Wisteria Writer's Tag // apparently it's tagging time

And after ages of silence in the tagging realm SUDDENLY TWO TAGS WITHIN A WEEK OF EACH OTHER.

Boom.

This time it's the Wisteria Writer's Tag which is perfect because it's Camp NaNo and this should fit right in.

and yes I know they're Rain Lillies or something like that, not Wisteria, but shhhh. Still flowers. :P

Thank you to Brianna for tagging me! (everyone go check out her snazzy new blog)

Rules:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Answer the ten questions asked.
3. Add ten (writing or book related) questions of your own.
4. Nominate people.

1. Why did you start writing?

Because my older sister started. And older sisters always do the cool things.
So naturally I copied her.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.


2. What is your favorite book on writing?

Creating Character Arcs - K. M. Weiland
BECAUSE YES. GO BUY AND READ IT RIGHT NOW.
Also I won this in a giveaway and that was so cool because the giveaway hosts actually bothered to make the effort to send an actual paperback copy all the way to Australia. How cool is that??


3. Who's your favorite character to date?

How can I choose between all my precious babies??? YOU CAN'T ASK ME TO DO THIS.
I think maybe- BUT NO. I cannot do this. *curls up under a blanket and hides from the question*


4. What's your favorite way to write? (pen and paper, computer, typewriter, dictation, etc.)

Usually just computer/laptop, because that's the easiest and quickest. ALTHOUGH I do want to try a just pen-paper novel sometime because that would be super cool.

But can I just bring up that dictation is an option?? I WANT TO MEET SOMEONE WHO USES THIS METHOD. I could not possibly do that. Whenever I try tell a story out loud my brain goes on strike.


5. Plot first or Character first?

I have this thing called an obsession with theme and character arcs. Theme first. Always.
In plotting my Camp NaNo novel at last minute, I did it in the order of 
1) characters 
2) theme 
3) character arcs 
4) world building 
5) oh wait yes I also need an actual plot. 
(step five was completed 12 hours before Camp NaNo began)


6. Writing essentials? (coffee, a blanket, chocolate, etc.)

Basically the same list that I gave in my post last Monday. XD But just to change it up a little, another thing I like to have when writing (I've discovered this in the last week) is physical things. I printed out my face-claims for my main cast of characters, and it's been SO COOL. Also I did all my theme, character arcs, character profiles, world building, and plot stuff in one notebook. And that's been really good and I'm definitely doing it again.


7. Favorite quote about writing?

That has got to be one of my favourites. I think it's such an important thing to remember, and it's what I keep reminding myself as I'm writing my first drafts.

And right now I'm SURE there's some really really cool quote about writing that I have written down somewhere but I can't remember. So this'll have to do. :P


8. What's your current work-in-progress about?

OKAY YES. *grabs out handily written synopsis*
Actually no. I have no synopsis. Or pitch line. Or any of that stuff.

Basically it's a sci fi novella with hints of fairy tales, not very much green, a smol determined girl called Michayla and a stiff, logical and secretly insecure guy called Braden (who also happens to wear a suit and sunglasses constantly)
Oh yes and it's titled A Sprig of Green if I hadn't already mentioned that.


9. Music or silence?

It honestly depends on my mood. Usually I'm a very music-y person, and I've got playlists for all my characters. But then sometimes I just don't want to have music. And particularly editing, I'm not keen on having music. But again, it depends. Sometimes I like it with editing too.


10. What is the one thing you wish you'd known when you started writing?

Sometimes I think about going back in time, calmly placing my hand on my younger self's shoulder and saying: YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BE PERFECT, JANE. DEAL WITH IT AND KEEP DOING THE THING. YOU'LL BE FINE.
Also maybe: JEEZ DO A BIT MORE RESEARCH.

*bows* And then my younger self would be terrified and quit writing right away. So I'm not sure there'd actually be any point at all.

Time travel makes everything complicated.


Now I get to think up questions and tag people and ack isn't it exciting?? I'm actually following the rules. *cue shocked gasps from all the readers*


1) What inspired the idea for your current WIP (work in progress), and how long have you had the idea?
2) What are you most looking forward to about this WIP?
3) Have you ever dreamed about your characters?
4) How do you go about naming your characters?
5) Do you plan out your theme?
6) Do you discover the MBTI thing of your characters? (if so, what are the types of your WIP protagonists?)
7) Have you a favourite genre to write in? (or do you like switching it up randomly)
8) What is a big inspiration for you in writing? (a person, book, quote, scenery, ect.)
9) Are you competitive in your word counts, or more chill and relaxed?
10) Do you like sharing small snippets of your work? (*hint hint* :P)


AND THE PEOPLES I AM TAGGING:
(note to said tagged peoples: if you don't want to do this that's fine by me I only spent half the day thinking up these wasted ten questions ahem)

Sarah // Novus Papilio

Clare // Clare's Spot

Quinley // Adventure Awaits

And everyone else who I didn't mention because really I just don't want to make you feel obliged to do this because you mightn't want to. If you haven't done this before, please consider yourself tagged. Like, honestly. Do. Please. I want to see your answers. DO ALL THE ANSWERING, OKAY? :P

Or else you could just answer them in the comments, because I'm a curious person.


