Mother Nature

Tomorrow is National Novel Writing Month!

It's officially Halloween though I finished trick-or-treating about five hours ago. It's 12:50 AM at the moment and I've barely eaten any candy, which makes me not being very tired even more amazing (I have anemia meaning I get tired easily). I did have two cans of soda, though, which may have contributed. What does all of this have to do with anything? Nothing much, really, except that it means I'll be posting the poem (yes, I wrote it) that inspired my costume.

Mother Nature

Rarely seen
No one knows
Photos are non-existent
Not even legends are told
But she’s there
Hiding among the trees
Wearing their fallen leaves and buds

Chipmunks chatter to her
She laughs at their jokes
The twinkling sound of her joy
Repeated by the bluebirds
She runs with the solves
Howling to the moon as her feet pound the ground
Footprints marking the place of future rabbit homes

The fairy-folk dance with her
On Mid-summer’s Eve
Kicking up their heels
To the music
Played by mice on their whiskers

She weaves her hair
Lining for burrows
Soon to be filled with babes
Her touch brings new life
Green stems from dead branches
Her anger, though, can wreck havoc
The clouds grow dark with her thoughts
Her shouts rumble through the ground
And her tears of frustration raise waterlines
The animals hide
Waiting for this storm to pass
As we do the same

She is rarely seen
No one knows of the power she holds
Photos of her are non-existent
Not even legends are told about her
Her beauty, her power, her existence
She hides
No other name is her’s but
Mother Nature

I won't say it's one of my early poems, but it's not one of my newest poems either. It's somewhere in the middle. I actually think I did pretty good for back then. What do you think? I would really love to know.

Another thing that is related to Halloween is I finally have a picture for my profile (though it's not up yet). You'll get to see me and a few of my friends in costume (plus a couple of my friends who aren't). I've been taking a few more pictures lately which has sparked the idea to have someone take a picture of me writing for everyday of NaNo. Of course, I'll have to use my mom's little thing that you put the SD card in to plug it into the computer so they may not all go up on the correct dates but I'll try my hardest.

P.S. It's now 1:11 AM which means that my post typing time is getting shorter. Huzzah!

City in the Sky

3 days until National Novel Writing Month

So as promised I wrote a poem about my short story series idea. I'm going to have to think of a name for that soon, I don't like just calling it the 'short story series'. It sounds very impersonal. I do have to admit that I thought about writing about something else while I was on my OU field trip (which, if you were wondering, wasn't that bad though it started to get boring after a while and my legs started to hurt after walking around for two hours, I got some great pictures though ^^) but strangely I forgot what it was. It's really kind of disappointing. I have a pretty good poem anyway.

City in the Sky

Feet are stable
firmly planted

Clouds float around
heads filled with fluff

Balloons holding, keeping
a town high in the big blue sky

What dwells below hovering boardwalks
is neither known nor cared much about

Yet there is one boy who
sits and ponders this mystery

He dazes down upon
the ground and wonders

What treasures
lie below us?

I like how I did the format of this poem, though I didn't think to do it like this on purpose until the third stanza. I hope this gives you a clearer idea of my idea. I even hope it gave me a clearer idea. This project should start during December. This will also be my last Poetry Peak until then. Here's to hoping the waiting will be worth it.

Whirling

5 days until National Novel Writing Month

Can you believe it? Less than a week! Good thing I'm going to be super busy this week or it would drag on forever. I've got a field trip that will last all day tomorrow (from 8 AM to 4 PM). We're going to tour the OU campus. It's a GT thing so all my friends are going and I'll know almost everyone that goes. On Thursday morning I have a National Junior Honor Society meeting, and that afternoon I'm going to my sister's soccer practice. Friday afternoon is for Academic Team practice. Best of all, Saturday is trick-or-treating! (Even though Halloween is on Sunday. What is up with my community?) Yes, I still go trick-or-treating. Why in the world would I give up free candy? I'll be going as Mother Nature (the real one, not the one from that stupid commercial). This is partly inspired by this poem I write a while back, maybe I should post it on Halloween. For more teen type things, after getting the free candy we (I'm dragging Lizzie, and possibly Alisha, with me) are going to Nicholas's party. Then after all this fun, Lizzie and Alisha will (hopefully) be spending the night.

