Spider-Man Homecoming // warning: much fangirling

*starts humming the spider man theme*

One week ago, my dad took me to the movies to see Spider-man Homecoming and it officially earned a place waaaay high up on my favouritest movies of all time list. I absolutely and utterly loved every moment of it. 

So of course I'm going to do a blog post solely to flail over it.
This post is spoiler-less, so don't worry if you haven't seen the movie yet, you're all safe.

My reaction basically: I LOVED IT SO SO MUCH AND HELP I CAN'T GET OVER ANY OF IT AND YEEEET.

This movie and I started off on a good foot from the very first. Spider-Man has always been my favourite superhero. I watched the 2002 Tobey Maguire version a year or so back, and before that, I'm fairly sure that I read some comics too. Not the super originals probably, but I have a recollection of Spider-Man comics and absolutely loving them. So when I saw the Spider-Man Homecoming teaser trailer- well, it happened something like this:

Me: oh hey I'll watch this trailer. it's Spider-Man after all.
Me: *watches*
Me: OH SWEET PIZZA AND PASTRY WHEN IS THIS MOVIE COMING OUT I MUST SEE IT.

And for the past two months, my family can confirm that I have been going on about Spider-man...a lot. :P I'd watched every single trailer that I could find - several times over. I even quoted the movie before it was even released. I was hyped, to say the least.

The day when I was going to see it, I was so nervous. I was worried it wouldn't be all that cool. I was desperately trying to not imagine all the awful things the movie could be like. But as soon as it started BOOM. All worries were gone.

SO GOOD.

I have always loved Spidey so much because he's just so relateable, and Homecoming has done this in a super great way. HE'S JUST A TEENAGE KID TRYING TO WORK OUT LIFE AND HELP DON'T WE ALL RELATE??? I'm sure I do, anyway. 
And another thing Peter was so dyyying to get out of school and be spider-man again. THAT WAS SO GOOD. IF I COULD BE SPIDER-MAN I'D WANT TO DO IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Like...who wouldn't?! And he's my age. Not some college-going Superman or some billionaire Batman (or even the other versions of Spider-Man). He's just a kid like me, going through similar things to me (though I'm not spider-man, and I'm not in 'school' school - yay homeschooling XD but still, it's true) and I love that so much.

I'd watched a ton of interviews that Tom Holland (the actor who plays Peter/Spider-man, for those non-geeky people :P) did and once or twice I had a flash of concern of: 'wait, if I do this, what if I can't see him as Peter, but only as actor Tom Holland' BUT NO. It wasn't like that at all. Tom was Peter and the casting of everything was just so perfect.

Have I mentioned how much I liked the characters?? Peter was amazing. Aunt May was young and I really really liked that actually. Ned and Michelle cracked me up. (Michelle though guys, a female character who wasn't the love interest?? How cool is that?) And the villain was super well done. He made so much sense and was so real but so scary at the same time. (scary in a good way)
Gosh I just loved them all. No one felt flat or unrealistic at all.

Is Spider-Man a funny superhero? Hmm, let me think. UM YES. And Homecoming captured that perfectly. Even in the super intense epic action scenes, there's humour and comedy dropped in there. And it's not forced at all. It's just realistic. Because honestly, if I was in that situation YES. I'D DO ALL OF THAT. I'd be like "WHOA THIS IS SO COOL I'M A SUPERHERO - AVENGERS HERE I COME." And it's so quoteable and memorable.
(I have had several gif conversations with a friend in which I use solely Spider-Man gifs and I'm very proud of myself. xD)

And speaking of action, I was so in the movie. I was shivering with tension some of the scenes and I'm sure my heart almost stopped for a moment there with THAT PLOT TWIST. Not to mention that I was discreetly absolutely definitely not crying nope not at all in one certain scene. I just wanted to give Peter a hug because I could relate so much.

And, like the avid fan I am, I've now seen the movie twice. First time when my Dad took me and then I dragged both my older sisters along because I liked it so much and needed some more people to get my quotes and references. IT WAS JUST AS GOOD THE SECOND TIME. *shrieks and fangirls forever*

This is BY FAR my favourite Marvel movie (granted, I haven't watched a heap (*cough*two*coughcough*), but shhh that's beside the point. Silence peasant. XD) and way high up right near the very top of my favourite all-time. It's just so epic and cool and YES.

Help. I don't think I'll ever be able to stop flailing and fangirling over this movie.
Actually no, don't bother send help. I'm quite happy right as I am. xP


Have you seen Spider-man Homecoming??
(if you did, FLAIL WITH ME, you know you want to XD)
Are there any movies that you've been flailing over before they're even released?

The Beauty of Poems // I bought my friend's poetry book!!!

You probably noticed in my vlog on Friday, that I read out a poem written by Julia Ryan. And not only that, but it was read out from an actual physical paperback book.

That, my friends, is because Julia Ryan has her AMAZING poetry available to buy.

Hence today you get a post with lots of beautiful photos (credit to my sister - obviously) and not very many words (I blame camp nano).

When I heard the news, I was so super insanely excited. I bought it that day. And YES, it was, like, a bit over twenty dollars (what with converting US dollars to AUD + postage) but that's the price I have to pay for about 80% of new books. And this was absolutely and definitely worth every cent.