Do you make character or story playlists?
(drop me a link if you do!!! Mine are on my youtube channel: here)
What's your's or your character's MBTI??
(as I said, I'm curious. :P)

Liebster Blog Award // featuring my amazing forgettery

In which I got tagged several weeks *cough cough*two months*cough* ago and completely forgot about it until I stumbled across a draft post titled Liebster award, did a double take, and then had the flash of rememberency come upon me.

Oops. That wasn't quite my plan.

BUT ANYWAY. Back in March, Faith tagged me to do the Liebster award and hence I'm here today to finally get to that post. Thanks for tagging me, Faith! (and sorry it took so long for me to get to it)

Here are the official Liebster Tag rules:

1) Link back to the person who tagged you.
2) Answer the eleven questions.
3) Tag 11 bloggers, and let them know you tagged them.
4) Ask your tagged bloggers eleven questions.

Alternatively:

1) Do the thing.

So I hereby proceed to follow rule number one and do the thing.


1) What made you want to start a blog?

Technically I never actually 'wanted' to start a blog. My sisters wanted me to. And then my mum got me to for school work. So I could do posts about nature.

In the last three years I've done one post on nature. I'M VERY PROUD OF MYSELF, DON'T LAUGH. *hides under the desk and laughs*

And now I'm glad that I have a blog because I can post about random stuff and writing and generally meet all you cool people.


2) What does your first name mean?

Jane - God is gracious.
I actually rather like that name meaning. It's so true. God is so good.

The meaning of 'Maree' is a little bit more interesting, shall we say. Technically it's derived from the name Mary which means Wished-for child, rebellion, or bitter. Not sure which I'll pick. I mean bitter is a little bit eh. And wished-for child - I don't know but it sounds a bit cliche. Rebellion though. Rebelling against the expectations of today's culture would be a nice plan. Forget about all the 'teenage' stereotypes. Life for Christ.
Yep. That sounds good to me.


3) Did you know when you were younger what you wanted to be/do when you grew up? Do you know or have any idea now what you want to do?

HA. But this technically is two questions. Cheater.

Anyways. I used to think I wanted to be a nurse. I don't know why. I also went through other stages - like everyone probably does - throughout the years before that. If my memory serves me correctly, I once wanted to work in a zoo, be a national park ranger person, and also a baker. Because bakers bake tasty stuff.

And now days, if I was to get an actual paid job...I'd go for pizza deliverer because that sounds right up my alley.

But actually right now I'm doing what I want to be doing. a) Living for Christ and b) writing.


4) If you could see yourself from someone else's perspective, who's perspective would you choose and why? (It could be a family member's, a friend's, your local librarian's, etc.)

Wow, um, I don't know? That would be really cool though. Maybe from a friend's perspective. Or actually maybe from one of the random people I know from online. Because that would be rather interesting. I couldn't pick anyone by name though, I don't think.


5) What was the last book you read? What was your opinion of it? Did you like it, or not so much?

So is this the last book I finished, or the last one I started? Or the last one I read a section from?
Well, the last book I finished was Chokepoint, book 1.5 of The Mission League by Jill Williamson. It was pretty epic. I mean, secret agents, guy-nappings (as opposed to kidnappings), betrayals. It was good. Four stars. Not as good as the first book, but still pretty good.
(If you're one of those people who want the full thing, you can check out my actual review here.)


6) What was the last movie you watched? What was your opinion of it? Did you like it, or no?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. IT WAS GREAT. *flails over it forever*

Ahem. Yes. I loved the characters and the story and ack everything basically. It was a fantastic birthday present to get for my sister. (Get it? Fantastic? *cue everyone reading this groaning very loud and shoving me into a magical suitcase and keeping me in there forever*)


7) What is your favorite movie adaptation of a book?

Okay. You literally asked for it.

I'm going to say Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I know that technically the movie isn't really an adaptation of the book because the book doesn't have the storyline because it was more of a facts thing, BUT THE MOVIE WAS GREAT SO IT TOTALLY COUNTS. Newt was the best. And Jacob was a No-Mag/muggle that actually played an important and intelligent role and I liked him too. AND ALL THE CREATURES. I think I was a little bit more like Newt than anyone else. Awkward if meeting new people. Excited with animals. Sounds like great fun.

*cough* I'll stop fangirling now.


8) What quote (from a book, movie, or YouTube video) do you find yourself saying often?

*clears throat*
Note: every book and movie that I watch, I pick up lots of quotes. That makes this question very difficult. I quote lots of things every day. (Although not as much as I used to, I'm getting more original)

That said, at the moment I can't actually think of any particular quotes that I use specifically frequently. Other than maybe "I see...I see the light. The light has come upon me. I now know..." Quoted from Kingdom Pen Cinema. *snorts*


9) If you could live in any other previous time period, which one would you choose?

Ooh ooh I think it'd be cool to be around when planes were being invented. Like with all the race to the sky, sort of idea. It's just always had a cool swashbuckling intrigue for me.


10) What would you consider your favorite thing to do in your free time? What do you ACTUALLY end up doing in your free time?

Ooh tsk tsk look at this. Another double question. *shakes head sadly*

Reading probably. And also music stuff - whether it be writing it, playing it or listening to it and reading at the same time. Win-win.

