Happy late Monday! (haha, yes, I actually DID manage to post this today! *pumps fist*)

So . . . I mayyyyy have hidden something from you guys.

Remember when I said, “hey, I’m doing a Q&A, so if you have anything to ask, comment them down below”?

Weeeelll . . . .

It was never my intention to just simply WRITE DOWN the answers.

You see, I really like making videos and editing them (although I’m extremely awkward in all of them). And a TON of bloggers like to do these things called “vlogs.”

You already know where this is going.

So . . . well, judging by the title of this post, I . . . kinda made a vlog. Yes, I've been planning this since I began blogging, why do you ask?

So you get to see MY FACE! And know just how awkward I am in real life! Seriously, this is probably one of the most awkward things I’ve ever done. I ended up speaking super fast because I was really excited, and I stumbled over SO MANY WORDS. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Hopefully you can understand me.

(Also, you’ll get to see a little demonstration of something - but that’s it for spoilers, I promise!)

Buuutt, as you know, I had “technological issues,” as I like to call them. The video was 30 MINUTES LONG. So I split it into three parts and had to upload them to YouTube, which took literally HOURS. And my cropping skills may not have been the best, so I apologize. I did the best I could.

So. Without further ado, I present: THE VLOGS!!

 

Anyways . . .

Like I said in the videos, THANK YOU for sticking with me through this first year, for caring enough about this little blog to comment, and for your general support. I never thought that I'd get 47 FOLLOWERS in the first year. My mind is still blown about that.

Special shout-outs to:

• Ivie and Gray for being my first followers. When I saw that you both had followed me in ONE DAY, I may have run around the house silently screaming. <3
• Every one of my fellow Inkreaders and Pen Dragons. You guys are awesome to talk to! :)
• Faith, Savannah, Nicole, Kara, and Lilian for being my fellow KOTLC lovers. (Legacy comes out in like seven months, guys!) :)
• And to Katie Grace, who I know isn't blogging as much anymore, but without her, I definitely would not have begun to blog. :)

So, who's ready for another year?

*grabs mug of hot chocolate* Raise a glass to freedom to another year of Legend of a Writer!

-Nicole <3

Happy Saturday!

*gasp*

Yes, I’m slightly deviating from my regular posting schedule. But the only way for this to work is if I posted this sometime Saturday. So, of course, I just posted it really late today. XD IT STILL COUNTS, SARAH! IT STILL COUNTS!

Anyways.

Today's going to be somewhat of a random post. As I was answering my blogoversary questions, two of them (Nicole's and Isabel's) took a really long time for me to answer. So I decided that I would just put them together in one blog post and spare you all the ramblings!

(By the way, the Q&A will be posted on Monday, as that’s the actual blogoversary day. And I’ve got a special surprise for you all then - that also has to do with the Q&A. *vanishes into cloud of mystery*)


So, Sarah @ Sarah, Plain and Average has been hosting this weekly linkup designed for short story-writing! I haven’t been able to participate for the last two weeks because of my stupid EIGHT PAGE HISTORY PAPER I had to write. -_- BUT! This latest prompt was just too juicy, I couldn’t resist.

And a few weeks ago, Nicole asked me to share a piece of writing I’m particularly proud of, and this one . . . oh man, I feel a full-length novel approaching.

THE PROMPT:
Honestly, I’m not sure how dark it actually turned out . . . I mean, it takes place at night???? That counts, right??? *cough* sure it does.