"I laugh a lot

for no good reason

sometimes

I just catch myself doing it

and then I grin

and keep on laughing"

"her laugh

it's changed

it seems a bit more open

almost a bit more

f r e e "

 

"I thought that books were

harmless enough

but I was wrong

they aren't just a bunch of words

printed out on paper

they play with your mind

giving you a sensation

of a world

you are yet to be a part of"

Poetry is such a beautiful gift. Reading through this was so amazing and I could honestly feel the realness that was behind each poem. Every poem has a story that shows just a little bit of the author's heart. The part of them that isn't often on display for anyone to see. 

That's one of the things that I love most about poetry and about songs and about writing. It's all like a little glimpse into a deeper person.

"you have to be brave

to let people in

to trust them

with your story

and heart

and love

you can't just run away

bc you are scared"

. . .

"be brave

trust in God

and then

my dear friend

you will find beauty"

I know that with some of my artistic creations (using words, of course, because drawing/paint = nooope) I pour my time and my energy into it and there is so much of me in the stories and the characters and the words and phrases. 

To be entrusted with reading someone else's story and heart should be just as scary as telling people yours. Because we're handling something that is so close to them that it should be frightening. And for me, it is. But in a way that makes me excited and so alive.

Because we've got to be brave, even if it doesn't feel like we can be. 


Check out the lovely Julia Ryan at her blogging corner of the internet to find out more about this wonderful person - and hop over to her poetry blog for some of her amazing works!!
Blog - The Barefoot Gal
Poetry blog(!!!) - Twilight to Dawn
and don't forget to check out her 'my poetry book' page and BUY IT NOW.

Do you like reading or writing poetry?
(if the answer is yes - shoo, off you go and buy Julia's book. If the answer is no. . . off with you and do it anyways)

July Camp NaNo // I interview some cabin members

One of the things I find fun about family, is that sometimes they jokingly agree to something when thinking that I'm not serious at all. And then when they discover that I was entirely legit, they can't lower themselves to back out. (looking right at you, Jess. :P)

So today I've got a vlog for you all featuring two members of my family (and my cabin). In which they have to answer the quiz questions or I will whack them over the heads with my notebook.

I would also just like to applaud their skills of talking on camera because it was me - the one who has done four vlogs so far - who started talking backward and inside out first. The others were actually decent. *applauds them*

Also notice: I'm not wearing a t-shirt. Finally. XD (I told you I owned other shirts. :P)

Tell me a bit about what you're working on for camp??
(pretty please?)
What's three quirky things about your characters?

Lando Erif - an off-side story :: Don't Get Into a Staring Contest With the Mountain Dudes

Early mornings. Video calls to the other side of the world. Critiquing, brainstorming, writing tips giving, theme assisting.

Basically this week has been crazy.

But today I'm dropping in here with a proof that homeschooling is the best. This is how the story goes.

One day, my history book told me that I had to write an essay about the cold war. I was feeling uninspired, so I asked my teacher/mum/most-wonderful-mother-in-the-world if I could write it in story-style instead. And she said "okay, as long as it still has the information in it that it needed and everything." (or something along those lines)

So I wrote my cold war essay, as if Lando had written it, and it was so much fun. Wherefore I am going to share it with you today.

Hope you enjoy this surprisingly educational Lando story...essay...thing.

The Cold War – told by Lando Erif

You remember that history lesson you had on the Cold War?

Neither do I.

It never made much sense to me really. Two countries threatening each other but never actually doing anything? Just why?

And besides, what’s the fun in that?

I know, I know. Nuclear bombs, what’s more exciting than that?

Dragons for one, but I guess I’m biased.

Vegemite sandwiches are surprisingly exciting too, though you wouldn’t know it unless you knew me.

But I suggest we keep it safe, and I’ll stay as the anonymous author of this Cold War story.

This is my point of view on the whole thing.

I can’t guarantee much historical accuracy.


It all started with a dude called Usa.

And another dude called Ussr.

Usa was big and strong and half the world loved him.

Ussr was big and strong and half the world loved him.

It was really just asking for trouble.

They used to be best bros and had great times smashing things together, but then they started getting a bit full of themselves.


They were hanging out in Europe having fun cleaning up after the Second World War. It was a big job, lucky they were both big guys.

I guess they were getting a little tired and all, and probably sick of having people mix up their names. It finally got on Ussr’s nerves.

Usa was being an idiot, playing around and tossing aeroplane wrecks around for fun. He turned to his friend, flexing his muscles. “I’ll bet I’m stronger than you now,” he taunted, balancing a navy ship on his thumb.

Ussr glared. “You do, huh? Try me.” Without waiting for Usa’s answer, he stomped away toward Russia.

“Hey guys!” he yelled, storming up. “I’m the greatest.”

Naturally they all believed him.

I don’t blame them. I mean, what can you say when a super-powerful dude comes crashing into your country? It’s either obey him or run away screaming.

Unfortunately, running away screaming wasn’t much of an option. Ussr was strong, and he didn’t want anyone running to Usa for protection.

He was the greatest.

It wasn’t long before Usa heard what was going on.

“Seriously man?” he asked, strolling over to Russia in five minutes. “You think that’s super?”

“You come any closer and I’ll blast you with my nuclear powers,” Ussr threatened.

As you can see, the friendship went downhill fast.

“Hahahaa, nuclear powers. I like that. Like you’ve got any nuclear pow—YIKES!”

