Roleplaying, Calculator Tales, Whatever

So a few weeks ago, my friend N.B., who has also written a book (and needs to get it published!) suggested we see what happened if our characters met each other. At first we tried just talking through it, but that was kind of an epic fail, so N.B. suggested that we type it out on her calculator (a TI-Inspire), which would effectively fool our teachers into thinking we were actually helping each other with math or something ;) Anyway - this was a great idea. Anyway, it involves Elysia, two of N.B.'s characters (Alarin and Core), a happy-go-lucky, knowledge-loving guy called the Wizard (and that is his name), and Thor and Loki from Thor :D They've been trapped in a fancy restaurant, in a forest, visited Asgard - who knows where else they'll end up. It's very entertaining ;)
   Hope you're all have a great summer so far!!

First Day of Summer = Avengers Round 3

So my mum actually banned me from seeing The Avengers in theaters again because I'd already seen it twice and it would be 'too expensive' to see it again, BUT my grandparents, aunt, brother and sister are going to see it again today to celebrate summer (and because my aunt actually has a day off). YAY!!! :D Best way to start off the summer!! :)

Last Day of School Tomorrow!! :D

Tomorrow is the last day of my sophomore year. YAY!!! While this year wasn't bad, it wasn't fantastic, so I'm not overly sad about school coming to a close. I'M SO GLAD IT'S GOING TO BE SUMMER SO I CAN WRITE AND EDIT AND DESIGN MORE COSTUMES!!!!!! :D :D Hopefully I will get a lot done this summer! Pray Young Falcon's sales continue to go well, that more people learn about it, that I get some good exposure, and that editing goes well!! Have a great summer, everyone!! :)

What I Got at Half Price Books

I got a book called 'The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring.' Yay! It has location, costume, creature, and armour art, and is a really beautiful book :} It was $7.99, originally $30. Score.

*Adventure Music Plays*

We're going on an adventure today - to Half Price Books! Hahha, Mum asked me what I wanted to do today, and I said something fun, and this is what I came up with. Honestly, I would rather go hiking or swimming, but as we have neither adequate woods for hiking nor a pool, Half Price Books will have to do. My brother and I also cleaned off our bookshelves and have about 30 books to take to HPB and get money in exchange for them. Yay! Hoping I will find some epic treasures, but who knows. That's the only thing I don't like about Half Price Books ... you may or may not find anything worth buying. I shall let you know if I stumble across anything worthwhile :} In the meantime, off we go! *jumps onto horse and gallops off* ;)

Worry Not; Revisions are Still Under Way!

I haven't had just a whole lot of time to edit lately (as school is nearly over and I've been studying for exams (and acing them; got a 99 on my English final!)), but as soon as summer starts, I shall pick up where I left off! I've been thinking about Sons and Daughters incessantly, though; there's a very...interesting and exciting part of the story that I've been developing (though it's much later on in the series) and just as a sort of vague hint, I'll say it involves fire and water :} Good luck figuring that one out ;) So yeah - studying right now, editing later. Wish me luck on my finals!! :)

The First Official Snippet From Book Two

Okay, everyone: here is the first official snippet from Book Two!! This one contains an interesting interaction between Elysia and Roman—one that will certainly not endear Roman to Elysia in the future ;) Enjoy, and let me know any thoughts you have about this snippet! :)

