Genre Favorites: the Blogfest

Today I'm participating in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Genre Favorites Blogfest. The goal: list your favorite genre of movie, music and books, as well as a guilty pleasure genre.

Now, I love a lot of genres in literature, and I love a lot of stories that cross genres, or can't be classified in a genre, so it was a little hard picking just one. The most important things in a story for me are the message and the characters, so I can enjoy a story in almost any genre if these two elements are in place. But there are a few genres I enjoy more than others. Here are some of my favorites:

via IMDb

Movie - Science fiction

One thing I love about science fiction is that, unlike fantasy, it's something that might, just possibly, someday be true (look at Jules Verne's stories). This combination of reality and semi-plausable fiction makes sci-fi movies a lot of fun to watch. On the flip side, I also enjoy the sci-fi movies that pose a question that challenges your perception of reality. I think those are some of the most powerful movies. Some of my favorites in this genre are Star Wars, The Matrix, and Iron Man.

via IMDb

Music - Soundtrack

No contest here. This is the genre in which I most consistently find songs (and even whole albums) that I like. One of the things I love most about soundtrack music is that it's written to evoke specific emotions that tell a story. I tend to favor the composers (like John Williams) that have sweeping orchestral accompaniments. Some of my favorite soundtrack composers are Steve Jablonsky (Transformers), Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Carribean, Kung Fu Panda, the Batman trilogy, among lots of other things), and John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon and the Bourne movies). I've also been listening to Alan Silvestri's Avengers soundtrack alot. Good stuff there.

via Goodreads

Books - Mystery

Mystery will always have a special place in my heart. I spent maybe two or three months when I was 14 reading through the rest of the Sherlock Holmes stories, all the Lord Peter Wimsey stories, and a lot of the Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries. But I started reading Sherlock Holmes when I was 7 or 8, and he'll always be my favorite detective.

via Goodreads

And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories:

Comic books. Especially the ones from the "golden age" of comics in the 60's. I love them for the same reason I love reading fairytales - its about good and evil in a simple, uncomplicated form. The first comic book I ever read was the very first Spider-man comic, and I'll always love those. I also enjoyed the original Fantastic Four comics, and some of the early Avengers comics. The newer ones can't really compare.

What are some of your favorite genres?

What Happened to My Summer Plans

"Summer!" I said in my heart, and in the pride of my heart, at the beginning of the sixth month, the month of June. "Summer is a time of resting and relaxing, of wide-open schedules and blank calendars, of laying in the grass and sipping lemonade. Therefore I will take this summer, to use it as my own, and I will perform many great works this summer; I will finish the first draft of my novel, yea, even the one which I have for so long been working on, and I will write a certain amount of chapters for my other story, yea, even one a week, for the whole summer. And I will study 5 hours a day everyday, and I shall take eight CLEP tests this summer. For I, Lauren, have the whole summer ahead of me, empty, and I shall do with the time what I please."

So even as I spoke these words in my heart I congratulated myself on the marvelous accomplishments I would do this summer. And so the day of planning and the day of lofty goals was the first day of summer.

Then the first week came and I said in my heart "I will not start my plans today. Today is a day for packing, a day for planning ahead for next week's vacation. I will put off my goals until next week." So the first week came and, just as certainly, the first week went.

Then came the second week and I went on vacation; yea, even to the Oregon coast, to the mighty Pacific ocean. And I said in my heart "This is a week for relaxing, for rejoicing. It is not a week for working or for toiling. I will put off my goals until next week." So the second week came and, just as certainly, the second week went.

When the third week arrived I said in my heart "I am just back from vacation. I am tired. Surely if I put off my goals another week, I will be more rested." And as I said in my heart, so I did, and rested the third week. So it came and, just as certainly, it went.