Free time? What is these words? I thought free time went extinct a few months ago.
Well actually on the occasions when I do get free time, I do read and do music. And also hang out with siblings, or chat online to friends. Critique read peoples novels. Write random snippets of story ideas just for fun. All that cool stuff.


11) What is one thing that you always want people to remember about you after you're gone?

To be completely honest, I'd like people to remember how passionate I was about my Lord and Saviour. I'm a work in progress (we all are though, am I right) in this area, but I try to give all the glory to Him. And I'd like that to be the most memorable thing about me.

On a less serious note, I'd also like people to remember me as someone who made them laugh.


So there you are. My very late tag post award thing. I don't think I can tag eleven people though, and eleven questions - wow that's so many. I don't have the skill for that. (Shhh don't look at me like that. Of course I could be bothered, if I had the skill. It's the skill that's lacking, obviously.)

But hey, all the peoples around who comment on my blog and have blogs themselves, do this thing. use the questions I answered. Or think up some more interesting ones.
*starts thinking about lunch*
Or just...eat pizza, or something fun like that.


Have you watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?
(if so did you like it? - and if you did, FLAIL WITH ME. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE PART?)
What was the last book you read?

The Text Tag

Tags, tags, tags. Tags everywhere! This one is from my sister Clare. Thanks! Uh, I'm not sure why it's called the Text Tag, it's more about Words. Words, words, words (that, by the way, is a quote from Hamlet. See, I do read civilized things sometimes).

But anyway, here goes.

Yeah, I didn't make my own picture this time. Clare's was too cool already.

'Kay, so here're the rules.

\\Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to them.
//Answer the original 6 text-themed questions.
\\Add a typography/word related question for those you tagged to answer.
//Tag 6+ bloggers
\\Include these rules in your post.

And, here are the questions I must set out to answer.

1. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?

Umm, I can't say I've ever thought about that before. Do people do this? Is this some random trend I was unaware of? (note: I am unaware of most trends) Uh, well...I think the letter n when it has an accent over it like this - ñ - looks cool, and I like how it sounds in a Spanish word.

2. What are three words that you love?

Rather - If you say it in the right tone (it's got to be a kind of rather, if that makes sense) it makes me think of the Billabong books and I feel like jumping on a horse and riding out to muster some cattle. (Unfortunately, we own neither or I quite possibly would.) (Honestly, sometimes I wish we could just go around talking in the same way that the characters do, calling each other bricks and the such. It would be a jolly lark.)

Guvna - Don't ask, just don't ask. I like it. I call my dad Guvna half the time, and it's not uncommon for me to say 'Top o' the marnin' to ya, guvna' to people.

Pizza - Come on. Pizza is great! Though, I'll say the actual thing is better than the word, but it has great power over me. If I'm reading in my room, say, and you yell out "Pizza!" I shall be by your side within moments.

3. What are three words that you hate?

No. More. Pizza. Noooooooo, oh the pain in those three little words! The agony. There's no more pizza! And then there's the four words: I ate your lunch. That's almost as horrible. But even worse if lunch happened to be pizza.

But aside from pizza-related words...nope. I can't think of any words other than that. I'm too hungry at the moment. Pizza would be good right now.

4. If you could create a word, what would it be, and what would it describe?

I have invented plenty of random words, but I'll choose just one for now.

Automagic: The word used to describe something that is basically automatic but the inventors considered the idea magical and the word automatic too boring. Found in words such as "Automagic-Vegemite-Jar-Opener" which is an invention created by the Terrible Trio in Jane Maree's short story "The Day We Wrecked the Lunch Machine" - a Lando Erif story.

Yup, I'm not sure if I've told you all much about my Lando Erif short stories (each around 4,000 words long). Basically they started out as a present for my little brothers. I've written five short stories and half of another. I should do a post about it sometime...But if you want to know more about Lando you should totally check out his secret page on my blog. He has a secret page? Yeah. It's the search error page. I spent half- er sorry. Lando spent half the morning working on it a while back. (Click here for Lando's secret page!)

5. What are your three favorite punctuation marks?

Uh, again, is it a thing that people have favourite punctuation marks? Aside from the useful ordinary, common things...I like using dashes — they're handy for interjecting a sentence randomly. And parentheses are cool ('cause you can ramble off randomly in a different way so it doesn't look like you doing it that much!). Quotation marks are excellent for dialogue. “And hey, I love dialogue!”

6. What are your three favourite fonts?

I admit. I don't have favourite fonts. I could make stuff up for the other questions but, huh? Favourite fonts? Whaaaat? For just plain words I like Times New Roman, thats what I've got on all my writing documents. The text for my blog is...er, Crimson Text, just because I think it suits. And...uh...I really don't know? Is that allowed? (Please say yes)

And Clare's Bonus Question for me because I'm just so clever to have lived to the last question:

Do you like writing? If so share a favourite snippet of something you have been working on recently.

Ah yes I like writing. I'm, like, kinda a...er...writer. But anyway, a favourite snippet? Well, I'm glad you mentioned 'recently' otherwise I don't know what I'd go with. As it is...

“Undercover Agent Benjamin Kit had originally had a plan, but he’d left it behind before breaking into the Great Federation headquarters. If he didn’t have a plan, unforeseen circumstances wouldn’t ruin it.

On the other hand, it also meant he had no idea what he was actually doing.