A brief, confused moment passed, and then I suddenly found myself pinioned against Jakob, my back against his chest, and a dagger at my throat. Hardly daring to breathe, I stayed as still as I could, not eager to give him any reason to hurt me.
     “Don’t move.” Jakob echoed my thoughts almost immediately after I thought them, and I could not help but let out a soft whimper of fear. What was he going to do now? Kill me? Use me as bait the way Roman had used Efroy?
     “Call out to Efroy,” he instructed me then. “Let him see that I have you.”
     I swallowed and found I could not speak, but when Jakob pressed the knife closer against my throat, I forced myself to cry hoarsely, “Efroy!”
    He glanced briefly in my direction, took another look, and seemed to realise what had happened. I heard him curse as he drove his sword into a human soldier and then free the bloody weapon. He moved towards Jakob and me, sword at the ready and a fierce, angry light in his eyes. Terrified that he would get himself killed, I tried to struggled away from Jakob, but the human held me fast.
     “Lliam told me not to hurt you, but if you keep wiggling, I may forget he said that,” he threatened me. I dutifully stilled and waited for Efroy to help me, heart pounding violently.
    “Let her go,” Efroy advised in a low, dangerous voice, and Jakob merely pressed the knife closer to my neck, his message clear. Efroy grimaced and looked as though he wanted to say something else but did not; his blue eyes flickered to something behind me frantically, and I frantically wondered if Roman had joined the battle.
    Jakob watched Efroy closely for a few moments more, and then he began backing us up towards the opposite end of the vale, using me as a living shield, and though Efroy followed, looking exceedingly frustrated and helpless, we both knew he could do nothing to help me. I stumbled a few times, and Jakob lightly slapped the blade of the knife against my neck each time, warning me not to try anything—as if I would have been capable of escaping him.
    The human men came in front of us as Jakob brought me backwards, their crossbows and spears pointed threateningly at Efroy’s men. I could hear Efroy cursing from where he stood thirty feet away from me, an anguished look on his face, and I ached to get back to him, where I would be safe.
    “I’ll take her now, Jakob.”
    I froze, completely losing any semblance of bravery I had shown in our brief battle. Roman was here. Roman, not Lliam; I could tell by that victorious gloating in his voice. He was just a few feet away from me … Was he going to kill me now that he had found me?
    I felt Jakob tense behind me, and then he slowly, reluctantly released me. Eager to be away from his knife but panicked at the fact that Zoser’s assassin was there, I stumbled forward—and Roman caught me. I tried to struggle away blindly, but he held me fast, laughing at my efforts.
    “What, didn’t miss me?” he taunted, gripping my wrists tighter until I cried out with pain. Roman smirked and shoved me down to the ground, so hard that I lost my breath for a moment. Panting, I held my ribs, wincing as I dragged air into my lungs. “You’re pathetic,” he said softly, seeming disgusted. “I don’t know why, but I expected something more, Elysia.” Heart racing, I grimaced up at him. What on earth was he talking about? I was a seventeen-year-old girl who had never been out of her tiny hometown; why would he expect anything more than this? Of course I was terrified of him; he had threatened to kill me a few days ago and likely would do so again!
    Roman scoffed and hauled me up roughly, only to then shove me at the nearby horses. “Tie her up; let’s go,” he instructed.

And because I haven't gotten overly far on editing (about pg. 87), it may be a while before I have any more snippets to post, but never fear—there will be more! And remember: IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE, YOU HAVE TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT YOUNG FALCON SO I CAN GET BOOK TWO PUBLISHED!! :)

A Sudden Increase in Amazon Rank

Young Falcon is now ranked #236,101 on Amazon. Yesterday, it was ranked 2,438,399. SOMETHING MAJOR IS HAPPENING! This is its biggest jump yet, and I have a feeling God is behind it... ;) Not only the huge increase of visitors to my blog, but this too? Hmm.... :} So -- it's time for a little marketing! This was a 1,763,899 rank jump for Young Falcon!!!! ♥ If you haven't gotten your copy of Young Falcon yet, check it out on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, or various other online bookstores! You can also download it to your Kindle or Nook!! Remember - THE SPEED OF BOOK TWO'S PUBLISHING IS DEPENDENT ON YOUNG FALCON'S SALES!! If you want to read Book Two, you have to tell people about Young Falcon and spread the word as much as you possibly can! Help me glorify God through my writing and fulfill His purpose for me, and please keep praying for my journey along His path! ♥

A Sudden Increase in Visitors

Today my blog has had 48 visitors...I usually get about six. 23 of them were from Germany. Hmm....Glad to have you, Germans!! :D In the past week, I've had 77 visitors. Yay for sudden increases in visitors! *celebrates* 

   And by the way, HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend N.G.!!! *celebrates again* Have a fantastic b-day!! :D

The Joys of Editing

I have totally fallen in love with the section I am currently writing/adding in Book Two! If you know anything about me, you know that there are two major things I love in fiction: the angsty, 'evil' characters, and the oh-so-fascinating relationship between siblings, and you get a giant angsty sibling sandwich in this scene!!! Whoo-hoo!! This is like a dream-scene for me...the first of many like it! There will be a TON of similar scenes in Sons and Daughters, especially as the story progresses (and gets darker), so I am EXCITED for what's coming up! That's one reason I love Loki so much - he's the angsty, 'evil' young brother who does not like his older brother, thus creating an intense sibling rivalry. This = MY FAVOURITE FICTION CHARACTER OF ALL TIME :D So yeah, just in case you were wondering, that's why I love Loki ;) Anyway! Loving the editing!! And there will be romance in Book Two; I know some of y'all have been wondering about that. Never fear, there will be plenty from now on ;) If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, PLEASE feel free to email them to me at elizabethanne.mckinney@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!!

