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Hey, guys. If you happen to come across this blog, please redirect here. This blog is no longer active (as you may be able to tell from the date of the last post). Thanks! 

Sort of Halfway Finished!!

The reason I say 'sort of' halfway finished is because I'm still writing more pages, which then makes the page count go up and so I'm never really halfway done...but I'd like to declare this as sort of halfway, anyway :D I have reached page 200 out of 413 (which now makes Book Two longer than Book Three... *sigh*) But it's awesome! And here's a small snippet to celebrate me finishing sort of half of Book Two :) Enjoy!



From the chapter 'The Ivalojoki'
I woke when it began to rain. Blinking rapidly a few times to clear the water from my eyes, I groaned and tried to huddle up closer to the tree trunk, but my muscles had grown stiff again during my sleep, making any movement a rather difficult and laborious process. Though the forest canopy provided some shelter from the rain, I ended up getting fairly wet regardless. 
      Drawing my knees slowly up to my chest, I leaned my head against the trunk, longing once again to speak with Lliam. I tried several times to contact him, but he did not once respond to me, to my bitter disappointment. I just needed to hear his voice again! Was that really too much to ask? Where was he, anyway?

      I stared out at the falling rain for a while, not wanting to let myself drift into thoughts of home and of my family, for such memories would surely only make me feel worse, if that was indeed possible. It would only lead to more tears, more heartache, and more sense of failure, nothing productive or purposeful, at any rate. 
     My eyes began to feel heavy as the hours passed, as did my still-aching body. It would take many days for the trauma of my trip through the Ivalojoki to wear off, I knew, and just sitting in one spot for hours on end was not helping. But what else could I do? I had no way to hunt, nor any way to know if any of the plants growing in the small forest around me were edible. I had never even seen most of them, and it would be tempting fate greatly to try any of them. I was hungry and realised that I would soon need food, from whatever source, but I dared not let myself dwell on this fact; right now, there were more important things with which I could be worrying. 
      Leaning my head back against the damp wood of the tree, I forced all unnecessary thoughts from my head and focused on my upcoming trip to find Efroy, which would no doubt take several days, a very painful several days too, I suspected.  All I could do was follow the river back upstream and hope I could recognise the place Roman had trapped us when I got there. If I got there at all. It was morbid of me to think that way, but after everything I had already been through, I would not be surprised one bit if I got waylaid or carried off on some other unwanted adventure along the way. 
     I closed my eyes, weary to my very bones. How had this happened to me? Or, better yet, why had this happened to me? I had never wanted to get caught up in such strange and violent events, much less had such a large role in them. My feeling of failure washed over me anew and, gritting my teeth in internal anguish and frustration, I fought to control my roiling emotions, but it was hard. So many people had been counting on me! 
      Finding it nearly impossible to let go of the battle within, I finally succumbed to sleep once more, completely exhausted and wishing intensely that I could go back in time to when my mother had asked me if I wanted to go to Hartford City so that I could say no.


Questions, suggestions, comments, rumours -- leave me a comment on this post! :) 

Page 182!

Yay! I'm on page 182 (closer to 183, though) and things are going well, if a bit slowly; this section has been giving me a little bit of grief, as I took out what used to be a rather important part of the story and made it...different. Not less important, just important in a different way ;) But I'm nearing the end of the chapter, which will then send me into the next segment of Lliam's story (YES!!), and that should get done fairly quickly. I'm so excited for y'all to read Book Two; it's SO much better than Young Falcon, and the ending will be even more maddening! >:) Haha! Anyway, questions, comments, or suggestion - let me know! :) 

YOUNG FALCON FLIES!!

ANOTHER HUGE LEAP FOR YOUNG FALCON ON AMAZON! My book is now ranked #58,172, the highest it's EVER BEEN!! Previous highest rank: #140, 998!! On my Amazon Sales Rank chart, there's less than a centimeter between my ranking and the #1 spot! Guys, thank you SO MUCH for continuing to support me and my book -- y'all are just propelling Book Two further and further towards being printed!! You are amazing fans, and keep doing what you're doing; it's working!! :D :D Praise God, too, for this continued success of my little book! I know #58,172 is not fantastic the grand scheme of things, but hey! It's the highest I've ever gone on the Amazon charts, and hopefully we'll take Young Falcon to the top spot someday! :D   

