Keyboarding

Hello my people,

So, for Christmas, my family got a keyboard! I'm determined to learn, even if my fingers end up getting all contorted. But I'm actually pretty good! Being able to already read music, and having started studying music theory beforehand both really helped. I'm playing "Only Hope" by Mandy Moore, and I can just play it mostly by ear! another song I'm trying to learn is "Boston" by augustana.

By the way, sorry if I can't capitalize the "a"'s that need to be capitalized. My keyboard has been broken for a long time now, and so I've learned to type by copy and pasting "a" using Ctrl v, and I can't usually find capital a's or want to really have to go in search of one just to copy and paste it. Thank you for understanding =)

anyways (see? great example right here), I've been slacking in my writing recently, ever since Christmas. I need to get back on that, and in fact I'm going to write a chapter. Right. Now.

Writing,

Elle~

Keyboarding is so much fun!=) 

Score!

Today, while driving in my car (which is secretly a transformer), as I was listening to the Transformers Score (yes, I'm obsessed, and sorry for so many parenthesis within this one long sentence, which I'll go ahead and apologize for here), I felt like I was someone like Sam Witwicky. =)

So, people keep on looking at my blog! I'm excited, but I wish I had more subscribers! It would be so cool to get a wide audience, especially since I'm going to publish my book here within the next few months and I need a fan base! Invite people to my blog! Get excited about my book! Make it a best-seller (haha)!

I decided to pretend I was a photographer and go outside with my camera and be creative. I got some good shots!

So, anyways, my family is finally celebrating Christmas tomorrow now that we have everyone gathered here! I'm excited, especially for helping make the Christmas dinner! Yum!=)

I probably ought to go now and write or something, so I'll relieve your eyes from my typing. I hope you had a great Christmas, and get excited for the incoming New Year! Oh goodness 2010 went by TOO fast!!!!!

Oh, before I go, I have a confession: the transformer I'm scared of? Starscream. His name scares me. His looks scare me. Everything about him scares me, honestly. and my friends make fun of me for being scared of him. =(

Secretly amazing photographer,

Elle!~

Composing

Writing is so relaxing, releasing, freeing, energizing, and beneficial - in my opinion. But hey, what can I say? I'm a Writer.


I think that one of the most amazing things to write to would have to be movie scores. My particular favorites are of (not in any order):
1. Remember Me
2. Transformers
and 
3. August Rush. 


Coffee is another essential item to writing, and I think that's psychological more than physical - but still very important!


The most distracting things? 
1. My family
2. The internet (including facebook!)


So I've learned to shut them off and tune them out. 


I'm over 32,000 words into my novel, and writing daily (now that I'm over my Writer's Block) has become a very important thing that I make myself do. I also make sure to keep track of how much I have written, and that's been very helpful in my goal-setting and focusing. I would be ashamed to announce how many words I have written today (though no less than 500!), so I won't - but I need to get onto it as soon as I'm done blogging here!


Here is my latest paragraph:

“I should probably take a look at that,” Iblis entered the kitchen, and I saw the people in the living room look all at one another, starting to murmur amongst themselves.

and I'm very proud of where my novel is going. When I write, it all just comes to me. No matter how much I try to plot it out, whether it be in my head or on paper, the best place where my novel comes is on the screen as I type it. I've had a couple epiphanies about some plot issues late at night, and I'm so thankful that I have something that allows me to clear my head and think - music.


On that note (haha, that was a pun, get it?), I just watched the most amazing movie - for the third time. august rush. Undoubtedly, it inspires me every time. The soundtrack is one of my most-listened to tracks on my iPod, and that movie has made me cry at least twice every time I've seen it. This movie is life-changing. Musical genius. Breathtaking. 


anyways, I've got a novel to write, and you've got some more important thing to do than listen to me ramble on. So go hug an elderly person, save a kitten, or get rid of that spider in your sister's hair.


arrivederci (that's Italian for goodbye!)


love love love always,


Elle~ \


mm coffee!

Winter

I will update almost daily now! I'm back, for good!

My book is titled Winter, and although I'm not finished yet, it's coming along great!

Here is an excerpt and a taste of my writing style:
(chapter one)

 Brooke

“She has not yet been born:

She is music and word,

And therefore the un-torn,

fabric of what is stirred.”

- Osip Mandelstam - translated by A.S. Kline, Silentium

     Surrounded by the forest that held me captive, I was watching my wolf and he was watching me, his brown eyes holding mine in an unbreakable grip. Kneeling in the dry leaves, I kept my eyes fixed upon him, holding out my hand with my palm facing upward, luring him to me. He was still the same, but so alien – so completely different as he walked slowly, steadily towards me, until his cold black nose touched my fingers, not resisting my human scent. I sighed and reached my other hand out to him, burying my fingers through his stiff outer coat and into his soft, thick undercoat. He was so familiar, so mine, but so distant at the same time. He owned two skins - one human and the other wolf, and I loved both of him. Even though he was lost to me in a way right now, I still secretly thought of him as beautiful.

    He had three colors of fur. His dusty coat was an aura of browns shifting in the light, with white adorning his underside, chest, and legs, and making its way up his neck and to half of his face, including his muzzle. His ears were also brown, but black crept in along his shoulders, down parts of his head, and then merged with the white along his back. His tail was incorporated of white and brown, and at that moment I thought that overall he looked very noble - his tail relaxed, gently curving down towards the dying grass.

    He was muscular and lean, for he had plenty to eat; the deer were abundant, and occasionally a moose would wander too close and we would hunt. I could imagine it now - the pack working together as a family to feed one another, bloody pawprints lost in the mud, and taking advantage of the opportunity to fill our stomachs. I was the only one who hadn’t yet lost themselves to Winter. I was the last to lose and find myself this year, but I didn’t want to go. I’d never really wanted to.

    The trees in the forest around me were oblivious to their sad deaths, their apparel in a runway blanketing the floor. I could feel a chill in my chest, a hollow, empty feeling that meant that I would soon shed my skin. A sensation I looked forward to, yet dreaded. I didn’t want to give up my legs, my fingers, or my dull human senses, because when I lose those, I lost my true self. If I died as a wolf, no one would know who the person behind that skin was, and I would die nameless. I wasn’t ready to give up my human emotions, though it wasn’t that we didn’t have emotions as a wolf. It was because those were my dulled emotions, and I couldn‘t feel everything as strongly or think as clearly.

    As if he knew my thoughts, my wolf, my best friend, whined and tucked his head into my shoulder. I closed my eyes and let myself concentrate on the balance of scents around me. Strongest was his musky, wolfy smell, but beyond that was the aroma of pine and mulch and the mild oak and moss. The intense cedar was also there, along with the nuts and the heavy earth, and then there was also light sense of Winter that clung to everything in the forest. It was a faint smell that I was so attuned to. I inhaled and exhaled with my eyes still closed, and only then did I gradually become aware of another presence.

    This was the problem with being human - the dulled senses. As a wolf, I would’ve heard and smelled them from far away, miles even. But since I was human, I didn’t know they were here until they were almost directly in my presence.

    My eyes flicked open. I heard the leaves on the bushes rustling, the soft thud of paws, and light breathing and the noise of a body moving even though it was barely audible. I had senses better than a human, but never as powerful as a wolf. I was stuck in an in-between that was neither weak nor strong. I looked up, and saw her then, standing so horribly beautiful. Her white fur was like freshly fallen snow, her eyes knife-like, black and filled with hate.

    My wolf, his body warm as he pressed into me, flicked his ears towards her but showed no other acknowledgement of her appearance. I let my heart rate slow down again - I knew she wouldn’t do anything, because if she was going to then he would’ve somehow known. So I had no choice but to ignore her, an unpleasant presence, and I chose instead to kiss the top of my wolf’s head. He raised it slowly then to press his cheek against mine, and eventually he had to break free of my arms and disappear into the forest, leaving not even a shadow.

    She left in silence. And, like usual, I was left alone.

one of the most influential books in my life:












 plus some great music 

This is terrible!

Dear readers,

 I am so sorry that I have not been keeping up with my blog! But I want to, to improve on my writing skills and to keep my friends updated when there is so much to say!!!!

So, as you all know, or should already know - I've moved to Texas. Talk about shell shock. Culture change. The weather is different, the school systems are different, the people are different, the world is different here! But I'm slowly adjusting and trying to tread water, looking up towards the bright side. or so I say. I've been making short-term goals for myself to help me get through this mess, and so far I'm doing ok, I guess. 

But I've set a new goal:

Write a novel in the month of November. 50,000 words, 30 days. Coffee, imagination, pen/keyboard... I can do this!!! 

I've always wanted to be a writer, and I've had ideas in my head for a long time now, but since November is National Novel Writing Month, I've decided to take part and take action! I'm super excited, and I love writing - so this is so perfect for me! 

I'll give you snippets of my work, as I write more. People keep asking me about it, but all I can say is wait! =)

a list of my songs that I'm writing to? Sure, here you go!!!! :

Howl by Florence and the Machine

Run by Snowpatrol

Sundrenched World by Joshua Radin

Make This Go On Forever by Snowpatrol

Breathe Into Me by RED

Dance Dance by anberlin

Eyes On Fire by Blue Foundation

Never Think by Robert Pattinson

Delicate by Damien Rice

Yinin & Yangin by Victor Wooten

Volcano by Damien Rice

Little Wonders by Rob Thomas

Warm Whispers by Missy Higgins

and as I write and listen, I'll give you more on my song list! But music is my muse, definitely. I'd die without it. I've decided I want to be a writer with a background in music, so I'm gonna major in writing and minor in music!!!! =)

So, fellow people, expect to read more from me soon! Be excited! Lots of news!!! (=

always composing whether with music or pen,

Kristen ~