door Within Trilogy by Wayne Thomas Batson. This was one of the first contemporary Christian fantasy series I read, and when I first started writing, it heavily influenced my stories. However, in the last year, I've been more focused on other Batson books, namely The Tide of Unmaking and his short stories. I'm very much looking forward to returning to the Realm this summer and joining Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby on their adventures once more!

Another trilogy on my list is The White Lion Chronicles by Christopher Hopper. When I first read Rise of the Dibor, I don't think I was really mature enough to appreciate these books, since they're longer and move at a slower pace than most books I was reading at the time. After they were rereleased, I gave them another try and really enjoyed them. However, until now, I never quite got around to rereading them. This is the only series on my list that I've already gotten started on rereading; I just reread Rise of the Dibor last week.

For a change from fantasy to dystopian, I'll be reading Sneak, the second book in the Swipe series by Evan Angler. Though Sneak was released some time ago, my library only recently obtained copies of it. I can hardly wait to read it and find out what in the world is going to happen to Logan, not to mention whether or not my theories about the Mark and such are true. Of course, since Storm just recently came out, and I'm pretty sure my library doesn't have it, I'll be back in the same boat again. Oh well. Such is life.

Back to fantasy! This time, however, the fantasy is a classic. It's a tradition of mine to make sure I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at least once every year. I used to try to do this in either November or May (near either my birthday or half-birthday), since the first time I read The Lord of the Rings was shortly after my birthday some years ago. More recently, however, I decided that summer was the best time to read these books, since I'll have more time to read and therefore I'll be able to enjoy them more. 

Another classic I'll be rereading is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I first read this book in September of last year and promptly decided that it was my new favorite non-fantasy classic. I also hope to find another Austen book to read, though I'm not sure which one. I read Sense and Sensibility in January and, though it was fairly good, didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Pride and Prejudice. I'm leaning towards Emma for this summer, but if any fans of Jane Austen's books are reading this, suggestions are more than welcome!

Two weekends ago, I did the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt, an online scavenger hunt hosted by thirty-two Christian fiction authors. To complete the scavenger hunt, you had to go from blog to blog and collect all the clues to put together a quote and be entered in a drawing for the prize. Along the way, I discovered a few authors I'd like to try, most notably R. J. Larson, author of Prophet and the rest of the Books of the Infinite series. Her books, which are fantasy set in a world similar to the Biblical time period, looked interesting, so I decided to give them a try. I can hardly wait to find out if they live up to my hopes.

By far the longest series on my reading list is the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. I've read these books several times each since first discovering them, but I've been too busy with other books to read them for some time. This summer, however, I intend to change that. It might take a miracle to get through all of them, however, unless I decide to listen to some of them on cd or such instead of actually reading them. There are, after all, twenty-two books in the series!

Taking second place for longest series on my list is John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series, along with its companion series, The Brotherband Chronicles. I've actually read several of these semi-recently (within the last few months), but I decided to put them on my list anyway, since I've been thinking of rereading the two series for a few weeks now.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a newer book that I first noticed because two people recommending it in the same day: Jill Williamson in her ABC Reading Challenge and Emma, a friend of mine from WI. Cinder is a Cinderella remake set in a sci-fi/dystopian-type setting, which I thought sounded interesting. After asking both Emma and a lady at my church (who's recommended several other fairy-tale remakes to me) for more details, I decided to go ahead and add it to my reading list.

Another dystopian series on my list is The Cantral Chronicles by Amanda Davis. Like The White Lion Chronicles, I haven't quite gotten around to rereading the books in this series since around the time they first came out. In this case, however, that's mostly because I'd have to borrow the first book from a friend. I'm hoping she'll be ok with me borrowing it, since I remember really enjoying The Cantral Chronicles the first time I read them.