I think that is the most my age-group-type paragraph I've written so far. Now, back to more serious, writing related things. Even though I'm super busy there are also times (ie - now) when I'm doing nothing but sitting at home and the time would drag incredibly if I didn't find other things to do (preferably on the Internet as time always seems to pass so quickly when I'm online). So currently I'm checking out some posts on Query Shark, a blog where an agent critiques query letters sent to her. It has pretty good advice on it that might come in handy later. I'm hoping this will hold my interest for a couple of days (there are quite a few posts).

Something that's been occupying my mind (and thankfully keeping me from complete insanity while waiting for NaNo) is submitting one of my poems to Teen Ink, a magazine whose content is written completely by teens. You can sign up for their site and post your writing that way, hoping that they'll see it and put it in their magazine, or you can just send it to them via mail or email. I'd prefer the sending through mail or email. If I signed up I would be tempted to post more writing and they (Teen Ink) get non-exclusive rights to anything you submit and I'm a little protective about these things. You have to include a signed little piece of paper stating that the work is completely by you. I guess if you send it through email you have to scan it onto the computer, one of the reasons I'm taking so long to submit. Another is I would be overtaken with worrying about if they had got it and if they liked it and so forth. Not really rejection but not knowing. It would just kill me if they didn't send me a reply. A rejection actually wouldn't be that bad. I could stick it in my still non-existent rejection scrapbook (have I mentioned this, pretty sure I haven't).

For some strange reason, I've also been thinking about writing a short story series. Usually, I try to steer away from short stories as I'm not good at thinking up ideas for them and I tend to extend it way beyond a 'short' story as I don't know how to end it (hence why, for my novels, I always try to think of an ending and a last line) but I've been thinking that if I made it into a series it would be easier. I may have possibly gotten an idea for them a few minutes ago but it's kind of vague. Maybe I'll write this week's Poetry Peak (yes, I decided to have one this week, it's not November yet, sadly) about it. Hopefully that will make it more firm.

And to top all of this off I'm starting to feel like working on The Lullaby. Five days before NaNo starts. It's like a curse and a blessing in one. I feel like writing and that's awesome but if I get too wrapped up in it, I may not feel like starting NaNo when I'm supposed to (pssh, me, not interested in NaNo). And to go with that I know what I want to happen in Chapter Five but I don't really know how I want to write it. Tomorrow, on the bus for the field trip, I'm going to write up an outline for it. This is so going against my rule never to write on buses but I'll get over it. My mind is whirling with all of this, but it's a good kind of whirling.

Change in Plans

9 days until National Novel Writing Month

Reading book after book that I've already read is getting extremely boring. After a while, it just starts to drag. So I've opted for a slight change in plans. Instead of reading all the books I own in alphabetical order to make sure I've read all of them, I think I'm just going to read whatever I feel like. If I do feel like reading the next book on the list? Great. If not? That's great, too.

Two days ago, I got three new books, courtesy of my father (this means my book count has gone up to 420!). One of them, Identical by Ellen Hopkins, I have been waiting to read for almost a year. The other two are newer but I want to read them all, and I don't want to have to wait until I get to them on my list. So I decided I will read them (already finished Identical anyway) and I may post a review, or I may wait until I read both of the series over again (in case you were wondering, they're the newest Artemis Fowl book and The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan's new book). It feels amazing to read them and not have to worry over my alphabetical list. ^^

So what's going to happen to the list in the sidebar? I'm just going to put down the books I hope to read, maybe the next one or two on my list, and maybe a few books I'm working on reading. It could be anything. Of course, this isn't happening right now because NaNo is almost here. (We're in the single digits!)