Rescuing the Great Federation’s most wanted criminal from his approaching execution was way outside his mission boundaries, but that wasn’t about to stop him. Just like the fact that he was meant to be going to the Middle East didn’t stop him from getting lost and ending up in Britain in the first place.”

Ben is my favourite character from Monsieur Scattlocke, though technically this snippet is actually the beginning of book two. Heh, I've written under fifteen thousand words of book one, and I'm already wanting to write book two? Go figure. I'm like that.


So that's all the questions. Apparently I've got to tag some people and add my own special question. Now, for a while I've been piling up tags on my cousin Jessica, but on Friday she finally did them all. And then went and tagged me back.

I ask you. What was that for?

Not to mention that she listed me as one of her top ten villains just because I kept interrupting her with my emails.

So she walked into this one.

Therefore, Jessica, I hereby tag you for the Text Tag! How long shall I have to wait for this one? And just for you, here's the bonus question:

What is a random word you use very frequently in conversation?

And Savannah Perran, I'll tag you too. :)

HAVE FUN OH MY TAGGED PEOPLES!

Fair Winds!

Jane Maree

The Liebster Award

I haven't done an award thing for a while, and Clare was in need of a volunteer for doing a tag/award so here I am!

§The Rules§

Link back to the person who tagged you.

Answer 11 questions.

Try To Tag 11 bloggers.

Ask them 11 questions.

Let them know you've tagged them.

Have Fun.

§Clare's Questions§

1. What do you sort your books by? Would you sort them differently if you had enough room? Naturally I have all the books by the same author next to each other, and one of my shelves is solely for favourites. (It's got Ranger's Apprentice, Brotherband, Orphan's Song, Heartless and Draven's Light on it, in case you wondered.) And all of those ones (excluding maybe Orphan's Song) have the same style/looking cover, so they all match!
Since I recently got a new bookshelf I have actually got a reasonable amount of room. One of the shelves is only single layered! :P

2. How many centimeters long is your hair? Approximately 42. I must say, I don't think I've ever thought of measuring hair in centimeters...

3. If you had a flying island would you share it with anyone? Who? Yeah, I guess I'd probably share it. Who with? Hard question. My good friends. Sisters. I dunno, get me a flying island and I'll work it out then.

4. Have you ever dressed up medieval? Yes actually. There was a time many, many years ago on the date 27/03/2016 that I dressed up as a pirate for a friend's birthday. Oh wait, that was yesterday. :) Quite a lot of my clothes could be considered medieval style.

5. What was your favourite game to play when you were little? Hmm, I honestly can't think of anything. I generally jumped right in if either one of my big sisters suggested something. Even if it was immensely stupid. 

6. What is your favourite board game? Maybe Cluedo, but I'm hopeless at that. Or Forbidden Island, which isn't technically a board game, but it almost is. I really don't know.

7. How is your flying island normally attached/anchored to earth? By a massive slice of pizza. Which never gets eaten away, no matter how many bites you take. That said, I don't actually have a flying island so it's not really in need of an anchor.

8. What colour are your eyes? and what book character has eyes that colour? My eyes are blue, with some few people claiming that they are quite greenish for blue, and still others saying they're more grey. But generally speaking, they're blue.
There are quite a few book characters out there with blue eyes. Birdie, Jason Grace, Peeta Mellark, Four/Tobias Eaton, Captain Carswell Thorne, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, Ron Weasley, Professor Dumbledore, Artemis Fowl, Queenie/Verity. I'll stop there before my brain explodes from thinking of them all.

9.What does your family cook on the BBQ? (and if you are American, do you know what a BBQ is?) Well, I'm not an American, so I'll ignore the second half of the question. As to the first part; sausages, potato chips...that's it I think, other than the rare steak.

10. If you could bring back one item from a dream what would it be? Ooh, hardest question yet. I have such a massive range of things to choose from. Excluding the book/movie/my-own-imagined characters and to think of an actual thing...A ship? Or maybe Legolas's bow. Or one of the many swords. Or the cool clothes. Or...yup, I can't decide. Maybe I'll go for the techo-device thing that enables you to get characters out of books for a temporary visit. (Yes, I have dreamed about that.)

11. How do you tie your hair up? I brush it. I wrap a hairband around it. I walk away. Basically always a simple pony tail. I'm pretty boring when it comes to hairstyles. Except my fringe, it's hard for something that crazy to be boring.


Phew, at the end of all those questions at last. And that wasn't even the hardest bit. I've got to think up questions? (Yes Jane, you do, otherwise the rule keepers will chase you down and finally get their revenge) Okaay then. 
And I've also got to tag some people. I choose...

Sarah, 'cause you're one of the friends I'd invite onto my floating island.

Jessica, 'cause you're probably my coolest cousin, and I guess I'd let you on too. :)

And Lydia, 'cause I don't think I've tagged you before. Aaand I'd let you on my island as well.

