Happy Sunday!

Is it just me, or did June FLY by? It feels like summer just began, but now we're a third of the way through it.

*panic*

I can't believe July is just around the corner. I've been looking forward to July all year, and it always felt so far away. But now it's just DAYS away, and I'm kind of freaking out.

Let's not look at that now, though, shall we? For now, let's stick with June's highlights.


Honestly, for how busy June was, I can't remember most of it. XD It's been a lot of working at my job and doing stuff around the house.

I did get together with my friends, which was fun! We listened to Hamilton and played MarioKart (which is my all-time favorite video game of ever) and just had a good time in general.

As part of a leadership project, I also led the first two sessions of a Camp NaNo writing club for teens. I'm not going to lie: I expected two people to show up. So when FOURTEEN PEOPLE walked into the room, I almost lost it.

(See, I'm not good at speaking to people about writing - I don't get much practice. And I'm not good at speaking in front of people. It was a recipe for disaster.)

Fortunately, all went well! I'm not sure what the others are thinking of it so far, but as far as I can tell, at least some of them are getting into it. *shrugs*

The Flash: Season Three. Oooo, boy. *rubs hands together* I HAVE THOUGHTS. Unfortunately, most of them are spoiler-y, and I definitely don't want to spoil this series. But, my vague thoughts in bullet points:

• Okay, Julian is my second-favorite character (but Cisco has forever stolen my heart).
• BARRY STOP BEING AN IDIOT OKAY
• okay Caitlin's pretty cool this season
• I'm torn between loving the Barry x Iris ship and wanting to rip it to shreds.
• *facepalm*
• *all the facepalms*
• whyyyyy

not from season 3 but reason #203845 why I love Cisco

The Illuminae Files. Yes, I'm reading them for the second time this year. XD I actually understand the plot a lot better, now that I took the first book slower. At the time I'm writing this, I'm plowing through Gemina. And I LOVE NIK SO MUCH. <3

The Raven Cycle. I've hesitated reading this series for a while now because of content. And while it's true that I'm still not a fan of all the cursing (to name one thing) it's a really intriguing series. Will it be a favorite? Probably not. But am I enjoying myself? Oh, yes.

(By the way, Noah is the most underrated Raven Boy in this series and that makes me sad.)

Game Theory/Film Theory/GT Live. This is the current YouTube series I'm binge-watching. I especially love the livestreams they do - they're so entertaining. For instance, the Baba Is You streams are awesome. (I haven't watched the GTea sessions, though, because those don't seem up my alley. I don't care to hear about YouTube drama. XD)

I've definitely been writing, but . . . not as much as I would like. Procrastination and laziness are proving to be formidable foes. But I'm doing my best to push past them.

However, it's really easy to turn to YouTube or other procrastination forms when you're attempting to rewrite a book.

Rewriting, for lack of a better term, stinks. I can't even put my finger on why it's so hard. It just IS.

And that's why, although I hoped to make better progress on writing The Inhumans #1, I . . . really haven't done much on it. I'm hoping to get it close to completion before Realm Makers, but, realistically speaking, that probably isn't going to happen.

Speaking of Realm Makers, I made a decision about it:

I'm not going to pitch there.

I've gone back and forth over it for months now, weighing the pros and cons. And honestly, I don't think any of my stories - or my writing - is at a place where I can pitch them to an agent. I HAVE scheduled a few mentor appointments, but I canceled my pitching appointment.

And I don't regret it one bit.

Anyways, here are the posts I wrote this month:

And, around the blogosphere . . .

Gray @ Sunshine and Joy is on a mission trip to Panama! So exciting!

Rose @ A Purpose of Winged Dogs celebrated her second blogoversary! Congratulations, Rose! :)

Savannah @ Inspiring Writes posted an EPIC movie review of Avengers; Endgame. (I'm still not over that movie. Amazing, I tell you. Amazing.)

And Julian @ Saver of Memories and Sarah @ Pen of a Ready Writer posted their blogoversary vlog, which was INCREDIBLE (especially when the canopy blew over XD).


A quick apology. I know I wasn't a very active blogger in June, and sadly, July is not going to improve - it'll only get worse. I'll try to read, comment, and write posts, but if it doesn't happen, don't worry - I'm not dead.

Also, if you don't mind, I've got a quick survey I would like for you to take! It's about two post ideas I have, and I would like to see your input on them.

A brief explanation before you take it:

• The very first question asks if you would rather have me vlog Realm Makers or write a blog post about it. I make no guarantees about vlogging - I've never done something like that before, and I might not get video footage, people's approval, etc. If it doesn't work out, I'll definitely do a blog post.
• The second question stems from my obsession with The Flash. XD

Thank you so much in advance!