How You Loved

10 days until National Novel Writing Month

It's Fall Break which means I don't have to go back to school until Monday. Which means I should be doing the various chores that pertain to my pets. Which means I'm doing nothing. So I wrote a poem. Which means I started Poetry Peak a little early. Officially, I guess that means Poetry Peak will be on Thursdays from now on. That's sort of nice as nothing interesting happens on Thursday, well, except my sister's soccer practice. Also, as is probably already evident, it won't be going on during November. Let's get on to the actual poem, shall we?

How You Loved

Rows upon rows of
f l o w e r s
Waving in the April breeze
Bright shades of
yellow, red, blue, purple

They can't
bring you back
Not to me
Not to your family
Not to your country

So why do I stare at them?

The tombstone,
your tombstone,
says the same thing
every single time
I dare to glance at it

The words won't
change with my wishes
taking away that horrible date
April 3, 2010
When you became trapped

So why can I not look away?

Fresh turned dirt
squelches between
my bare toes
The dirt
you died for

Bending down
I pick up a handful
It's cool and warn
and smells nice
Like you used to

So why did I not see how you loved it more?

more...
than me

I got this idea yesterday as I was listening to my radio. Usually, I'm not good at getting inspiration for poems from songs as the song's lyrics are the only lines that come to mind and that just won't do, for obvious reasons. But this one turned out great, and original, so it worked out fine.

May Bird Warrior Princess

Pages: 244

So here it is. My last review for the next month because, of course, I won't really be reading during November. I have two other books to read this month but they're pretty short and not really worth reviewing. I've been wondering lately if my reviews are actually helpful. I'm not really sure how good I am at them but I'll keep on writing them anyway. It's good practice.

One thing I love in books is how the characters change so much and just enough happens where it feels like forever since the beginning of the book even if it hasn't taken you that long to read it. It's a great feeling to me, and this book has it. It's an almost magical feeling, as if a great period of time has passed while you've been reading and going on with your life. I don't know exactly how to explain it to you but you probably know what I'm talking about anyway. Many avid readers do.

One of the biggest character changes seems to happen to Pumpkin, the house ghost. He is scared and goofy and dramatic, almost to the point of shallowness. Look at these lines from a scene on page 91 where Pumpkin is mad at May and is speaking through another ghost: Pumpkin sighed loudly, then whispered. "He says he's almost been capture by ghouls lots of times and you weren't around to help." May searched for some way to reply, to defend herself. "But he wanted me to go. He said he hoped I'd never come back." Pumpkin seemed to consider this for a long moment, and then another whisper, and Avril turned to May."He says he thought he meant it at the time, but he didn't." He seems pretty snooty here, as if May is just supposed to read his mind. At the end of the book, though, after saving May from Evil Bo Cleevil, The Book of the Dead says this of him (pg. 233): Only slightly more responsible than May Ellen Bird for saving the world. In the end, Pumpkin was brave and loyal. He changed drastically, as all characters should.

This is the third book of the series but there are still some surprises. The astronauts do come to the Ever After as Bertha always predicted they would (pg. 238-241) and though May died she still got to come back to her mom, thanks to a special powder of Bertha's. Legume the long dead pet cat of May's is discovered, as are all the other animals (pg. 153-154). It's really a great end to a story.

Overall, this book tied up all the loose ends. It showed things that prior books hinted to and things that they didn't. It's paced well and just the right amount of spooky. This book is everything it's supposed to be and more. So what are you waiting for? Pick up the May Bird series already.

The next book along the Reading Trail? Vet Volunteers: Fight for Life by Laurie Halse Anderson.

(13 until National Novel Writing Month)

Synopsis

14 days until National Novel Writing Month

I haven't done much toward planning, there hasn't really been much I can do. Mostly I've been reading. I finished the first section of No Plot? No Problem! and I'm about halfway through May Bird Warrior Princess. I'm planning to finish the latter pretty soon, originally I meant to do it today but I don't know if I'll be able to now.