Ussr pulled out a handful of nuclear bombs from his jacket pocket, waving them under Usa’s nose

Usa did the only sensible thing.

He ran.

Back in America, he started plotting. Ussr had tons of those bombs but he wasn’t the only one who could make them. And Usa had an even better plan.

He lay low for a while, building up his nuclear bombs and his minion armies and his strength by eating plenty of French fries.

Finally he was ready to make his big move.

After eating one final plate of French fries, he stepped over to Europe again.

“Hey peeps,” he grinned at the European countries. “I got me a plan.”

And before you could say ‘pass the fries’ Usa created Nato.

Nato was a big guy.

As big as Usa and half on Europe combined. Lucky thing, because he was made to totally smash Ussr, and Ussr weren’t no midget.

“He’s perfect!” Usa yelped. “Come on, bro,” he said. “Let’s go blow some heads.”

Naturally Ussr saw them coming.

A guy like Usa must be hard to miss, but Nato?

He was like a walking Eiffel Tower.

No, scrap that, he was like a walking mountain.

Ussr sat in his fortress for a moment longer, letting his enemies approach. He chuckled evilly.

They had no idea.

In that time Ussr hadn’t been idle.

He may have been eating a couple of famous Russian pancakes, but mostly he’d been playing with bombs.

As Usa and Nato stormed through Germany, he decided they’d gone far enough.

“Go get ‘em, Warsaw,” he said, waving his hand casually.

Suddenly some super-fast something crashed down in front of Usa and Nato. A massive wall cut straight through Berlin.

Now that is some super-fast wall building.

Usa totally freaked. “What’s going on?” he yelled, watching all the terrified little people scurrying about on the streets. “USSR! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU COME OUT NOW OR I’LL BLAST YOUR FACE.”

Technically that doesn’t make sense but hey! He didn’t have much time to think up a response.

If I’d been Ussr, I would’ve run for my life. But Ussr just did his evil laugh (mwahahaha) and strode up to the fuming Usa.

“Hello Usa,” he said, spinning a long bomb between his fingers. “Who’s this midget you’ve got with you?”

Usa’s eyes widened. Nato’s eyes narrowed.

“I am no midget,” he rumbled.

Have you ever met one of those massive guys who make the ground vibrate when they talk?

Nato was like that.

Only it was a full on earthquake.

Dude, he was terrifying.

And no one likes being called a midget by their enemy.

Nato pulled a fistful of bombs from his pocket, glaring at Ussr.

Things were about to get nuclear.

Even Ussr quailed back.

I don’t know what would’ve happened then, but Warsaw chose that moment to return to his master for a nice tasty reward.

When he materialised out of nowhere, everyone jumped.

Ussr regained his confidence. Usa quaked in his boots.

“It seems, Usa, that while you were distracted a while back, you missed a major development.” Ussr gestured upward to the towering Warsaw. “Please meet Warsaw Pact. Warsaw, say hello.”

Warsaw grinned widely with a ‘hi enemy, wanna die?’ kind of look. “Warsaw says hello.”

If you thought Nato’s earthquake voice was bad, Warsaw’s was totally nuclear.

All the humans shrieked and ran for cover. The bricks of the Berlin wall trembled and Warsaw almost wrecked all his hard work. The ice in Switzerland melted off the mountains, and everyone in Hungary stopped being hungry.

It was like an explosion.

A nuclear explosion.

And he’d only said hello.

Yup. Things totally just went nuclear.

“Where did that thing come from?” Usa demanded, trying to stop his knees from knocking together too loudly.

“This.” Ussr patted the huge guy’s shoulder (man, you’d have to either be very brave or very crazy to do that. I’m thinking Ussr was a bit of both) “This is my military alliance with East Europe. Surely you must have noticed him before?”

“I didn’t eat that many French fries,” Usa protested.

Meanwhile, Nato and Warsaw were looking each other up and down.

That, to begin with is more than I could do. I’d just have to look up and up.

Next to Warsaw, Nato looked like nothing.

If Nat was a mountain, Warsaw was Mount Everest.

No kidding, the guy was huge.

Those French fries must’ve been really good, or Usa would’ve noticed him earlier.

Things could’ve gotten messy just then, but Warsaw had just built a massive long wall at light-speed. That’s gotta be tiring.

He didn’t feel much like bashing things just then.

And Ussr hadn’t given him his medal for breaking the wall-building world record.

“Warsaw hungry,” he rumbled, causing half of the Spanish population to start speaking Latin. With that, he turned and strode back toward Russia.

“Uh, time for a tactical retreat, Nato,” Usa suggested, backing away slowly.

Leaving a few minion armies behind to clean up the mess, they returned to America. Usa sank into his chair, ordering a tableful of French fries. “Phew, that was close.”

Nato just stood, glaring across the ocean at Warsaw.

Warsaw looked up from his lunch and grinned a ‘hi enemy’ grin again.

As I said, the guys were massive.

This went on for quite a while. Warsaw and Nato over-sea glaring. Ussr chuckling evilly in his fortress. Usa drowning his woes in French fries, hoping for a brilliant break-through plan.

Every now and then the now-arch-enemies would stretch and head off to taunt and threaten each other with bombs and nuclear explosions and broccoli soup.

Little minion armies grew bigger, and got glaring lessons from Nato and Warsaw. Unfortunately they had to stand a little closer together for their presence to be quite as foreboding.