Anyway, I give you: Mission: Mulberry Bush! yes, I’m horrible at naming things
“Here we go round the Mulberry Bush,” Kaylin muttered, passing me the sonar binoculars. I peeked through the lenses, afraid of what I would see.
    The stone fort below us - code-named Mulberry Bush - was packed. Guards reigned all along the wall surrounding it, and others mulled on the grounds inside. We’d known that already. We’d come prepared for that.
    But we were not prepared for the flames that rose out of the moat - the moat that had, just yesterday, been filled with water. The fire illuminated the otherwise-black night.
    “What the . . .” I trailed off and passed the binoculars back to her.
    “They knew we were coming,” she said, swiping a hand across her neck. “That’s the only explanation. They’re trying to drive us off..”
    “And they’ll succeed,” I said, leaning against a nearby rock.
    “Not if we’re careful.” Kaylin rummaged around in her knapsack and pulled out two pistols: sleek, shiny F1-2100s. She tossed one to me and loaded the other one.
    “Boss said ‘no casualties,’” I reminded her.
    “Boss didn’t know about the fire. He knows how we work - no heat.”
    I shivered. Sadly, Kaylin and I had made quite a name for ourselves in the bounty hunter business. And everyone who knew about us knew that we had a weakness for fire.
    Pushing past the bad memories, I refocused. “So how do we get across?”
    Kaylin looked through the binoculars again. “You brought that grappling hook, right, Raven?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. I didn’t think we would actually use it.” But I still yanked it from my knapsack and tucked the gun in my belt. “Where’re we aiming?”
    Kaylin took the hook, attached its anchor to another rock, stood up, stepped back, wound up, and threw. The hook sailed at least 100 feet and hooked on the top of a watchtower, some distance below our mountain perch.
    Kaylin’s strength always amazed me, even though I’d seen her Glimmer used countless times. My Glimmer was far less dramatic.
    My partner hooked the two handholds onto the rope. “Ready?” she asked me.
    I shook my head, but took my position on the second handhold. “Why not?”
    Without another word, Kaylin pushed off the mountain, and I followed close behind. We descended sharply. I closed my eyes as we neared the fire. I imagined its tongues licking my boots, my legs, my body . . .
    “Raven!” Kaylin’s call brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes just in time to see the watchtower just a few feet away. I lifted my legs high enough so I wouldn’t hit the wall and break them. Kaylin helped me get down from the grappling-hook-turned-zipline, and together we raced down the guard tower’s stairs.
    “Someone should have been up there,” I whispered. “Something’s wrong.”
    “You always think something’s wrong, Raven. Relax.”
    But when you’re a bounty hunter, you can’t relax.
    As we passed stair after stair, I refreshed myself with our target’s description. Black hair, black eyes, black soul. He was a Cursed, a child born on the full moon of the month. Cursed with terrible powers.
    Powers known as Glimmers.
    Some parts of me wondered why Kaylin and I were always sent to capture or sometimes kill people who were just like us.
    But then, our employers were the people who had saved us those eight years ago. I remembered nothing before then, but, from what the two of us had been told, we’d almost been killed. And now we were in our saviors’ debt.
    We reached the bottom of the staircase. Kaylin hadn’t even broken a sweat, but I needed a breather. As I gasped for air, Kaylin tapped her watch, turning on the small screen. “Target is still in position,” she told me. I nodded, words physically failing me.
    I loaded my pistol and tucked back my black hair, the cause of my name. I was never quite sure how Kaylin had received her name.
    “Stay sharp,” I whispered to Kaylin. Her usually serious face gave a slight indication of a smile. Then we moved out, sticking to the shadows along the wall, avoiding the torches lining it.
    The grounds were deserted. Odd. Just moments ago, guards had been all over the place.
    “We need to abort,” I said, my voice barely audible. “They know we’re here.”
    “We have to complete the mission!” Kaylin told me, raising an eyebrow.
    “Not at the expense of our life! If we stay here, we are going to die!”
    “Raven. Do you not appreciate the second chance we’ve been given?”
I sighed. She used the same argument every time. And it always worked.
Not saying another word, we continued moving through the shadows. Our destination was a door on the other side of the grounds. I adjusted my pistol in my hand, my finger hovering over the trigger.
Kaylin punched a hole in the iron door, and the clatter made me cover my ears. We raced up yet another staircase, the smell of mold lingering in my nose.
Skidding to a halt at the top of the stairs, Kaylin kicked the door open. We abandoned all hopes of being quiet and ran into the room.
I stared.
“No one’s here,” I said.
“I don’t understand. My tracker said -”
Then Kaylin gave a little yelp and fell to the floor. I jumped and turned around, readying my pistol.
There were no soldiers or guards behind me. There was just a boy, about my age. With black hair and dark eyes.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Black soul.
It was him.
I acted on instinct. I pulled the trigger.
One minute the bullet sailed towards him. The next, he was holding it.
“Don’t kill me,” he said, deadly serious. “I just want to talk.”
I kept the gun up.
In a split second, the boy ran up to me, took the gun from my hand, and went back to his original position. In a second.
“Just to talk,” he said.
*deep breath*

Well then. There’s that. I don’t know how well it turned out, but it was a blast to write!


Again for my blogoversary, Isabel asked:

What tips do you have for people (*coughcough* me) who loves writing and has tons of ideas but has actually never written a full story before (and v much wants to xD)? 

I LOVED this question. However, I found that the answer would be too long to put in the Q&A post - I rambled on for quite a bit. XD  

So. This is just going to be in bullet point format, and I’m going to shove a whole bunch of random information at you. It’ll be fun. I’m not sure how helpful it’ll be, but we'll give it a shot!