Even though planning has pretty much come to a standstill I have accomplished a few things in the past week. I have another character to throw into the mix and I've rewritten my synopsis to be more descriptive of what's actually going on in the novel. I thought I would go ahead and post both of them today. I would like some comments on this because I'm not really that good at writing summaries.

Rebbsie Taylor is one of the most dangerous fugitives in the world according to the United States government. She's the only one who knows about the Waves, because she is one. She's the only one who knows about the teams, because she was in one. She's the only one who knows how the government killed them, because she survived.

But they know about her too. They know how her waves manipulate thoughts, and how to protect themselves from them. They know about her slight mental instability and how to use it to their advantage. What they don't know is what she's planning. 

Inside a building called the Enclosure are rooms full of Wave children of all ages. Experiments are performed on them, making some disfigured and handicapped. They are her target.

Getting them out is going to be tough, maybe even impossible. How could they all possibly sneak past the motion detectors and countless guards unseen and undetected? This is her mission. 

It could be her last.

I know the last line sounds kind of clique but I couldn't think of anything else to wrap it up. As I said I'm lousy at these. This is actually pretty good for me. I think that's almost pathetic. Good thing I'm better at actual writing or my career might already be down the tubes. And here's my newest darling.

Vincent Nodding:
He manipulates diseases. During one of the experiments performed on him, the scientists caused him to have echoes. He contracted NF which took over his face and other parts of his body. Being very vain, this greatly upset him. He has sworn revenge. He is very bright so who knows what he'll come up with.

I put a link in there so you could check out what NF is. This man's website is very inspiring and very truthful. It's amazing what some people have to go through. I highly suggest checking it out.

May Bird Among the Stars

Pages: 260

So four days for this one, though it was slightly shorter. I guess it's not that bad. I have a little more time to read these books now because I went ahead and took one of the books off my list for this month (this is partially because I finally got a copy of No Plot? No Problem! and I really want to read it). With this book, even though I've read it before, I remember nothing. I don't even think I would remember the main characters if I hadn't just read the first book in the series. It was kind of like I was learning everything all over again. It was sort of nice.

In this second installment of the series, a few of the loose ends are tied up. Beatrice finds her mother (pg. 201), May finally makes it to North Farm (pg.113), and Lucius is rescued (chp. 28). There are also some that aren't. May hasn't saved the realm from Evil Bo Cleevil yet. The spirits still expect her to save them as is stated in The Lady of North Farm's letter on the last page. And don't forget, we still need you. Don't forget us. It also may suggest that May is going to go back to the Ever After in the next book. The line: The trees missed it completely. Right then their attention was turned in another direction, upward, toward a star that was growing dim; suggests that the Ever After is in dire trouble. And who is brave enough to save it besides May? It makes you wonder.

The world of the Ever After is very detailed from modes of communication to the types of spirits who happen to be floating about. It's an intriguing place that you might want to visit, during a time when it's not being ruled by an evil dictator, of course. It's a world where noogies scare away evil spirits and goblins love to go shopping. Where your only job is to go to Earth and sit in people's houses and watch, or haunt as they say. It's wonderful and slightly scary. Every kid's wonderland and worst nightmare. How someone thinks up something like this is beyond me, let's hope Ms. Anderson's creativity continues.

The few flaws that were in the first book do not seem to be in the sequel. There are no funny word choices, the story flows smoothly, making it easy to read. Many book series seem to get better as they continue, and this one is no exception. It is always wonderful to see writers improve.

Overall, I continue to recommend this book series. May Bird is a great main character that changes as all good characters should. All the other characters have their own quirks and personalities. The setting is portrayed exactly right and the plot is a steady flow, keeping you interested. A book to be admired.

