Website Kick-off

Tonight, my web-designer (my brother's girlfriend's stepmom) is coming to my house to help me set up my website....and it also happens to be the day I had to stay home from school with a lovely, sniffly cold. Yay. I'm feeling a bit better (Christmas music on the radio and hot chocolate work wonders), so hopefully I'll be feeling up to designing my website tonight ;)

    Also, about the shipping - we get the invoice tomorrow, so I guess the books will start shipping sometime after we pay (which should be tomorrow evening). I'll keep you updated. Stay safe tonight, and God bless!!

Shipping

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: the books should have started shipping on Friday! Erik, my distributor, is supposed to get 1050, and we're going to receive 250. Ours are shipping to my dad's office. I'm actually not sure if the books did ship on Friday, because they couldn't ship until the people got the payment, and as we haven't received an invoice yet....not sure they've gotten the money. So they may not have shipped yet. But they'll be here in a few days, either way, and then when my website is ready, my plan of world domination shall begin! I mean, the books will be available ;) Haha! I will let y'all know when we get the books.

Hurry Up, Christmas!

I suddenly have a longing for Christmas. The lights, the music (the non-silly, Christian kind, of course), the decorations, the happiness....Christmas is my favourite season, and I can't wait to have it again this year! :D I guess I love it so much because everyone (well, some people; not everyone) pauses and reflects upon the birth of Christ, and we celebrate it. Is that not so cool? Love it! And at least if some are caught up in the Santa and presents aspect of Christmas, they see the Christian part of it as well, and that's always good.

     Yeah, I know it's the end of October, but I love Christmas so much, and I just got a sudden desire for it. Perhaps it's the change in weather. Who knows? Oh well, it'll get here when it gets here. :) 

     In the meantime, God bless you, and have a great weekend!!

BCS Newsletter

A small blurb about my book was released in my school's (Brentwood Christian) newsletter last week, and apparently like the half the school didn't know I had written a book, because I've had most of my teachers and a lot of the kids come up to me, wide-eyed, and say, "You wrote a book?!" Haha! Yes, guys, I have written a book ;) It's turned out to be great publicity though, even if the blurb put WAY too much emphasis on a small part of the book. I think the lady that wrote it just took a random sentence from the summary on the back and said, "Yep, this is what the entire book is about." Wrong!! *facepalm* Oh well....at least people know I've written a book now. 

      Also, I may have my first event planned! Encore (my school's elite singing group) is performing at a Barnes and Noble on December 3rd, and I think NHS might be doing a gift-wrapping service there as well, so my principal said I will probably be able to go with them. That'd be SO FUN!!! :D I'll let you know how that turns out and all, of course. 

      God bless, and have an amazing weekend! PG13, N.G., and M.D. - do great at the play tonight!! :)

Meh

My brother's girlfriend's stepmom was sick today, so she postponed until Wednesday. *sigh* I was so excited...

     Also wondering what I should get my friend T.C. for his birthday...hmmm...*ponders*

Website - Coming Soon

Meeting with my brother's girlfriend's stepmom tomorrow, and she just happens to know how to design websites, so she's kindly going to help me make one for my books. Yay! I'm excited to see how it's gonna turn out; please pray that all goes well. It's probably gonna cost a good amount, but that comes with the territory. Oh well. It'll be cool to have my own website, but don't worry—I won't abandon my blog ;)

Approximate Date of Availability

We called my distributor, Erik Korhel, today and he answered a lot of our questions about where the books are gonna go, to whom they'll be going, yada yada. It seems that in order to get fancy bookstores like Barnes and Noble to carry Young Falcon, I have to do 'event's (i.e. book signings) and actually sell some books to show them that my book is worth selling. Fuuuuun. We also got an approximate release date for the books' availability for buying...well, ok, not exactly. But Ms. Hara said the books will ship next Friday, and it'll take 3-5 days for them to get here, and then a few more days for us to set everything up, so that comes out to be around November 7th, so until I hear otherwise, the 7th is going to be my release date :) We'll be getting 240 copies, and Erik will get the rest, and yes, PG13, you will get the second copy, and N.G., you shall get the third, because y'all are just that awesome ;) I'm exciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiited!!!! :D

News

Got an email from my publisher yesterday, and she said that the books will start shipping to the stores next week. Don't know the final date for release yet, but it should be soon! :)

Interview - the Results

Well, I didn't die ;) Haha, it was actually kind of fun, because G.C. and some of my other friends were there, and my four pages of notes helped a lot. There weren't a whole lot of questions, but that was okay. J.R. can use my notes and this blog for anything else. Good first interview! :)

To J.R. - I made some changes to the 'All My Stories' post. Please check. :)

Sleepover at H.K.'s, NHS Inductions, and Interview

On Friday, it was a half-day, and I spent the time after school (from 12 to 5) hanging out with friends and watching the run-through for my school's Sound of Music play. It was pretty good, but they still need a lot of work on their lines! When that was over, A.S. and I rode with her dad over to H.K.'s house, whereupon we proceeded to pet her extremely fluffy cats, play guitar, sing, eat pizza, and watch the cats wrestle, which was very amusing. Zeba, the female cat, loved pouncing on her brother, Zeke :D Then we 'went to bed'. Ok, actually we stayed up until almost 1, talking - which is the BEST part of sleepovers! It was an amazing conversation. The next morning, we woke up, had donuts for breakfast, walked to Sonic and had shakes, and then visited the park near H.K.'s house. We went back to her house and waited until my dad came and took me home. Very fun stuff!!