The last book or book series on my list? That's still a bit of a mystery. A friend of mine (who's pointed me towards many of my favorite authors and books) suggested that I try reading something by Shannon Hale. However, I'm not sure where to start. I know she wrote The Goose Girl, as well as the Princess Academy series and a whole lot of other books. (The library has twenty-two items by her, though some of those are books on cd, not actual paper-and-ink books.) Has anyone reading this read anything by Shannon Hale? If so, do you have any suggestions of which of her books I should read first, or any of her books I should avoid? Thank you in advance for your advice!

What about you? Do you have any summer reading plans?
Never alone!
- Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)

NaNoWriMo Excitement and Other News

Hello, everyone! It's almost Halloween, and guess what that means? It's nearly time for . . .

 

Yep. that's right. NaNoWriMo, otherwise known as "30 days and nights of literary abandon", otherwise known as "one of the two months in the year where Sarah goes slightly crazy with excitement and it's actually a good thing". (The other month, if anyone was wondering, is July, which is Camp NaNoWriMo.) Believe it or not, I'm more excited about NaNoWriMo than I usually am about Christmas or my birthday. (Ok, maybe not Christmas. The excitement there is probably about equal. But I'm definitely more excited about it than I am about my birthday, which happens to be drawing near.)

This year, of course, I'm about four times as excited about it than I was last year. Why? Here are the reasons:
♥ My plot and characters. I've wanted to write this plot for several months now, and my characters are some of my favorites I've ever created. This is my plot for this year:

Emma Alyron isn't fond of the danger and adventure so many of her siblings seem to relish. That's why she and her mother moved away from Alyron Village and to Port Metre in Beylend so many years ago. Now, with her mother dead, Emma is alone, friendless, and defenseless. She doesn't mind too much- at least she's safe . . . for now.

Meanwhile, Emma's ne'er-do-well brother, Jared, is in trouble once more. Having run up more debts than he can pay, he's fled from his creditors and headed straight to Port Metre, where he hopes his luck will change for the better. It seems to have when he runs into Emma and falls in with a group called the Circle of Eight, but soon he begins to wonder if he's jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

To make matters worse, Gwen Alyron and the Firhirt siblings are on their way south, in search of another Alyron brother, Jake. They too run into Emma, much to the consternation of both Emma and Gwen, neither of whom is very fond of the other. Gwen and the Firhirts' search is cut short, however, when friends arrive with news of a terrible emergency. Thanks to Jared, Emma knows a secret that could be the key to solving the emergency, but will she share it and not only help Gwen, but become permanently entangled in what she's been running from for so long? And that's not her only secret . . . will she risk everything for this? Find out in Secrets and Searches, the third book in Leilani Sunblade's Berstru Tales series.

 For the record, "Leilani Sunblade" is my username on two forums: The Underground (which I'll be talking about again later) and the NaNoWriMo YWP (young writer's program) forum. 
♥ As I think I've mentioned, I'm doing it on the official site this year. Basically that means that I have a place where I can get help from other NaNoWriMo participants when I get stuck. And if I get my novel finished and edited in time, I have the opportunity to get five free copies of it.
♥ One of my favorite authors, Wayne Thomas Batson, is also doing NaNoWriMo! Even better, the book he'll be writing is Dark Sea Annals #3! For those who don't know, the Dark Sea Annals series is pretty much my favorite Wayne Thomas Batson series of all time. Book 2 in the series, The Errant King, also has the double honor of being my favorite book by Batson, as well as having one of the most awesome covers I've ever seen. So, you can imagine how excited I was when I learned about this! (This paragraph was actually two reasons for why I'm quadruply excited for NaNoWriMo this year, by the way.)

In other, non-NaNoWriMo-related news, I recently received the honor of being chosen as a Sentinel (moderator) on The Underground, one of the three forums I'm on. The Underground is a forum based on The Berinfell Prophecies, one of my favorite series. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy about it, and I enjoy being able to help on the site. The other moderators are all quite busy and don't have as much time as they used to, which is part of why they were looking for a new Sentinel.

