Archive for November 2017

A funny thing happened to me this week. But to understand it you need the back story:

During the Silmarillion Awards in July, there was this girl I saw in the comments of the various posts.

She always nominate/seconded a Ted Dekker character. Especially Circle/Lost Books characters.

And I, plus the awesome Tracey Dyck, always did the same.

Tracey even said -- "wow you two are like my Ted Dekker buddies. We keep seconding each others nominations." It was so true. And this other girl really really caught my attention because TED DEKKER FANS ARE RARE.

Her name was Kate Marie.

And I tried to find her. I did. But I just could not seem to find her link. Until Jem so VERY NICELY includes it in her post recently. I immediately fly over to Story and Dark Chocolate to exclaim my delight at finally having found Kate after so long.

Kate replies to my comment after a bit and with something like, "LISAAAAA HI!!! How could I forget??? Ted Dekker fans are so rare I SHALL TREASURE YOU FOREVER. Thank you so much for hunting me down and for the follow!!! You are awesome.

By the way ... waaaaaayyy back when we were twinning at the Sil Awards, I tagged you for something but, ahem, forgot to tell you about it. Here it is if you'd like to do it!!!"

And let me just tell you ... I WAS FLOORED.

Like, wait whaaaat??? It took me ages to find you and you like knew of my existence all along and even tagged me and even linked to MY BLOG in that tag??? How did I not know this?

Also I felt pretty stupid for being so late in finding her, when she, all the way back in July, knew all about me.

Okay well it's not my fault she hid all her links so well.

BUT ANYWAY. AHEM. HERE IS THE TAG. These days it's called the Mysteriously Nameless Tag of Doom. Before it was called, the I Dare You Tag. Neither suits it very well, but who even cares???

// What book has been on your shelf the longest? //

Gladys Aylward: No Mountain Too High. I got this book when I was ... eight. I was the first "chapter book" with no pictures inside that I ever read. And I still have it sitting on my shelf to this day, quite intact, and with a place of honor. I was really proud of myself after finishing it -- and it also sparked my love of biographies, missionaries, and dangerously adventurous true life stories.

// What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next? //

Current: Fangirl and Siren's Song

Fangirl is contemporary and pretty cool -- even though it has a few content issues. Siren's Song is the last of Mary Weber's trilogy and I promised a review of the series once I finished this -- which is why I'm reading it.

Last: Heartless

MARISSA MEYER. It wasn't on par with the Lunar Chronicles books but still. THE ENDING. It felt like Alice in Wonderland smashed with Shakespeare ...

Next: The Priest's Graveyard and The Best American Travel Writing

Because TED DEKKER. And I will be studying travel writing once Nano is over. That's the December writing plan haha :)

// What book did everyone like, but you hated? //

I don't hate books. I just don't. But one of my least favorites is the Snow Like Ashes trilogy. Book one was okay, really! But the next two were just ... so. deathly. boring. And I don't think everyone liked them?? But I read them because others I know did!!

// What book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t? //

Let's just be honest. EVERYTHING CURRENTLY ON THE TBR.

To be more exact, probably classics like Jules Verne and Dickens. Also probably the thousand over books of Alexandre Dumas -- who am I kidding here? Who can read that many???

// What book are you saving for retirement? //

All the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books of ever!!! Yes, I'm not joking. I still love both these series and I'll never grow out of them!! I first discovered the Hardy Boys when my dad borrowed the audiobook for us! And Nancy was soon to follow. I mean now that I read them the writing is so super simple and the plots are so predictable,but do I care?? NO!

// Last page: read it first, or wait ’til the end? //

Usually wait till the end. But if ...

a) it gets boring or

b) I don't think I want to read the full thing or

c) I get the awesome idea to be a rebel AND GO SEE THE END or

d) if the end is infamous for a twist or surprise ...

then I'll read the end first!!!

//Acknowledgement: waste of paper and ink, or interesting aside? //

IT'S LIKE THE BEST PART!!! I mean IF THERE'S NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I WILL CRY. Enough said.

// Which book character would you switch places with? //

I keep thinking Hadley because I RELATE SO HARD TO HER. See if Death gave me a chance to save someone I know from suicide I would accept without question. But I like would probably die before I'd work up the courage to stalk Archer ... *hides from the thought of it*

// Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life? (Place, time, person?) //

Basically every book I ever read.

// Name a book that you acquired in an interesting way. //

There's quite a few...

The Sorceress and the Squid -- I won this in a giveaway!!! Like the first time of ever, and also ... I'd totally forgotten I was entered lol.