Meanwhile, neither Nato or Warsaw had blinked.

After such a long time they couldn’t give up, no matter how sore their eyes were getting.

This was a matter of strength. There was no giving in.

But come on, you complain, didn’t you say something about wars? This isn’t a war. And I don’t see anything cold about it.

You’ve got a point. But I’m getting to the cold right now.

Ussr, living in Russia as he did, woke one morning with a really bad case of Autumn flu. His nose started running like mad and his throat was like he’d swallowed a handful of sand.

The worst thing?

He couldn’t do the evil laugh thing anymore because it hurt too much.

It wasn’t long before he got bored.

He quit his fortress and started glaring around Europe. He noticed that Warsaw wasn’t as big and scary as he used to be.

The minions in some-Czech-place-with-a-really-weird-name were misbehaving. They’d even tried to stop some army tanks in some town called Plague.

Or Prague.

I forget which.

You get to pick.

“What, no!” Ussr shouted, getting a really bad coughing fit. “You’re meant to be on OUR side…cough...What’s the deal with that?”

It was a catastrophe that called for immediate action.

“Come Warsaw,” Ussr coughed. “We need to…cough…go…cough cough…Czecho…cough…slovakia…cough cough.”

The two headed off, storming down on Czech in a whirlwind of used tissues.

“What do you…cough…think…cough cough…” Ussr gave up trying to talk, waving his hand at Warsaw to finish.

“Warsaw says, what do you think you are doing?”

His voice might’ve gotten a little quieter than before, now that he was only an ordinary mountain, but it was still scary.

The Czechs checked themselves and ran away screaming.

Warsaw was saved!

But the little rebellions kept chipping away at the mountain’s roots.

He kept on glaring at Nato, but now they were eye-to-eye.

Ussr was getting even more worries now. His cold hadn’t gotten any better and he’d used up Warsaw’s entire supply of tissues.

This was bad news.

He had to get more tissues, but only Usa and Nato had any.

Time to start being scary again.

Ussr and Warsaw stormed across Europe. In Britain an annoying little Peace Pledge Union popped up, but Warsaw totally squashed it.

In half an hour they had reached Cuba.

Nato had seen them coming, of course.

It was hard not to when you’re having a years-long staring contest.

Usa heard his bro’s grunted warning and glanced up from his French fries. When he saw Ussr and Warsaw he went completely nuclear.

“RIGHT. THAT’S IT,” he roared so loud the entire world heard him.

All of Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Australia and everywhere-else-I-haven’t-said-yet held their breath.

“MINIONS! SMASH THEM!” Usa commanded.

What could they do but obey?

I mean, what would you do if a giant guy with smoke pouring out of his ears in mushroom clouds told you to do something?

Me? I’d take the broccoli soup any day.

When Ussr saw the Nuclear-Usa and Nato charging south he was so terrified he fell into the worst coughing fit yet.

“Warsaw…cough cough…I suggest…cough...tactical…cough cough cough…RUN!”

Warsaw agreed and all his minion armies used their own bombs to blast their Cuban fort out of existence.

A tactical retreat (that looked an awful lot like running in terror) was made, and the world let go the breath they’d been holding for a very long week.

Nuclear war temporarily avoided.

And so Nato and Warsaw went back to their staring contest, Usa stopped eating French fries and headed over to Europe so he could keep a closer eye on Ussr.

Ussr? He sulked in his fortress, blowing his nose on bed sheets because his cold still hadn’t gone away.

This could have continued for who knows how long, but luckily for you and me, it didn’t.

Maybe Usa and Ussr just tired of the whole war thing, or maybe Nato and Warsaw talked them into it (because after 40 years their eyes must have been roasted).

Somehow, the two arch enemies met up. Ussr explained, very nicely, about his unending cold, Usa sat nodding sympathetically and…BOOM.

They were best buddies again.

Finally Warsaw blinked and then dissolved into 15 mini Warsaws. Nato went to the optometrist because he was pretty sure he’d gone far-sighted after all that staring.

Usa shared his French fries with Ussr forever onwards.

And Ussr’s cold disappeared like something blown up by a nuclear bomb.


And so it became known as the Cold War, although my teacher assures me it’s not because the USSR had a cold and ran out of tissues, but because there was no actual fighting.

I told her, whatever, but there sure was broccoli soup.

She disagreed on that fact too.

Staring contests?

Another nope.

I ask you, what’s the fun in that?

- end -

AND THERE is the best example of my creative essays that I do for school. Homeschooling is the best and there's no way you can disagree with that.

Disclaimer: I also do write actual essays, but that isn't anywhere near as interesting and only this one really deserves mentioning. Although at some point I might post one of my LotR essays that I have to write for my literature course. (YES. I'm doing a course on LotR. WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING BEING THE BEST??)


Have you ever done some creative writing instead of an essay?
(I can't be alone here, right?)
What's your favourite subject for school?

Blog Anniversary // SURPRISE VLOG // I eat a spoonful of vegemite

On the 28th, April 2014, I started this blog. And somehow it's still alive now three years later??

WHOA.

I'm amazed at my little toddler bloggy. *pats blog proudly*

So the last two years I've been meaning to remember when my blog's anniversary is but somehow only think of it a month or two too late. But not this day!
(*nervous laughter* I came close to forgetting though. Very close.)


Just for the occasion I decided to take a look back at my first few posts. Man, I laughed at myself so hard. I'd just like to point out the fact that my very second post ever was a tag/award thing and guess what? I tagged no one. This has been happening from the very beginning apparently.

Reading through some of them just shows how insanely much my blogging style (and me) has changed.


Somehow I have almost 200 posts (okay, I'm about 15 off the mark but still). Um...WOW. I can't get over that. I don't even know how that happened because gosh that's a lot of posts. Also 30k page views. Dude. What even? How??
In three years, I've only ever gotten two spam comments. Talent, yes. By the same person/thing and both in the last year.
Comments are my favourite things though. All 1,500-and-something of them are were very special for me. (So shout out to all you peoples who have been commenting for a year or two. I notice. I appreciate it. And if you've only commented once, or haven't even done it ever (promise I'm not all that scary) thank you as well. Getting all sentimental now)
RANDOM STATS FLASH because why not.


I had thought of doing a giveaway for this occasion but a) I couldn't think of anything to give away and b) postage cost kills me. So yeah nah. No giveaway for you this time around. :P

ONE THING I'VE LEARNT ABOUT BLOGGING IN THE LAST THREE YEARS

No one actually knows what they're doing. It's all a journey process. We're works in progress and we'll never stop growing.
Those are your wise words of wisdom from Jane for the day. xD

Alrighty so in light of the fourth year of Dear Bloggy's life, I've been thinking over a major revamping. I want to make it look more professional and -I don't know- look better in general. Think aqua/turquoise theme colours and plain white background. (I'm yet to work out how I can still include the tengwar/elvish script somewhere because it looks cool.)

I'm still tossing up this idea, and I'd like to know what you guys think of it. As well as some other questions of what you'd like to see more of on my blog over the next year and stuff like that.

Wherefore, I have made a survey!!
There's only four questions, so hopefully it won't be too tricky.

YES YES NOW I FINALLY GET TO THE ONLY BIT YOU WERE ACTUALLY WANTING. The part where I celebrate my Blog Anniversary in vlog!!! 
(I want to know how many people actually just skipped over my rambling to get down here to watch this part. :P)

I made you wait right until the end of the post, because I'm mean. :P Saving the best for last, naturally. But now you get to watch my awkwardness again. (because who wouldn't want to?)

(and you also get to hear the sounds of outdoors Australia because we decided to film it outside. And then the sun came out part way through so the video got really over exposed. >.<)

Thank you guys all for reading, and if you've never commented before, don't be shy! I'd love to meet you. :D

Would you eat a spoonful of vegemite if I asked you nicely?
(take my advice and answer that with an adamant no xD)

Camp NaNo // WATCH MY AWKWARD FACE RAMBLING

Okay so that title sounds very weird on second thoughts, but I'm keeping it anyway. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU GET TO DO!!

Yup. Today I'm giving you a vlog of my awkwardness and answering a couple of random questions I've been asked about Camp NaNo. Because why not.

Aaand this one was just me by myself, so I may have gotten a bit more...random...at times, because I was just sitting around talking to myself at the time of filming. And now I'm showing you how weird I am in normal life.

Now, I filmed this before April even started, so there were a few awkward moments of me attempting to pretend that it was April already, and completely failing - or forgetting that I was meant to be pretending and blurting out something that made absolutely no sense.

And it was actually a really hot day and I was sweltering. Ugh. Soooo hot. Hence I might look it once or twice during the video.

BUT ANYWAYS. Here you go.

*cue me completely mindblanking how even to upload a video onto youtube*
*and then cue youtube having a spas and taking a gajillion hours actually loading the silly thing*

[also warning: I did the most awkward introduction ever so just brace yourself for that. xD]

"Oh...how do you stop these videos? Do you press the same button- oh yes. You do."

My super sister Alice was great and put this thing together for me again, and Clare entrusted me with her camera all alone in the room so big thanks to them both or you wouldn't have gotten so see this.

*snorts* The amount of times I accidentally repeated myself or lost track of my sentence halfway through talking, though. So many. But anyways.


And more recently than my filming - it's been confirmed that I'm going to be away for a week mid-April but you're still getting a chapter of Lando! I'll be scheduling it to post, so I don't have to worry about it while I'm gone.


Just so you know, I DO ACTUALLY OWN CLOTHES OTHER THAN T-SHIRTS. I just don't wear them as much. :P I almost wore the same shirt as my other vlog just for fun, but I picked up the one on top of it instead.

Also, fact of having glasses: reflections. I happened to be sitting opposite a window, so that there would be a decent amount of light so you could see me properly, but *huffs* that means reflections in my glasses half the time.

I was going to bring some Tiger Pear along to show you as some of the dangers of camping in Australia, but I completely forogt until I read out the question and at that point I figured it wouldn't be a good time to duck out the door and run down the back paddock and grab some. So just google it and be scared by the horrendous images of terror and spikiness. (And then come visit me and I'll take you camping. xP)


SO YEP, I WILL NOW STOP RAMBLING. There's your message from me. GO DO THE WRITING STUFF NOW.


And you should totally go check out Jonathan's blog
(because he's a genius -obviously- and you all should meet the guy behind the white board calendar idea thing.)
How is your Camp NaNo???
(Tell me allll)

(p.s. you will get a writing/word count update from me some time...I just couldn't be bothered to put it in today. xD So hang in for that. Just know that I'm quite happy with how I'm going. *nods*)

Q+A Vlog - woot woot!