     Today, we had NHS (National Honour Society) inductions, meaning we got to dress up, go to a fancy restaurant, eat good food, and get a shiny pin :D Very fun.

     Tomorrow, J.R. shall be interviewing me about my book. I have some notes (ok, I have 4 pages of notes) to take with me because I'm not very good at talking ... especially around him o.O But it should be fun, nevertheless!! :D Have a great week, y'all, and God bless!

Half-Day Tomorrow!

Tomorrow's the end of the first 9 weeks of school, so we get a half-day! Yay! A.S. and I are going over to H.K.'s house to spend the night, and then I'm off to Salado, where I'll probably work on the Antigone assignment and Book Four, which now has a total of 3 whole pages ;) Gonna be an awesome weekend! :D

Antigone Assingment

In English, we got assigned to write a modernized version of Sophocles' play, Antigone (which is an awesome play, by the way!), and Mrs. L suggested we get into groups of two. We have to write two scenes—contained within at least 4 pages—each. I decided to be partners with Natalie, who also likes to write and has quite a few pages on her own book. So we're going to take some characters from each of our stories and re-purpose them to be the characters of Antigone. It should be very interesting...I shall post it here when it's done! :D 

*pondering*

Well...now that I've finished Book Three, I'm not sure what to do. Should I start editing Book Two? Should I start writing Book Four? I kinda want to keep writing, but it might be better if I edit...erg, I don't know! *wail* Suggestions?? Help me out, guys!

Book Three is Complete!!!

So I literally just finished Book Three. YAY!!!!! Final page count (computer pages) - 394, which will actually end up being around 504 when printed. Fuuuuuun stuff :D BUT I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH; IT'S MY FAVOURITE!!!! :D Whoooooooooo happy day! :D :D

New Author Buddy!

So this week, my editor—Julie Scandora—sent an email to me, telling me about the two others young authors that BPN has published. Marta Stahlfeld, author of Darkwoods, has a blog and I've already contacted her and we've emailed some, but through Ms. Scandora's email, I learned of the other girl, Manoush Castaneda, author of The Ways of the Owls. (Interesting how all our book titles/content have something to do with animals...) And so Manoush, who—along with Marta—is a high school senior in Washington State, and I have been emailing and she's really cool! :D Yay for author buddies! I'm really glad that there are some other young authors out there with whom I can communicate and discuss our mutual love of writing; God's so great to introduce us to each other! :D

It's Raining and I'm Writing

It rained this morning! :D Whoooooo!!! 

    I also managed to get unstuck on Book Three again, which is AWESOME, 'cause now I actually have something to do over Fall Break (until PG13 and N.G. come tomorrow and Sunday)! Great start to the weekend! :)

Ah, Relaxation...

Fall Break has begun! PG13, N.G., and possibly M.M. will be coming over on Saturday, and we're going to go see Dolphin Tale, which N.G. has been dying to see, and then rent Thor, which is an AMAZING movie, and one that I think they'll really like :D It's gonna be awesome!!! Have a great weekend, y'all!! :)

UGH

I haven't been able to write on Book Three for almost a week o.O Haven't had time, haven't been inspired....and I'm literally into the most epic part and just seem stuck again.

      AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

     

Fall Break!

At my school, we get Fall Break (the fall equivalent of Spring Break), and tomorrow is our last day of school until next Tuesday! :D PG13 and N.G. are coming over on Saturday, spending the night, and then going to the 'rock-band' church with me on Sunday. Ahaha, I love how all my friends call my church a 'rock-band' church :D It's really not that loud compared to some other people's churches, but all my friends are either Catholic or Church of Christ, so a Baptist church can seem rather noisy, I suppose ;) But it's gonna be awesome!

   Also, J.R. shall be gathering info from this blog for his article about my book this weekend; fun stuff! :D Hello, J.R.! :)

    Everybody have a safe and awesome weekend. God bless!!

Some Reassuring Verses

Here are some reassuring Bible verses that I found, ones that confirm God's presence in our lives and how He's lovingly watching over every step we take, guiding us even when it seems He's nowhere around. God is good, and He is always there! :)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5

"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye." Psalm 32:8

"For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even until death." Psalm 48:14 (LOVE that one!)

"The Lord will guide you continually..." Isaiah 58:11

And remember, when times are the hardest, that's when God is the closest :) 

Newspaper Article

So I heard from one of the my good friends, who is a newspaper reporter, that the newspaper teacher wants to have an article about my book and me in the next issue of our school newspaper, and that my good friend J.R. will be interviewing me and writing the article. At first, I was slightly alarmed about this, because J.R. and I haven't spoken much this year, but after I've thought about it, I've decided that God's let this happen for a reason and it's probably His way of getting us to talk again, so I'm all for it. I'll be nervous and probably uncomfortable, but hey, no pain, no gain, right? ;) It'll pretty darn cool to have an article about my book in the newspaper :D Please pray that all goes well!! Have a great week, y'all!