Express Yourself: Favorite EYM

Welcome back to Express Yourself! This bloghop was created by Dani @ Entertaining Interests and Jackie @ Bouquet of Books. This is the last one of the year, so a big thank you to these ladies for coming up with so many questions for us!

This week, they ask what our favorite question was from the series this year.

(Side note: I've FAILED all my goals from the new year except for seeing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey! Now I'm mad at myself.)

Let's see, my posts about Firefly or Final Fantasy...Decisions, decisions...Just kidding. lol I will have to say the 3rd week of August question: what we would bring back with us if we could go back in time.

Time travel is such an interesting concept, and it's one I actually use in my fantasy story. There's also the question of would things change, or would things still turn out the way they did. I always love those "What-If" episodes of tv shows. According to Friends & Grey's Anatomy, some things are meant to be. According to Futurama, you could turn out to be your own grandpa. hahaha

Have a Happy New Year!

Wednesday Words: BUSINESS!? MANKIND WAS MY BUSINESS!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Instead of showing you all another line from The Marvelous Land of Oz, I thought I'd share my favorite part of one of my favorite plays/books/movies: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. I've already started watching The Muppets' version on Netflix, and I hope to watch at least one more version this weekend. Here's the one I remember best:

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Express Yourself Weekly: Ideas

Welcome back to Express Yourself! This bloghop was created by Dani @ Entertaining Interests and Jackie @ Bouquet of Books. Join us all to answer questions to get to know each other better!

This week, the ladies ask us what EYM questions we would like to see next year.

Sheesh, what haven't we already done? lol Um....who would narrate our lives in a movie, maybe? I think we did who we would want to play us, but I don't remember having a narrator, so...let's go with that. :-D

Merry Christmas! If you're on Day 7 of Chanukah, Happy Happy Chanukah!

Friday Freeday: Nothing to say ramblings

It was many and many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
by the name of Annabel Lee
Something something long ago
In the kingdom by the sea

I was a child and she...No, just kidding, I won't recite the whole poem.

Happy Friday!

I just read (and by read, I mean looked at a picture slideshow) that 1/3 of the Wrestlemania VI roster are dead. WHEN DID BIG BOSS MAN DIE?! Well, 2004 apparently, but that was my reaction when I saw that. Earthquake's gone, too! It makes me so sad when they die. They work over 300 days of the year, most have suffered some degree of injury, they get addicted to drugs and steroids, and then down the line, they're gone. It's crazy. SO glad I watched RAW after the Ultimate Warrior was inducted into the Hall of Fame. That was the last time anyone technically saw him.

Okay, darkness leaving. Christmas is in 6 days! I get paid on the 24th, which is great, because I still have to buy my mom and sisters' presents. They're all getting gift cards, but...ah well. lol (Mom just wants money this year, so I won't disappoint. She's hard to buy for anyway.)

It's only 9am right now. Ugh.

I'm halfway through revising the final section of my WIP. At this point, I just want to go for it. I envisioned myself finally getting a Pulitzer for this book and crying about how long it took and how many times I had explained in talk shows and stuff where this thing started and laughing at myself, and I REALLY WANT THAT TO HAPPEN.

I ate at least 2 pounds of sugar yesterday, so I plan on starving myself or drinking nothing but lemonade on one of these days. I'm terrible and slightly overweight, and I refuse to buy a size up. I need to get this weight off.

...Okay, I'm out of thoughts. Back to work, sort of.

Wednesday Words: Do people really like the Oz books?

I'm asking for a friend.

Technically, I am, because Theresa Paolo said she's reading The Wonderful World of Oz because it was free on Amazon, and it's one of those books you feel like you should've read.

I'm reading The Marvelous Land of Oz after a long hiatus from reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the same reason.

These books are TERRIBLE. I wonder if I would've like them as a child. Obviously kids did love them, or Mr. Baum wouldn't have kept writing them. I'm in the Return to Oz (big ups to that movie; I love it) portion of the book, but Dorothy is talking like I guess adults think kids talk, and I'm like, "Is this supposed to be cute??" Because it isn't.

Wednesdays are the days I show you all a piece of what I'm reading using Random.org, so I'm going to do another non-traditional Random shuffle of the current chapter I'm about to start "The Heads of Langwidere." Man, I really want to watch the movie when I get home.

There are 22 pages in this chapter, so Random has chosen.........................................the first page.

Since I love the movie, I'm going to actually choose the lines this time, as this page highlights one of my favorite scenes from it:

As soon as the three Wheelers who were guarding the mound saw them, they began to shout their wild cries and rolled swiftly toward the little group, as if to capture them or bar their way. But when the foremost had approached near enough, Tiktok swung the tin dinner-pail and struck the Wheeler a sharp blow over its head with the queer weapon.

If you've seen the movie, Tiktok is so adorable, and I love that he was a one-man army. He actually isn't one in the book, but I'm glad this moment is still there.

Express Yourself: One Ring to Rule Them All

Good morning!

Welcome back to Express Yourself, created by Dani @ Entertaining Interests and Jackie @ Bouquet of Books. Each week they ask us a question, and we answer it to get to know each other better. :)

This week's question is to celebrate the release of The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies: Highlight ONE of our favorite characters from the Hobbit/LOTR series.

I had a crush on Faramir. Poor red-headed stepchild (though he wasn't, just the second born, so not the favorite). He was so sweet and just wanted his father's love. At least he got the girl in the end. I also wish someone had edited Return of the King, because that little part was left out, and it was important! I only learned it, though I speculated, by visiting a college neighbor who was watching the extended cut. A lot of things got left out of the final cut.