Editing my Camp NaNoWriMo novel is going well. I hit the 2/3 mark this morning, which I'm happy about. Since the last third of the novel is probably my favorite part, I'm hoping it'll go a little faster than before. Of course, I won't get it done by NaNoWriMo, but I'm hoping I'll be close enough to being done that I won't have much to edit after November and I'll be able to start editing my NaNoWriMo novel soon after finishing it.

Finally, I watched Ever After last night with my family. I enjoyed it, though I like the Narnia and Lord of the Rings movies better. I'd probably put it about on par with The Princess Bride. I'm hoping that we'll have time to watch another movie on Saturday, preferably one of the longer ones that we were going to watch last night but didn't because didn't have time.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for stopping by!

- Sarah

The Errant King Review

Author: Wayne Thomas Batson

Characters: Excellent! The characters were interesting and endearing, with both old favorites and new friends. The only regrets I have are that some very interesting-sounding characters didn’t have a larger part and that there are some very sad parts relating to old favorites. 5/5

Location: Fairly good. I didn’t get too confused, but I still wasn’t entirely clear on where all the locations are. Also, one other thing confused me slightly: Amara, to my knowledge, is the world where the DragonKeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul are located, but apparently it’s also a region in the world of the Dark Sea Annals. This was rather disconcerting. 3/5

Plot: Amazing! I can’t even come close to saying what I think about the plot of this book; you have to read it to believe it. 5/5

Other: This book, in many ways, is rather bittersweet. I can’t say exactly why for fear of giving the story away, but there are a few places where, if I cried over books, I would’ve been doing so.

Overall Rating: 4/5

NaNoWriMo, New Tales, and Travel

Hello, everyone! I've returned, with another update on my life!

• I have officially started NaNoWriMo, and it's going very well! I've stayed on track and I'm actually almost a quarter of the way through already, thanks to the high daily goal I set for myself. Surprisingly, I'm actually writing it in third person POV, without an antihero. This is the first time I've done this since I wrote Rosa last summer. NaNoWriMo, by the way, is also the reason for my remodeling my blog, in case you didn't guess.
• I'm reading The Errant King! The Errant King, in case you didn't know, is the latest book by Wayne Thomas Batson. I've been looking forward to it for a very, very, very long time (since last November/December), so when I discovered that it was out and my friend would lend it to me, I was extremely excited. I started it yesterday morning, and since it's a long book and I had to work on NaNoWriMo and such, I still haven't finished it. However, it is amazing thus far, definitely one of his best books.
• In addition to The Errant King, I also got to read the latest book by John Flanagan, The Outcasts. While I haven't been waiting as long for this one, I was still very excited, and I was not disappointed by the book. It was better than I expected, and I almost like his new series better than the Ranger's Apprentice series.
• Last weekend, we went to White Sulpher Springs for a retreat. It was very fun, especially since it snowed on the Saturday we were there. I got plenty of writing done, got to take part in an awesome snowball fight, played several awesome games with one or two of my friends and her family, and learned a new game that I was talking about the rest of the evening after playing it. Also, did I mention the fact that the food at White Sulpher Springs is awesome?
• On Halloween, we went to Chuck-e-Cheese for dinner with our Bible Study group. It was very fun, especially since I got to see some of my friends who I hadn't seen in about two weeks or longer. I have also decided that Chuck-e-Cheese needs a fantasy-adventure game, the kind that you just keep putting more tokens in for longer time, but they need it to give out tickets. That, in my opinion, would be awesome.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for stopping by!
-Sarah

Hello, everyone! I'm back again, with an update on my life.

• My writing is going fairly well, and I expect it to go even better in the coming weeks. Why? It's quite simple. I have, in an effort to finish Hero by the end of October, have made it my goal to write one hour a day every day in the month of October until I finish it. 
• School is going ok, more or less, except for the fact that I haven't been doing as well in history as I have in previous years. Also, I'm not very happy about my science. However, I haven't been happy about my science for probably a year or two now, so that's nothing new.
• The weather here is cold, wet, and rainy. I already want summer back. I think that's a new personal record on how fast I get tired of the cold weather. This could, however, have something to do with the fact that I forgot to wear my jacket when I went out today. 
• Wayne Thomas Batson's new book, The Errant King, is coming out at the end of October! I'm very excited about this, since this is the latest book by my favorite living author. Also, I've been seeing versions of the cover art on his blog since sometime during the summer and reading the summary since last December, so I'm very hyped about this. 

And that's about it. Thanks for stopping by!

-Sarah 

My Week

Hi, everyone! It’s Saturday, which means it’s time for an update on my life!

·        My novel has been going well. I’ve gotten a fairly good amount of work done on it, and hope to get even more done in the next few weeks.

·        I have also started a new novel. This one is about a girl who gets pressured into entering a writing contest, ends up having to either win or suffer humiliation, and how she manages to win or not win. The main character? A small-town Texas girl named Destiny Lawrence. This novel is being written in first-person, present tense, one of my favorite writing styles because it’s different from the way most people write and it’s more dramatic than typical writing styles.

·        There was a photo contest at the photo club I go to this past Thursday. You can see the photos I entered here. One of them, “Cherry Blossoms”, got an honorable mention.

·        Recently, I heard some news that made me extremely excited: the third book in The Berinfell Prophecies, a series by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, is coming out! In case anyone doesn’t know, The Berinfell Prophecies is one of my favorite series, and I have been looking forward to book three for some time now.

·        I will be taking a short break from blogging, so don’t be surprised if this post is the latest one when you check.

Well, that’s about it. Thanks for stopping by!

-Sarah

This Week . . .

Hail, all ye who cometh to my blog! Since today is Friday, it’s time for an update on my life!

·        My stories, sadly, aren’t going as well as I’d like them to be going. So far, I’ve only gotten the chase scenes and the attacking, but no answered questions. I hope to remedy this today or tomorrow, if possible. My Easter story isn’t doing much better, as I only have two scenes in part two. Fortunately, it’s a short story and I already have Part One written. Also, I finished typing Ovulum this morning, which is good. However, I need some help with one of my other stories. You see, I need a name for a certain group of bad guys. These bad guys are evil, twisted humans (and possibly elves as well) who, at the moment, wear all black, typically have hoods on so you can’t see their faces, and wield swords and some kind of taser-type weapon that looks like a black staff. If anyone has any suggestions, they would be much appreciated. (And please do not suggest “pretzel people.” Someone has already suggested that and the humor has worn off.)

·        I have started and finished Pilgrim’s Progress. It, quite obviously, went a lot faster than I expected. It was also a bit, dare I say it, boring. And while I’m quite aware that it’s an old book and an allegory, I highly prefer the Kingdom and Knights of Arretthrae series, both of which are by Chuck Black.

·        Now, the piece of news that I’m most excited about. As some of you may know and most of you probably don’t, I spend quite a bit of time reading the Webkinz Insider and Underground forums. These are two forums, the first of which is primarily for Webkinz-related stuff, though there’s considerably more than Webkinz on it, and the second of which is a forum for The Berinfell Prophecies by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, one of my favorite series. I have wanted to get an account on one or both of these for quite a while, and this week, I actually got accounts on both of them! My past week’s computer time, other than what I spent on my blog and stories, has mostly been spent exploring these new accounts. And, I like both of them even more than I expected to.

Well, that’s about it for this week. Please comment and vote in my surveys! I always like to hear what you think!

-Sarah  

Isle of Fire Reveiw

Author: Wayne Thomas Batson

 "As Cat's memory returns, he realizes that he has lived two very different lives: One as the son of the ruthless Bartholomew Thorne; the other as the recipient of kindness from Declan Ross and the crew of the Robert Bruce. Now Cat must choose either to return to the ways of his notorious father and join the evil Merchant, or defy the Merchant and risk his life to save his friends."
-Summary from the back of the book 

Characters: Excellent! Old favorites from Isle of Swords including Cat, Anne, Captain Ross, and Jacques St. Pierre return, along with many new and colorful characters. Also, the Merchant is almost as chilling as Bartholomew Thorne!

5/5

Location: Very good. As before, everything is very clear and well described. The Merchant’s lair is intriguing, though it is slightly unbelievable.

4/5

Plot: Very exciting! There is, if possible, more action than in Isle of Swords! The main plot is clear, with a good-sized helping of mystery and subplot.

5/5

Other: Isle of Fire is an excellent addition to anyone’s collection of books. It has plenty of excitement, mystery, and humor, along with a stunning cast of characters. This is the type of book that you don’t want to put down!

Overall Rating: 4/5

Isle of Swords Review

Author: Wayne Thomas Batson

"Captain Declan Ross is a pirate who wants out. He is desperately searching for a treasure that will free him from the piracy business forever. Meanwhile, his crew is starving and his ship is falling apart in shark-infested waters. Desperate for supplies, they sail into the territory of . . .

Pirate Bartholomew Thorne, the black-hearted rogue who seeks to destroy anyone standing in the way of his finding the legendary treasure of Constantine.

A sixteen-year-old awakens on an island, alone and brutally injured, with no memory of who he is. The rare diamond he clutches will bring him between the pirates and their treasure, but will it also be the key to his own identity?"
-Summary from the back of Isle of Swords

Characters: Amazing! The many characters are colorful and vibrant, with the good guys not perfect and the bad guys thoroughly bad. Bartholomew Thorne is enjoyably chilling, and I would be hard put to find a bad guy who could match him. Alternately, many of the good guys, especially Jacques St. Pierre, are engaging and funny without being too crazy for me to picture. I just wish that some of the characters hadn’t died, as they caught my interest and I would’ve liked to hear more about them.

4/5

Location: Very clear and well mapped-out. There’s enough description that you can “see” the different places, but not so much that you’re overwhelmed with detail.

4/5

Plot: Very exciting! The main plot is clear, and there’s just enough subplot to make things really interesting. Mysterious secrets, epic battles on land and at sea, tons of high-speed action, and a healthy dose of hilarity will keep you on your toes throughout the novel.

5/5

Other: This book is one of the few historical fiction books that would make it onto my “favorites shelf”. Although it is actually historical fiction, as it is set on Earth, it has all the action, adventure, and variety of my favorite fantasy books. This is a must-read for anyone who likes adventure!

Overall Rating: 4/5

Sword in the Stars Reveiw

Author: Wayne Thomas Batson

"Haunted by memories of a violent past, Alastair Coldhollow wagers his life on the hope that a sword will appear in the stars and the foretold Halfainin, the Pathwalker, would come. Meanwhile, tensions simmer between Anglinore and the murderous Gorrack Nation, threatening war on a cataclysmatic scale. The fate of all could rest on an abandoned child and the decisions of those who desperately seek to identify him." - Summary from the cover of The Sword in the Stars

Characters: Pretty good. The names were a little confusing, and I lost track of which characters where which in a few spots. Also, Mr. Batson accidentally resurrected a character in one spot. However, the different races were intriguing, and I’d like to learn more about them. Alastair is a little annoying in spots, but overall he is fairly likeable.

3/5

Location: Interesting, but a little confusing. I would’ve liked more details, and a map would’ve been greatly appreciated. Also, what exactly is the name of the world?

2/5

Plot: Complex. There are a lot more mini-plots, subplots, arguments, and whatnot than I’m used to noticing. However, the overall plot is very good, and the smaller stuff does not detract from it.

4/5

Other: I read this book and was startled and amazed to see the tie-ins with the Christmas story in the book.  I liked the “excerpts” from what I assume is classic literature or books of the history of this world. I would very much like to read some of these, since they sound very interesting. However, the flashbacks didn’t do much for me, and I found them a little confusing. I would like to see a sort of “field guide” to go with this series, similar in format to Eragons’s Guide to Algaesia by Christopher Paolini. I would appreciate a table of contents in the front as well.

Overall rating: 3/5