In the fourth week a dreadful cold assailed me, so that my eyes watered and my nose was stuffed up. And a fever racked my bones, and a great headache, so that I could hardly stand. And as I lay upon my bed, I said to myself "by dose id do duffed ub, ad by headayg id do bad, I gadot work od by goals." So the fourth week came and, just as miserably, the fourth week went.

Then the fifth week came, and with it a sore throat, and even so a cough. And I studied a little for my CLEP test, even for Social Sciences & History, as I should have been doing. And I worked on editing this video, and celebrated Independence day, but not much else in the fifth week, the first week of July. So it came and, just as certainly, it went.

And the sixth week came, and I lifted up mine eyes and, behold, the summer was nearly halfway over. And I was astonished, and I was much troubled, and inquired within my heart, even within the depths of my heart, where my summer had gone. And I looked and found that I had been procrastinating this summer, and my schedule had not been empty, and I had much to do and many places to go. And I was troubled, and I said within my heart "where will I find time to accomplish my goals, the goals that I set at the beginning of summer, even six weeks ago?"

So I went to the library and requested a book; and the name of the book was Eat That Frog, and the book was written to help those who suffered, as I suffered, from poor time management skills. So I read the book, and I heeded the words of the author; and I compiled a more detailed list for my summer, yea, even for the remainder I had left.

But it happened that as I pursued my goals I neglected that which I had heretofore been faithful to; my blog. And I worked on my writing and my CLEPs, and my blog fell by the wayside.

Then this day I lifted up mine eyes and, behold, my blog was neglected, and I said in my heart "I will write a post; yea, even one that explains why I have neglected my blog."

And as I spoke in my heart, so I have done it, that you may know why I have been absent. I, Lauren, have written this post; this salutation with my own keyboard I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (*)

How are your summer plans going?

Well, What Have We Here?

Because what this post really needed was a cat picture.

So are y'all getting a little tired of the series I've been posting, or have they been enjoyable? My five-part Avengers review ends tomorrow, although H2WaMM has three more posts to go. I might post a book review next week for a little change of pace.

It's been a while since I updated my Blogs You Should Visit page, so I did that over the weekend to include some of my new favorite blogs. I also cleaned it up a little to remove any blogs that had stopped posting, moved, or just stopped altogether. I realized I hadn't updated it since the A-to-Z challenge, during which I followed a lot of new blogs.

So go check it out, and let me know if you find any new favorites!

On Thursday Lisa Campbell left my 500th comment! I know for some of you bloggers it may not seem like a lot (Alex J. Cavanaugh gets about 100 comments per post, so he's probably up in the millions now) but it's very gratifying for me. Thank you to everyone who comments and continues to leave comments! I love to hear what you have to say.

Becky from Braveheart is currently writing a series that I very much like. It's called Ministry or Malarkey, and it explores whether fiction (malarkey) can help people reach God (ministry). So far she's posted on Christian Inspirational Fiction and Parables. Looking forward to her post tomorrow!

My sister Ava won a photo editing contest over at Randocology! Hop on over to her blog and congratulate her. And then maybe help her boost her follower count...

Speaking of followers, Jenn, who recently gave me the One Lovely Blog Award, also gave me the Liebster Award - an award designed to recognize and promote blogs that have less than 200 followers. Jenn has just reached 100 followers herself, and is hosting a giveaway! Go tell her congrats and enter to win either a $15 or $10 Amazon gift card.

Now, to accept the award:

Thank the person that gave it to you. Thanks so much, Jenn!
Link back to their blog. Jenn's lovely blog, Scribbles from Jenn.
Put the award in your blog. See sidebar.
Present the award to 3-5 blogs with less than 200 followers.*
Leave a comment to let those blogs know that you've recognized their awesomeness!*

*Okay, I'm going to do awarding a little differently this time. Instead of picking 3-5 blogs (choosing blogs is always hard!) or even just holding out an open invitation, I'm going to go with this:

If you have less than 200 followers, and your blog is on my Blogs You Should Visit list, then I nominate you for this award! So go see if you're on the list, and then leave me a link if you decide to pick it up. 

