I'm Back!

So, as you can see there's a lot of changes!

First of all (something you might have noticed right away) is that I renamed my blog. Now, even though some people do that every three months or so and there's nothing wrong with it, I've never liked changing my blog's name unless I was really tired of the old one. This new name is a bit more to the point.

I've also redone the tabs, so check those out as well!

Finally, I chose an autumn theme for the blog. Red and orange are some of my favorite colors. =) Ya like it?

I still might be posting only once a week or so, but I'll make an effort to put greater meaning in my posts!

Izori

Announcement--Blog Under Construction

Hey, y'all! This is just a super short post to say that my blog will be temporarily private so I can do some work on it. I'm going to try and do some re-arranging, as well as a re-focus. Lately, I've noticed a pattern of me-centered, boring posts, and I don't want that to happen. I started this blog to be encouraging to writers. Now I have a writing blog with iGirl, but I still want this place to be encouraging. So when this blog opens again (hopefully by next Saturday at the very latest) I hope it'll be a much better place.

Until then,

Izori

Stating the Obvious Here

This is just a confirmation of the evidence. School and work has kicked into full swing, so I am going to tell you right now that you won't see a lot of me this school year. To make a long story short...I am busy. Very, very, busy. So if you hear from me once a week, consider yourself lucky. Very, very, lucky.

This is also an apology, of sorts. I haven't posted anything that matters in a long while. I was thinking back as to how my blog used to be so fun to do, how many blogs I visited regularly and enjoyed, and it's not like that anymore. So, even if I wasn't so crazy busy, I would be taking a long break anyway.

See ya around!

Izori

I Am Tricking Myself

I know my posts have been extremely sparse. As a matter of fact, I haven't been spending much time at all on the computer lately. However, there's a good explanation. Not many of you know this, or even may have guessed this (because I don't announce sensitive data on the internet and I scheduled some posts), but I just went on a ten day vacation.

It was super cool. Super cool.

So, first we went down to North Carolina to visit all of Dad's immediate family. It was fun, but pretty unremarkable except for the fact that I got the world's worst sunburn on my shoulders.

Next, we drove to Atlanta! We went with my aunt and uncle (we hadn't seen them in years) to the Georgia Aquarium.

Folks, that aquarium is awesome. They have whale sharks, and beluga whales, and a manta ray that does back flips. It was completely incredible. I wish I could show you pictures, but I didn't have a chance to download them.

Then we went to Augusta to spend time with more family. Once again, pretty uneventful. There were seven kids in one house, the vast majority aged six and under. And yes, it's a bit of a stretch to call that uneventful.

Last, we went to Charleston, which was my absolute favorite part of the trip (although seeing family we hadn't seen in so long was really cool). We walked around, enjoying the magnificent old neighborhoods, and drank lots of soda and ate ice cream. We saw Fort Sumter and the USS Yorktown (a WWII aircraft carrier--so much fun).

After ten days of living out of suitcases and hopping from house to hotel to house to hotel, I am happy to announce that we all made it home alive, safe, sane, happy, tired, and still on speaking terms with one another.

Once again, I have some pretty cool pictures I would love to show you but I haven't had a chance to get them onto my computer. Sorry!

One last thing, which was really the main point of the post before I decided to talk about our vacation, is that I am going to take a blogging break. Lately, I haven't been taking a huge interest in it, and posts have been coming harder to me. I have some posts scheduled on my writing blog with iGirl (too lazy to link up to it here, but if you go to my profile you'll find it pretty easily), but I will not be writing new ones until I return from my blogging break.

There's another side to this, however. Last time I took a blogging break, I had been facing the same challenge of disinterest. But as soon as I announced my break post ideas flew in thick and fast. So, by doing this I'm hoping to trick myself into getting back into blogging.

Don't be surprised if I come back tomorrow. Also don't be surprised if I don't blog for a month.

I apologize for a rambling post like this one, but the summer isn't for sitting in front of the computer. I shall return!