Peter Nimble -- I got to pick this as an "prize" for entering a writing contest. Then I won gift cards in the contest and bought myself The Book Thief.

The Coronation -- this was an ebook -- BUT THE LOVELY AUTHOR JUST GAVE IT TO ME ^-^

Let Me Be a Woman -- my fabulous cousin bought this for me and it's super rare that that actually happens xD

Have you ever given a book away for a special reason to a special person?

I've got birthday/Christmas presents for family. That's basically it. I recall getting Warriors, Dragon Rider, Magic Tree House and The Kestrel ... probably more but shhh Christmas isn't here yet ;)

Which book has been with you most places?

Hmmm .... I'm guessing either Gladys Aylward or my Bible. Pretty self-explanatory.

Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad later?

I never hate reading required or not. So no. I've always loved all required reading.

Used or brand new?

Usually used, but I do prefer brand new xD

Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?

Forgive me for this ... but who is Dan Brown???

Have you ever seen a movie you liked more than the book?

In short, no. But I have a feeling that I would prefer the How to Train Your Dragon movies if I ever did read the books. Just because I'm used to it.

Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks included?

I'm not the kind of person who gets hungry while reading. But Heartless had some delicious sounding, well described desserts xD After all Catherine wants to have a bakery and I relate pretty well being a baker's daughter haha xD

Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?

Quite a few people .... especially my Goodreads friends (not all of them of course, but quite a few).

I'd say I whole-heartedly trust Abigayle Claire (cause she's my reading accountability partner lol),and Savannah. I do take other people's book advice too -- but I really really believe these two.

Is there a book out of your comfort zone (e.g., outside your usual reading genre) that you ended up loving?

Divergent would really be it. My first real secular YA sci-fi and ... I just ... WAS FOREVER HOOKED ON YA AND SCI-FI. No question.

Okay that was that and I'm just going to tag ...

Olivia ... Maddy ... Nicole ... and Ella ...

so. what books are you leaving for retirement? also, which character would you switch places with???

And the school year begins.

I just started school last week. I'll admit, I'm a bit late. Ok. I'm a couple of months late. And a couple of months are precious time for accomplishing something. This means I get to challenge myself and attempt to finish courses in eight months rather than ten. Don't even ask me how I imagine that is possible ...

However I AM SO STOKED FOR SCHOOL. Someone once (recently) asked what I love about fall. I said MY BIRTHDAY. But anther reason would definitely be ... SCHOOL. Some of you might be staring at me as if I lost me head. BUT HEY. I LOVE SCHOOL!!!

In the same way as I feel like I'm coming alive in the spring after the hibernation of winter, I feel like I'm coming alive in the autumn after the relaxation and laziness of summer (don't get me wrong SUMMER IS AWESOME though). And I just get so pumped up -- ready to dive in headfirst into the insanity which is school.

I'm a good student (if I do say so myself). School is essential, and you know? Even if school wasn't a must-do for all teens -- I'D STILL DO IT FOR A HOBBY.

Above all I love the aspect of learning new things that you never expected to learn. Second, it's a ridiculously simple way to expand your horizons and discover new interests and become multitalented and find your own potential and test out all those things you may want to do when you grow up!

But getting to the point -- my almost-virtual twin Angela tagged me for the Back To School tag a long time ago, which I will finally try to answer to the best of my abilities. There's a bunch of rules to go with it, but as I will follow none of them nor tag anyone (because I'm lazy of course), I don't have to put them up here. Haha!

// What grade are you in, and how old are you?

I am in grade 10, and I am sixteen years old. That's should have been apparent already :)

// Are you home schooled, private schooled, or public schooled? Do you enjoy your type of schooling?

None of the above!! ... So I'm sort of home schooled, but in reality I take online courses, work completely independently, except for teachers who grade my work and are happy to answer questions. So yes, the textbooks plus the internet are my teachers. I do enjoy studying this way -- but then no more, no less than I enjoyed the other ways that I studied in the past

// What is your favorite subject?

It depends. I love them all so much, for a variety of reasons, but ... *sigh* English beats them all. English is my favorite subject.

// What is your least favorite subject?

I don't have one!! It's never consistent, but my least favorite is always the one that is stressing me out at the moment I am asked the question (currently: none).

// One thing you learned in school when you were younger that is still in your head?

I'm going to go with Literature here. For the record, I never enjoyed a subject more, nor loved the textbook more, than I did in grade 8 literature (I was with BJU Press.)

// Do you study hard or wing it, most often?

I study hard. Very hard. Too hard. Once upon a time my family put a "no studying" ban on me because of how hard I studied. No joke.

// Your way to study is…?