A Sudden Increase in Amazon Rank

Young Falcon is now ranked #236,101 on Amazon. Yesterday, it was ranked 2,438,399. SOMETHING MAJOR IS HAPPENING! This is its biggest jump yet, and I have a feeling God is behind it... ;) Not only the huge increase of visitors to my blog, but this too? Hmm.... :} So -- it's time for a little marketing! This was a 1,763,899 rank jump for Young Falcon!!!! ♥ If you haven't gotten your copy of Young Falcon yet, check it out on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, or various other online bookstores! You can also download it to your Kindle or Nook!! Remember - THE SPEED OF BOOK TWO'S PUBLISHING IS DEPENDENT ON YOUNG FALCON'S SALES!! If you want to read Book Two, you have to tell people about Young Falcon and spread the word as much as you possibly can! Help me glorify God through my writing and fulfill His purpose for me, and please keep praying for my journey along His path! ♥

Lopti (Some Like It Blue)

Okay, my life just got better. I was on Loki's Facebook fan page (and YES, I am currently an obsessed fangirl) and saw this link for a girl who loves comics and cosplay and LOKI! She has this amazing Loki costume and she dresses up as Loki to take these amazing pictures, which she posts on her Tumblr page. Here are some of my favourite pictures she's done:

 

Loki fans are amazing, especially this girl!! I LOVE her pictures! :D

The Avengers!

I have been DYING to see Marvel's newest superhero film, The Avengers, and I got to see it on Friday (the day it was released). It was amazing! It was 173 minutes of pure awesomeness!! AHHHHH!!! For those of you who have no idea what it's about, here is a summary:

   Loki (from the 2011 movie Thor, which I also reviewed) is back, and this time, he's got an army and is ready to conquer the Earth. Beginning when he uses an ethereal blue cube called the Tesseract to teleport into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s (an agency committed to protecting the world from extraterrestrial threats) headquarters, he begins to get everything lined up so that he can rule the world as their king. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director, Nick Fury, and his team are nearly blown to bits when Loki effectively destroys their headquarters, and Fury realising that Loki is a serious threat leads him to assemble a group of 'special' people to combat Loki and his alien forces. Enter the Avengers. Consisting of six superheros (four of which have had their own movies), the Avengers are a volatile, self-proclaimed time-bomb that has little chance of overcoming their differences and working together effectively. You have Thor, Loki's older brother and prince of the far-off world of Asgard (who also wants nothing more than to take Loki home); Ironman (Tony Stark), a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist who's about as selfish as they come; Captain America (Steve Rogers), a WWII soldier enhanced by a serum that's turned him into a supersoldier and is about as selfless as they come; the Hulk (Dr. Bruce Banner), who was exposed to gamma radiation and turns into a giant green rage monster when enraged or excited; the Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), a Russian spy who is a skilled fighter and gunwoman; and Hawkeye (Cliff Barton), the 'world's greatest markman.' See how this could go downhill pretty quickly? While the Avengers are struggling to work together, Loki's power only grows, and soon the entire world faces total destruction - unless they can somehow manage to work together to fend off Loki's otherworldly forces. 

     The Avengers is packed with breathtaking action, beautiful special effects, hilarious humour, wonderfully refreshing values, excellent characterisations, and a great plot. I give The Avengers 5/5 stars and recommend it to everyone over the age of about 11 (there is some violence and scary creatures, and a few bad words).
    Well done, Marvel. Well done.

It's Almost There!

An update on my package (containing a copy of Young Falcon) that I sent to American Idol contestant Colton Dixon: it's in Los Angeles, CA, and should be delivered tonight! :D Speaking of which, Idol starts in 30 minutes...Whoo-hoo!! I'll let you know when I hear back from him, and pray that the best possible results are obtained from this!! :)

I'm Going to Send Young Falcon to Colton Dixon

So, on American Idol tonight, I saw that some girl sent my favourite contestant, Colton Dixon, a prom invitation, and my mum was like, "Hey, you should send him your book!" She was joking, of course, but I thought that was actually a good idea, so I am, indeed, going to send Colton a copy of Young Falcon. He's a very strong and vocal Christian, and on his Facebook page, he said he's trying to write back to all the letters he's getting, so I thought 'What the heck? Why not?' That'd be SO COOL if he read my book! It'd be pretty sweet if he, you know, mentioned it on his Facebook page or Twitter page, too ;) I'll leave it up to God as to the response from Colton. Wish me luck! :D

Approaching Events

This weekend, I am attending the Readers' and Writers' Round Table event in Salado, TX, and I get to make a 5-10 minute speech about Young Falcon and sign books. Yay! I'm not so excited about the speech, especially since I'm going first, but personally, I love signing books :D There are going to be 9 other authors there, including two other sci-fi/fantasy writers. One of those is Elizabeth Moon, who has written lots of books and won awards and all that. I think she writes high fantasy, which are the fantasy stories that have all the weird names with apostrophes and plots that are extremely confusing and strange, so it'll be interesting to meet her. I don't know who the other fantasy author is...but I think her name's Karen. Anyway, I'll be sure to follow up with all the details of this event :)

    And then my school is having a book fair next week, so my mum is going to man a table where kids can order Young Falcon and give her the money. I seriously hope I can somehow get out of class to help her o.O And hopefully, I'll sell quite a few at these events! I think we're...sort of nearing half-way on making up what we spent on printing the books, so that's good. Please, please, please keep praying for the success of Young Falcon and that all of these upcoming events will go well! I really appreciate all the support y'all have been giving me; it's fantastic to have friends like y'all!!

    Also, congrats to PG13 for reaching 100 pages on her book!! So proud of you; keep it up!! :D

Book Four is Well Under Way

I'm currently on page 59 of Book Four, and it's going swimmingly :} I'm really loving this one so far; it's by far my best work (except for a few parts in Book Three which I'm quite fond of) and so I think it will be the most intense book to date. Big things are definitely going to happen in this book, and while the pace is a bit slow, it's certainly not lacking in important content. One of the twins even gets his first kiss in Book Four, and I'm REALLY looking forward to that :D Of course, that's a lighter moment ... one of the few. This book is, like I said, far more intense (and darker) than the previous three. Fun stuuuuufff!!!! :D I can't wait for y'all to read it! 

    Hope you had a great weekend, and hope your week is spectacular! :}

BCA Book Signing = Success!

I had a book signing/interview at the school that shares my church campus, and I sold 35 books! It was a ton of fun, even though I'm completely exhausted and will probably sleep until, like, 10:00 tomorrow ;) I got to leave school during 4th period today, and my mom and I ate at Wendy's and then drove to my church. I signed 19 books (which had been pre-ordered and therefore got special treatment ;) ) while we waited for the interview to start at 2. Then Polly, the school's librarian, took me into this large room where the kindergarten-4th graders were waiting. She introduced me and asked me questions such as:

- Do you like spelling and grammar? (and, Do you think it's imporant?)

- What was your favourite book as a kid?/Who is your favourite author?

- How long did it take to get published?

- How did you come up with the idea for the story?

- Is this the first book you've ever written?

- How many books are going to be in this series?

and other such questions. After 30 minutes of us talking, the little kids asked me questions, then I went outside and sighed books, then came back in and repeated the process with the 5th-7th graders, which had slightly different questions, as they're older. I signed more books after that, and then did a third interview with some parents who had home-schooled kids ... And then finally, at about 4:45, got to go home. Whew. Fun (and tiring) stuff. I'm so glad I got to do this, though; it was a wonderful experience, and I'm so thankful God allowed so many books to be sold!

    Have a great weekend, y'all!!!! :D 

Book Three is (Most Likely) Finished!

I finished my additions to the ending of Book Three last night, and while I might add a little bit more, I think it's about finished. Without any more additions, it's 411 computer pages (yay for long books!), and that would be around 462 book pages. It's so epic!!! I love Book Three; it's totally my favourite :D Hope everyone is enjoying Young Falcon, and if you enjoyed it, please post a review on the B&N or Amazon site! Thanks!! :)

Now Available on iTunes!

Young Falcon is (finally) available in eBook format! Yay!! It's on iTunes for $9.99. And if you'd like to review my book, just let me know, and I'll be happy to post it for you (if you're having problems posting it, as some seem to be)! If not, you can, of course, post it yourself ;) Enjoy!! :D

Number One!

On the Arboretum B&N Young Adult Bestsellers list, Young Falcon is number one!! :D Meaning, yes, I did beat out Christopher Paolini, Suzanne Collins, and Rick Riordan. God is amazing :D Check out the list here (it's near the bottom)

http://www.statesman.com/life/books/best-sellers-2038383.html 

AHHHHHH!!! That's so awesome!!! Praise God that people are so supportive of my book!! :D

Now Available on the B&N Website!

Young Falcon is now available for purchase on the Barnes and Noble website for a reduced price of $13.64! If you're interested in getting a copy, you can either visit Amazon.com or Barnesand Noble.com to get one! If you're a teen 14+ or the parent/grandparent of a teen 14+, you might want to take a look at this book; it'd make a great Christmas gift! It's full of action, adventure, suspense, and excitement! Click here to read a full summary!

Now Available on Amazon

My first novel, Young Falcon, is now available on Amazon.com! It's a young adult fantasy family saga that's sure to be an enjoyable read for teens 14 and up! If you'd like to know more, read the post below this one or visit Amazon.com; books are $18.95, and the eBook version is currently being crafted and will be available for purchase on Kindles and Nooks soon :)

Results of My First Book Signing!

Whew! What an amazing two days!! In all, I sold 146 books (and 6 more people have already reserved a copy but were unable to buy them today because I sold out)! So of the $2,880 I made, I get to keep $1,740 of it, which is a good chunk of the money it's going to take to pay for Young Falcon's printing! God is so good!! Many of the people who bought my book were complete strangers, and even some of the people from my dentist's office and my church came. Ahhhh!!! I'm only two days into this job and I'm already in love with it! It's so amazing to see the kids' smiles when I hand them a copy of my book, and to hear that some of them have been inspired to write because of me. :') I'm so blessed to get to experience this; God is great beyond understanding!! Thank you so much to those of you who came out to support me, and I hope you enjoy Young Falcon!! :D If you're interested in my book, here's a summary of it, and please let me know if you'd like to purchase one! :)

The daughter of respectable parents and quite comfortable to spend all her life in her quaint hometown of Aseamir, located on the post-modern elven continent of Yaracina, Elysia doesn’t realise exactly how vast and fierce the world is when she agrees to journey to her country’s capitol on a mission for her father. Even before she leaves, she seems to be plagued by misfortunes, and matters only get worse as her journey progresses. She is captured by soldiers and is to be sold to humans, a race thought no longer to exist. She develops an irrevocable mental bond with a man she’s never seen before that is so strong, the two cannot even tell their own thoughts, dreams, wishes, and emotions apart. A strange rock is brought back from Paradis, the land of the dead, and she is commissioned to take it to the governor of one of Yaracina’s southern cities. Danger lurks around every turn, secrets abound, and Elysia is lost amidst the chaos going on about her, confused, alone, and uncertain. But now that she’s begun, things are set in motion that cannot be reversed, no matter how much she wishes it. There’s no going back now… 

Reviews of My Book

Interested in my new book, Young Falcon? It's a young adult fantasy novel full of adventure, emotion, and action, and teens are sure to enjoy it. Read Young Falcon's reviews and let me know what you think! :)

Update on My Book

All right, here's the news on Young Falcon: it starts shipping tomorrow, November 3rd, and will arrive in 3-5 days. It should be available for buying a week or so after that. Please let me know if you want one! Visit my blog, Sons and Daughters, for more info. :)

Hey! Guess What?

My book, Young Falcon, will be available for buying in about 3 and a half weeks! It's a young adult (as in 9th grade and above) fantasy book, and is the first in a series of 8. For more info, visit my book blog by clicking this link here: Sons and Daughters - by Elizabeth Anne McKinney. Please check it out! It'll be a great read for teens, especially if you like action and/or history! Have a great day!

School and Book

Well, yesterday  was my fourth day back at school...It's been great to see all of my amazing friends again, but I feel like I've already been back for five months! And having to run four laps around the soccer field in the 104 degree, breezeless Texas heat didn't help much either ;) It's good to be back, though; this year should be good :) 

    On another note, I just sent Laura (my cover designer) my approval of the final cover proof, and it looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself ;) Can't wait to actually hold it in a few months! I feel like my kid's about to be born or something...Awkward illustration, I know, but hey, that's what it feels like! ;) Haha! I also had to choose between two amazing chapter graphics. The first was really epic and sorta flowery, which might not appeal to the male population, and the second was a lot simpler but still sort of elegant and gritty, which goes well with my book. I think it'll work better with the subsequent books. 

     Ahhhhhh!!! I'm getting so close!!!! God is so amazing and powerful and awesome, and I'm SO GLAD He blessed me with this writing ability and is giving me this life-changing opportunity to glorify Him through my writing. Please keep praying for me as we wrap up this publishing process! God bless y'all!!

Only One More Day of Summer...UGH!!!

We go back to the Woods on the 16th...bleck. Summer went by tooooooooo fast! Usually at this time, I totally can't wait to go back, but for some reason, this year I really don't want to go back to school. I don't know why. But I am excited because Jestar is returning to the Woods! Yay! The Dysfunctional Family reclaims one of its lost brothers! But we lost Annasophie.... *epic, depressed sigh* Well, this year should be interesting, at any rate. :) 

    Now. What to do tomorrow...