By the way, have you reviewed The Avengers on your blog? I'm collecting reviews to link to in my final Avengers post this Wednesday. If you wrote a review or found one that you enjoyed, leave me a link and I'll include it!

This is Lauren, signing off....

(because cat pictures are like potato chips; you can't have just one)

All Quiet On the Weblog Front

Where have I been this past week? 

I've been on the Oregon coast, getting alternately wet and sunburned. I scheduled my third Avengers review for last week but neglected to schedule the second H2WaMM post, which is why it didn't appear on Friday. My apologies!

My absence can also explain why I haven't replied to comments or been to any of y'alls blogs lately.

No, they don't say y'all on the Oregon coast. In case you were wondering.

I didn't really take a lot of pictures this year. You see, I didn't bring my camera, just my phone, and I didn't want to bring my phone to the beach because I didn't want to get sand in it. So I don't have any pictures of the sights (besides the one above).

But what I did take pictures of (and please don't hate me for this) was all the misspellings I found around camp and at the museum that we went to. I know, I know, I'm so nitpicky. But some of them were amusing. Let me share:

The reward he "hopped" to earn. Maybe it's like "jumping" at a chance?

Norwegion. Perhaps it's a region in Norway.

By the way, I'm thinking of keeping the name "Norske Love" around for a possible future character in a possible future story. I like the name. It means "Norwegian lion."

Okay, this one could go either way. Site or sight. But I'm guessing that it's really supposed to say "sight."

If, of, what's the difference, ya know? Just one little letter.

Also last week I worked on filming this project:

I just threw together the trailer this morning. Not professional quality, but I think it gets the point across.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to this past week. Be prepared for part 4 of the Avengers review and part 2 of H2WaMM coming up on Wednesday and Friday. 

How was your week? Are you on vacation, or planning one soon? Ever snapped pictures of misspellings you've found? What do you think of the trailer?

One Lovely Blog Award & This Week's Menu

Last week Jenn at Scribbles from Jenn awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award. Thanks so much, Jenn!

As usual, a questionnaire goes along with the award. This one has some interesting questions.

What is your favorite song?
Most of my favorite songs are psalms or hymns, but if I had to choose a song that wasn't, I would say Bearing Witness by Collective Soul.

What is your favorite dessert?
Almost any kind of pie. Except pumpkin and pecan.

When you're upset, what do you do?
Being an introvert, I normally hide my feelings, so most of the time I just continue doing whatever I'm supposed to be doing. Usually pretending not be upset makes me less upset, if that makes sense.

What was your favorite pet?
These two kittens have been my favorite pets.

What do you prefer to wear, black or white?
I prefer to wear black. White just doesn't really look good on me.

What is your biggest fear?
You know, that's a good  question. I know I'm claustrophobic, and of course have the traditional firstborn fear of failure, and perhaps am afraid of being abandoned by people I love, but I don't know what my biggest fear is.

What is your attitude mostly?
Calm.

What is perfection to you?
Strictly speaking, perfection is found in God alone, and He is perfection to me. But in the less strict sense, "perfection" for me is when something I've planned all comes together and becomes something even better than I could have imagined. A wonderful feeling.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Talking during movies. Everyone usually hushes me, but I love to do this sort of running commentary where I make fun of the characters' motives, or say what is unsaid but what should be said. So yeah, don't watch movies with me.

Okay, now let me see, a few lovely blogs to nominate. These are four that I find aesthetically pleasing:

Booktalk & More - I love the yellow and grey, and Ruth's reviews are always hilarious.
Ellyn Gibbs - her blog has a sea-faring theme since she's currently writing a sea-faring book.
Head in the clouds - I love her background - London!
Scribbles, Scripts, and Such - one of the loveliest blogs I follow - both aesthetically and content-wise.

This is not the week's menu. 