Taking notes. Lots of notes. Piles of notes. Notes that are scrappy and impossible to read which I recycle later. Notes that are beautifully written out and placed in folder that I keep for year to come. In grade 9 alone I must have taken between 600 to 700 pages of notes for four subjects. That's like writing two to three books right?

// What is one subject you want to work really hard on this year, to better yourself?

I want to work hard on Math and Science. I did well last year, but I know I could have done better, and I aim to do better than my best this year. Hopefully.

// What is one thing you look forward to this particular year of school? What does this year mean for you?

I look forward to doing my best. I look forward to learning. I look forward to expanding my horizons. This year ... is my third last year of high school. I'm scared because after this it'll be two more years ... then one more year ... and then I'm done! AND I DON'T WANNA BE DONE SO FAST. So I intend to make the most of this year now.

// What is one thing that school introduced you to, that made you look farther into, that you still really enjoy?

Shakespeare. Now technically, my school wouldn't be introducing me to Shakespeare until this year (!). But when I was in grade 6, I learned to write plays. My dad was like, "Hey have you heard of Shakespeare?" And I said, "Nope." But then I checked Shakespeare out -- and wow. I still obsessed. That year -- in grade 6 -- I read at least 13 plays on my own?? Shakespeare all the way for this question lol :D

// Are you excited for school? If so, why? If not, why?

I'm pretty sure I explained this already. I AM STOKED.

//BONUS, USELESS QUESTION: Can you recite the alphabet backwards aloud? (Honestly, who can?)

No. I cannot. In fact there's still a weird thing for me about reciting it forwards ... I can recite the alphabet forwards. (I sing it better.) But ask me, "what comes after P?" AND I'M STUCK. Okay? I've always had the problem, still do. I have to go back a ways, like ... all the way to L. And recite from there -- L, M, N, O, P, Q .... and then I can say, "It's Q!" Don't look at me like that, I'm still a writer!!!

* * *

Okay question time over! I have a bit of a confession ... I probably won't be able to keep blogging twice a week. With Nano and school catching up (plus work), my week will be so packed that I'm going to have to start posting only once. I may/may not sometimes do an extra one sometimes when I feel like it, but for now ... once a week it will be :)

Also, just throwing it in here that I have Bloglovin' now >>> *points to sidebar* and it's actually really cool so I recommend you check it out!!!

Till next week then *waves*

>> Lisa

My blogging schedule has gone haywire. Here I am posting on Thursday? WHAT IS THIS. It's called Nanowrimo and school, obviously. I've been thinking of switching my posts to Saturday and Wednesday, but we'll see. With all the new stuff going on in my life things might be a little out of order here for a while. Sorry >.<

The month of October was super busy and actually rather productive yay!!! Not only did I move house across the country, settle in, get acquainted with my new neighborhood, go through a short flu, and organise my shelves by color, I managed to read, write, and stay up to date with the blog world (for the most part). So hurray!!! *claps for myself*

>> WUTHERING HEIGHTS. The morning of our 6 am flight I had to wake up at 3:45 am. But since I'd started my friend's copy of The Complete Works of Charlotte and Emily Bronte I thought why not just get up earlier and finish Wuthering Heights? (Which I started that night.) So I did. At 2 am. Unfortunately I was only able to go through 22 chapters. Which means I must borrow this book soon and finish it -- but um wow. It was ... different ... tragic ... romance-centred... a classic. HELLO I LOVE IT.

>> THE BOOK THIEF. WOW. This masterpiece. It was so good HOW CAN IT EVEN BE FICTION??? It was so raw and real and painfully honest. I NEED TO WRITE LIKE THIS. Also I love the narrator -- Death. It was such a riveting book that deserves to be the classic it is and gave me the feel of the ordinary life in WWII as no other has since The Hiding Place. (generous dose of language but reality, I guess...)

>> TWINEPATHY. So I finally finished C. B. Cook's lovely superhero novel. One) I NEED BOOK TWO. NOW. Two) I loved it so much more than expected?? Three) I didn't even know what I was expecting. Honestly it was really good! I'll be reviewing it in full later. I only felt like ... being a series, I get why this didn't have a full conclusion, but I rather like if each book in a series concluded it's conflict in some way ... this left it still fully open and ready to be continued in the next book. So just my taste :D

>> JONAS AND OLIVIA. This book was a wonder! No action (which is why it's four stars) but still it held my attention right through. How even? It was very much reminiscent of Heidi with Dicken's Scrooge thrown in and set in the American war for independence. I very much felt this needs a sequel?? But it was super sweet and a happy read? So.

