Check me out on Figment!

I've been a "Figmentarian" for years, but only recently have I been actually logging in daily to update my works and swap reviews with fellow users.

Figment is an online writing community, aimed specifically towards the YA genre.

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2013 Writing Projects

Lately I’ve been trying to get back into my writing groove, and focus more of my time on writing my short stories and novels.  And since I have given up recreational internet for Lent, finding time for writing is becoming easier and easier!  Besides a few poems, I’ve written absolutely nothing since November, so I’m a bit rusty.  I think NaNoWriMo really burned me out!

This year, I’d like to try self-publishing.  I know a few people who have self-published their novels and have been quite successful.  I’d like to give it a try and see if I can get anything out of it.

For this project, I began with 3 ideas for novels: The Meadow Where the Ash Tree Grows, Emerentiana, and Winter Girl, but after reviewing some old ideas that I had a few years ago, the list of possibilities has grown.  I’m having a very difficult time deciding which I want to write!

Here’s a brief summary of the three aforementioned ideas.  Which would you be most likely to read?

The Meadow Where the Ash Tree Grows

An Otherkind spin-off.  An adventurous, head-strong young woman and her clairvoyant twin brother attempt to prevent a race of eerie, malicious creatures from entering the Earth plane through the Gate.

Emerentiana

An old-fashioned teenager who lives on an empty farm with her widowed mother deals with school life and forms a budding relationship with a kind, but mysterious stranger who walks by the farm regularly.

Winter Girl

Companion to Snow Globe Boy, also an Otherkind spin-off.  A deeply troubled, deaf girl attempts to commit suicide by drowning herself in Mira Lake. Instead, she finds herself in the land of Forsythe, where Snow Globe Boy rules with his queen, Lia.

 

Each is obviously meant to be very different in substance and style, and maybe that is why I’m having a difficult time deciding.  I’m interested to try each one of them.  Anyway, tell me what you think in the comments below, or e-mail me if you wish.  If one receives an overwhelming majority, I'll probably write that one.  But who knows.  Knowing me, I'll probably end up writing none of the above!

I also would like to enter more contests.  Sites like Figment often have great contests that feature published authors as judges and offer prizes such as publishing, signed books and other goodies.  I’d like to take advantage of these opportunities to get my name out there.  I attempted to enter a few contests last year, but out of several I only managed to get one entry done.  I need to stop being lazy and be a proper writer!

Who remembers The Legend of Zelda: Farore's Melody? You've known me a long time if you do.  That is the title of my very first Zelda fanfiction, which I began writing when I was ten years old.  I'm seriously considering returning to this project as an on-the-side, break-from-reality sort of thing.  It's fun to write fanfiction. To play around with characters, settings, and stories that you love and make them your own.  Last year I completed one short fanfiction titled Darker Days, which was a Naruto-based romance fic starring Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.  It turned out pretty well, but the lovey-dovey style of the writing irks me now whenever I read it. Hahaha.

Finally, I’m going to get back into reading, especially during the summer.  I’ve got a huge to-read stack sitting on my shelf.  As before, I will be posting my reviews to Goodreads, with a book-of-the-month feature here on my blog.  Maybe I’ll even beat my personal record of most read books in a year, which is 60.  I read sixty books during the summer of 2010.  Now I hardly ever read, and it’s really been bugging me.

I think it all comes down to managing my time wisely.  As I discussed a bit in my New Year’s journal at deviantART, I spent waaaayyyy to much time on the internet last year.  If I was doing something productive, that wouldn’t be problem.  I’m hoping that keeping my Lenten resolutions will help kick me out of that habit.

So that’s about it for today.  Writer buddies: what are your projects for this year?  And what have you all been up to lately?  Feel free to share in the comments below.

 

'Til the next post!

HYRULE HISTORIA

Yesterday, I acquired what very well could be the crowning jewel of my nerdery collection: Dark Horse’s HYRULE HISTORIA, a.k.a. 271 pages of breathtaking The Legend of Zelda goodness.  I received the book as a surprise gift from my amazing boyfriend—thanks, babe! ♥

 

The book is not only flat-out gorgeous, but also HUGE!  My boyfriend only paid roughly $20 (off of Amazon) for it, so I wasn’t expecting it to be so big!  It was certainly a pleasant surprise.  It’s a good-quality book with thick pages and a durable hardcover.

 

 

 

 

As the title suggests, the book chronicles the History of Hyrule throughout the Zelda series by beginning with Skyward Sword in a section titled “The Legend Begins”, and ending with “Creative Footprints”, a section that documents 25 years of artwork, with beautiful, full-color pages all along the way.  The book also features an intro and a conclusion by Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma, respectively, and a 32-page manga that tells the story of the goddess Hylia, the first Hero of Time, and the origins of Hyrule, and was lovingly drawn by the amazing duo Akira Himekawa.  I would have paid $20 for this manga alone!

 

For those of you who don't have the book (yet?), here are some scans (courtesy of Glitterberri), to give you a little preview:
 

 

 

AND, if you really want to go all out, there is also a Special Edition, of which there are only 4000 copies in existence. You can read about that here.

 

What a treasure.  No Zelda fan should be without this book.  Reading it made my heart ache with joy.  The Legend of Zelda has been such a huge part of my life, and my childhood memories of playing the games with my dad (and the rest of my family, too) are some of my most cherished.  I can’t wait to pass on things like this to my own children.  And I eagerly await what Nintendo has in store for us with this beloved series.

 

One thing is for certain…I will forever be a Zeldarian!  HYRULE HISTORIA now has a special place on my shelf and in my heart.

 

 

(P.S. The Makar plush was lovingly handmade by me. ^-^)



 

Artist Feature: Philip King

Hello again, everyone!  TWO blog posts within a month?  Is this some sort of miracle?  Hahaha. I really am trying to post more often.

Anyway, a-ha-hem.  Serious mode initiated.

Recently, I purchased two commissions from a friend of mine who just last year started college.  I must say, he did a fantastic job.  I commissioned him to draw two pieces, the first being of Derek and Risten from my book, The Otherkind, and the other of Arias, another character from the same book.

Take a look!

Aren’t they amazing? ♥ Phil is a very talented and intuitive artist, so I decided to allow him some artistic liberty with both pieces, and I was very impressed with his stylistic approach to the three characters. 

 

As for prices, he is more than reasonable. I only paid $30 for BOTH commissions, and I am quite satisfied with the results. Please consider supporting him by purchasing a commission (or two, or three, or four…)! If you are interested, e-mail him at pe.king93@gmail.com with your details.

 

So just a short post today, but I’ll be back soon.  One of my next posts will discuss my writing projects for this year. I have several new ideas for short stories and novels that I can't wait to share with you all.

 

Ciao~!