Izori

Blog Closed For Construction

So, I've decided to finally re-do my blog design. Awel Prince--Ara--did an amazing job on the last design, but all good things must come to an end. Have half a clue to what I'm doing. Might take a couple days.

Yeah, I know...again

I'm going to take another break. Not from blogging--from this blog. Not that I've been posting on here extremely often, but I've made some other commitments to post on other blogs, and I'm starting to neglect them. So for the next, oh, week or so I'll be concentrating on the other blogs.

On a lighter note, I'm beginning to recover from a recent bout of writer's block. Just in time for a fight with carpal tunnel syndrome and another cold. (I'm beginning to lose count of the amount of colds as I'm buried under a barrage of used tissues. Disgusting) Perfect timing, but whatever.
I shall return!

Hugs & Blessings,

Izori

P.S. Here are the other blogs! Check them out, comment, follow...the usual...be a lone ray of sunlight in my shadowy world of biology and algebra and X and Y and Gandhi and preterite tense verbs...I should make a song about that...

Traveling Tales

White Rose Valley

Anecdote

Quick Notes

I had some really good blogging ideas, but unfortunately I couldn't make use of them. I was completely out of it Friday and Saturday, because I had some kind of prolonged stomach bug. I really only dragged myself to church today because I had some things to practice that HAD to be done then.

I am going to be unable to blog for the next week or so, so I will wish you a Merry Christmas in advance! Don't lose sight of why we celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Izori

P.S. Please pray for me Christmas Eve! I'm going to be playing in church, and the last time I practiced the song it didn't sound very good. Maybe it was just because I had a headache and felt like I could throw up in the next hour, or maybe it wasn't. We won't know until it's played in front of about 350 people. =)

Merry Christmas once again!

P.P.S. NatureFreak, I saw your comment asking about the snowflakes. =) I'll answer your comment as soon as I have the time, but I'm just letting you know that it hasn't slipped through the cracks.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

*O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, o come, ye, o come, ye, to Bethlehem...*

A Special Birthday and the Name Guessing!

Today I would like to wish a very Happy 12th Birthday to my brother Erestor! His friend came over today, and we went out to Foster's Grill[e?]. Then we had cream puffs. =)

Now, about the name guessing!

First off, don't let me make you all feel guilty on not commenting on certain posts. I know that everyone is terrifyingly busy, including myself. I am guilty of not commenting because I don't have the time, too. =)

Okay, NOW we can go to the name guessing. Here are all the guesses so far:

1. Brandy
2. Jenny/Jenine/Jennifer
3. Carly
4. Angela (a couple of them)
5. Emma (a couple of those too, I believe)
6. Sarah
7. Nichole

No one has guessed my name so far. Noelle, Angela actually is another 'alias' (...evil laugh...) for me. My mom and dad don't let me show my name on the internet at all, not just this blog. Smart guess, though! And I love the name Angela. :o)

And I really love the names you imagine me by! Some of my favorite names are among your guesses--Nichole, Emma, Angela, Jennifer, Sarah.

Another question:

Do you want me to change the names that I have given my siblings, Erestor, Luthien, and Galdor? Someone has told me that they're kind of confusing. I would love to hear everyone's opinion!

And thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU so much for the comments on the last post! I love comments. =) They make my day/week/month/year/century!

Oh, and I am so sorry to foil your evil plans, igirl. *innocent smile*

And now I'm off to study for my completely wonderful, amazing, fun, Spanish test that is such a blessing to me! Adios, everyone, and a good night to all and to all a good night! Or whatever.

Attention, Por favor!

I have an announcement!

*trumpets and drum rolls*

Igirl and I have started another blog, called Traveling Tales. To put it basically, it's all about writing! You even have to opportunity to have your own stories appear on it. We're hoping to make it really awesome, and one of the keys to awesome blogs is...

...FOLLOWERS!

That's right! Please, check out Traveling Tales by clicking HERE! It's just getting started, but igirl and I are hoping to make it a great blog. =)

Thanks! (and sorry if this post was really akin to a sales pitch)

Break

Not that I've been posting a ton, but I'm going to take a break from blogger for...ohhhh...maybe a week or two. I'll be back by Christmas, I think, but we're just so busy and I can't keep up with everything plus blogging.

Besides, my last posts have been anything but substantial. Maybe when I come back I'll bring some editing tips along with me. But for now I'm going to focus on Christmas, my family, and my NaNo book.

See you 'round, folks! Happy December in advance!

Many Things

I see from the poll that a lot of you want me to post more on my writing. That's good, because it's one of my favorite subjects! =) Another good thing is that those kinds of posts are schedule-able.

I'm EXTREMELY busy with school work...and I've only started history/literature/government (which is from Tapestry of Grace). That means that when I throw algebra, music, biology, vocabulary, Latin, Spanish, and speech, I'll be one busy person. You might not hear very often from me.

However, I'll make sure to schedule posts.

Right now, I would like to turn everyone's attention to Kendra's Hunt! Click HERE to visit her blog, Carpe Diem, and learn more about it. It looks so, so cool. It's an actual scavenger hunt, stretching across several blogs.

See you all soon!

Hi, Y'All!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday afternoon. This post is just a short heads-up...

I'm taking a blogging break for an indefinite amount of time.

DON'T FREAK OUT!

I will be back, but I don't know when. It could be three days from now, or a couple of weeks, or even a month, or longer.

Lately, the Lord has used several tools to convict me of a bunch of things. My relationship with Him. My relationship with my family. My attitude. My habit of putting things off. How far I'm getting behind in my chores and everything.

So I'm taking a break from all things on the Internet until I fix those things.

I love you guys, and I'll really miss you during my break, but I realize that if I don't fix things when I've got the time, I definitely won't be able to when school (and high school! *gasp*) starts up.



Izori

A little ahead of schedule...

Guess what! I'm back early! I have my schedule fairly under control, and have spending most of my time watching World Cup Soccer. U.S., you rock, even though you lost! Ghana, WE SHALL MEET AGAIN!! MHUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Glad I'm back? I hope so, although according to the poll, two of you aren't. Sigh. I'm feeling the love, people. Now if I could just get comments...oh, speaking of comments...

Ladies, thank you so much for your comments! Teresa, thank you especially! Your constructive criticism is very, very helpful! :) Vellvin, I would get right onto the tag, but my computer is giving me grief. Actually, so is spell-check.

Anyway, I hope y'all have had a wonderful end of June! Happy Summer, everyone!

Izori

Quick Post

Thanks for the comments on my excerpt! I hope to get some more...hint, hint.

Anyway, I have decided to take a brief sabbatical for two weeks to get into my summer schedule. It's very rigorous because I'm hoping to regulate the active period of my day for what may very well be the most hectic school season ever. :/

I'll be back...well, look at that! According to my calender, I'll be back on the 4th of July, which is also when I'll be on another vacation! So I'll actually be gone for fifteen days. I'll see you all on July 5th!

Izori

Prayer Request and a notice

I'm still not feeling 100%, which means that unless I suddenly feel great in a couple of hours we'll have to postpone my birthday dinner...again. So can you guys please pray that I'll get over this really odd stomach bug? Thanks.

Oh, and mom has declared that computer use must slow to a trickle, so if you don't see much of me then don't think I got abducted by aliens and am desperately trying to escape from a Martian winery with help from an undercover spy from Neptune involved in a plot to overthrow the government on Jupiter. Just in case you would think that. =)

One last thing: I know that I've been awarded by a lot of people...sorry that I haven't done those. I'll try, but I doubt I'll have the time.

See ya!

Izori

Kindly Read This Post

Sigh...I've been kinda out of it lately.

Our printer is broken.

We have a big soccer game today.

What? Soccer game? SOCCER GAME!?!

I'm awake. Lol.

Anyway, the main purpose of this post was to draw you to a project I have just started on my other blog. That project is called...Operation Prayer! Please visit it; all you have to do is pray.