Here we are at the end of the year already! I hope you all had a great Christmas full of joy and laughter. To celebrate, my vlog is up and ready!!!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who submitted questions!
When I published the original post, I was worried that maybe I'd get, like, five questions and no one would really be interested. But then questions started exploding everywhere and I think I ended up with seventy-six questions. Which is waaay more than I could answer in a reasonable amount of time. So a huge thanks because that was an amazing encouragement for me.

I've tried to answer at least one of everyone's questions. And for some of the larger batches (cough cough like the batch of 41 questions from one person. I'm impressed whoever did that) I just picked some of my favourites/randomest/interestingest.

Apologies for the lengthiness of the video. We cut it down as much as we could without skipping out more questions. Hopefully you'll be able to find a spare 17-ish minutes.

So here we are! My first ever vlog revealed for you, my readers!




Okay, so I DO NOT remember jiggling my legs and tapping my fingers almost constantly while we were videoing, but apparently I was. Welcome to me. (maybe that's why I became a writer and a musician, so I could tap my fingers and it would do something other than annoy people with the constant movement.) Hopefully I didn't mumble too much, and our Aussie accents weren't too hard to decipher. xD


I'd like to do a quick shout out to my wonderful and amazing sister Alice who joined all the videos together (the camera kept cutting and dying for the first ten minutes) and editing it all into what it is now. You're an amazing techo head.
And thanks to Clare for reading out the questions and adding your additions to the fun. And for supplying the camera. (and for howling duets of doom with me when it kept cutting out)


Thank you all again. Tell me your thoughts in the comments, because I'd love to know how this worked out from your end of things!

Blogging Hiatus: LIFE basically

Yes. It is true.

I am taking a blogging break. Or hiatus, as it seems to be called apparently.

The picture kind of says it all.

First off, we're having holidays starting in the third week of October. Visiting our Grandma for a week and then heading off to another homeschooling friends place and then were going on to a home school conference.

Those are pretty big plans for us. It involves lots of driving to get places, and with a family of eight that's not cool. Being stuck in the car for the entire day, cramped, having to listen to everyone, that musty closed-up smell of travelling the car gets.

But it also involves a peaceful week of (hopefully) relaxful holiday, some fun getting together with good friends and the words 'home school conference' speak excitement for themselves.

We're going to be sooo dead after all that.

And we get back just before November and NaNoWriMo.

Yes. NaNo is on in just a few weeks. And I still don't know what the plot of this book is and I'm trying not to panic. Not sure if being plotless is a good situation for a NaNo-first-timer. (Hence this month is going to be stuffed full of planning so I hopefully won't be winging it, but I'm not guaranteeing anything at this stage)


So you may gathered it from all that but here's the biggest announcement:

Swords, Sails and Scoundrels serial story will be on hold for six weeks.

During Camp NaNo I was just able to keep up with the serial story, but this time I'm putting it aside so I can focus completely on Agent Kit (book 2 of The Outlaw Legends, and what I'm pretty sure I'm going to be writing for NaNo).

From now, there'll be two more installments of the story, and then you'll have to wait until December before it kicks off once more. (Whoa. December. Okay, I just freaked out about how far through the year we are.)


But don't worry! The blog won't actually be completely silent since I'm writing up a couple of posts to schedule for the end of October and possibly one or two in November. Unfortunately though, there won't be very many comments by Jane Maree on all the lovely blogs I follow. Don't miss me too much. :)

I'm just hopefully going to have a nice peaceful break so I can relax and smell the gum leaves.

...

Either that or type like insanity to try and reach this impossible goal of 50k which is 20k more than I've ever written in a month before and eat pizza and cry and probably get a bruise on my forehead. Hopefully the letters on the keyboard won't be rubbed off by the time November is over.

And while I'm gone, I know you will all be faithfully cheering me on because you guys are just so great like that. :)

Who else is doing NaNo?

|| Jane Maree ||

Camp NaNo Novel - The Path Through the Trees

I'm back! I had a crazy fun week, got a couple dozen injuries, a sore mouth from smiling basically all the time, swam in the pool every second day, added a Spanish accent to my random accent/mimicking arsenal. So yeah, pretty fun.

So, to get to the point, as I have mentioned before, I'm doing my first time ever of Camp NaNoWriMo**. And so far I'm really enjoying myself.

I just thought that I could tell you guys a little bit about the story I'm working on for Camp. 'The Path Through the Trees.'

**A short explanation of Camp NaNoWriMo: (National Novel Writing Month) It's an online 'virtual' camp. Basically you sign up, create a 'novel profile' about the WIP you'll be working on, set a word-count-goal, and join a 'cabin' of other writers who talk about random writer stuff and cheer each other on. And you write. And write. And hope to to reach your word count. And have fun!

The idea wasn't mine originally. It was actually Jessica's, and I, the fool that I am, agreed to write the story with her. She had ideas for a couple of characters, and I added to that a little. The two main characters were rather based off ourselves (they still are, actually) and so Jessica didn't know much about 'Lydia,' (the me character) so she asked if I could write her part. And it just went on from there.

At first my half of the story was basically a fanfic of Ranger's Apprentice and Brotherband (yes, both at the same time), and I wince with horror every time Jessica mentions some of the 'brilliant' ideas I had back then. Ideas that were almost complete mirrors of scenes from afore mentioned books. *Shudders* It's truly horrible.

The worst thing was that it was all my ideas that were taken off those books, not Jessica's as that was back before she had read them.

Then I realised how very bad the story was, and suggested we get rid of the fanfic-y-ness and actually do something original for once. So we did, and that made it kinda okay-ish. (As in, marginally more okay-ish than totally dreadful.)

It's gone through a lot of different stages of awfulness, but it's slowly getting better. Particularly after I completely rewrote it a few months back.

Now I start laughing so hard whenever I read the old version, just 'cause it was so terrible. I can't believe I wrote that! I just can't.

I've been completely amazing myself with how many words I'm writing every day for Camp. I went for a 8,000 word count aim and thought that I should be able to do it. Maybe.

I got it on day six.

And almost died of excitement.

So I raised it to 15,000.

Aaand I've only got 883 words left as of today.

I'm continuing to stun myself by writing around one thousand (or even two thousand) words per day. Just like that. For Dusty Red and If Adventure Comes Your Way I struggled to write that much, but now it's just coming?! I am discovering hidden depths within me. (Except I was a little slack while on holidays and only wrote one thousand for the whole Sunday to Friday)

Now, back to The Path Through the Trees.
I wrote a synopsis kind of thing for it so I could put it in the details for camp:

“Lydia Keramed's quiet seaside trading town is attacked by pirates, turning her whole world upside down. In her struggle to build a new life she meets a thief by the name of Annette Revlis of Hidden Knowledge, and is suddenly embroiled in a life and death struggle for the throne.

With Annette’s treacherous sister, Ravanor, on the loose with an army at her command, is it possible that the two girls can work together to save their new country? And is Ravanor really the force behind it all, or is there a darker, more sinister evil hiding?

With courage, stubbornness and quick wit, Lydia fights her way through, always looking for the path through the dark forest into the light beyond.”

I've also got a short scene I thought you might find amusing..

***

The room was in uproar.

In a daze I heard the shouted words: “The invader!”, “Seize them!”

As my vision began to clear I found myself held in the iron grip of two soldiers. The cruel looking man stood before me.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

No time to reconsider now, Lydia, I told myself blearily, the only hope is to go with it. I forced a massive grin onto my face. “Did you mention Jay the Jumping Jester who enjoys jellies?” I burst out at rapid speed, raising my eyebrows in questioning innocence.

The man looked taken aback for a moment. I took advantage of the fact to add another layer of confusion.

“Judiciously jam jellies,” I nodded knowingly.

“What are you doing here?” he barked roughly, covering his bewilderment.

“Juggling,” I replied, keeping my face an innocent mask.

“What?” the confusion was back.

“Just juggling, James.”

“My name is not James,” he spluttered.

“Jude? John? Jack?—” I suggested.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Jitslanish?” I asked, thoroughly enjoying myself now.

“I am lord Mâlekae, second in command here,” he said with narrowed eyes. I opened my mouth to comment but he snarled. “And don’t keep talking in ‘J’s.”

“Okay,” I said, shrugging carelessly. “D’you ordinarily open—”

“NO!” he yelled. “Not ‘O’s either!”

I shut my mouth abruptly, deciding to not push it too far. Better to stop before he beheaded me just to shut me up.

***

I've got several ideas of how to improve the story, but at the moment I'm just focusing on the writing part...Although, this week's holidays have included half a hundred conversations of ideas...Of the fifty-thousand-words/twenty chapters length of my half (Jessica's is only around fifteen thousand, but I do get more time to write than she does) chapters 13-17 are being deleted and a whole new idea replacing them. The prologue and chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 (and very possibly more) are going to be completely different because we discovered a problem with the character's ages...(the 15 year old one sounded rather older than the one aged 17)

Meh, we'll see how it all ends up. As it is, I'm really enjoying my first Camp NaNo and am totally doing it again. I'm also thinking about continuing setting monthly word-count goals every month just to keep me writing. Dunno what's going to happen with that though.


I really don't know whether 'Swords, Sails and Scoundrels' will start next week or not. I guess I'll have to inform you on that when I find out. I'll do a random post if the beginning date is to be postponed again.

Have you ever thought of doing Camp NaNo?
(You really should) 

How did you like the segment of The Path Through the Trees?

Fare Thee Well!

New Story Reveal!

Here is the promised reveal of my next serial blog-story! To start with, I guess I'd better announce the title:

Swords, Sails + Scoundrels

I wanted something slightly shorter than 'If Adventure Comes Your Way' because that can be a bit of a mouthful to say sometimes, but I wanted it to be cool. And it also needed to reflect the story somehow.

As you can gather from the title, there will hopefully be quite a bit of sailing/ships in this story, as well as weapons - mostly of the sword-ly kind. I'm quite looking forward to starting so you can all find out about my brilliant plans.

Now, I have a couple new characters, and I spent ages thinking up random character profiles/blurbs that didn't give away everything that might happen but were still interesting, so I hope they'll give you a quick glimpse at what these people are like.


Louise De Corlette: 
(Yeah, I know, I know, the new ones'll come soon)

Using the cover name Conwell, she is eager to see more of the world. One time, Louise would have been daunted at such a prospect, but she is no longer the same girl that sat in the parlour with Governess Kathryn.