Also, I thought it would be fun to post this week's "menu" - what you'll be seeing on Word Art this week.

Tomorrow I'll be posting pictures of The Blotter - a journal that my writing group has collectively put out. One of my poems is included in there. Pretty exciting!

On Wednesday expect part two of my Avengers review - this one on Characters & Continuity. If you missed the first one on Plot & Structure, you can read it here.

On Friday I'll be posting part one (yes, I know, I do so many series!) of "How to Write a Murder Mystery," or H2WaMM, as I'll be calling it.

Why part one? Because it's much too long to include all in one post. Want further details? Sorry, you'll just have to wait.

This week's menu for my off-internet life includes taking the Introductory Sociology CLEP. I love when a test is just plain fun to study for, and that's been the case with Intro Sociology. It's a fascinating subject.

Have you received the One Lovely Blog award? Do you talk during movies or know someone who does? Anything you're looking forward to this week?

Custom Error Message and Kreativ Blogger Award

via Lolbrary

I'm on Google+.  Just so's you know. And I'm following Blogger. (Or is it "circling" Blogger? I'm not sure which is the proper lingo.)

Anyway, Blogger recently posted about how to change your "error message" - you know, that message you get when you click on a broken link. "404 page not found" and all that, wot wot?

Apparently in Blogger you can customize it. Go to "Settings," select "search preferences" and click "edit" under "custom page not found."

It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I went and changed mine right away. You can see it by clicking this incorrect link:

http://lmswriting.blogspot.com/errorpage

Also, I've been awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award.

Becky Doughty from Braveheart gave me this lovely award. Thanks so much, Becky!

You know, at most award ceremonies it's the custom to give an acceptance speech, but on the blogosphere there are rules that you must follow. (Unless, of course, you're my sister Ava, in which case you write an acceptance speech and follow the rules)

And hey, I love rules, so let's see what we've got here:

June is Coming, I Can Almost See It...

This is the time of year that makes me want to visit the ocean. Of course, the Pacific Northwest ocean isn't quite as blue (or warm) as the ocean in the picture above, but it's still the ocean. And I miss it. Our annual vacation is coming up, though. Pacific ocean, here I come!

Today over at Emily Moir's blog Rantings of a Writer I wrote a guest post for her Blogger Spotlight series. Go check out my post (and Emily's blog!)

Having seen The Avengers three times now, I think it's time I wrote a review. So coming up will be my five part review/analysis of the movie. Yes, five part (I kind of have a lot to say).

Also, I recently started following Miss Jack Lewis Baillot's clever blog, However Improbable. She's a steampunk author (which is pretty cool) and we seemed to have watched and read a lot of the same movies and books. She only has 13 followers, so why not hop on over and check out her blog?

Doing anything exciting this June? Visited the ocean lately? How many times did you see The Avengers? Have you visited Miss Jack Lewis Baillot's blog?

Storyboardishness

Today I had a burst of inspiration for this novel idea (let me clarify - an idea for a novel) that I've had simmering in the back of my mind. It was an idea for a new scene. It opened up a lot of ideas for the rest of the novel.

So, since I've been reading Story Engineering (which is all about planning out your novel) I thought, why not plan out this one? I'm already writing two stories at present, but what if I had this one all ready to go when I finished them?

So I tried something I haven't tried before: storyboarding.

Okay, well, to be clear, it's not technically storyboarding the way I'm doing it. It's storyboarding for writers, which has no pictures. (I found a tutorial on one way to make a storyboard!)

You see that red wallet-looking-thing at the top of this post? That, when opened up, is a photo holder. It can hold 24 photos. But instead of photos, I put scene cards in them, like so:

Just to be clear, this is not the working title. It's just a placeholder until I find a working title.

I started with a title card, and then wrote a query/synopis card to remind myself of the basic premise (and to be thorough). After that I wrote out a scene card for the prologue and the scene after that.

I used a grunge filter to make the iPhone-quality picture look less lame.