The next book along the Reading Trail? May Bird Warrior Princess by Jodi Lynn Anderson.

(19 days until National Novel Writing Month)

Characters

21 days until National Novel Writing Month

I've come up with a name for my NaNo novel as well as for each of my characters. The title of this year's novel is Thinking of You. Rebbsie's waves manipulate thought so it's an appropriate title. I've come up with seven characters as well. I wrote a small paragraph for each of them today and thought I'd share them with you, just so you'd get a glimpse of some of the things that are going on in the novel. They aren't the best things in the world, but they're better than nothing.

Rebbsie Taylor:
She was recruited by the government for a Wave team in 2002 at the age of fourteen. A year later the government started killing off the teams. Her team was one of the last to fall, but they too were picked off one by one until, finally, she was the only one left, of any of the teams. She frequently has flashbacks of times with her team. Her waves manipulate thoughts, the reason she was recruited at such a young age. It's also one of the reasons she hasn't been caught yet.

Wayne Patrick:
By the time the government started killing Waves most of his team was already dead. They were the first team of Waves ever recruited. Only he and one other team member were left. The government quickly killed off his team mate but locked him away inside of their building dedicated especially to Waves. This was because of the fact that his waves manipulate time. They couldn't kill him, his body would just respond with waves that sent back time to before he was stabbed or shot or burned. His waves also echo. His organs age and then become young again unpredictably. He could die from organ failure at any time.

Relic Barren:
He is a Prism employed by the government. His job is to find Waves and identify their power and strength. He enjoys his job, under the impression that he is doing something useful for his country, as his father and grandfather did before him, serving in the army. He is not a man of physical skill and prefers to read and solve problems then run and climb. He is being deceived by the government.

Jamie Mathews:
Her firstborn son was stolen in 2005. She was frantic, doing everything she could to find him. On her website dedicated to the search for her son, a comment was posted by an anonymous person with a link to a private site and a password. She checked it out to see a site dedicated to the dead Waves with information on how the government took the children. Four years later she had her second son and noticed some strange signs. She is determined to protect her son and find her other one.

Ray Mathews:
He was taken at the age of nine by government officials. He has the ability to manipulate natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The leader of the taken children, he is determined to get them all out and plans for it night and day.

Carson Mathews:
Almost a year old, he is extremely powerful, his waves manipulating life and death. He can not control his waves though they are few and far between.

Brelee Thomas:
Taken at the age of eight, she manipulates the senses of both animals and people. She can no longer walk due to an experiment gone wrong. She has a suspension that the scientists could fix her but they won't. She works the rest of her body as much as possible, trying to make up for her useless legs.

Like I said, not the best written paragraphs you've ever seen, but this ends my planning for NaNo. I have characters, a title, and events. I think I'm set. I'm not really one of those people that has to plan out every little detail. Now, I can't wait for next month, when I get to actually start writing.

May Bird and the Ever After

Pages: 317

Wow, it took me eight whole days to read this book at only 317 pages. I am definitely slacking. This is not good. I still have five other books to read this month (two of which are actually sequels to this book). However, I did enjoy it. I got to rediscover most of the characters and events in this book since it's been quite a while since I have read it (of course, I've read it already XD).

The mood and style of this book is hard to pull off. I probably couldn't do it, though I've thought about it once or twice. For instance, one of the character's name is Somber Kitty. It's simple, naming exactly what the cat is and what he's like where most names are just, well, names. Yet it completely fits in this novel. Look at this sentence from page 17: At the edges of the grass, the trees watcher her. They knew better.  Or this one from page 24: The truth was, nobody had ever said they needed her. "Mew," was all she got in reply from someone who needed her very much. If a cat-to-English dictionary had been handy, and May had looked up "mew," it would have translated into something like "curiosity killed the cat." They show the mood of the story pretty well. I love reading things like this. I don't really know why, it just seems so writerly (using one of Madeline's words) to me.