And now I'll let you get back to your last Sunday in June. I hope you have a great July!

-Nicole <3

Happy Sunday!

Or is it?

Because I’ve got a major bone to pick with publishers and directors alike.

Get ready, this is going to be one rant-filled post. There’s no holding back here.

*cracks knuckles*



Robin Hood. A movie about a man coming back from war to see tyranny in his hometown, and he decides to strike back.

Strange the Dreamer. A book about a boy who wishes to find a land deemed “fictitious.”

The Orphan King. A book about a boy seeking to reclaim his rightful place on the throne.

What do these stories have in common besides the fact that two of them are set in medieval worlds?

Let me tell you.

All of them, in one way, shape, or form, demean and insult Christianity. More specifically,  Catholicism. 

For instance.

Strange the Dreamer’s main character, Lazlo, is taken in by monks who go out of their way to make his life miserable. We know they’re Catholic monks because they recite the Angelus.

The Orphan King’s main character has the same problem. In addition, his monk caretakers are sorcerers, gluttons, and liars.

Robin Hood. *dark laughter* Oh, boy, don’t even get me started.

How about the fact that every single religious figure is shown to be evil, selfish, and manipulative? How the only “good” figure, the friar, is released from monkhood and later describes it as “freeing”? How a cardinal, the leading bad guy, says this quote: “We created hell”?

Wow, that last one really gets me.

Oh, and let’s not forget the CLEAR symbolism shown in that movie, where a cross falls upside-down and is stepped on.

Definitely not trying to tell us something.

Now, in your head, list every single GOOD Catholic priest or layman you can think of in secular books and movies.

. . . .

I’m waiting.

. . . .

. . . . How many did you think of? I didn’t really think of any. (Except if you count that one brief cameo of a nice priest in In 27 Days. That was refreshing.)

I think we’ve known this for a while, but still, it’s rather shocking to see how the media keeps putting down Catholics and tries to convince others that we’re evil. 


And it even goes farther than that.

You know how we keep hearing about those bishop sex abuse scandals in the news?

About a week ago, I heard some sort of passing reference to a similar scandal in another Christian denominations. I was kind of surprised. I shouldn’t have been. The Catholic Church can’t be the only church dealing with this.

But why haven’t we heard about this? It’s still a sex scandal. It’s still wrong.

Yet Catholics are getting all the media coverage. I’M a Catholic, and I didn’t even think that any other churches HAD sex abuse scandals. It’s sad that I thought we were the only ones.

This makes me angry just writing about it.

Why does the media want to pick on us?

We keep hearing that books and movies need good representation - whether it be races, gender, whatever. But why is it not for religion? The minute religion - Christianity specifically - is referenced in a book or movie, it can either:

1. Be immediately shot down, or put down in some other way by an evil priest or something.
2. It’s a Christian movie, and it’s shown in a very cheesy manner. Usually in these types of movies, atheists are shown to be the evilest people alive, too. But . . . just because they’re atheist doesn’t mean they’re jerks. (I’m not supporting atheism here - I believe that it is wrong - I’m just saying that this doesn’t help matters.)

Happy Sunday - and happy Father's Day!

Before we get started with the actual post, I just want to apologize for not replying to the previous post’s comments yet and for being absent in the blogosphere a lot more than usual. This week turned out to be busier than I expected, and I’m actually writing this post last-minute because of that. I’m hoping that next week will calm down a little, but if you don’t see me on your blogs - I promise, I’m reading them!

Anyways.

So, as I mentioned earlier, this Sunday is Father’s Day. I didn’t really do anything special for Mother’s Day, so I decided to just put both parents into one post. ;)

My dad probably won’t read this, but my mom definitely will. XD And to anyone else reading this - sorry, it’s kind of random. It was pretty much a brain dump.

(Also, apologies for no image. I didn’t have time to make one.)



Dear Mom and Dad (and to any other parents reading this post),

Thank you for everything.

We don’t say that enough. I’ll try to do better.

Thanks for everything you do for us.

Thanks for driving us to all our extracurricular activities.

Thanks for letting us eat in front of the TV some nights.

Thanks for putting up with our incessant whining when small things don’t go our way.

Thanks for buying us donuts after Mass (and for letting me get those dark chocolate Oreos one time).

Thanks for working hard to keep our family financially stable and well-off.

Thanks for listening to us when we have bad days (or having the patience to wait until we told you what was wrong).

Thanks for staying up late when we were puking.

Thanks for lending us your bedrooms when we had bad dreams.

Thanks for all the hugs, kisses, and hand-squeezes.

Thanks for every piece of encouragement (and, yes, even constructive criticism).