So there you have it. :D

Friday Freeday: I'm not here today!

Good morning!

Today, I'm actually over at SC Author's blog for his new blog series about writing inclusively and diversity in books. You can click the link here, or his symbol for the movement on the right side of my blog.

Have a good weekend!

Wednesday Words: House of Ivy & Sorrow

Happy Wednesday!

This is the day that I share with you all what I'm reading using Random.org to pick a page and a few lines of my books.

This week I am reading Natalie Whipple's House of Ivy & Sorrow, and interesting tale about a young witch who has been hiding from a Curse that killed her mother. It's a fast read--I'm almost halfway through already. It's also marked Horror, with a creepy Frankenstein on the binder, and Teen with a big underline. The library did at least one of those. lol Witches aren't exactly my thing, but I do like the book so far.

Okay, there are 362 pages in House of Ivy & Sorrow, and Random has chosen page.........230.

It had better not spoil anything for me. There are about 20 lines on page 230, so Random, have at thee...................line 7.

He smiles, and with one more kiss he's gone.

That's probably my first complete line that's just a sentence. It's very poetic standing alone, though. Now I need to know where he's going! Grrr, I'll wait.

Espresso Yourself Weekly

*giggle*

Welcome back to Express Yourself, created by Dani @ Entertaining Interests and Jackie @ Bouquet of Books to get to know their followers a little better.

This week, they ask: Coffee, tea, soda... what's your favorite beverage?

I was raised on coffee. My mom worked nights when I was little, so I've been an avid coffee drinker since I was about 5 years old. Every now and then, I try not to have any, but I'm not a morning person, so coffee helps. Lattes are my favorite type of coffee, and my favorite type of that is Velvet Noir Espresso with milk, to which I was introduced during my time working for Gevalia/Tassimo. Makes a wonderful latte. But I mainly drink caramel macchiatos/lattes, such as McDonald's Caramel Mocha, which I'm sipping on right now. hehe

Friday Freeday: New Bloghop!

Here I was, still lamenting that "Pour Some Sugar on Me" is allowed to play on my Classic Rock radio station, when I remembered that it's Friday, and I need to post, and I really have nothing to say besides DEF LEPPARD IS NOT CLASSIC ROCK.

Then, I got on blogger, and, "Oh look, a new bloghop!"

The ladies I usually talk about on Tuesdays have a joint blog called Cover Girls! In 2015, they're beginning a relaxed weekly bloghop. By relaxed, I mean you don't have to post every time. You just have to comment on their Fast Friday post with the link to yours when you choose to do one.

This is the link: http://covergirlsdj.blogspot.com/p/fast-five-fridays.html. It's a quick list bloghop, and you just have to list the 5 things they ask for. Hence, Fast Five. It's good for me, because of course, I do Friday Freeday, and sometimes, I don't have anything to say. Here are the topics below. I will most likely be doing the ones I highlight.

FAST FIVE FRIDAY TOPICS
Jan. 2: Five Favorite Novels Read in 2014
Jan. 9: Five 2014 Adored Book Covers
Jan. 16: Five Most Anticipated 2015 Novels
Jan. 23: Five TV Character Crushes
Jan. 30: Five Favorite Authors
Feb. 6: Five Novels You Wish You Wrote
Feb. 13: Five Romantic Movies You Love
Feb. 20: Five Book Characters You’re Crushing On
Feb. 27: Five Top TV Shows
Mar. 6: Five Book Characters You Relate To
Mar. 13: Five Books You Recommend
Mar. 20: Five Best Writing Songs
Mar. 27: Five Movie Character Crushes

The ladies will post topics quarterly, so I will try to post them also. :)

Insecure Writer's Support Group!

Happy December!

Now Charlie Brown's Christmastime is playing in my head. -_-

I'm on Revision 2000 on my WIP and did a MAJOR overhaul on a lot of things, but I think it's helping flesh out my story into something that will finally be queryable (I hereby patent the word queryable).

I also just cut another huge side-quest in my story. Why? Well, books don't need side-quests. lol When I develop the video game for my book that I haven't even published yet, then I can add the optional side-quests like FFIX did. Heck when the DVD/BluRay/LaserMindmeld comes out for the movie of the book I haven't even published yet, I can add the things I cut out of the book into the extras. I'll probably still remember them.

Enough about me. How did everyone do on NaNoWriMo? I hope you got close to 50k. If not, don't worry! You can always keep (or start) writing or try again next year! But mostly, keep writing. ;)

Fake Disclaimer But Real People: The Insecure Writer's Support Group was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the guru of all things writer's support. His co-hosts this month are Heather Gardner, Tonja Drecker from Kidbits, Eva E. Solar at Lilicasplace, and Patsy Collins.

See you all in 2015!

Express Yourself Weekly: It's December!

This year has flown by. But the first Tuesday in December also means the first Express Yourself! This meme is hosted by Dani @ Entertaining Interests and Jackie @ Bouquet of Books. You can also join the list to answer their weekly questions!

This week, they ask what holiday movie/book/show we are looking forward to this season.

Ever since I was little, I watched "The Nutcracker" on PBS. I don't think they show it anymore, so I would like to actually leave my house to see it this year! Home Alone is also a favorite of mine around this time, so bring on the laughs, and keep the change, you filthy animal!