I did notice a few bumps in the writing flow. Example, pg. 226-227: And all around them stood a horde of stunned spirits, frozen in their activities of moments ago-pushing baby carriages, driving carriages, selling soul cakes from gleaming carts. There are about two or three other instances like this.Where the sentence structure is great but there is just one or two words that just don't fit in right. I know this can seem kind of nitpicky but people (especially me) notice these things and for a split second it throws off the story. Some people really get into a book and it's little things like that that jar them unexpectedly back into reality.

I love those books that have their own little things that make them 'tick', for lack of a better word. For instance, in Somber Kitty's search for May he periodically says, in his own little cat language, "Meay?" as if he is calling for her. The author picked a name for her main character than a cat could pronounce. Little things that are interwoven into the story like that just stick out to me (they give me a nice feeling, kind of like all things happen for a reason, but not exactly). There are quite a few little things like that in this book, but I won't give away any more.

Overall, the characters are believable though ghosts and spirits and specters aren't real (that's been proven anyway), there is always something happening within the plot, and it's not incredibly freaky like some life-after-death books can be. I suggest reading it and it's successors (which my next two reviews will be based upon).

The next book along the Reading Trail? May Bird Among the Stars by Jodi Lynn Anderson.

(Oh, and, 23 days until National Novel Writing Month.)

With an Excerpt, a Comparision, and a Possible New Feature

26 days until National Novel Writing Month

I managed to get unstuck and finished Chapter Four! This means the rest of the month is free for all the NaNo planning I could hope for. And trust me, I desperately need to plan. I think I have about three or four characters and only one of them has a name and none of them has any real depth yet. I have about four events and I do not think that's going to get me through 50,000 words. Plus, I desperately need a title. If I somehow manage to get all this planned out, I'm thinking I may write 'drabbles'. Which from what I understand from reading some examples from this blog, drabbles are little pieces of writing that relate to your novel but aren't really a part of it. I may have an idea for one, but it might also work in the actual novel so I'm hesitant to write it.

But this post isn't about my NaNo (that's what the posts for the next month and a half are for XD) it's about me finishing Chapter Four, about me getting one step closer to that first ledge. This chapter was hard for me to write, I'm not sure if the writing quality is as good as in the previous chapters. It's possible that this is because the main scene is of a type that I'm not all too comfortable writing. I'm going to go ahead and post it here and see if I get any comments on it. I would love some tips. This are also curse words in the chapter (though not in this excerpt) which I usually don't include in my writing.

The bang of the stool’s legs hitting the floor drowned out the ringing in her ears. He stood up, still laughing under his breath. She straightened her spine, trying to give an impression of tallness, but Redstone was a good three inches taller than her. “I’ll ask around, see if anyone’s looking for any new clients,” his eyes swept her slowly from her black covered head to her scuffed boots, “Though, I don’t know if much can be done for your looks, love.”

Cassie snapped open the bag hanging from her shoulder, “It’s not for me. How much?”

He took a step towards her, “Then who exactly is it for? You don’t seem like the type to swing that way, if you know what I mean.”

“How much?” her voice was stiff. She was never coming here again, no matter how desperate she was.

Another step. “Guess I was wrong, you do.”

She kept her eyes firmly on his face, “I don’t. Now if you want payment, tell me. How much?”

“Just one should do,” Redstone took one last step-he was right in her face now-and grabbed her arms. His mouth closed over hers, his tongue pushing against the resistance of her lips.

I normally don't do good with this type of scene, the kind with uncomfortable subjects such as homosexuality (which, by the way, I do not believe is a bad thing just kind of awkward to talk about in this way) and the forced kiss. Though, I do have to admit, it's not as bad as some of the other scenes I've tried with those types of subjects in them. With the completion of this chapter, my rewrite stands at 4,659 words. I'm just trucking along.