The Lake - Results

The lake was awesome!!!!! Whooooo! I love water so much! :D 

   Nikki and Prissy and I played MASH on my iPod on the way to the lake, and we came up with some very...interesting results....But it was really funny! We arrived at the condo and had a ton of trouble with the lock....turns out we had the wrong combination! Ahaha, of course we did...We were probably out there for fifteen or twenty minutes. We went swimming in the lake and then to dinner at a tasty little restaurant down the road. Then we went swimming again later that night and met this teenage guy named Raymond, from Round Rock. He was really awesome and hung out with us for a while. He made our night a lot of fun, as we jumped around on the dock and the giant SplashZone inner tube. We didn't see him again after that night, though. 

     Yesterday, we swam a lot and came up with the idea of rewriting the end of Avatar: The Last Airbender so that Zuko and Katara get together (muahahahahaha!!!) as Nikki, Prissy, and I are avid Zutara fans :) We came up with several new episode ideas, and if I ever get around to writing them, I may post them on here just for fun :) That was a lot of fun; we also made Prissy and Nikki into mermaids....very fat mermaids, haha! There had to be a lot of sand, so it made them look fat (they're not, by the way ;) ) We also fed Frosted Mini Wheats to Rufus, who reappeared. We herded the poor little guy (he's a duck, by the way, if you don't know who Rufus is) to the shore and I ran to get something to feed him while Nikki and Prissy kept him there. I think by the end of his meal, he decided that captivity wasn't so bad :) We also failed at playing volleyball....but I won't go into that ;)

     Today, we just swam again and talked about our stories. Prissy's writing one (visit her blog by clicking here) and so is Nikki, so we discussed different ideas and thoughts about them. That was fun! And then we cleaned the condo and headed home. All in all, an amazingly awesome adventure! :D

Oh, Cover...

Still working on that darn cover...It's looking good so far, but the font for the title and my name is turning out to be a problem. Should it be gold or black? Fancy or simple? Bold or regular? Ugh! I couldn't even use my favourite font of all time, Killigraphy, because it doesn't stand out enough :( I understand why I can't use it, but that still makes me sad. Oh well; we'll find one even better :)

     I really like the girl I found to represent Elysia! She's awesome, and I doubt we could have found anyone much better. So happy with her! :D There's still kinda the problem with subsequent covers, of course, but for now, everything's working out. Keep praying for me and my book!! :)

Hamilton Pool

Is SO awesome!! One of the most beautiful places around! Dad took me out there around 9:30, and I met up with N.G. and PG13 once there. We hiked down to the Pool, whereupon I was greeted by J.G. and P.G. I also noticed a ninth grade guy from my school, M.S., in the water, which surprised me, and then I also saw E.H., another guy from my school! Wow, that's weird, I was thinking. But once we got in the water, who should pop up but T.C. (Snickerz)! Right in front of me! And he yells, "BETH!!!" and hugs me; so random! :D Had absolutely no idea he was gonna be there! It turns out that he and the other guys were part of P.G.'s Scouts troop, and that's why they were there. It was so awesome to see them all! We swam over to the deep end of the pool for a while and climbed on the big rocks and tossed the football. PG13, P.G., and I hunted for fish for a while, and then went to eat lunch. Once back in the water, N.G. and T.C. went off to catch minnows, and PG13 and I took one of the noodles out to the deep end and discussed....Zutara (the pairing of Zuko and Katara in the show Avatar: The Last Airbender)! Zutara SO should have happened!! And we talked about the new series, The Legend of Korra, which is due to come out this November :D And then we hiked around the rocks again and then went home. It was SO FUN!! But now we only have 10 days left until school starts...which is both good and bad: good 'cause I wanna see all my buddies again, but bad because I don't like any of the classes I have to take. Meh. Oh well, the epicness of my friends shall overcome the non-epicness of my classes :) 

(Btw, the post below this one should have been posted yesterday.)

Parties!

Got back from M.D.'s sleepover at around 1; it was so much fun! When we first got there, we went out to her living room and picked out flip flops that she had bought us, and there were cut up strips of bandanas that we could tie to the straps of the shoes. My shoes are pink/green with purple bandanas :D Then we decorated her cake, which started out as a plain iced chocolate cake and ended up with a tennis court of M&Ms, a pool of M&Ms, giant cherry gummies, 'planking' gummy bears, a gummy bear grave, and some other strange things. It looked absolutely terrible, but it tasted really good! Then we waited until N.G. (who had volleyball practise) got there, and then we watched Soul Surfer and ate the cake and popcorn. After the movie, we up to M.D.'s room and got ready for bed, whereupon we played 'Would You Rather...?' and then went to sleep. It was SO HOT in there!!! There were 9 girls all in one room, and I had this real thick sleeping bag that made it really hot even with the ceiling fan on. It was also kinda hard to be comfortable, 'cause another girl's head was just like a foot away from my feet, so I couldn't move around too much, which I usually do before I go to sleep.  When we woke up, we ate breakfast, took pictures of us jumping, and then went home. 'Twas very fun! And then tomorrow, the Gs invited me to go to Hamilton Pool with them, and I can't wait to go back! There's a picture of it up there somewhere :) It's so beautiful!! I'm making it the hideout of two very important fugitives in the third book, and I should be writing about it fairly soon; can't wait! :D 

Hey!