And here's another grunge-filtered picture of the whole thing. After I fill out ten scene cards I'm planning on putting them all into one photo pocket since there are only 22 (discounting the title and synopsis card). That leaves room for about 220 scenes.

I'm pretty excited about it - I've never planned out a story this way before. We'll see how it goes...

In other news:

I saw The Avengers over the weekend! It was a fantastic movie. Austin, over at Gift of the Present, did a thorough review of The Avengers that I thought was very insightful. Daniel also wrote a very thorough spoiler-free review, as did Raquel and PolkaDot.

I recently found (and followed) a blog called Scribblings of My Pen and Tappings of My Keyboard, by Anne-girl. She did an excellent post on "being real" that I highly recommend you read. I think she hit it spot-on.

Becky Doughty from Braveheart featured my post "Top Ten Tips for Creating Top Ten Tips Lists" as her Friday Guest post! If you haven't read it or want to read it again, go check it out (and look around Becky's blog a little bit.)

If you haven't already, go leave a comment telling me how you cope with deadlines so I can feature it in Friday's post.

Have you ever done story cards? Ever extensively planned out a story? Do you have any tips for keeping your story cards or scenes straight? 

Do any of the links sound intriguing?

Let me know by commenting!

A-to-Z Looking Back Through the Mirror (A Poem)

Listen, my followers, and you shall hear
'bout the A-to-Z challenge looking back through the mirror
(I admit, 'twould be easier if I had named it
"the reflections post" but the rhyme did demand it.)

They said share pleasures,
And please share your pains
Share with us any setbacks
Reveal any gains

So in order I think
I'll recount what I thought
Of the challenge this year
And from it what I got.

Guest-post is a Verb

Just thought you ought to know that I'm guest-posting today for Misha over at her blog My First Book.

The post is on What the Avengers Can Teach Us About Character. Go leave lots of comments, on that post and on Misha's other posts!

Top Ten Tips for Creating Top Ten Tips Lists

How could I not write the list that tells you how to write your lists? 

Read on to find my top ten tips on writing top ten tips lists....

1. Title your post "Top Ten Tips on _____"

This one's obvious. So readers know what they're getting into. Also, people search for "top ten tips" so there's a greater likelihood that your article will come up when they do.

2. Bold the main points

Makes 'em stand out. Busy readers can skim and still get the gist of the article. 

3. Lecture a little

If people click on this post they know (or should know) that they'll be getting an earful of advice. Don't start every tip with "In my humble (or not so humble) opinion." But also don't write a post's worth of advice under every main point. It's hard on the eyes and the attention span.

4. Try not to be so dead serious

Always, always avoid the use of words like "always" and never." These are just tips, people, not life-saving instructions. Oh, and a spoonful of humor makes the lecturing go down....

5. Don't accidentally repeat yourself

That's just redundant and annoys readers.

5. Don't accidentally repeat yourself

That's just redundant and annoys readers.

7. Make sure you haven't skipped a number on your list

Otherwise your readers will wonder why they should be listening to your advice when you obviously can't even count.

8. No money-back guarantees

Even if these tips completely changed your life, don't promise that they'll do the same for everyone else. You can insinuate that, yes, but don't outright say it. There may be legal ramifications or something, ya know?

9. You shouldn't not never contradict yourself

If people are looking for advice, they want to know that you're reliable. Nothing says "unreliable" faster than a contradiction.

10. Be fresh, funny, and unique

There are thousands of top ten tips posts out there. If you bring a new perspective, people will be more willing to listen. A little humor never hurts either.

Follow these tips and, well, I can't guarantee it will change your life, but, you know....

Any tips to add to the list? Let me know by commenting!

U is for Updated Interface

No, I'm not going to complain about the Updated Interface.

*pause*

Okay, maybe just a little.