Now a tried adventurer, Louise finds that she has yet a very narrow field of experience. Changing status from a lady, she tries her hand at many trades; traveller, gypsy, even pirate. But her journey to Eirerandil isn’t just for fun…

Eumin Quest:

Leonora’s oftentimes companion on her Outrider missions. He's quiet and strong, the perfect kind to fight alongside Leonora’s daring courage.








Leonora Maysdaughter:

Lieutenant of the Royal Outriders and younger sister of Eumin Quest, Leonora has become well known for her adventurous ability and fencing skills

(Here come the new characters!)

Marius De Corlette:

The second of Louise’s older brothers, Marius is just twenty years of age. He and Louise were the closest of the De Corlette siblings, despite being almost complete opposites. Having left Feâ Sirih a little over three years ago to earn renown, he fell into deep trouble upon reaching the fair country of Eirerandil.

His family have heard nothing of him since the day he left.

Captain Wielder:

Infamous pirate of the Notrias Sea. Rapscallion, rebel and rascal supreme.

Although he goes by the term pirate, Captain Wielder has nothing alike with others of that kind. Since his boyhood he made adventures for himself, planning great feats and fame on the high seas. These dreams never died, and he now lives them in reality, sailing the seas in search of adventure. 

Captain Wielder is an expert swordsman, known for capturing soldiers to fight them and beat them with his gentleman-like manner – just to show off his swordsmanship skills. After which he unfailingly releases them so they can go tell the whole country about him.

Earning his widespread fame in this manner, he ceased searching for adventure, discovering that it found him plentifully without any help. Being such a renowned swordsman, the ultimate challenge for would-be soldiers is to fight and beat him. Many have tried. None have succeeded.

With gentlemanly courtesy for the ladyfolk and willing respect only for those who earn it, he sails his beloved Rift across the sea, meeting ever more famous swordsmen to fight. And beat. And release. And make his reputation grow ever more.

Gypsy Boy:

At the age of sixteen, he lived his whole life travelling the country with his parents and the band of gypsies. Unfortunate, and unexpected circumstances (a.k.a. Captain Wielder) drag him from his mother’s overindulging grasp, and send him reeling onto the wild seas.

He has the typical brown hair and olive skin of his race, but his eyes are dark blue, given by a distant Eirerandil ancestor.

A quick glance shows a sullen, quiet yet arrogant bearing and a remarkable ability to annoy people without speaking a word. But inside he really wants to be wanted by someone, to be needed somehow – he realises that no one actually likes him, they just fake it. Although some don't bother to even do that.

Though he is a fast thinker and good at quickly assessing situations, he doesn’t often share it, keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself.

---

I really can't decide if I like Captain Wielder or Gypsy Boy the most...I have such plans for them both. 
So, how to they all sound? Interesting?

And here's a random synopsis I wrote up:

“Eirerandil, a once-bright land, is marred by the presence of a terrible evil. A serial killer stalks the land, and only one person has a chance to stop him.

Louise ‘Conwell’ is excited about widening her experiences, but when she reaches her destination she realises that it’s worse than she imagined. Courageously starting off things begin to go awry from the very first. When Louise is captured by the infamous pirate Captain Wielder she discovers that allies can be found in the strangest of characters.

But with wild storms at sea, shiploads of pirates, and an elusive goal, can Louise and her friends possibly stop the killer before her long-lost brother is lost forever?”

Sadly I can't share the cover picture yet, because my artist is yet to finish, but I can say that, last I saw, it looks pretty cool.

And equally sadly, I won't be starting SS+S next week. I'll be away at my crazy cousin's farm! (Disclaimer: I never said she was crazier than me. I've been told she had her serious moments.)(besides, she goes to school. Pfft, overrated thing as it is, you've got to be at least half sensible to go there and live.) I'll be getting back next Friday and doing a post about my Camp NaNo novel, so things won't be completely silent.  (Also, since I'm leaving early Sunday morning I will check for comments Saturday night, but after that they will unfortunately remain unpublished until I return on Friday. But please comment anyway, it'll give me a nice welcome home!)

My plan is to start the week after though, so unless something bad blows up (or the cover picture still needs more time)(I think my artist is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to her drawings), you can expect the adventure to begin then. 

If you were wondering what happened to Maree and Jack, don't worry, they actually did live happily ever after (for a while). All the Freespirits are alive and they went to live with Jack's family in the forest. But they yet wait for news of Louise's return.

Oh, I almost forgot, I drew (you are about to witness the most artistic I ever get. Except for when making pizza) a map -

And then Clare, dear sister that she is, made it epic -

It looks so amazing! I'm just annoyed at myself for smearing the 'd' of Pyre-ite Island and the 'n' of Raeyn...(Raeyn is the town right down the bottom of the coast of Eirerandil, if you couldn't tell)
I reckon the sea looks pretty cool, with all the currents and the swirling vortex around the compass (I was rather happy with how the compass turned out, I usually draw them in a slightly different style but I actually like this one heaps). The land's great too...so's the whole thing really. Thank you terribly much, Clare. :D

I believe that's all for now. Phew, I wasn't planning on this being such a long post! I hope you're as excited as I am for the first segment! *does a happy dance*

Dúinn aller!