Why is no one commenting on my blog, or posting, or clicking the reactions except Sam (and she only does it occasionally!)? Annasophie, Jestar, Invisigirl - why have you abandoned my blog? *sad face* I'm still posting and all that...Please come baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!! :(

Skandie's Schedule

For all my friends who also attend the Woods, here's my schedule for the upcoming year. Enjoy! ;)

Period 1 - Chemistry

Period 2 - Speech

Period 2.5 - Bible

Period 3 - English

Period 4 - Spanish II

Period 5 (A Day) - Theatre Production

Period 5 (B Day) - Aide

Period 6 - Lunch!

Period 7 - Geometry

Period 8 - P.E. 

My locker is #317...in the junior high hallway...Why did we get kicked back into their hallway? Oh yeah - because now we're gonna have 6th graders crammed into the high school building too! *wail* It was already too crowded!! Meh. So anyway, if you have any classes with me at all....TELL ME!! :) Sam, we need to check with Nikki and Snickerz to see if we have any classes with them, too...actually, you probably won't, but ya never know. I saved you a locker next to mine! And it's only two down from the new guy, Powers. That should be interesting. 

Now on Facebook!

I now have a page for Young Falcon on Facebook, which you can follow along with this blog. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sons-and-Daughters-Young-Falcon/129353613820160. Please visit and like!! :)

Darkwoods by Marta Stahlfeld

There's another young author being published by Sheryn Hara, and she's a seventeen-year-old Christian named Marta Stahlfeld. Ms. Hara sent me a copy of Marta's book, Darkwoods, and I just received it. Here's a summary for those of you who are interested:

The death of the foxes' ruling oracle, Scythe, bodes ill for the Wraith Mice around Darkwoods and their allies near and far. With the change in leadership, all sides know their uncertain relationship with the foxes will, too soon, erupt into a vicious war. Possessing the ability to melt into the darkness and renowned in warfare, the Wraith Mice rally the squirrel tribes, Ranger Mice, and others to defend their territory--and their very lives. A young one among them, Princess Zuryzel understands the gravity of the situation and rises fearlessly to the challenges of the ruthless invaders. Possessing the traits of a natural leader and wise beyond her years, Zuryzel knows she must follow the difficult path before her. But can she overcome the challenges in time to defeat the hated foxes?

To read a sample of Darkwoods, you can click here. You can visit Marta's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/DarkwoodsBooks or her blog: http://martastahlfeld.blogspot.com/

   I'll post a review of Darkwoods once I read it; I look forward to reading this book, and I encourage you to read it as well!

And So It Begins!

All right, we wrapped up the final family meeting before giving the go-ahead to Sheryn Hara, and literally less than a minute after Mum and I went to go compose an email to her, she called! It was really freaky. She asked us if we had any more questions, and so Mum was able to give her all the questions she and Dad had left, and Ms. Hara answered them all over the phone. My brother and I listened nearby. They talked for a little while, and so now all we need to do is deposit the initial payment for the editing, cover design, and layout - which will be done tomorrow. And then.....it begins! The official publishing process will commence tomorrow, July 11, 2011!!! 

      Today = best day ever :)

Almost There!

Just heard back from Ms. Hara, my publisher! Thank goodness - and God! I was getting pretty antsy there :) The only sad thing was that I'm not close enough to Bothell, Washington to work with her two other young writers who are doing a presentation called Teens Writing Novels in the Northwest Book Fest 2011. So bummed! I really, REALLY want to meet them someday, and hopefully, I'll get to work with them on some more projects. It would be so fun to have some friends who were also authors!

     Basically, Ms. Hara and her team are ready to start working on Young Falcon the moment Dad gives the go-ahead - which I hope will be soon. It's just all the preliminary questions that are weighing us down, but I think we're just about to get them all cleared up. Ms. Hara said that the holiday season is - obviously - the best time to sell books, so my book is going to be completed by then, at least. She just answered some of my dad's questions about shipping, distribution, eBooks, etc. 

      It's almost time!! Pray for me, guys! :)

Hey Sam!