What strikes me about my rewrite is how much better it is than the original. I know I wrote the original in a month and it was for NaNo, it's not supposed to be great, but I still can't help the feeling that I should've been doing this good, or fairly close, the first time around. I've also been writing it in a slightly different order. Look at these two lists:

• Chapter One: Gone
• Chapter Two: Vision
• Chapter Three: Be Very Careful
• Chapter Four: The Boy

This first list is the list of the four chapters that are in my rewrite.

• Prologue
• the beginning of Chapter One: Hiding
• the beginning of Chapter Two: Richard
• the beginning of Chapter Nine: Redstone's Offer

This list is the pieces of the original novel (of course, completely rewritten) that are currently contained within the rewrite. There's some very profound hopping around. I think I kind of like it, though it may make it harder to continue with the rewrite in the future, but I'm sure I'll figure it out if it happens that way. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, as they say.

To wrap up this blog post, I would like to present an idea I've had for a new feature, though I may not be able to start it for a while due to NaNo. On one day in every week (I haven't decided which yet), I will post a new poem of mine. The point is to write a poem each week. This is partly in honor of the closing of my poetry site on Neo (I decided this blog was better). This new feature will probably start sometime in December or January. I'm going to call it Poetry Peak.

Detour

31 days until National Novel Writing Month

It's October and you know what that means! But just in case you don't, I'll tell you. October is when I start planning for NaNoWriMo. I've had my plot (really it's just an in depth idea) picked out for months but this month is when I actually start going over details and characters and what have you. I didn't get much done today besides better explaining four terms that will be used frequently throughout the novel. I need to start mapping out events and picking characters. Maybe this weekend.

Of course, this means The Lullaby is going to be put on hold for the month of November. If I want to reach the full goal of 50,000 words that is. And I want to, very much. I do however plan to finish Chapter Four before then. As a matter of fact, I wrote some more of it today. About four hundred words. But I'm stuck again. I need to think of something that Cassie would need, something she would really need. Once I figure that out, though, the rest should be a breeze.

Now, I'm sure you're all just dying to know what my NaNo (I'm going to have to think of a title soon) is going to be about. Here's the initial idea. Did I mention this would be my first first person project?

You know all those babies and little kids who disappear every year? 'Kidnapped' they say. And they are, in a sense. But not by some maniac bent on torturing them or killing them in a most horrible fashion. I guess you could say that was true, too, if you really thought about it. But that also depends on your view of the government.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is those babies and little kids aren't taken because some guy just decided he liked the looks of them. They're taken because they're different. Things happen when they're around and, of course, no one blames it on them. How could little Junior possibly knock over a semi? He didn't even move!

But I know different. Because I'm like them. I'm the last one left that the government hasn't destroyed or taken for themselves. The last survivor of the last team of Waves. My name is not important but I'll tell you what it is anyway. My name is Rebbsie Taylor. And I want to break them out. All those little girls and boys.

So the question is, do you want to join me or shall I kill you?

Here's to hoping that will get me through 50,000 words. The excitement is starting to build and I'm almost to the point where I can't wait. I've started a count down, you can see it at the top of this posts and it's successors (or you will).

I would also like to mention something about the Reading Trail while I've got your attention. I did finish Little Women but I won't be doing a review on it. As I mentioned, it's a condensed version, and as I was rereading it, I realized it was even more condensed then I thought. It tells basically what happens but it's not very specific or in depth and likes to move through the scenes quickly. As the back claims it has been (very) adapted for young readers. I mean, I got this book (plus about 23 others that my grandma got me, Treasury of Illustrated Classic is the name of the series) when I was in the third grade. It's not supposed to be anything grand so what's the point in reviewing it? Why would you want to read a review about it if you're over 10?

The point of the Reading Trail is for me to read all the books that I own, training for the climb. I don't necessarily have to review all of them. I've decided to post a list in the sidebar of the books on my list that I hope to read that month (here's to hoping I figure out how) and I'll review whichever ones I feel should be reviewed. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I'm now reading May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson.