This is even harder for me than a favorite song. Hmm... (three hours later:)
Okay! Got it. I think....
No. I can't pick a favorite. But I really like animated movies, so I think for now I'll go with "Despicable Me."
"Despicable Me" is just. Plain. Hilarious! Anyone who knows me knows that I love humor. (Really, I laugh at everything that's even slightly funny!) I love Despicable Me because it's sweet, strange, and funny. The best characters? The Minions.
The Minions remind me of my brothers. They are small and round and odd (like my brothers). They talk funny (like my brothers). They are always beating each other up, rolling on the floor in a heap, accidentally injuring their fellow Minions, and fighting over things such as bananas (like my brothers). There's the scene where three of the Minions go crazy in the store (like my brothers. It's a miracle my family hasn't been banned from Wal-Mart and Shop 'n' Save yet, for countless offenses by the Three Stooges that I am luck enough to call my siblings. Did you know that the hose in the produce section of Wal-Mart works quite well?).
See, look closely. Don't you see the resemblance to the Minions?
I am going to be doing a thirty-day blogging challenge. If any of you read The Magic Violinist's blog, then you've probably seen her version of it! I thought it was a great idea and an awesome way to officially get this blog started! Here's how it's going to go:
Day 1: a favorite song
Day 2: a favorite movie
Day 3: a favorite book
Day 4: a favorite television program
Day 5: a favorite quote
Day 6: a moment you wish you could relive
Day 7: five things you couldn't possibly live without
Day 8: a thank-you letter to someone who has changed your life
Day 9: a photo you took
Day 10: a photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11: a photo you've taken recently
Day 12: a song that you want played at your wedding (or was played)
Day 13: a guilty pleasure
Day 14: a vacation you would like to take
Day 15: a person that you admire
Day 16: a song that makes you cry
Day 17: an art piece
Day 18: a time when you felt passionate and alive
Day 19: a talent of yours
Day 20: a hobby of yours
Day 21: something that you know you do differently than other people
Day 22: a website
Day 23: a way in which you want to be remembered
Day 24: a movie no one would never expect you to love
Day 25: a recipe
Day 26: a childhood memory
Day 27: a physical feature that you love
Day 28: a scar you have and its story
Day 29: hopes, dreams, and plans that you have for the next 365 days
Day 30: a motto or philosophy
So, here goes. Wish me luck!
Day one--
A Favorite Song
Oh, this first one is SO hard! I love all country music. I love Taylor Swift the most. I love all of her songs equally (excepting "The Last Time." That song just doesn't sound like her!) But right now, my most favorite song is "Everything Has Changed."
It's the sixth single off Taylor Swift's album Red. (I just bought Red Saturday-- I was going to wait until Christmas, but I couldn't take it anymore! It was totally worth it. I've been driving my family crazy with the CD since.) I heard it for the first time on our local radio tonight, which makes it officially released!
"Everything Has Changed" is a beautiful song, co-written by Ed Sheeran and Taylor. The video features two kids, resembling Swift and Sheeran, at school. They are obviously good friends, and participate in several activities together. The song expresses the joy and uncertainty of a new relationship.
Every time I hear the song, I see the video in my mind. It reminds me of my first day of kindergarten: I was a new kid in a new town, a little girl with five years' experience of living in this world, and the new doctor's daughter. I had every right to be nervous. But for some reason, I wasn't. I made new friends within seconds of stepping off the school bus. The line "All I know is you held the door, you'll be mine and I'll be yours" really has significant meaning to me, because the tall, red-headed girl who held the door for me soon became my best friend. Even though I'm homeschooled now, the scene in the music video involving the music room reminds me of how I take band classes at the school here. I can relate to the disorder, confusion, craziness, and frustrated music teacher (love you, Mrs. Liga!) when we get a new piece of music (we always work it out in the end, though).
You should definitely be proud of your newest single, Taylor! Here's the video: I highly recommend you watch it.
Is anyone else super-excited for NaNoWriMo? I know I am! This is my first year participating. Honestly, I just heard of it for the first time three weeks ago! But I'm glad I did, because now I get to join thousands of fellow writers in reaching a goal of 50,00 words.
I've had the idea for this novel floating around in my head for about my entire life. It's neat to see all the weird little details that I've remembered since infancy fall into place in a story.
Here's my list for this week:
Seven Odd things That Inspired My NaNoWriMo Novel:
1. The older brother of a kid I've known since kindergarten
2. An old, scratched guitar
3. A bright green pickup truck
4. An obnoxious blonde boy
5.A little white farmhouse
6. A photo of a happy couple in a rowboat holding their daughter in a sundress
7. Merida from Brave (she's somehow become the face for my main character!)
Who would've thought all these things could come together to form a book?
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Publisher: Puffin Books
Type: Juvenile fiction
I found this book, battered and abused, on the one-dollar shelf at a book fair. It was definitely worth it. Here is my review:
What do you get when you combine three oddball aunts, a handful of magical creatures, a hidden island, and three kidnapped children?
Well, if you're wondering, the result is Island of the Aunts.
Aunt Etta, Aunt Coral, and Aunt Myrtle have realized that they are getting on in years. The selkies, mermaids, and other creatures living on their secret island will need someone to care for them after they are gone; someone to continue their work. What they need are a few sensible children who can keep a secret. Aunt Etta convinces her sisters that their best bet is to kidnap. And while kidnapping is not usually the best way to go about things, in this case it just needs to be done.
The newly kidnapped Minnette and Fabio find themselves on a strange island. At first the children are scared, but the magic and awe-inspiring creatures on the island soon drive away their fear. They find that being held hostage by the well-meaning aunts is nothing like what they've ever heard about kidnappers. Since the island is a much happier place than both the children's individual homes, they settle into island life happily.
A third captured child, the spoiled-rotten Lambert Sprott, manages to contact his rich father through his cellular phone. At Lambert's crazy tales of mermaids and giant birds and wingless dragons, Mr. Sprott sets sail, determined that the island is a gold mine for opportunity.
In a classic good vs. evil struggle, the Island of the Aunts will have you entranced in its plot. The writing is loaded with Ibbotson's wit, humor, and charm. It's a funny and touching tale of adventure, magic, and the bad guys getting what they deserve.
I would give this book four stars. Fantasy lovers won't be able to put it down once they get hooked.
Hi! I'm going to start doing what I call Seven Things on Sundays. It's where I make a random list of seven things-- for example, seven facts about L. M. Montgomery:
1. She is the author of 20 novels and over 500 articles, poems, and short stories.
2. Almost all of these take place on her beloved Prince Edward Island, where she grew up with her maternal grandparents.
3. She is best known for her novel, Anne of Green Gables, which has sold over 50 million copies and has been translated into 20 languages
4. Her mother died when she was 21 months old; her father gave custody of her to her grandparents and headed west.
5. Her husband was mentally ill. It's amazing how even though she had a hard life, she still managed to do something great!
6. Quote: "Next to trying and winning, the best thing is trying and failing."
7. She is my role model.
L. M. Montgomery, age 10. This is the cover for her book,
Emily of New Moon. They used her photo because the character,
Emily, is made after her.
Now, for today:
Seven random things about me:
1. I go around with a pen or pencil in my shoe. Yes, it's true. When I do actually wear shoes, anyway (barefoot or flip-flops are preferable). You never know when you might need to write something important down! I also sometimes put a small notebook in my rain boot. My friends say I'm a true writer because of this. My enemies call me just plain weird.
2.I can memorize numbers, but not words. This may someday prove useful, if I'm ever hit by a car and happen to catch the license plate number. But it has yet to help me out with anything useful, like schoolwork. (example: There are very few numbers in the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address!)
3. I write my best stuff late at night (or early in the morning, depending how you look at it). That's the reason I always have purple shadows under my eyes.
4. I always eat the icing last. It's just better that way, people!
5. I never fix my hair. Unlike normal girls my age, I do not bother putting my hair up. Why waste time when I could be writing?
6. I have four crazy younger siblings. Okay, this one is so not my fault.
7. Some of my friends call me a stalker. This is because of the number-memorization thing. I'm like a walking address book; I can remember people's phone numbers and addresses without even thinking. I'm not really a stalker, I promise!
I can't wait for Tuesday! I'm doing creative writing... probably....
I know it's not Tuesday. But I warned you, I don't like rules! So here's my post for today:
Can you guess where we were? If you guessed a corn maze, you're right! If you didn't guess corn maze, you may want to talk to your doctor about getting your eyes checked.
Why pay money to get lost? I don't know, but it was fun.
We followed these trivia questions to find our way through the maze. But due to complications (*cough* brothers) we finally gave up and just wandered through until we found the exit. We met up with the rest of our group for a hayride.
Here's some random pictures I took today at the farm. I apologize for poor quality (there's a reason I don't plan on being a professional photographer!).
Can you see my stealth notebook?
You never know when you may need to
write something down!
Just thought this was cool. Dried corn!
Among the animals there, there was a miniature pony. Can you see him? He's such a cute little pinto.
We came home tired and cold. But we had a fun time.
I know this post has been mostly photos. And my writing is kind of dusty right now, as I've pretty much kept it on the shelf this week, so it's not the best. But a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
I'm SUPER EXCITED to have a blog of my own. I hope you enjoy reading it!
I'll be honest: this blog has NOTHING to do with playing the flute! I just liked the name, and it was open, so I'm using it-- although I do love playing my flute, and I encourage those of you who are learning it to keep up the good work! But this is the blog of a future author, so I'll try to keep the flute talk to a minimum.
I'm finding out that the first post of writing a blog is pretty nerve-wracking. It's like an author staring at a blank white page, wondering what she'll write. It's anxious work! You're wondering, what kind of first impression am I making on my readers? Is it a good one or a bad one? Oh my gosh, what if it's a bad one!?
Anyway, I want to tell you when I'm making a post and what it will be about. I will be posting on Tuesdays, mostly. The first Tuesday will be on creative writing. The second one, I'll do poetry. The third I'll do a book review. The fourth will be on journaling. And if there's a fifth Tuesday, I'll just leave it free to do whatever I want. (But I might not stick to this schedule for long. I've never been one to like following rules!)
I'm going to mix it up some this month, to get this thing started. I probably won't fall into a regular schedule until around November.
And I just glanced over at my page views. Wow, five already? I just created this blog three minutes ago! How can you know about it so soon?
That's all for now. I've got a corn maze to go through! (more on that later.)