My Andrew Lee Potts vs. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter story has gotten 7 pageviews in the past week! Good job on picking some popular contestants for the Bunny Fights! ;)

Casey Anthony Trial

Ok, I know everyone's talking about it, so I will too. Honestly, I'm glad Ms. Anthony didn't have to die, for two reasons. 1) She's a human being. She has a soul that God made, and I will never willingly or gladly agree with the death of a human. 2) I've heard dozens of stories about criminals who have found God whilst in jail or after they've been freed, and I pray that Ms. Anthony will find Him too. No soul in irredeemable! What she did was wrong and terrible, yes, but she's still a child of God and therefore I want to see her in Heaven when the Lord takes us home. However, I do think that she should have received a slightly harsher punishment, even if only a few more years in prison. While there was no solid, 100% proof that she killed Caylee, I don't know who else would have. Like Linda Drane Burdick said in the closing arguments, Whose life would have been better without Caylee? I just don't know, but I trust that this is what God has allowed to happen, for whatever reason, and I know, therefore, that He still has a purpose for Casey Anthony. Just remember - Casey is a child of God. He made her, and He doesn't love her any less for what she did! Little Caylee is in Heaven with Him, and He will care for her. Pray for Casey, friends; pray that she finds her way home to her loving Father!

iPod

I wrote this post from my new iPod Touch. Just thought you'd like to know. :)

Movie Review - The Eagle

The shame was unspeakably great. The honour of family and of Rome -disgraced. When Marcus Aquila's father and his Ninth Legion of 5,000 men marched into the wild, fierce lands of Briton, they were never seen again and the prized standard of Rome, The Eagle, was lost.
      Now, twenty years later, Marcus is on a mission: find The Eagle and get it back to Rome, whatever it takes. His plan? Travel into Briton with only a slave for company and only his sword for protection.
     However, Marcus' plan makes sense: 'Two men could go where an army could not,' he explains to his doubting uncle. 'Why would they even have to know we were there?'
    A soldier himself, Marcus is stationed at a small fort, where he saves the men from a barbarian attack during the night. Their patrol is captured by the wild men, however, and one of them is beheaded before Marcus, who then takes his men and bravely retrieves the endangered patrol. He is badly wounded, however, and recieves a medal of honour and an honourable discharge from the army. At a loss as to what to do with himself now, he spends his time with his uncle, his father's brother, who takes him to some gladitorial games. Here we meet Esca. A Briton slave, Esca is pitted against an armoured gladiator, while he himself has no armour. He refuses to fight, which causes the audience to boo and encourage the gladiator to kill him. But Marcus, unable to watch someone be slaughtered, convinces the audience to spare Esca. Marcus' uncle later purchases Esca and gives him to Marcus as a slave. Esca, albeit reluctantly, vows to protect Marcus and repay his debt to Marcus for having saved Esca's life at the games.
   Friends of the uncle's come to visit, and when the conversation turns to the lost Eagle of the Ninth, Marcus hatches the wild plan to go and retrieve it from Briton. His uncle is doubtful, but Marcus believes that with Esca's help, he will be able to get back the honour of his family and of Rome.
   But once they get into Briton, things quickly begin to go wrong. First of all, Marcus has to rely on Esca to speak to everyone they meet, as Esca knows Gaelic and Marcus does not, which leaves him in a potentially vulnerable position. Then they are attacked by rogue warriors and are nearly killed. They meet a deserter from the Ninth Legion, the troop that Marcus' father led twenty years ago, who reveals that Esca's tribe, the Brigantes, fought alongside the fierce Seal People to kill the Roman soldiers of the Ninth - including Marcus' father. Which, needless to say, causes some tension between Esca and Marcus!
    They travel on, as Marcus is still as determined as ever to find The Eagle, which he belives the Seal People stole from the Ninth Legion as a war prize. But as Marcus begins to accuse Esca of lying to him and betraying his friendship - since Esca explains that his people see the victory over the Ninth as a great one - they start to fight, enraged with each other. However, their fight stops short when they tumble in front of a tall, blue-painted man who reminds one of the Pandorans in Avatar. The man and his fellow soldiers have Esca and Marcus surrounded, and he demands their names. Esca tells him who is he - the son of the slain chief of the Brigantes - and the man responds kindly, seeing a Brigante as a friend. When asked about Marcus, however, Esca tells the man that Marcus is his slave. The Seal People don't like Romans, even slaves, so Marcus is tied behind a horse and dragged along behind them as they journey back to their village, Esca being treated as an honoured guest. Long story short, Esca and Marcus manage to filch The Eagle from a cave where the Seal People store it, making their escape as the warriors sleep, drunk from a manhood celebration ceremony. They ride hard for the border, but the Seal People are incredibly fast runners - almost unrealistically fast - and they catch up to Esca and Marcus - who are on horseback! - within a day or two.  Esca and Marcus stick to the river in order to keep the Seal People's dogs from finding them, but Marcus is wounded and cannot go on. Esca takes off then, making the audience wonder if he's intending to come back.
    Just as the Seal People close in on Marcus, Esca returns, however, with twenty or thirty deserters from the Ninth Legion, ready to defend The Eagle and Marcus, the son of their former commander.
   A battle ensues, and The Eagle is safe, as are Esca and Marcus. The Eagle is returned to Rome, and its and Marcus' family's honour is restored. Esca is free now, no longer Marcus' slave but still his friend. And they all live happily ever after.
    This was a fantastic movie. It combined the glory and violence of great movies such as Braveheart and Lord of the Rings, and it taught a subtle but noticeable lesson of humility on Marcus' part, who was forced to rely on his slave for everything, whereas he had been used to ordering Esca around and having the 'Roman right' to do whatever he pleased, when he pleased. Esca shows great faithfulness and honour by protecting Marcus when the Seal People express their disdain of him, and he goes to great lengths to help Marcus when he is unable to continue later on. Esca is a true hero and a good friend to Marcus.
    This story is one full of 'old-fashioned' themes and values, such as honour for one's family and country, courage and bravery, and never deserting a friend. A movie like this beats out many of the ones I've seen recently; why can't more movies in the box office be like this? It had no sex scenes or scantily clad people, which was incredibly relieving, and while it was violent, it was realistic and accurately portrayed the Roman and Briton style of fighting.  Marcus even has enough decency to honour the fallen Seal People along with the Romans after the final battle, which is very good to see in a hero, for it truly shows his quality. The 'villains' were refreshingly believable, as they weren't simply evil; they had a believable reason for pursuing Esca and Marcus after The Eagle was taken from them: it was their sacred emblem, and they wanted it back! They had just as much sense of bravery and the importance of honour as the Romans, even if theirs was tainted a little by unnecessary violence (the son of the chief kills his own young son for aiding Marcus and Esca in escaping). However, you could see the pain on the face of the father as he killed his son, which made you feel sorry for him, since you could see that he didn't want to do it, but felt he had to in order to make an example to his people. Great way of garnering emotional sympathy! 
    There were a few uses of language: one use each of s---hole, d---, a--, and bloody. Two uses of p---. Turn on TV Guardian if you have it!
    I happily give this movie 5 stars out of 5, and I would heartily recommed it to families who have children 15 and up (best to keep the little ones away from the violence and language).