Thanks for reading my (albeit horrible) first books and lying that they were good. (They were first books, though - what did you expect?)

Thanks for reading my current stories and giving me your honest opinion of them.

Thanks for being here.

Thanks for supporting us.

Thanks for your faith, your strength of will, your determination.

Thanks for your wise words, your educated guesses, your book recommendations.

And thanks for YOU.

I love you.

<3

Happy Sunday!

So this week, we’re doing something a little different over here on the blog.

A while back, Rosalie announced her annual Penprints Flash Fiction Dash, where participants write a piece of fiction under 1000 rules using a prompt. And since I’m bad at flash fiction since I need practice at writing flash fiction, I decided to give it a go.

Now, I know you’re asking, “But Nicole, this flash fiction was due on FRIDAY. Today’s SUNDAY. Have you gone off the tracks?”

Yes, it’s true, I’m late. BUT! I have a legitimate excuse.

See, I never got Rosalie’s email with the prompt. So I thought that my Google Form hadn’t gone through, and kind of shrugged it off. (I even commented on Julian’s flash fiction post saying just that. You should totally check hers out.) But then I got her reminder email.

So, long story short, I emailed her, asking for the prompt, I got it, wrote as fast as time would allow, yadda yadda yadda, you just want me to get to the story. Fine. Okay. Here we go.


So my theme was Superheroes, and this was my prompt:


And yes, Rosalie, I did have unfettered fun writing this piece, which I call The Inferno. I think I’m right at 997 words, too. As per usual, I’m pushing the boundaries of flash fiction word counts. *facepalm*

Enjoy!

———————————————————————————————————

The fire burns red-hot two feet in front of me, but I feel nothing. Fire is safe. Fire is home.

Fire is me.

But Savannah doesn’t feel the same way. She is air. And fire burns air.

She gasps and stumbles back from the red shoots of flame. “Ashley . . .” she stammers, “what have we done?”

“What we had to,” I say, ignoring my hurting heart. “It was the only way.”

A tear drips down her cheek. “No - no, there had to have been a better way.”

“What?”

“I dunno - something that didn’t involve burning all those people to death!”

I look away and stare at the house, now a raging inferno of flame and smoke. Sirens wail far away.

“We had to trap them inside somehow,” I argue, for once not worried about hurting my best friend’s feelings.

“No,” she insists. “I don’t care how evil they were. This wasn’t worth it.”
 
Stepping towards her, I take her hand - delicate and cold and shaking. “Sometimes, we gotta do what we gotta do. This was one of those times.”

It was something we’d repeated every night, as we donned our aliases as the Phoenix and the Fairy. We’d saved countless people over the past few months, doing what we had to do.

To be fair, though, that had never involved killing supervillains.

“Savannah, we have to go. The police are coming soon.”

“What?” she repeats, and she backs away from me. “So - so we’re fleeing the scene - like a bad guy?”

“No. We’re not. It’s just . . . they might think we did something bad if we stay here.”

“We did do something bad.” She wraps her arms around herself. “We killed people.”

“Who woulda killed a lot more people if we’d done nothing!” It hurts to be the tough one now, but if I don’t, Savannah will lose herself. She’s Fairy - fragile, light, and powerful. And I’m Phoenix - fiery, strong, and determined.

The Phoenix and the Fairy.

Fire and Air.

Fairy gives life to Phoenix. And Phoenix protects Fairy.

That’s how it’s always been, and how it always will be.

“Just - leave me alone, Ashley, okay?” Savannah’s foot, inside the dainty ballet shoe she received when we got our powers, kicks against the concrete, giving her enough momentum to levitate. She flies off.

“Shoot,” I mutter, taking one last look at the burning house and hearing the sirens draw close. I call fire from the inferno and let it explode in my hands. The burst launches me in the air, a phoenix from its own ashes.

After a quick scan of the Chicago suburbs skyline, I see Savannah’s pink dress touching down on top of a tall apartment building.

What is she doing?

Grunting, I call more fire to me and blow it up again, bringing me closer and closer. Unfortunately, the blasts are also homing beacons, showing her exactly where I am.

Savannah turns. “Ashley, please stop!” I hear her call.

“Just let me explain -”

A wave of air races toward me and cuts through me like a sword. I gasp, the breath knocked out of my body, and I begin to fall.

This is it.

This is the end.

I swore to protect this city at all costs. But it seems I can’t even protect myself from my friend.

I close my eyes, preparing to be splattered on the ground like pigeon poop.

But it never happens. Instead I feel the rush of wind under my body, caressing and carrying me somewhere.

The minute I feel solid ground beneath me, I open my eyes and jump up. “Please, don’t!” Savannah says, backing away from me.

“I’m not going to - Savannah, I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t think this through very good, did I?”

“No. You didn’t.” Savannah looks away from me, yellow bob gleaming in the dim starlight. “Ashley, I don’t think I can be Fairy anymore.”

“What? You have to! We have to!” Our powers had been given to us with the express reason of protecting Chicago. We couldn’t just give up.

“If it involves killing more people, I won’t do it.”

“It won’t, I promise. That was my mistake. We -”

Savannah steps towards me for the first time tonight. I spot another tear falling down her cheek. “Ashley, you and I both know that you can’t promise that. What if one of us is gonna die, and the only way to stop it is to kill someone?”

“It would be saving your life!”

She hesitates. “One part of me knows that. The other can’t tell the difference. I’m sorry, Ashley. I just . . . don’t think I can lead this double life anymore. It’s too stressful.”

“But -” My breath sounds ragged. “We’re a team. I can’t do it without you. Literally. That’s not how our powers work.” I tuck my brown hair behind my ear.

“Oh, right. I forgot about that.” We both fall silent.

Our powers complement each other. If one is weakened, the other is too. And if one quits - well, so does the other.

This is my best friend. I should know what to say.

But all knowledge of words falls from my mind.

I love having powers. I love the freedom, the responsibility, the bonding time that comes with staying up with Savannah all night.

Am I willing to give that all up . . . for her?

“Okay,” I whisper. “If that’s what you need to do . . . then we’ll do it.”

Savannah looks me right in the eye. “Seriously?” Her voice wavers.

I nod.

An awkward pause.

“So, what do we do now?” I ask.

“I guess . . . take them off?”

I look down at my leather jacket, what I was given when I took on Phoenix. For Savannah, it’s her ballet shoes.

A hard sacrifice to make. But a necessary one.


I leave the jacket and shoes on a hanger in the shed we found them in.

I look back as we leave.

The Phoenix has burned away.

But one day, it will rise again.

———————————————————————————————————

Well, I hope you guys liked that little piece! It was another nice foray into the world of flash fiction.

Hope you guys have a great day, and talk to you in the comments!

-Nicole <3

(Yes, this is that speech I was talking about last week. It’s going to be pretty long, so brace yourself. And if anyone’s reading this for advice - please DON’T DO ANY OF THIS. The book community might hate you, and nothing I say in this post is actually meant to be believed as truth. XD)

(Also, if I continue with this intro, it will ruin the effect, so without further ado:)


There’s a rumor spreading that writing a book takes a lot of hard work and creativity, that a writer will spend months and months working and never even get considered for publishing.

What if I told you that this is completely false? What if I told you that you could write a book with minimal effort - and still be published?

It sounds crazy, especially here, in the blogosphere. At first, I didn’t believe it either. But then I took a closer look at some of the New York Times bestsellers. Many of them have succeeded using a simple formula that, if used, can definitely get you published.

Now, yes, I, personally haven’t published anything yet. But I think all the fantasy YA books on the bestsellers list will speak for themselves.

And, during this post, I’ll be crafting a story along with you to show how simple this is!

So, are you ready to get rich - and famous - quick?

All right. Grab a pen and paper.

Let’s get started. 


First, we need to pick the genre and target audience. Don’t worry, you don’t actually need to know what those are to write a book - and you’ll understand why in a minute.

Genre: For this bestseller, you should market it as Fantasy, or High Fantasy. In fantasy novels, you can literally get away with anything. Want to put a random dragon in your story? Go right ahead! Need an explosion so your characters can get away? Sure thing! In realistic novels, you actually need to follow the laws of this world, so you can’t randomly have zero gravity. But in fantasy, anything goes! And you don’t even need to have any explanation! 



Target Audience: You’ll want your target audience to be YA, or young adult. This is because, as we all know, teenagers are stupid and don’t know bad writing when they see it. They literally don’t care what they read. I mean, look at the success of Twilight! (Sorry, that was uncalled for.)

Now that we’ve got our basics down, it’s time to look at the first piece of the puzzle, and if you don’t get this part right, you’ll ruin your story.

There’s a lot of aspects to get into here, so let’s dive into it.

Gender: Female. No one wants to read about male protagonists nowadays. Females, of course, are the only IMPORTANT gender in YA.

Basics: She’s seventeen or sixteen, and is a STRONG, INDEPENDENT woman who can kick butt and doesn’t like wearing dresses.


Name: This can go one of two ways.

• Her name can be super simple, like Tris from Divergent (although that’s a nickname) or June from Legend.
• Her name must be the most complicated thing ever, like Celaena from Throne of Glass or Denaerys from Game of Thrones. Fortunately, this isn’t too hard - just take a common name and switch a few letters around.