>> CHASING THE BETA + CHASING THE OMEGA. *sigh* I regret disliking these cause I got them free from a friend of a friend of Goodreads. Two problems: 1) an overdose of language (*shudders*) + 2) I couldn't care for the characters. At all. I couldn't sympathise. Relate. Understand. I think they were just self-centred jerks -- I'm sorry.

>> THE ABOLITION OF MAN. I haven't actually read this carefully? Just a skim-read but I tried to read this when I was 12. Didn't understand it xD But now it makes sense and I'll be taking more time to go through it carefully later!

>> IN 27 DAYS. This was stunning. Amazing. I HAVE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS. So let me just shower you with the synopsis:

Hadley Jamison is shocked when she hears that her classmate, Archer Morales, has committed suicide. She didn't know the quiet, reserved guy very well, but that doesn't stop her from feeling there was something she could have done to help him.

Hoping to find some sense of closure, Hadley attends Archer's funeral. There, Hadley is approached by a man who calls himself Death and offers her a deal. If Hadley accepts, she will be sent back 27 days in time to prevent Archer from killing himself. But when Hadley agrees to Death's terms and goes back to right the past, she quickly learns her mission is harder than she ever could have known.

Hadley soon discovers Archer's reasons for being alone, and Archer realizes that having someone to confide in isn't as bad as he'd always thought. But when a series of dangerous accidents starts pushing them apart, Hadley must decide whether she is ready to risk everything - including her life - to keep Archer safe.

YOU NEED THIS. That is all. It has beautiful characters, marvellous plot, outstanding themes, and just. IT'S SUCH A STUPENDOUS IDEA.

>> REMEMBER TO FORGET. ok. I am so incredibly lucky I got to read In 27 Days and Remember to Forget back to back. When I first heard about these I found them at the same time same place and they are both by Wattpad authors about similar issues with similar themes ... and just I LOVE THIS ONE TOO. It was slightly more ... fluffy?? I know they both have romance but this had a really sweet cuddly kind rather xD

Again I was able to reach about 20k for Broccoli Queen (which you've all heard about all month xD). It was 10 chapters from Rhine's pov and it was ... hard. Also fun. Because Rhine is awesome. But honestly, half the time I didn't know what I was doing xD I was part of Ivie's October challenge, and I and Karyssa did some warring in the latter part of the month, so I'd say I was successful.

Nano began yesterday and I'm writing Broccoli Queen ... plus another novel which you'll hear about later this week or next week depending on the insanity of my schedule! So stay tuned for that ... ;)

Katie Grace revealed her superhero story in this post and O.O THE PLOT. THE AESTHETICS. THE CHARACTER'S NAMES. THE SYNOPSIS. WOW. I am so excited for her story!! I mean, I'm always excited about her stories! But I'm like double excited this time!!

Abbiee finally did a room tour! Which was gorgeous and stunning and epic! And I watched it like six times in one day! It was very very inspirational for organising and decorating your work/living space ;)

Nadine wrote this beautiful post about ways of writing, telling us about famous authors and how they wrote!! Which was absolutely amazing, and made me feel super good about hand-writing all my stories and books :)

Cait is going to publish her book!! YAY!! Next year D: HOW CAN WE STAND THE WAITING??!! I think a lot of us have waited and waited and waited to see her books come out ... just to see if they're as epic as her blogging ... WHO ARE WE KIDDING OF COURSE IT IS.

Amanda always has the awesomest posts on SKGfun! What I was delighted to find was SOMEONE STANDING UP FOR PERFECTIONISM FOR ONE!!! Usually it gets bashed together with comparison but ... I might be a little rebel, but perfectionism has been good to me *shrug* Also she has these lovely posts on doing devotions plus taking a break from technology.

>> I moved :P Which you already know because I've talked about it all month :P Important note: I brought along only 52 books xD

>> I turned 16. Which is cool and a bit scary and WOW I HAVEN'T COME TO GRIPS WITH IT YET

>> I've started school. This might really mess with my blogging so bear with me okay?? I'll be doing a tag all about school later so we'll wait until then for a glimpse of my ...life??

>> Nano begins! I wrote 5.7 k on day one, which was yesterday with an epic "cabin" (chat group) so if you are doing Nano (or even if you aren't but just want the warring buddies) you should totally join! Give me a shout if you're interested and I'll see if I can get you in!!

Okay that's it for now. I'm late with this post and I am late for everything I'm doing these days xD Whatever craziness November brings you -- enjoy it, guys :D

Bye now!

-- Lisa

How was your month?

Are you doing Nano?

Have you read In 27 Days?

Pages

welcome

search

subscribe

archives

bloglovin'

followers

Instagram