Introducing...My Blog!

Since February, I've been posting on a different blog about my publishing journey, and I decided that it was time to unveil my book blog to the world ;) It's basically me keeping a journal of all that's been going on with the publishing process, as well as some other unrelated things that have happened to me this year. It's just a way to keep up with what's going on with my books, and I intend to keep posting on it all the way through, so it'll give you my thoughts and opinions about all this craziness :) It also gives you a summary of my book (which will probably end up on the back of the book), some pictures of my characters, and a blurb about me. Please visit and follow my blog! I would so love for y'all to share this trip with me! To visit 'Sons and Daughters', please click here, or type this address into your address bar: http://sonsanddaughterseam.blogspot.com/. Can't wait to hear from you!! 

    P.S. I'm going to be getting my own website in a month or two, so I might just transfer everything onto there, but I'll let you know soon. :)

Results of the Family Meeting

Basically, Dad just came up with some more questions to ask Sheryn Hara, such as:

1) What happens to the books after they're published?

2) How do they get to bookstores and libraries?

3) Do we have to pay the shipping?

4) Where can we store the excess books?

And a few others I can't remember. Mum's going to send Ms. Hara another email today asking those questions, and she's also going to tell her some specifications I outlined for my covers (they need to be a design that can be consistent throughout 8 books; I'd like to see at least one of the 3 provided covers have real people on them).  Dad said we can 'sign the agreement' to get Young Falcon published on July 1, 2011 :D So exciiiiiiited!!!!!!! Only 7 days left until my book is 'officially' going to be published! :D :D I'll keep you posted.

      God is great!

People!

 

Episode Six of The Sea Dodecagon of Love is (finally) here! Sorry it took so long to get it up for those of you who actually read the Dodecagon, but we've been busy chicas this summer. To read Sam's Version of 'We're Not Real?', click here. To read my version, click here. Enjoy, fellow adventurers! :)