I got switched over today. This is my first time writing a post in the Updated Interface. It feels like I'm writing in a Word document. And I had trouble finding this page in the first place. In fact, I had trouble finding everything. And it's kind of hard to see. Everything is so white - it's blinding me.

But now onto all the positive things about the Updated Interface!

Like....

• The fact that it has an "Overview" page
• The drop down menu that's... um, more streamlined?
• The reading list is bigger
• The posting page looks like a Word document, as mentioned above
• In "Pages" you can choose to create a new page, or create a link to a web address (that's pretty cool)
• "Templates" shows you both your template and your mobile template
• It's a lot simpler and easier to create a new blog. 

Really, try clicking on the "new blog" button. You'll get this:

Pretty neat, right?

So everyone breathe, the Updated Interface isn't that bad. And remember, if you really dislike it you can send feedback to Blogger. Just be nice about it, okay?

And of course, if you're totally lost Blogger has provided a helpful step-by-step guide to using the upgraded interface.

Even if I'm not entirely happy with the new look (my poor eyes!) I'm glad Blogger is working on making things better for us.

I just might have to wear sunglasses while blogging from now on...

What do you think of the new look? Have you tried out everything yet? Hate it? Love it? 

Let me know by commenting!

O is for Ostentatious Prose (Among Other Things)

I had momentary moment of panic today. I logged into blogger, clicked over to my blog to get a link and, horror of horrors...

the sidebar was missing!

I scrolled to the bottom of the page and there it was, beneath the posts. And I couldn't figure out how to get it back to where it was supposed to be.

Thankfully, I've been following The Real Blogger Status for a while now, so I clicked over to the blog to see if I could find out how to fix it.

I came across this post, which advised changing the most recent thing you'd done. Well, that was publishing my "N" post. So I saved it as a draft and republished it, and voila! the sidebar reappeared!

If you haven't already done so, I advise you to go visit that blog.

And now on to our regularly scheduled A-to-Z post

Question: Am I being ostentatious by using the word "ostentatious" to describe prose?

Don't write the way this bird looks.

What does "ostentatious" mean? It means showy, or to do something in order to show off, or to be conspicuous or pretentious.

Yeah, saying "ostentatious prose" rather than "flowery prose" does sound a little pretentious.

But hey, you all know the real reason I'm using the word "ostentatious." Because I already did a post for "F".  And besides, "ostentatious" is such a fun word to say. 

However, ostentatious prose is not very fun to read.

One of the most common bits of advice I hear for writers is "get yourself out of the picture."

In other words, you want the reader to forget about you as a writer. Don't let them even remember that you're there. You want them to forget that they're reading something written by you and just be engrossed in the story.

That doesn't mean you don't have a voice. It means that while they're reading the story they don't hear you in their heads reminding them every ten seconds "I wrote this I wrote this I wrote this! Aren't I such a good writer??"

Compare this:

When I sleepily open my stunning blue eyes to blearily glance at the rumpled, cream-colored sheets on the opposite side of the bed, not only is it inexplicably vacant, but it is also as chilly as an icicle in the far-flung reaches of the frozen north.

To this:

When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. 

The first example is so overloaded with adjectives and similes that it makes the story drag, and is very stuffy and annoying. The second example (the opening line from The Hunger Games) is crisp, clear, and to the point. We are placed inside the main character's head, and inside the story, without any unnecessary fuss or detail.

So, in summation, my dear devoted readers, whenever the dreadful time comes when you are sorely tempted by the vile devils of ostentatiousness, it is much advised that you, oh peerless perusers, swiftly flee the terrible clutches of its ostentatious claws of grim death.

In other news:

Feel like giving out story prompts today? Two of the A-to-Z participants that I'm following are basing their themes around prompts given by readers.

Jessica Salyer at Just Following a Dream presents a word each day that readers must use in a sentence that will then be included in an ongoing story. You have until 10 PM CST tonight to enter a sentence that includes the word "omnipotent."

