New Year/Playlist for My Novel

So, it's a New Year! I've already made my resolutions and have been pretty good about keeping them so far, and hopefully I continue to be smart and keep them!! =)

One of my absolute favorite authors is Maggie Stiefvater, and I've been keeping up with her blog! Google her, or just go to maggiestiefvater.com and browse around! So much fun. I really enjoyed one of her recent posts, which involved how your New Year's resolutions should be specific and not involve others' permissions or input on you keeping it or not. Very interesting, and it made me reflect on my resolutions. I'm lucky to admit that none of mine were what she would consider a "bad resolution" =) !

anyways, I need to update my novel playlist, and maybe listening to some of these songs will help you get the "mood" or "feel" of the novel I am working so diligently on. So diligently, in fact I'm daring myself to stay up all night to work on it! I haven't done that quite yet, and I feel that I need to in order to be able to call myself atrue aspiring novelist. Wish me luck!!!!

Okay, so here's my playlist, in no particular order.

"Howl" by Florence and the Machine
"Twilight" by Elliott Smith
"9 Crimes" by Damien Rice
"I Was Wrong" by Sleeperstar
"Dance Dance" by anberlin
"Can't Stop" MoZella
"aquarius" Regina Spektor
"Go On" by Jack Johnson
... and that's all folks, for now. But be expecting more! I'm a music freak=)

Tired already,
Elle~!~

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 ~

              

    

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

In all the hustle bustle of gift buying, gift receiving, family, friends, and youself, everyone - including me at times - forgets who is the real reason for the season: Jesus! How blessed we are that He came to this Earth as a babe and saved mankind from our sins. He is a cause to celebrate for!
I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas, and you're staying safe if you're traveling anywhere.
This year, so far all I've gotten for Christmas is jewelry and clothes. But hey, I'm not complaining! In fact, I'm thrilled! I don't ask for anything, because I don't need anything. I'm blessed and thankful for what I have. And as a girl, clothes and jewelry are what I want! :)
I gave my step-mom a piano CD (Jim Brickman is amazing!), my sister this cute stuffed cat (Persian cats are beautiful!), my step-brother a book (The Fire Within is a good book for his level!), my brother a book (The Chase by Clive Cusler looked interesting!), my dad a card saying him and I need to go to starbucks and spend some time together (and I'd be paying for the coffee and treats!), my half-sister a soft, stuffed dog (she now sleeps with her new puppy!), my mom a top-50 Christian Tunes CD, and my grandma some money to go buy books with! Later today I'm going over to my mom's to celebrate Christmas with her - so far I've been at my dad's all week and we Celebrated Christmas over here on Wednesday night). :)
Anyways, I'm excited because I just finished this really good book! I know I'm only a teenage girl, but I've learned a lot from the book Love And Respect by Emerson Edderich. Here are the notes I took throughout the book:

• Unconditional love for her is just as powerful as unconditional respect is for him.
• Love alone isn't enough. Love is vital, especially for her, but you also need the man's need for respect.
• You can be right but wrong at the top of your voice and with your tone of voice.
• Ephesians 5:33 - "Each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

         The greek word Paul uses here for love is "agape". This verse means:
       1. A husband is to obey the command to love even if his wife doesn't obey this command to respect, and a wife is to obey the command to respect even if the husband doesn't obey the command to love.
       2. A husband is even called to love a disrespectful wife, and a wife is called to respect an unloving husband. There is no justification for a husband to say, "I will love my wife after she respects me" not for a wife to say," I will respect my husband after he loves me."

• Without love, she reacts without respect. Without respect, he reacts without love.
• Craziness happens when we keep doing the same things over and over again with the same ill effect.
• Those of us in the church, who believe we have the Truth, are not using the whole Truth.
• Communication - one of 1st steps is to hear what God's Word clearly says.
• Just because you feel unloved or disrespected doesn't mean that that's the message being sent.
• The Lord has created a woman to love. Her whole approach to nurture, her sensitivity, love, and compassion are all part of her very nature. God created a woman to love - He's not going to command her to agape her husband when he created her to do that in the first place.
• A young wife is created to agape her husband and children, and will never stop unconditionally loving them. But with everything in daily life, she may become so discouraged that she may lack phileo.
• PMS - Pre-Murder Syndrome
• If a husband is commanded to agape-love his wife, then she truly needs love.
• When men hear negative criticism, it doesn't take long for them to start interpreting it as contempt for who they are as men.
• "Unconditional respect" is not an oxymoron. It should be given even if not "deserved."
• Women are much more apt to show how they feel.
• How to love a man = respect.
• Respect does something to the soul of a man. God made him that way.
• Of course women also need respect and men also need love, but the primary drive in sex is for women-love and men-respect.
• Men want to fight and die for honor. They are willing to serve.
• Men are to value women as equals.
• Men are the princes and women the princesses. This means 1. He has a need to be respected as the head, the one called upon to die (Ephesians 5:33). 2. The prince goes into battle for the princess, not vice versa. 3. The princess doesn't seek to be respected as the "head". Instead, she longs to be honored, valued, and prized as a precious equal. 4. The prince is to be considered "first among equals." He is her equal, but he is called upon to be the first to provide, to protect - and to even die if necessary.
• It's not an accident that in every culture, and generally as a rule, that men are bigger and stronger than women. This is God's visual aid concerning His purpose for men.
• Something within her thirsts to be valued as "first in importance". Nothing energizes her more! She's not self-centered. God placed this in her by nature.
• As women fear being unloved, men fear being disrespected (held in contempt).
• Men and women have different needs, but they are equal to each other.
• We easily see what is done to us before we see what we're doing to others.
• The mature one has to make the first move in repairing a relationship.
• She will not be a doormat, but a woman with power.
• A woman has a natural instinct to "mother", but she shouldn't "mother" him.
• Don't bring negativity into your relationship.
• Speak the other's love language so that they respond with and speak yours.
• If you step out in faith, claiming God's Word as the basis for your actions, then you are trusting God to bring to pass what He said He would do.
• We are only called to be obedient, and God will handle it from there.
• Sometimes, because men want respect, they try to motivate her to be respectful by being unloving (sort of like trying to urge her to be more watchful by poking her in the eye with a stick). And the same is true vice versa.
• "Be angry, and yet do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger." (Ephesians 4:26).
• Take the hit.
• Love regardless of respect. Respect regardless of love.
• Forgive without limit (Matthew 18:22).
• Forgiveness comes when we see our own unrighteousness. How can we refuse to forgive an offense when we, too, have offended?
• Hear each other's cries and respond.
• If you miss - rebound.
• His love motivates her respect. Her respect motivates his love.
• For husbands to follow:

C - Closeness
O - Openness
U - Understanding
P - Peacemaking
L - Loyalty
E - Esteem

• For wives to follow:

C - Conquest
H - Hierarchy
A - Authority
I - Insight
R - Relationship
S - Sexuality

• She wants him to be close. For her, face-to-face time is heart-to-heart time.
• Connectivity is what a woman looks for in any relationship.
• You can't motivate another to give you what you need by withholding their needs.
• You can either motivate or demoralize each other.
• The woman is an integrated personality. Her mind, body, and soul are connected, and her entire system reacts to her emotions and feelings.
• When her spirit is crushed, her body is unavailable.
• Women are more expressive; men are more poker-faced.
• The man is the Christ figure, the woman is the Church figure. And as a church places its burden on Christ, a woman wants to place her burdens on her man. Even if she can't articulate it in these words, she thinks of the man as the burden bearer - as having those big shoulders. When she goes to him for understanding, it's a compliment.
• Ephesians 5:25 - Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.
• Men should listen without trying to fix.
• Many times when a woman goes to her man with a problem, she's not wanting it solved, but she's just wanting to share.
• A woman talks to process her feelings.
• "Since she is a woman" (1 Peter 3:7), God made the woman with different needs and vulnerabilities from the man's, so he shouldn't pass judgment on her.
• Man and woman = TEAM!
• As you go head-to-head to solve problems, you'll go heart-to-heart.
• 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 : The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does, and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
• The man and woman shouldn't act independent from each other. THEY SHOULD AND CAN ACT TOGETHER.
• Tensions and conflicts exist to deepen relationships.
• You will not lose respect by saying you're sorry.
• A man's loving attitude triggers something within her heart as a woman. God made her this way.
• Women are wired for "equality"
• Words are very powerful to her.
• Lots of time, she doesn't need information, but reassurance.
• Song of Solomon 2:10 KJV - A woman always likes to hear her man exclaim, "You alone are 'my love'".
• She MUST have reassurance.
• She knows she's a one-man woman but when there's beautiful females everywhere else, she wonders about him at times. She needs reassurance there.
• She needs to show him respect regardless of his response to her.
• When she honors him, he will serve her.
• Men were made to work - Adam was even given the first job! In Genesis 2:15 it says, "Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it."
• From the very beginning, man was called upon to "work in the field" and provide for his family.
• The good-willed woman marries for love, not money, but nonetheless she is very aware of the need to make a "nest."
• Most men reflect Adam and most women feel like Eve. She alone can have a baby, and if she has one she wants her Adam to work in the field on her behalf so she can stay home and be with their child.
• Despite feminism's cries, a wife best qualifies as the one who "tenderly cares for her own children." (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
• Women can be called to positions of important leadership (see Judges 4:4) but she has incomparable worth as a mothr. A father with an infant still doesn't compare to a mother with an infant.
• He wants a woman who believes in him. There's a parallel here between Christ and the Church. Christ wants us to believe in Him, and we do that to the glory of God. But in the human sense, in a relationship, men do what they do for the admiration of one woman.
• Ephesians 5:22-24 = "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is also the head of the Church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. Bus as the Church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything."
• The man is called to understand his duty to protect his woman. At the same time, the woman is called upon to place herself under that protection.
• The problem many women have today is that they want to be treated like princesses, but they don't treat their men like kings.
• Men are more vulnerable to criticism when it comes to "headship" issues.
• Having friendship in your love is important.
• Song of Solomon, where the main theme is passionate, ache-all-over-love, says in Chapter 5 to the couple, "Eat, friends; drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers" (v. 1). Then later, in the same chapter, as the wife recounts how fine and dazzling her husband is ("outstanding among ten thousand" v. 10), she completes her litant of praise by saying, "This is my beloved and this is my friend" (v. 16; italics mine).
• Just as men make the effort to be face to face, women must make the effort to be shoulder to shoulder.
• She has emotional needs - he has physical needs.
• His unconditional love mirrors Christ's love for the church and her unconditional respect is like the church's reverence for Christ.
• Don't interpret delay as defeat.
• When blue & pink come together as God intended them to, it makes His purple. Purple is the color of royalty.
• Do everything in and for Christ.

Alright everyone, that's it! I hope you enjoyed those notes and learned some good things! This goes for married OR single OR dating men and women. However, the sexual intimacy parts is intended for the married couple. However, the whole theme of love and respect goes for both.
I need to go now. My siblings and I are playing our new Wii. Have a Merry Christmas!

In Respect,
Elle Camino