• You have ideas! Yay! You’re one step there!
• If you’ve never written a full story before, I recommend starting out with a short story. Just pick a random idea you’ve got, think of maybe one or two things that could happen, and just start writing!
• It’s not going to be perfect, I promise. Maybe another time I’ll delve into exactly how bad my first stories are (and most of them are unfinished). But the only way you’re going to get better at writing stories is if you actually write stories. 
• that was totally cliché, I apologize.
• If you need motivation, I highly recommend Camp NaNo, where you can pick your own word count goal. The one story I’ve actually finished, I began in Camp NaNo last year. 
• Yes, the blank page is intimidating. Slam your hand on the keyboard so you can get some words on it. (And yes, I’m actually being serious.) Then write a sentence of your story. Then delete the original gibberish.🤷‍♀️
• Don’t put yourself to a time limit to finish anything. The one story I’ve actually finished a draft for was written over about 3 months, and it’s super short. 
• Also, I highly recommend reading "Spilling Ink," by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter. That book was probably what made me start writing seriously. Plus, it’s just a fun book to read in general.

Happy Sunday - and St. Patrick’s Day!

So, all you writers out there will have heard of this thing called “Camp NaNoWriMo,” in which we writers attempt to duplicate NaNoWriMo during a different month. This time, we can set the word count goal, so of course, all sorts of crazy things can ensue.

But . . . what if it wasn’t difficult at all? What if there was a way to just . . . win, with a snap of your fingers?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, there IS a way. Actually, there are several.

(By the way, this entire post is mostly satire. But I mean, if you want to take it seriously, go right ahead. I won’t stop you.)




I mean, come on, you can literally write the word “a,” put it into the Camp website, and CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR WORD COUNT GOAL HAS BEEN ACHIEVED!

Seriously, for everyone who wants to say “I wrote every word,” this is for you.


You know that “lorem ipsul dolor” stuff you see everywhere online? That’s filler text, and you can find some big chunks of it to copy-and-paste if you do a simple Internet search.

It might take a whopping five minutes to get all your text inserted, but hey, this makes any word count goal possible - even 200,000 words! Just think about that for a minute.


That way, you can still get that same sense of achievement when your account becomes a winner, without actually having to do any of that lame storytelling stuff! Leave that to your friend, or your enemy. Your choice. . . .

(Although if you pick your enemy, don’t blame me if they put you in their story and then kill you off. Writers are unpredictable creatures.)


Eventually, your chin will hit the space bar enough times that you’ll hit your word count goal.

(By the way, I am not responsible for any brain damage, concussions, or any other injuries as a result of doing this step. This was YOUR choice, buddy.)


This may not “technically” hit your word count goal, but that sweet satisfaction of seeing something that’s causing you stress turn to ashes will be worth it.

(Also, can someone please tell me where I can find a pet dragon because NONE OF THE BLACK MARKETS AROUND ME HAVE ANY. -_-)

*not recommended, as laptops are extremely expensive and this may not be worth it


Because it’s a DRAGON. Surely they can do SOMETHING to help you out here.


Trust me. By the time it’s all loaded onto that teeny tiny device, two things can happen, both to your advantage:

1. All your memories will have fried the database, and now you can’t work on your Camp NaNo projects anymore!
2. If you can convert everything out of the programming code, you should be able to copy-and-paste unlimited amounts of “original” material into the camp website

Let’s be honest here for a second. If you actually want to succeed at Camp NaNo, you really can’t do any of the aforementioned things.

The answer is simple for how to win Camp NaNo:

All you’ve got to do is WRITE SOMETHING.

If you need to change your word-count goal halfway through the month, no shame in that! I think I’ve done that every year I’ve participated in Camp NaNo.

What matters is that you’re actually getting a story, or a poem, or a play, or whatever you’re working on, down on a document or paper. That’s why NaNo was created.

(But seriously, if someone can direct me to a baby dragon that I can adopt, HIT ME UP.)

-Nicole

Happy Sunday!

So, I was planning on writing a post for today that would share tips on, I quote, “destressifying your life.” (Catchy title, I know.) Buuuuut, halfway through writing it, I realized, “Hey, if I knew how to ‘destressify my life,’ I would have done it already.”

Obviously, that post is being put on hold until further notice.

BUT! In that post, I mentioned journaling, and for some reason, my brain decided to come up with different types of journaling.

Of course, that quickly morphed into this post.

So, without further ado, I present to you:

All pictures in this post by me!

(Just a warning: the journaling types get weirder as you go along. XD)

(Oh, and also - if you’re like me, you’ll feel constricted by the descriptions. I hereby give you permission: DON’T BE.)

This is the type of journaling you always hear about. It’s pretty straightforward: write what happened in your day, how you’re feeling, any funny snippets you overheard, whatever you want!

I do this one. I just write a couple paragraphs whenever I feel like it. (You’re supposed to be consistent with your journaling, but I mean, if you’re not feeling it . . . you can do whatever you want.) I use a multicolored pen, and every day I switch to a different color than the previous day. That way, when I flip through, I just get splashes of color.

Just a thought.

Note: you do NOT have to be good at art to do this!

This could be a sketchbook. It could be you just drawing what happened in your day. It could just be you drawing whatever you want, whenever you want. This one can go in so many different directions, seriously.

(But in case you were wondering, no, I don’t do this one. That journal would be an abomination to the earth.)

Oh, boy.

Guys.

This is seriously SO FUN. Yes, I admit, it does take a while to set up (well, that is, if you’re me and want to start off your journal with 10 solid pages of New Year goals/stuff), but you could probably sacrifice 20 minutes of social media a day to keep up. Bullet journaling is so much more relaxing anyways.

It can be whatever you want it to be. You can literally combine all these types of journals into it - or none of them. That’s fine too.

But the idea is for it to be a DIY Planner - you keep track of goals and tasks without anything preformatted in the notebook itself. If you want to see more of what it’s about, I highly recommend checking out AmandaRachLee's YouTube channel, although her journal is super artsy and I just can’t relate.

But I’ll be doing a post about this sometime soon, so I’ll stop my ramble here. XD

This is exactly what it sounds like. Just dump all your thoughts and feelings onto the page in the most unaesthetic way imaginable. The unaestheticness WILL make it aesthetic. (At least that’s what YouTube tells me....)

Yeah, it’ll be messy, but if you’re not a fan of linear journaling, this might be the thing for you.

Or, if you like taking pictures, you could just stick pictures into a notebook and label them with the date and WHA-LA! Instant journal.

......also known as a scrapbook. (Shhhh)

This is exactly what it sounds like. You track stuff.

It could be habits.
It could be books you read.
It could be how often you have gum infections.

That’s for you to decide.

(If someone understands this idea, great, explain it to me, please. I wrote it down and then promptly forgot what it was about. XD)



Pretty much the same thing as brain dump journaling, except you put it into a slightly more boring neat format.

This would be a fun one, I think. So, the idea is that you track what fandoms you’re in, when you’re in them, and gush all your squealy fangirl-y thoughts.

Of course, this is what I do in my regular journal half the time, but if you want to separate life and fandoms (spoiler - there is no separating them), this just might be the thing for you.

Similar to fandom journaling, you can spew your thoughts on your novels, write down new story ideas, edit, brainstorm . . . whatever the heck you want!

I kind of do this for my WIP The Silver Sword, and it’s an absolute MESS. But it’s fine.

Here you could write down songs you want to listen to, awesome lyrics, create your own songs . . . the possibilities are endless.


Obviously, there are way more kinds of journals than these - the sky’s the limit!

I hope that maybe this list has inspired you to journal in some way, shape or form. *whispers* you should totally try bullet journaling.

-Nicole

(Sadly, I’m not really kidding in the title.)

I can hear you all gasping. Nicole, a post on a Monday night? you ask. Well, I’m just going to tell you: my schedule is going to be wacky for the next two months. So if you get another post on a Wednesday next week, don’t be surprised.

Anyways, I’m trying to spread the word about something that’s going on in Illinois. And yes, it’s a pro-life issue.



So, in Illinois, there are two extreme pro-abortion bills being considered "in committee," which pretty much means that it hasn’t entered the House of Representatives for voting yet. As I said, they are EXTREME bills. For instance, they:

• Allow abortions up until birth
• Do not require parental consent for minors to have an abortion
• Require every insurance to pay for abortions with no co-pays or deductibles (so the people having an abortion don’t have to pay for it)
• Force doctors and nurses to participate in abortions, even if their religion or conscience warns against it
• More!

(You can read more about these two bills right here, if you want.)

Obviously, this is not a good thing. As far as I know, this is more extreme than the bill passed in New York just recently.

So, what can we all do?

IF YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF ILLINOIS AND AGE 13+: 

There is something special we can do!

My mom told me about these things called "witness slips," which are forms you can fill out that allow representatives to see how citizens feel about bills. Any citizen of Illinois thirteen or over can fill one out.

If you fit the requirements, I highly encourage you to fill out two witness slips, one for each bill. I will link them here (HB 2495) and here (HB2467). The witness slips will only be available until Wednesday, which is when the committee holds a hearing for the bills.

EVERYONE (including citizens):

Please, please pray. Obviously, we can’t do this alone. We need divine intervention so these bills won’t pass.

This is definitely not what I usually post, I know, but the word needs to spread about these bills quickly, and we need prayers.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

-Nicole

Happy Sunday!

So, technically, last month was Fantasy Month, which, of course, was amazing. HOWEVER . . . I did not discover this tag until this Monday, when Christine @ Musings of an Elf posted her answers to it. And I loved it so much that I stole it respectfully took it. So we're all going to pretend that it’s still February and that this still counts for Fantasy Month.

Also, the Q&A is still accepting questions, so if you want to ask me something random, head on over!


The Rules:

Thank the blogger who tagged you. Christine, thank you for tagging everyone so I could steal it respectfully take it!

Include the graphic somewhere in your post. It's just up there!

Answer the questions. Got it.

Tag a few blogger friends - and let them know they’ve been tagged! The odds that I do this rule are not in my favor.

And now, I present to you . . . the tag! *trumpet fanfare*



Well, we’re off to a great start here, aren’t we?

This will come as no surprise to anyone, but my favorite fantasy book (really, just my all-time favorite book) is Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger.

*booing ensues*

Yeah, yeah, I know, I didn’t say Lord of the Rings. But, as much as I love LOTR, KOTLC is my happy place. It’s the book I read when I’m having a bad day. *whispers* Read it.


All right, then, we're just going to answer both!

Movie: Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King. Hands-down. I honestly don’t watch it often, because I cry every time, but when I do, I just DIE because it’s SO AMAZING.

TV Show: (come on, you all know what’s coming)

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. IT IS AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE AND JUST GO WATCH IT. PLEASE. I'M BEGGING YOU.

That is all. Thank you.




My favorite fantasy hero . . . gosh, there’s so many of them. Some personal favorites include Luke Skywalker, Frodo, Aragorn, and Zuko. (Yes, I could argue that he’s the hero of ATLA. Trust me. I think about this.)

Now, my favorite fantasy heroine is probably Sophie Foster from KOTLC. I find myself relating to her a LOT. Plus, she’s got like sixteen thousand different powers and WHO WOULDN'T WANT THAT.


Either Cress from the Lunar Chronicles or Sam from LOTR. I can’t decide. They’re both so awesome!


Does the Reverse-Flash from the Flash count? Because he's such a good villain - he CREEPS ME OUT. I will refrain from spoilers, though.

But if he doesn’t count, then probably Azula from ATLA. Gosh, she’s just insane and powerful and UGH. I wish I could write a villain like her.




Probably realistic fantasy or portal fantasy. Realistic fantasy (that might not be the correct name) is like Percy Jackson - fantasy elements in our world. Portal fantasy - as the name suggests - has a door from our world to a fantasy world, like KOTLC or Doon.


There’s unlimited options! Do you want dragons in your book? Go ahead! Reversed gravity? Sure, why not? There are no rules to fantasy, which is nice, because you can do whatever the heck you want.


My mind.

Just kidding maybe. Honestly, probably the Lost Cities or the Shire. The Lost Cities are so fantastical and beautiful, but the Shire is quiet and homey. GAH.

Can I just live in both of them?


I really liked the creativity in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. The idea is that if you ingest certain metals, you get powers and "burn" the metals to activate them.

But in terms of a magic system that I would actually want to use . . . bending from ATLA. (In case you’re wondering, I’m a waterbender. I think.)




Oh, boy. An exceptionally great fantasy book that I’ve read recently. . . . *scrolls through Goodreads* *literally sees nothing* HAVE I READ AT ALL THIS YEAR??

Well, then, I’m going to rave about a book you’ve never heard me talk about before!

So, there’s a really good book series out there that not everyone has heard of??? It’s called the Septimus Heap series and it’s SO GOOD. Seriously.

It’s middle-grade, but don’t let that stop you. The characters and writing are absolutely hysterical. (For anyone wondering, Simon is my favorite character.) Yes, the plot isn’t entirely original, but there are enough twists and turns, and the world-building is so unique, that it seems entirely fresh.

And I have no one to fangirl over it with me. So READ IT.

(That’s my idea of an impromptu pitch. XD)

TAGGING:

If you like fantasy, STEAL IT! *chants “STEAL IT! STEAL IT!!” over and over* There’s so many people I could tag for this that I’m just going to tag EVERYONE!!!

For easy reference, here are the questions: