Books as Rooms Challenge

Hello friends,

Hope Ann tagged me for a writing challenge that Writefury started. I had said someone might tag me and this looks like a very fun one.

I, not paying attention, went and made my own tag graphic.

Rules:

1. Link back to Writefury and the person who tagged you. 
2. Write 3 of your own books as rooms. They can be finished, works in progress, or even just ideas, but they have to be your own. 
3. Write 1 of your favorite books to read as a room. 
4. Tag 5 other people.

At least, that’s the basic idea. It seems that these are actually guidelines, more than the way it must be done. But I´ll try to follow it anyway.

My Books:

Girl of the Rumours

An old, low broken down room of wood and stone. There are cloth wall hangings that may have been bright jewel tones once, but are now dingy and torn. A single oil lamps burns brightly on a table in the center of the room, illuminating a jeweled knife and a silver necklace. Sacks sit in the shadows of one corner, low bench seats in another. And around the window openings, vines are creeping in.


Lady of Courage

An enormous paneled room with a vaulted ceiling and a set of ornate, curving staircases opening onto a platform at one end. In the centre of the carpeted floor is a massive oval table surrounded by silk upholstered chairs. The table is covered by maps, papers and writing implements, with small lit globes at intervals. The rest of the room is occupied with small clusters of chairs and a few small tables. Along the walls are curtained alcoves and door ways with magnificent paintings hung in between them. At the opposite end to the stairs is an gigantic clock.

A Maretegna Mystery (something I may write one day; this is not the title)

A small room with wooden slat walls. At one end is a kitchen with neatly stacked dishes, bins of food in a corner and a brightly burning fire with an pot bubbling away over it. At the other end is a table with odds and ends laid out over it along with small neatly written notes. Chairs sit askew around it and underneath a doll rests against a crude wooden horse.

Not My Book:

The Victor by Patricia St. John

A dark, one-room hut with a dim oil lamp sitting on the floor. To one side there is a sleeping mat, to the other a fishing net. A few bloody shards of pottery lie scattered around.

And now I tag people. this is when I wish I had more blogging friends. So I'll tag some people who don't know me so well, along with a few who do.

Victoria Grace Howell

Kendra E. Ardnek

Katie Grace

R. J. Steele

Gabriella Paige 

And if I forgot anyone and you want to do it, please consider yourselves tagged.

Five Years of Bookania Tag

Hello people,

I had intended to writing a post about how writing isn't the most important thing in my life. But more important things pushed it out. So I grabbed Kendra's Five years of Bookania Tag which probably took longer.


1. How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

It's been 8 months now. Two thirds of a year. And I started because I'm an author and authors are supposed to have blogs.

2. How long have you been following my blog and how did you find me?

I don't quite remember but it's been a least a year I've been reading Kendra's blog. As for how I found her, it may have been from homeschooledauthors.com. That's how I found a lot of people. And I saw the sign up from beta reading Water Princess, Fire Prince and thought it might be interesting. And the rest is history.

3. Which of the books on my WIP list sound the most interesting to you?

Other than Lady Dragon, Tela Du, I would say Half-Hidden, HaV Academy and Worth of a King.

4. What are three of your favourite fairy tales?

 The Day Boy and the Night Girl (It's a very obscure one), What the Old Man Does is Always Right(Perhaps not technically a fairytale, but it's in my book of Hans Christian Anderson Illustrated fairy tales and I love the spirit of it.),  and The Emperor's New Clothes.

5. What is the strangest fairy tale you've ever read?

The Travelling Companion (also from the Hans Christian Anderson book) It's kind of weird and creepy. It's got a few similar elements to 12 Dancing Princesses, but it's not nearly as nice.

6. What are some things that you're looking forward to/hope will happen in future Bookania Quests? (Or, if you haven't read the Bookania Quests yet, in the series in general, or, you know, you could just delete this question and pretend it never existed...)

I want to see more of Shira. And I want to hear about Rapunzel.

7. Recommend a book for me to read. (You can check my Goodreads shelf to see what I've already read/my interests)

The Magician's Daughter by Justyn Walker. It's a crazy kind of book, a bit like some of yours. But in a slightly different way. Orphans falling though puddles? Check. Talking secret agent bat? Check. A mad wizard who makes your hair go rainbow coloured? Check. A lethal sport, a dragon named Smokey the Terrible and a couple of misfits for heroes? Check, check check.

8. What, to you, are the essential elements of a good story?

Good relateable characters who react in realistic ways, a plot with some stakes that aren't just emotional and some deeper layer to them even id it's very subtle.

9. What is your favourite fairy tale retelling, whether film or book, and why?

This is tricky, but I love A Dream, Not Imagined by Shantelle Mary Hannu. It was just the kind of book I needed to read when I first got it.

10. Tell me about a project (preferably a book, but I'll understand if you're not a writer), that you're incredibly excited about.

I've only really got two books I'm working on and I'm excited about both of them. Especially Lady of Courage right now. The idea could go so many places and I'm to have so much fun figuring it out. And Kendra already knows about as much as anyone. But it's exciting to mix up politics, technology, family relations, murder mystery and foreign invasion. And I really like my heroine. she may have her faults, but she's a likeable person, she isn't foolish and she doesn't whine.

YAnd that is that. Head over to Kendra's blog and check out all her party over there. I'll be having a couple of her characters over here for an interview soon.

The Books I've Been Reading in 2016

I grabbed the Mid-year Book Freak Out tag from Shantelle H. The first half of the year has gone so quickly. The heading for finished handwritten first draft of Girl of the Rumours had turned into 30,000 words at about halfway. The other loose idea I had has become bigger and has the beginning of a draft. But this post is supposed to be about reading, not writing. So here it is.

Best Book You've Read So Far in 2016:

I can't answer this question. There;s so many good books. But Waking Beauty by Sarah E. Morin was a very deep thought provoking book. There's a lot about reality and escapism in there. And an unexpected allegory. It was certainly quite out of the ordinary. And the cover is beautiful.

Best Sequel You've Read So Far In 2016:

Deny by Tricia Mingerink. Despite the fact I didn't listen to it almost in one go like with the first book, I was not at all disappointed. It continued in the same high stakes, high faith, encouraging story.

New Release You Haven't Read Yet But Want To:

Defy by Tricia Mingerink. I'm waiting for it to come out in audio though. and then I'll probably wait some more, because I don't tend to buy books. But I do want to hear the next part of the story.

Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year:

Lady Dragon, Tela Du, by Kendra E. Ardnek. Though I ought not care about the release so much since I'm a beta reader. What I' really waiting for is Kendra having the next part for us. And the cover reveal.

Biggest Disappointment This Year:

I really have nothing here. There have been books I haven't really liked, but they've been random books I picked up with no particular expectations.

Biggest Surprise:

Captive of Raven Castle by Jessica Greyson. I had hardly read the blurb.  So the beginning was very unexpected. The whole story had little bits I wasn't expecting. But it certainly was good. Quite thought provoking. It made me reconsider some things in my own story.

Favourite New Author of 2016:

Probably Tricia Mingerink. I didn't really read many books by new authors this year. At least not ones that stood out to me. But I did finally get to read a book by Nicole Sager. She was the first home-schooled author I heard about and probably the reason I'm writing now. But I hadn't actually read any of her book till recently. It wasn't as good some, but It was her first book and I was expecting that.

Newest Favourite Character:

Lady Rachel from Samara's Peril. And Elanor and King Balen. Also a lot of characters in Lady Dragon, Tela Du. And Shad and Jamie in Dare and Deny.

Book That Made You Cry This Year: 

I don't tend to cry while reading. I expect I have this year, but I don't remember what book caused it. I think Lady Dragon, Tela Du may have. It's an amazingly complex, emotional, unpredictable book. From what I've read so far I recommend it when it come out.

This really seems to fit that book. Not that it's got nonsense in it.

Book That Made You Happy:

Safety Assured Leaving East of Medicetti by Trish Mercer. Yes that is really the name. It's the fifth book in a series, that though I enjoy I'm not going to wholeheartedly recommend. I need to write a post about that. Anyway characters get a lot of the good and bad they deserve. And some of it is really fun. It almost overcomes the annoyance of the previous book leaving the characters in mortal danger.

Favourite Book To Film Adaption You Saw This Year:

Well, Risen is a very loose adaptation of a small portion of the Bible. Other than that I haven't seen anything.

Favourite Post You Have Done So Far This Year:

13 Things I've Learnt in a Year of Writing

Most Beautiful Book You've Bought So Far This Year:

Samara's Peril. The emotion and character trait thesaurus I got at the same time are extreme useful, but though they are somewhat pretty, I could not call them beautiful.

What Books Do You Need to Read by the End of This Year:

Well I need to read Song of the Sword by Hope Ann so I can review it. Other than that fiction isn't necessary. I want to finish The Conservative Revolution by Cori Bernardi. That will involve starting over because I've forgotten the little bit I have read. But it's only got seven chapters. Also I'd like to get as far as I can through The Institutes of Biblical Law by R. J. Rushdoony. It is thick and much denser than most of what I've read. But it's worthwhile.

Overall this year I've not read as much non-fiction as I intended. But I just grabbed a couple of history books from LibriVox.

And that is that. I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, but if you want to grab this feel free. Let me know in the comments.

Liebster Award

I got nominated for the Liebster award by my friend Annie Twitchell. Go check out her blog at: http://annie-louise-twitchell.blogspot.com.au/

Here are the rules:
- Thank the blog who nominated you and link back to them.
- Nominate up to 11 other bloggers to receive the award. To be eligible, they need to have 200 followers or less.
- Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
- Tell your readers 11 random facts about yourself.- Give your nominees 11 questions to answer on their blog when they post their nomination.


My Nominees:
Kendra E. Ardnek
Amanda Beguerie
Alea Harper
Sierra Joane
Hannah Heath
Daniel Thompson
Morgan Huneke

My Eleven Questions from Annie:

#1 - What's the 'outdated' phrase that you use the most?

I really have no idea. I can't think of any phrases that I particularly favour.

#2 - What was the name of your first character you created?

There was a princess named Grace, but she wasn't really a character. It was really about three princes who never had names since I didn't write more than a sentence or two on that story. Other than that I really don't know.

#3 - About how many books do you read a week?

About one or two. Plus books like A History of Venice that I try to read every week and take forever.

#4 - If you were a dragon rider, what colour would your dragon be?

I am actually a dragon rider, at least in this forum. My dragon is blue and cream.

#5 - You're in a fight. What's your weapon of choice?

Staff, it's less likely to injure people permanently.

#6 - How many times a week do you use sticky notes?

Less that once.

#7 - When was the last time you hand-wrote a letter to someone?

Probably in 2014, maybe longer.

#8 - How many story ideas have you come up with in the two and a half minutes before falling asleep?

Not very many, unless ways to improve my current story count. Then it's a larger unspecified number.

#9 - Text or phone call?

If an email counts as text, then certainly that. Otherwise it would have to be phone call and very rarely. I do not use a phone for communication.

#10 - Do your characters have conversations with you?

Not really.

#11 - Stars or hearts?

Stars

Eleven Random Facts About Me:

#1 I am a bit of a heath fanatic sometimes. I don't take it too seriously though and I'm sceptical of most of the ideas out there.

#2 - Almost everyone I know in person calls me by my full name.

#3 - I haven't read any of the books that live on my shelf this year and I might not.

#4 - I do not own physical copies any of my most favourite books.

#5 - I hate wearing pants.

#6 - I love sewing.

#7 - I once owned a pair of hand-sewn pant and loved them. That was then, though.

#8 - The only tea I like is ginger. However tea and I have had a very limited acquaintance.

#9 - I live in the country and love it, but I'm not a farm girl.

#10 - I bought a pair of hiking shoes. They're brown with pale pink, but cost half the price of a pair that didn't quite fit which were cheaper in turn than a pair that did fit.

#11 - I don't have any sisters. (So why do I keep trying to write about characters who do?)

Eleven Questions for My Nominees:

#1 - What is your favourite book of the Bible?
#2 - Do you like maths?
#3 - What is your favourite thing to do outside?
#4 - What is your dream house?
#5 - Who do you look up to most?
#6 - What is your favourite word?
#7 - What are your five most prized possessions?
#8 - Is there a question you really wish someone would ask you?
#9 - What would you do if you had one month to live?
#10 - If you could live under water, would you?
#11 - Light or dark blue?

And that's that. Any blogger reading this may consider them-self nominated too. I'm sorry for missing you.

I hope everyone found that interesting and I may have another post on Friday.

Celebrating Rizkaland: TAG!

Kendra has created a tag for the Ten Years of Rizkaland party over at her blog. Since I love her books and like tags, I've done it.

1. Have you read Water Princess, Fire Prince yet? 
Yes, about four times.
2. If so, what is your favourite part? If not, what are you looking forward to the most? 
I love the discussion between Laura and Clara at the end of Part 4. And then what happens next, I was so annoyed the first time because I didn't have the next part and had to wait.
3. It's Christmas time! What's the best Christmas present you've ever received? 
Tricky, I have gotten so many good presents. The most significant that come to mind was a birthday present so I'll go with the longest lasting, which probably is my 6-years-old hiking shoes.
4. What are your favourite fantasy worlds? 
I love Ilyon, E'veria, Narnia and Rizkaland.
5. Who are your favourite fictional couples?
Oooh, tricky, I'm not a romance person really. I can't think of any I haven't liked hough and I am rather fond of Clara and Andrew. I always love the, "You're together, there's nothing you can do about it, learn to love each other." stories. And I love subtle romance.
6. Do you have any projects (writing or otherwise) that you've been working on for ten years? 
Our family has been renovating for that long.
7. Fantasy weapon of choice? 
Quarterstaff. Swords are too common.
8. Name your element! 
Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, sodium, magnesium. And every one has those. Yes, I like science sometimes. But it's relevant. Dihydrogen Monoxide is discussed in WP,FP.
9. What are you hoping to see in future volumes of the Rizkaland Legends? 
More complicated world and time twisting, hopefully a bit more of the books actually taking place in our world and some that don't take place in our world at all. And I am really looking forward to seeing more Christian truths presented. Water Princess, Fire Prince was very subtle, so there will probably be a build up to bigger things. I really want to see what Kendra's method for handling it will be.
10. What is your favourite Christian allegory? 
 Narnia will always be a favourite, but I also have a soft spot for Hind's Feet on High Places and it's sequel which I cannot remember the name of. And I also love the allegory in The Ankulen by Kendra E. Ardnek.