And an announcement...I think I will go half off. I've just had a sudden burst of things to do, and even though I'm still going to be on Blogger, you might not see much of me. Still, feel absolutely free to comment! I have some posts on writing/reading coming up!

Izori

Awel's Blog Party!

Go HERE to get to Inspired Designs Studio for a really cool-lookin' blog party!

And here are the questions I am supposed to answer upon entering the contest.

1) What's your all time favourite blog/blogger?
I don't have any favorites.

2) How do you personally define forgiveness?
When someone has hurt you deeply and you love them anyways. After all, it's what Jesus did for us.

3) What object of your possession has the most sentimental value in your eyes?
My Bible, or a picture of my late cat.

4) What song do you consider your personal theme song?
I think it would be 'Brave' by Nichole Nordeman.

5) Do the opinions of others about you really matter to you?
It depends.

6) Do you ever make up words?
Yes.

7) Off the top of your head, do you know what your middle name means? (You can look it up though! :)
*sigh*. Yes. It's a color. But my unofficial middle name means 'God's Promise'. (Elizabeth)

8) What's s something that never fails to make you smile?
Wind.

9) What person has touched your heart the most?
God.

10) Give a scene in a book where you really understood what the author was trying to convey.
There are a lot in 'The Shadow of the Bear'.

11) What do you think of HTML? Is it the ENEMY or your friend?
Grrrrrr. Me and html don't get along.

12) What person comments the most consistently on your blog?
I don't know.

13) Who is your personal hero/heroine (fiction or real, or both) ? Why?
Jesus, because he's the best role model in the world.

14) Are you curious or are you satisfied knowing that "that's just the way it is"?
I'm very curious

15) List the your top 5 favorite songs. Do they have anything in common? Why do you love them?
'Brave' by Nichole Nordeman, 'The Last Rose of Summer' by Celtic Woman, 'Nil Se'en La' by Celtic Woman, 'Concerning Hobbits' by Howard Shore, and 'City on Our Knees' by Toby Mac. I love them because they're so different!

16) Do you ever get into arguments with...your characters? (that's if you write a book :). And if you don't write, do you think you would?
Are you kidding me? *glares at Maethar, who smiles innocently*.

17) While reading a book or watching a movie, were you ever blown away by an unexpected plot twist? What was it and how did you react?
Ugh, yes. 'Gone With the Wind', I was so disappointed. 'Inkdeath', and I was absolutely horrified.

18) What's your personal opinion of i-designs? (orignal, I know, but I really want to know! :)
I like it! LOl.

19) What's your favourite color combinations?
I really like brown and blue, and also silver and blue, and gold and green, and a lot of stuff.

20) What's your favourite comic book series?
The Adventures of Tintin

21) What is the oldest book you've read? How old was it? (By old, I mean, like antique books...the manuscript doesn't have to be old, just the copy of it. :)
The Bible.

22) What character in any movie or book, would you say is the MOST like you?
Probably Bear from 'The Shadow of the Bear'.

23) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
A lot of stuff.

24) As a child, what was one thing that always frightened you? This could be something real or imagined! :)
Uh...idk. I wasn't really frightened of much.

25) What's your life motto?
'Don't tread on me.'

26) As you're sitting in café, you're given a note: "It's in your best interests to meet me at 7 P.M. tonight, alone, at Pine and 4th." How would you react?
I'd go to Pine and 4th and bring a gun.

27) Name seven of your favourite books.
Torture! Torture!

28) Name your absolutle favourite font (you can have more than one though)!
Uh...?

29) Have you ever cried over...a book or a movie?
*sniff* Yes.

30) What's something that's brought you so much comfort?
The Bible

31) Describe what you would call a perfect moment.
Standing on the beach at sunset in summer after Jesus has come, with an ice cream cone.

32) What's the fastest you've ever read?
I haven't kept track.

33) What's your favorite book/movie genre?
Fantasy.

34) Do you say one word a lot just because of the way it sounds? If so, what's the word?
Not really.

35) What's something you thought you'd hate, but ended up loving?
Archery contests.

36)Do you prefer British or American spellings of words (ex: the British favourite to the American favorite)
Usually the American.

37) List a few of your favourite names.
Fiona, Ian, Rose, Sean, Colleen, and many more.

38) What is your favourite movie?
LotR.

39) Imagine you're writing a story, and one of your characters keeps something buried in a box where no one will find it. What's in the box and what's its significance?
A magic book, and it's significant because it's magic. Duh.

40) Was this boring? (be honest! :)
No, not really.

So...what are you waiting for? Join in the party!

Izori

P.S. Yes, I know this is the second time I've posted in one day. Sorry.

The road goes ever onward to vacation...

Yay! I get to go on vacation until Friday! We're leaving tomorrow (Saturday) I'm bringing my laptop, but it's doubtful if you'll see a post.

Goodbye!

Izori

Caption Contest Winner!

Once again, folks, sorry for the delay =) Anyway, I'm stalling so that you guys don't see who the winner is just on that 'reader thing' that's on the dashboard. So...lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala...um...lalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. La La La *in opera voice* LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! TA-DA!

Okay. I think it's off. So...here it is...


#1.



Sam: What is that glowing blue orb, Mr. Frodo?
Pippin: It's obviously attracted to our bacon and potatoes, Frodo.
Frodo: *in Mater's voice* It's the ghoooost liiight!

And so our winner is...

Melian!

Congratulation, Melian! Sorry I don't have much of an award for you, but...ya won!

And guys, it was really close. I'm not saying it just to make everyone else feel better. Everyone had hilarious ones, and I was torn into seven parts! =) Great job, everyone!

Izori

And I'm a-back!

Yeah, a little early. But hey, I missed you guys!

So...I have been pretty productive. Got up to chapter 2 (yes, I'm just chugging along...not) on the re-write of Sarea, which now has a new working-title! I'll refer to it as Healing from now on.

It was really funny, though. You know how Healing is a total re-write of a rather cliche book I wrote almost exactly a year ago? Well, although the plot was bad, I was very proud of my characters. But last night, I realized...I was leaving three of my original characters out!! AAAAHHHH!! Including Leela, who I am SO attached to! Yeah, but now I put them in the outline real quick, so the emergency is over. Lol.

And also, I've been hoping that I'll have a chance to revise The Elandai Series. I posted a few chapters for my 1st blogging anniversary, but I would really like to get in touch with Ben and Kaela again.

Thanks for praying about the attacker dude. I haven't heard any updates or anything (we're usually the last people to hear about it in our neighborhood) but so far nothing serious has happened, I think.

Another prayer request/praise...I managed to injure my neck and back while on one of my BFF'S trampoline. Yes, I'm a Blondie at heart. No offense to the blond-haired people out there! Lol. But it wasn't as serious as it could have been, and even though I couldn't shoot that night it's been getting better by the day!

Oh...and I found out that I'm doing an archery competition next week. Gulp. And I'm doing an air-rifle competition later in April--the one that qualifies for STATES!!!!!!!!!! Help. Me. Please. Because I know that everything that can possibly go wrong for me will! See the above paragraph!

I went over to igirl's house last week and had a ton of fun! They managed to conquer my un-photogenic-ness enough to get some really cool pictures of moi! Igirl's sister is, like, a camera genius. And igirl, you did a terrific job with the hair!

Hmmm...I was going to say something, but I forgot. Don't you ever have that feeling?

I have read a good deal of books over my break. Book #2 of the Hunter Brown series (review coming soon, maybe?) because I couldn't find the first one. Re-read Inkheart. And so on.

Oh! Now I remember what I was going to say! I'm going to try and bring back the writing tips! I'll post random ones sometime soon, and then I'll do...drum-roll please...

*drum-roll*

Torture Tips! By special request by Catherine Morland! For characters, of course. Not for little brothers. Just wanted to clarify that. Lol.

Izori