Jessica Marcarelli at Visions of Other Worlds is having a Saturday flash fiction challenge. Go leave her a comment with a prompt that starts with the letter "S"!

Have you ever had trouble with a disappearing sidebar? 

Do you have a problem with writing ostentatious prose, or does clean prose come naturally for you? Is there any specific bit of ostentatiousness that habitually annoys you?

Let me know by commenting!

L is for Labelling

You don't have to look very hard to see what my major theme is on this blog. 

Of the posts I've written, fifteen have been labelled "Writing."

On my sidebar, where I have the label cloud, Writing and A-to-Z Challenge have become so big that they overshadow all the other labels. They're like monsters, glutted on the gore from all the posts they've been tagged in, while all the other little labels starve.

Actually, I try not to let my labels starve. I love labeling posts, but I try to only use labels that I think I'll use more than once.

I find it very annoying when I'm reading a blog where the author tags almost everything he's mentioned in the post. So you see labels like "peanut butter cookies," or "Rolling in the Deep by Adele," or "ICAN'TBELIEVEIFINALLYGOTTHEJOBI'MSOHAPPY."

Now, I like to click on the labels after the posts to see more of what the author's written on that subject. So when I click on "peanut butter cookies" and there's only one post for that category... it makes me a little frustrated.

If you only ever did one post about peanut butter cookies, then what was the point of labeling it??

Not that I'm especially interested in peanut butter cookies.  It's more the principle of the thing.

Also, blogs that don't use labels at all frustrate me a little.

It means that I will most likely leave your blog faster because I don't see anything to hold my interest. But if you'd labelled a post "blogging" and I clicked the label and found ten other posts in that category, I'd stay longer and read them. And if I liked them, and I liked your writing style, I might follow your blog or leave a comment.


Use labels, my dear followers and readers. They will make your life easier.

There's also the related posts plugin which I'm debating whether to add. The only problem I can see is that sometimes when scrolling down the home page (on other blogs) it takes a while to load. I don't know if it's worth it. Any ideas?

Oh yes, and L is also for Lauren. My name has a few different interpretations, but the one I like best is "of the laurel or bay tree; symbolic of honor or victory."

In Other News:

You can now follow Word Art on Google+!

How about it? Do you use labels on your blog? Why or why not?

Should I get the related posts plugin? What do you like or dislike about the related posts plugin?

Does your name start with "L"?

Let me know by commenting!

J is for Jotting Things Down (In Journals)

You've had a 3'o'clock at night experience, right?

You know, when you come up with an idea so brilliant that you can't possibly wait until morning to write it down so you get up and search for a piece of paper in the dark and if you can't find the paper you write on your hand and then when you wake up you have to try to decipher your handwriting?

Yeah, that one.

This stunning picture on the left is the product of one of my middle of the night scribblings.

As you can see, it's got all of the typical characteristics of muse-inspired jottings. It's cryptic, messy, and can only be understood by me.

Hey, kind of like my journal (which is actually where I wrote this scribbled story idea.)

I use a journal for writing down poems, snatches of conversation, descriptions of interesting people, midnight story ideas, opening lines, sermon notes, favorite names, lists (I love lists. Can you tell?), or anything else that comes to mind.

This is the journal I currently use. It was a gift from Hadley.

I used to use my journals (I have about eight that I've filled) for writing down my daily activities. But ever since I started seriously writing, I've found that more and more I only jot down things related to writing.

Today's date last year. 
You're technically not supposed to know about the character mentioned in the above picture. Just pretend he doesn't exist.

Oh wait. He's fictional. He doesn't exist.

Moving on....

Now, I'd like to be specific here. I didn't choose the word "journal" because it fits with the letter J (okay, well maybe I did, but...)

I want to distinguish it from a diary.

A diary is not a journal.

A diary is not a writing journal.

A diary is a notebook in which you write down all your problems and angsty stuff.

A journal is... well, to repeat the common definition, a chronicle of a journey.