    Have an awesome week, everyone!

Lopti (Some Like It Blue)

Okay, my life just got better. I was on Loki's Facebook fan page (and YES, I am currently an obsessed fangirl) and saw this link for a girl who loves comics and cosplay and LOKI! She has this amazing Loki costume and she dresses up as Loki to take these amazing pictures, which she posts on her Tumblr page. Here are some of my favourite pictures she's done:

 

Loki fans are amazing, especially this girl!! I LOVE her pictures! :D

The Avengers...Again!

I'm going to see The Avengers again tomorrow, along with my friends N.B. and A.S. Yay!!! I'm so excited!! It'll be nice to see it again and kinda review everything - as it was a very long movie - and maybe notice some things I missed the first time ... and see my FAVOURITE VILLAIN OF ALL TIME (Loki) AGAIN!!!!! Ahahaha tomorrow's gonna be awesome!!

    Have a great week!

The Avengers!

I have been DYING to see Marvel's newest superhero film, The Avengers, and I got to see it on Friday (the day it was released). It was amazing! It was 173 minutes of pure awesomeness!! AHHHHH!!! For those of you who have no idea what it's about, here is a summary:

   Loki (from the 2011 movie Thor, which I also reviewed) is back, and this time, he's got an army and is ready to conquer the Earth. Beginning when he uses an ethereal blue cube called the Tesseract to teleport into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s (an agency committed to protecting the world from extraterrestrial threats) headquarters, he begins to get everything lined up so that he can rule the world as their king. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director, Nick Fury, and his team are nearly blown to bits when Loki effectively destroys their headquarters, and Fury realising that Loki is a serious threat leads him to assemble a group of 'special' people to combat Loki and his alien forces. Enter the Avengers. Consisting of six superheros (four of which have had their own movies), the Avengers are a volatile, self-proclaimed time-bomb that has little chance of overcoming their differences and working together effectively. You have Thor, Loki's older brother and prince of the far-off world of Asgard (who also wants nothing more than to take Loki home); Ironman (Tony Stark), a genius playboy philanthropist who's about as selfish as they come; Captain America (Steve Rogers), a WWII soldier enhanced by a serum that's turned him into a supersoldier and is about as selfless as they come; the Hulk (Dr. Bruce Banner), who was exposed to gamma radiation and turns into a giant green rage monster when enraged or excited; the Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), a Russian spy who is a skilled fighter and gunwoman; and Hawkeye (Cliff Barton), the 'world's greatest markman.' See how this could go downhill pretty quickly? While the Avengers are struggling to work together, Loki's power only grows, and soon the entire world faces total destruction - unless they can somehow manage to work together to fend off Loki's otherworldly forces. 

     The Avengers is packed with breathtaking action, beautiful special effects, hilarious humour, wonderfully refreshing values, excellent characterisations, and a great plot. I give The Avengers 5/5 stars and recommend it to everyone over the age of about 11 (there is some violence and scary creatures, and a few bad words).
    Well done, Marvel. Well done.

Experience Gained!

So...I twisted my ankle playing speedball in PE yesterday (all G.C.'s fault, by the way ;) ), and I hobbled all over school today in a borrowed brace. Fuuuunnn stuff. I actually am kinda thankful that this happened though, because I have a character later on (first appearing in Book Four) that is crippled, so now I have some experience from which to draw when I write about him! Yay! Hahahaha :) Unfortunately, tomorrow is Grandparents' Day at my school - which will involve having to hobble allllll over campus. *sigh* Oh, well; it'll make the character more realistic. I'm all about realistic characters :D

   Hope you have a great weekend! Good luck at state track, PG13 and N.G.!!!

Editing is Actually Going Well

I'm on about page 91 of Book Two, and it's going very well, surprisingly. Considering we only have 3 weeks of school left - and thus, lots of quizzes, tests, and preparations for finals - I've done pretty well to get all the way to page 91 :) I'm basically re-writing everything; that's how bad it was beforehand. In addition to a storyline from Elysia's P.O.V. (point of view), there will be another storyline from the P.O.V. of a rather surprising character - and a much smaller, less developed storyline that functions to show Lliam's and Roman's interactions with each other while hunting Elysia. Yay for side stories! :D The Lliam/Roman one is my favourite of the three, actually ;) Anyway, I may post a snippet or two pretty soon, so be on the lookout, and PLEASE keep praying for Young Falcon's success so I can actually get Book Two published within the next 5 years! ;) I have some events coming up in the summer, so that's a start, but I'll still very much appreciate your prayers!

    Have a great week, y'all!