If none of you want to do it, don't worry, I'm just waiting for your excuses really...
Now for your questions. Here they be:

 §Questions§

1. What's the last song you listened to?

2. What are some of your favourite book covers?

3. What's the weirdest book you've ever read?

4. What's a job you dreamed of having as a kid?

5. Do you like pizza?

6. Are you any good in the kitchen?

7. In a group of people are you more likely to be silent, talking or cracking jokes?

8. If any fictional character could be your best friend, who would it be?

9. What's an interesting/random quirk you have?

10. Generally speaking do you use a bookmark or random piece of paper?

11. Do you prefer ebooks or paperbacks? Why?


Thanks for reading the post! I do hope my tagged people will do a post, but don't feel like you have to. I might even let you on to my theoretically existent floating island anyway. :)

Fare Thee Well!

Infinity Dreams Award

Lydia S, my top instructor in the ways of that strange breed called Americans (not mentioning that she's the kind of cool person who doesn't mind being called that), has deemed me worthy of this Infinity Dreams Award. For that, I thank you with the deepest fulsomeness of heart.

One day I'm gonna do a blog post that doesn't involve showing the world my crazy humour...

Here be rules:

1. Use the Infinity Dreams Award picture
2. Thank the blogger who tagged you
3. Tell us 11 facts about yourself
4. Answer the 11 questions
5. Tag 11 bloggers

(Thanks greatly to Clare for the picture, I couldn't of made something anywhere near as cool)

Why? Why do these things tell you to tag so many other blogs? Why? Meh...just another rule for me to break I guess. So...I've followed the first two rules, now for the third!

1. I like listening to The Hobbit soundtracks. Even while going to sleep...Apparently that's weird because they sound creepy. I like 'em though, along with a heap of other soundtracks.

2. I am actually fairly rule abiding, whatever it looks like when I do a tag/award and break all the rules.

3. I have a TARDIS brain/imagination. It's bigger on the inside and never runs out of room and ideas.

4. I have a large collection of dead pens that I'm yet to discover a use for but I'm sure they'll come in handy sometime.

5. Now this is a really important one: When I take of my glasses I don't turn completely blind. Everything is slightly blurry, but I'm not blind and can still count how many fingers someone is waving in front of my face. Amazing, I know!

6. I haven't given up on my Chemistry yet...I'm just wading through it, understanding a reasonable amount and pretending I understand the other parts. :) So far, so good.

7. I have a habit of randomly tapping my fingers on stuff, be it my legs, the table, bench, book...basically whatever happens to be under my hands at the time. I don't even think about it, it just happens by itself!

8. I don't like chocolate. I've said this a lot of times before, but it's still true. It's amazing how many people forget! I might have known them forever but if I just happen to mention my dislike of the stuff they'll be utterly horror-struck. For example, my aunt gave me some chocolate for Christmas...

9. I have only had my first name spelled wrong once, and that was with a 'y' in it (Jayne). I didn't actually mind because it looked kind of cool. Besides, we were good friends with the person who did it, and they'd only known us for half a year.

10. I have an aversion to talking on the phone. I just don't like the awkward silences, the mind blanks of what to say, the lack of being able to use facial expressions. It's just...egh. It's not like I'm afraid of answering the phone...it's just I don't like to.

11. I once half dislocated my cousin's wrist while doing an arm wrestle. She spent the next few minutes muttering over her wrist while trying to fix it.


Phew, eleven facts done. Here comes the questions, not to mention their answers...


1. What is your biggest hobby?
I was going to say something like archery but I've decided that my writing is a much bigger hobby. Much harder too. But it's so rewarding when someone says they liked it and it affected them. It's really encouraging to have people like that.

2.Who is your biggest inspiration?
Aside from the obvious Jesus, I'm not really sure. But following on that style of inspiration...The pastor we used to have at our church had a really lovely wife and she really inspired me in many ways. Same goes for our current pastor's wife.
But I can't mention them without giving a short word about my mum. She's truly a wonderful person, and I wouldn't be the person I am without her.

3. What is your favourite piece of music (can be either classical or modern)?
I really don't know. I'm a musical person so I have a lot of songs that I like. As I mentioned earlier I like soundtracks. I have a large stack of soundtrack music books in my music drawer including: The Man from Snowy River, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Tangled, Brave, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit (three books, one for each movie), Pirates of the Caribbean and one of a random bunch of tunes from different movies.
There are a few songs that we sing at church which I quite like: No Other Name (Trevor Hodge) and Man of Sorrows. Also, just yesterday we listened to 'The Simple Gospel' during communion and I really liked it. Playjerise ain't bad either.
To tell the truth I don't think I have a specific favourite, I like too many.

4. What is something you wish you knew more about?
Umm, quite a few things. Martial arts could be a cool subject of knowledge and it would be useful in story writing.

5. What is your favourite quote?
This is the hardest question in my life. I have a huge arsenal of quotes, memorized from the hundreds of books I've read in my lifetime. I use them all in random conversation quite frequently. But choosing a favourite!? Could I actually do that? I doubt it, I seriously doubt it.

6. What is something you look forward to doing each day?
I dunno...Eating lunch?

7. What is your favourite way to get exercise?
Archery. Or Badminton. Both are fun, in different ways. In badminton I'm the one who does the crazy dives that don't actually work, and gets the grass stains on the knees of my jeans. I'm certain that everyone else agrees to play just so they can watch me running around after the shuttlecock and lying on the ground after a particularly epic dive. But it's good fun. :)

8. Describe yourself in three sentences:
Describe my personality or my looks? I'll presume personality because I've got a picture or two of me around my blog. 
I'm amusing, sarcastic, and joking, for strangers I'm quiet and shy/awkward (the one sitting at the back of the room with a notebook, deep in thoughts of stories), but my good friends barely see that half of me. :D If a friend dares me to do something hilariously crazy or dangerous I'll probably do it, just for the laughs. I can be sensible at rare times, I like playing cool music (on both flute and guitar) and if you sneak into my room when I'm there alone you may just catch me acting out a scene from a story idea -- plus I'll be super embarrassed if you see me.
Sooo, there's a three sentence description of me. I have several other things I could add to that but I've used up my stock of full stops/periods. (I dunno why I bothered to mention that I was sarcastic and funny, you've just got to read this blog to find that out.)

9. What has been your biggest life achievement so far?
Living to the impressive age of fourteen-and-a-half.

10. What is something you learned recently?
I am extremely bad at answering serious questions in a serious way.

11. Where is the most interesting place you have ever gone?
Worlds away, in my imagination and that of others of my race. The race of writers. I can travel as far, and live as many lives as I wish.
Back to reality...It may not be the most interesting, but it is reasonably: I actually might say the sea. When we last went to the sea for a holiday (last year in May) I was really struck my the power of the sea. Nothing could stop it, nothing could ever tame it. It was wild, just the way God created it. I could just sit there staring out over the breaking waves and think. My thoughts weren't confined to any certain topic, I thought about a lot of different things, and never ran out of stuff to think about.
So, I'll say that the sea is greatly interesting


Looking back to the rules, I've got to tag/award some people and...Ooh, it doesn't say that I have to think up questions! I guess I'll do it anyway...just think up a couple tricky questions, what could go wrong? (Famous last words...)

I'll award my cousin Jessica from Inspiration. Jessica, this is in return for the Riddle Answering Prize that you gave me. :D

Now, since I've only awarded Jessica, I can think up some impossibly hard questions! Yay! My favourite occupation!

Here be your questions Jessica (I've been terribly nice and avoided the word 'favourite' because it is sooo hard to choose):

1. Are you guilty of hitting anyone uncommonly hard on the head?

2. A calorimeter holds 175.0 grams of water at an initial temperature of 25.3 °C. A 54.3 g piece of metal at 100.0 °C is dropped into the calorimeter, and the final temperature of the water is 27.1 °C. What is the specific heat of the metal? (*Evil laughs*) (How do you like the sound of Chemistry?)

3. What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought/are saving up to buy?

4. Have you ever injured yourself in a really silly way?

5. Do you have some specific aim for the future?

6. What's a movie you really like?

7. What's a book that you've dreamed about?

8. If you woke up in the middle of the night to someone blowing a party blower in your ear, who would you immediately suspect?

9. What would be your revenge?

10. If I allowed you a single trip in my TARDIS ('cause it's a well known fact that I'm secretly a Time Lord), where would you want to go? Or more importantly, when?

11. What's it like to have a crazy cousin like me?

I hope it takes you less than infinity to answer the questions, 'cause I'm amusedly waiting for your blog post! (If it takes too long, you'd better watch out for an extremely loud noise in the middle of the night.) :D

Allons-y!

Solve the Riddle Tag ----- Again

I begin this post with a hasty assurance. No, you are not going mad, and yes I am doing another Riddle tag thingy. And it is thanks to my cousin Jessica that you get to see my riddle answering skills (or lack of them, depending on the riddle).

Again I couldn't be bothered to make my own so I just used a handy picture. :D

Okay, here is the list of rule yet again (why do these things always have rules?)...you may notice that I tampered with a few (not to mention getting rid of the few that I have already completed):


Answer the 5 riddles that are provided by the lovely person who tagged you. (Hey, this rule doesn't say that you have to not-answer the questions! I'm sure it did last time!)

Tag 5 or more bloggers. (tagging yourself is not allowed. It would be considered cheating as you probably already knew the answers to the riddles you chose.) 

Provide 5 different riddles in your post for the people you tagged.

Comment the link to your post on each blogger's blog.

After a week from when posting this tag, comment the answers to your riddles on your own post.


I'm not entirely sure whether I'm allowed to answer these straight or not...there's no rules against it... so maybe....Maybe I'll just mostly answer them. After all there's a big difference between mostly answered and all answered.

So here are Jessica's riddles for me and the mostly-answers I have given them:


Riddle no. 5
What herb cures all ailments?

By the Black Raven's crime, and by this Rhyme,
The answer would be..... Yeah, I do know the answer to this one.

If the riddle didn't specify that it was a herb and was just 'what cures (almost) all ailments/poisons?' then I might have answered a bezoar... (For those that don't know, a bezoar - the kind I'm talking about - comes from Harry Potter and "Is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons"--Severus Snape, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.)

Riddle no. 4
Eskimos of the Artic are excellent hunters. They can catch almost anything, but they have never caught a penguin. Why?

Yup, got that one fairly easily. :D All of these ones are really simple compared to this one...(Most things are more simple than that.) I just read this and just when, "Ummm what? Oh, yeah, I know...Now I feel kinda silly because I had to think about it..."
Just sayin', did anyone else realise that Arctic is spelt wrong? Or was it just me? I glanced at it and just thought, "Ooo look, the Artic, I wonder if Art people like living in the Artic."

Riddle no.3
A man that is not a man,
Throws a stone that is not a stone,
At an owl that is not an owl.
What is the scenario? 

I also guessed this one reasonably easily because when I was looking up riddles for my other riddle-tag-post I came across one quite similar.


Riddle no. 2
What does man love more than life,
Fear more than death,
Or mortal strife?
What do the poor have the rich require,
And all contented men desire?
What do misers spend and spend thrifts save,
And all men take with them to the grave?

This one really annoyed me for ages but I finally got it. For ages I was just like, "I've heard this before...I know the answer...but what is it!?" Technically the answer doesn't work completely anyway.


Riddle no. 1
My eyes do not see,
While I dig deep.
And in the eve when I rise,
I've no heart to beat.

Now...there is a reason I did these riddles backwards. I saved the best one for last. I do not know what answer Jessica had in mind when she asked me to answer this but I'm fairly certain it wasn't the one I'm going to give her. Clare said 'the moon' as her answer to this and also suggested potatoes but I went even further....
I will tell you the True Answer  to this riddle. It is not a simple answer either, it's quite long. 864 words in fact.

 (I suppose I should say I'm about to spoil the end of the story, but it's better if I do.)Now, before you read the answer, I'd just like to say that it's much more depressing if you imagine Posy as Tauriel and Tayto as Kili at that certain part of The Battle of Five Armies... You know.... This part. If you do that, the ending is much more....sad....
Proceed now to the answer:


There once was a potato miner. Now, don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a person who mined potatoes, it was a potato that mined gold. This certain potato loved shiny things. He could be carrying on a conversation with another potato but he’d always get distracted. This, naturally, led to him being without friends, as all the other potatoes were tired of his replies being:  “Oh yes, I’m feeling fi—Ooooo look! Something shiny!” or something along those lines.

So the potato – from now on we shall call him Tayto – went about his mining alone. Now because of this, the other potatoes, particularly the younger ones, began to tease him and call him names and then run away when he came close. So Tayto began to work only during the day (which is the opposite of all other potatoes) and be back home by evening. This way he could avoid the cruel stares and jeers of the other potatoes. 

Tayto worked hard at his diggings, always searching for some glint of gold. It became very dusty down below and he had to cover his many eyes so they wouldn’t get dirt in them. He found gold by touch and smell alone.

Working alone can be nice and peaceful, but even Tayto started to feel a little lonely. Every evening he’d go home later and later just to get a glimpse of the beautiful potato-girl, Posy, who lived across the tunnel from him. He’d meander slowly up the tunnel, hoping that she’d emerge before he reached his house. Sometimes she did, but other times, no matter how long he waited and how slow he walked, she didn’t come out of her house. When this happened Tayto would slump into his hole dejectedly.

Then one morning, just as Tayto left his home for the diggings, tremors shook the city. Potatoes peered out their windows and into the tunnels, wondering what was going on. Then they remembered.

Harvest day.

Word spread like wildfire. The Shovels were coming! The Shovels were coming! Despair filled every heart; all knew that no one would be spared.

The Southern part of Tater city fell first. Citizens were fleeing in terror but they were all scooped up by the dreaded blade in the end. Tayto, who’s house was in the East Corner, worked in his mine, unaware of the trouble above. 

The tremors continued throughout the day, the Southern edge was irreparably destroyed and all the inhabitants abducted. In the late afternoon Tayto, heading back home, was shocked to see citizens fleeing the East Corner. “What happened?” he shouted over the din. “What’s going on?” (Naturally he shouted this in Potatou – the language of potatoes – but I have translated it for the English speaking readers.)

No one answered him directly but from the terror-stricken screams of “The Shovels!”, “Run for your life!” and “HELP!!!!!” he managed to gather what was going on.

“Posy!” he roared, shoving through the crowd. He reached her door and yanked it open, dashing inside.

Posy was kneeling by her father weeping in terror.

“You’ve got to get out of here!” Tayto yelled.

Posy looked up, surprised, then her face hardened. “What are you doing in my house?” she asked furiously.

“You need to run,” Tayto insisted. 

“My father refuses to go, he says that he will accept his fate. I’ll not leave him,” Posy replied haughtily. 

“But the Shovels!”

“It’s my business whether I go or stay, so get out,” Posy said, shoving Tayto towards the door.

“Watch out!” Tayto yelled at her. She glanced up, a shovel was descending from the ceiling, knocking down clods of earth as it came. It prodded around in the dirt and then rose up once more.

“See,” Posy stated. “We’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Please,” Tayto pleaded her. “Run down to my diggings and maybe you’ll be safe.”

Posy turned up her nose. Secretly she had long admired Tayto’s enthusiasm and vim for mining and often lingered around in the evening, waiting until he came home so she could pass him on her way to the markets. He was an intriguing young potato if there ever was one and she had sported ideas and wishings for the future. But now? When they were all about to die anyway? “I will stay with my father,” she decided. “You go on to your diggings and try your luck.”

She didn’t notice the quick movement above her but Tayto did. “No!” he shouted and threw himself at Posy, knocking her out of the way.

Posy fell in the dust but managed to jump agilely to her feet once more. She gasped in horror, “No...No, please, no.”

Tayto lay on his back, his eyes meeting hers. The Shovel was buried in his chest, slicing his heart in two. Tayto struggled to say something but gave up and just smiled weakly.

Posy fell to her knees and sobbed. “No...please... Why does it have to be like this?”

The Shovel rose up through the roof and out into the evening air Above. “Hey dad!” a young boy exclaimed. “Look at this 'tato! I skewered it!”

Below, in the crumbling tunnels of Tater city, a young potato-girl wept.

See what I mean? Depressing isn't it? That is the True Answer. I must say, the irreverence of that boy is horrifying! He just doesn't realise that he broke two hearts in one blow.... I hope I don't have to explain how the answer fits the riddle, because talking about it too long might just be too sad. *Sniff sniff* 

So apparently I have to tag five other bloggers and give them five riddles to answer but I can't think of anyone to tag. I'll settle with reminding Sarah that I nominated/tagged her last time so she'd better get around to doing the post.....

I hope I answered these to your satisfaction Jessica. Thanks for nominating me!

Fare Thee Well!

The 'Solve This Riddle' Tag

Here we are, another blog post about a tag/award thingy. Admittedly it has been a while since I did one so I don't mind so much. Also, this is a riddle tag so that makes it even better because I like riddles. ("Praps we sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my preciouss. It like riddles, praps it does, does it?")

1.Copy and paste the image onto your post (as I couldn't be bothered to attempt to change it at all I just have the picture from Clare's post.)

2. Copy and paste these rules onto your post

3. Thank the person who tagged you.

4. Answer the 5 riddles that are provided by the lovely person who tagged you.

5. Tag 5 or more bloggers (apparently tag backs are allowed).

6. Provide 5 different riddles in your post for the people you tagged.

7. Comment the link to your post on each blogger's blog or let them know in some way or another.

8. After a week from when posting this tag, comment the answers to your riddles on your own post. (That was only slightly confusing...)

So, here goes. Thank you Clare for tagging me, I hope I'll answer your riddles to your satisfaction. :D
Now for the Five Riddles that Clare gave me:

Riddle one: I am with you at the beginning of all weekends
But am always gone on Monday
In all words, I always am
But never in only one of them.
And definitely not found in our world

I'm fairly sure I know this one. It took a bit of thought (which is, I guess, the point).

Riddle two: Two spies want to get in an enemy's military base.In order to get in they have to give the correct countersign to the guard at the gate after he gives them the sign. So they wait hidden nearby the gate so that they will overhear the countersign from another soldier. 

One soldier comes and the guard gives the sign: "6".The soldier answers "3".The guard lets him pass. Another soldier comes.The guard says "12" and the soldier gives the answer "6".The guard lets him pass. So, the first spy goes at the gate and the guard asks says "10".The spy, sure that he knew the answer as he was, says "5". Immediately, the guard shoots him dead. 


Then the other spy, who saw that the other spy was killed when he gave the countersign, had now understood what the right answer would be, whatever the guard's sign was.So, he walks to the gate and the guard says "8".The spy gives the correct answer and the guard lets him in. What was the answer that the spy gave?

(This one is logic, not mathematical, so don't waste your time forming horrid math equations)

I must admit that I did waste time forming horrid mathematical theories and the like. It kind of worked but I think it was just a really confusing way of saying 'half of this is this' so yeah...But I did work out the answer almost as soon as I started thinking logically. 

Riddle three: From house to house it goes,
A messenger small and slight
And whether it rains or snows
He sleeps outside at night

I think I know the answer to this one. I'm not entirely sure though...

Riddle four: Never was it one, but always three
Never was it three, but always one
Claiming boldly it would always be
Yet crying out it had never begun

I answered this quite without trying. I was just looking at it then I was like. "Oh hey, that sounds like such and such!" And so That 'such and such is my answer. 

Riddle five: While exploring the wild highlands of Ireland, Robert was captured by goblins. Grumpy, the chief of the goblins told him he was allowed one final statement on which would hinge how he would die. If the statement he made was false, he would be boiled in water. If the statement were true, he would be fried in oil. Robert did not like either option, so he made a statement that forced the goblins to release him. What is the one statement he could make to save himself?

I admit. It took me ages to get this one, but I think I know the answer. But all in all I don't think I'd survive long if I was trapped underground with Gollum. I think I'd end up being eaten whole. 

Okay, I think that's all apart for rule 5, 6, 7 and 8. So rule 5:
I can only think of one person to tag so I'm going to ask Sarah to do this for me. (You haven't done a post yet this month, so this is a good idea.)

Now I've got to think of five riddles...I won't do too tricky ones as I'm sure Sarah wants to be able to answer them.

1: This old one runs forever, but never moves at all. He has not lungs nor throat, but still a mighty roaring call. What is it?

2: What meets you at the end of everything?

3: What do the letter 'T' and an island have in common? 

4: What has a head, a tail, is silver and has no legs? 

5: What do you throw out when you want to use it, but take in when you don't want to use it?

These riddles don't look quite as hard as the ones Clare gave me, but I enjoyed answering them. I hope Sarah has just as much fun as I did. So as always I didn't manage to actually do all the rules as I only tagged Sarah but who cares!

I also have to do rule number 8, but I have to wait until next week before I do that. So, unless I am wrong, I have finished this post! Thanks once again to Clare for tagging me, and I'll see you all on Friday.

Fare Thee Well!