(Bonus "J" word of the day!)

So my writing journal is the chronicle of my journey through writing. I can look back at the things I've written, at the random descriptions, the thoughts, the poems and see how far (or not) I've come.

If you don't have a journal or a place to jot things down, I highly recommend you get one.

Download a notes app on your phone.

Buy a pocket sized notebook and a key chain sized pen.

Be ready to record whenever your muse inspires you.

Of course, it will always be in the most inconvenient places - I always find it happens in the car, or in church, or at parties.

But hey! You're a writer. Nobody will mind if you suddenly dive for your purse (or pocket) to write something down.

(It just reinforces the cliche of the mad artist.)

"Not keep a journal! How are your absent cousins to understand the tenour of your life in Bath without one? How are the civilities and compliments of every day to be related as they ought to be, unless noted down every evening in a journal? How are your various dresses to be remembered, and the particular state of your complexion, and curl of your hair to be described in all their diversities, without having constant recourse to a journal? "

- Henry Tilney, from Northanger Abbey

Pictured below: my eight filled-to-the-last-page journals.

In Other News:

Rissi from the lovely blog Scribbles, Scripts, and Such (which I've mentioned before and I highly recommend you visit) has awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award.

Hmm, I guess that means I'm

"Capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc.: a versatile writer."

Thanks, Rissi!

The award dictates that you must state seven things about yourself and then give the award to fifteen other bloggers.

For this post, I'll skip the seven facts (there's more than seven on my about me page if you're dying to know). And as for fifteen other bloggers... well, that's a lot. Off the top of my head, here are a few I can think of that fit the description:

Daniel

Mirriam

Aidyl

Ava (Spidophile)

Do you keep a journal? What kinds of things do you jot down? Do you use an app for that? 
Do you collect journals? Do you get that thrill when you open a blank journal? When does inspiration strike you?

Let me know by commenting!

March is Dying...

I just realized that March is nearly over. That means April is beginning, which means only 3 days until the A-to-Z Challenge.

Since apparently, blogger is getting a "new look" in April (the dreaded Updated Interface) I have been hastening to finish (or at least mostly finish) my scheduled A-to-Z posts before then.

I've heard some bad things about the UI. Apparently it's difficult to edit HTML in the posts, you can't turn off CAPTCHA for comments (unless it's already turned off), and it's hard to navigate.

Also I accidentally switched over to it, panicked because the white screen with the orange text was blinding me and I couldn't find any of the buttons, and then somehow found the go back to old interface button and selected it. The world then proceeded to return to normal.

I guess I'll have to learn how to use it if it becomes permanent, but for now I'll stick with the much more functional and easy-to-use old interface.

So for the first week of the A-to-Z challenge I'll be posting every single day. I've tried to keep the posts writing or blogging related, but sometimes I've lapsed into non-relevant posts - like the letter K, for example.

I have my first post all ready and scheduled for Sunday. For those of you who will be at church or elsewhere on Sunday, you can read it Monday or on my A-to-Z Challenge page.

I'm very excited for the challenge! It will be neat to read everyone else's posts (well, as many as I can manage), and also to see 26 posts for the month of April in my blog archive.

Oh, and in case you wanted to join, it's not too late to sign up.

Have you tried or used the updated interface? Have you joined or thought of joining the A-to-Z Challenge? Let me know by commenting!

Follow Me on Bloglovin'?

Since Google Friend Connect is (apparently) going away tomorrow, I decided to see what Bloglovin's all about.

So, just so you know, you can now follow my blog with Bloglovin.

I mean, you could before, but you can do it now too, if you want.

What is Bloglovin'? Well, I don't exactly know yet. Other than the fact that it's a way to read and follow blogs, and that they intentionally dropped their 'g'.

To claim my blog I had to write a post and insert the above link. It follows that the post will be about Bloglovin.

Neat way to advertise, I think.