Tag + Soldier

So Jack over at However Improbable tagged me with the Writing Process Blog Tour! She didn't list any rules so I am just going to do as she did and start talking about my book and do the tag!!! (Pst: On the topic of books and tags pop over to 'Till the End of the Line and read all about our new Space book!!)

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1.) What am I working on?

I have several ideas I am juggling right now but at the moment but the book I am focusing on is the Sequel to my book Splintered Courage, which is called Broken Trust.
2.) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Um, I'm not entirely sure. I suppose the style is very different than most, and so is the style and how I present the story, almost like its in second person. Unlike most fantasies that seem to feature a boy and a girl falling in love, mine is very much centered on friendships and how far loyalty can go, and how to regain trust once it is lost.

3.) Why do I write what I do?
Oh, lots of reasons. I love fantasy and there is something very exciting about being able to tell stories happening in a different world. Also, being able to write friendships has always been something I've wanted to do. (This is why most of my other story ideas our friendship-based, not romantic.)

4.) How does my Writing Process work?I've only been a Real Writer for like, five months, so bare with me here.

I lay sprawled out on my bed, or in a ball on the couch, or outside on the lawn and stare at my blank page, chewing a pencil or staring at my keys, wondering how to start. Then, if its a bad day, I will write for about twenty minutes, on and off, stop for a break, come back, write a bit longer, scroll through pinterest, write, watch youtube videos, attempt to write.... do pinterest some more... stare.... Then slam the computer closed and cry.

if its a good day I can write for a few hours with hardly a break and get lots done. I just need water. and apples cause writing makes me really hungry.


Somehow through all of this I present a story.

DONE!!!!!!!!!!

Well that was a short tag wasn't it? I was expecting this long, long ordeal but it was nice and short. Because I love all of you I am gonna let you hear current favorite song! This is what I've been listening to for the past week because it helps inspire me with my boys. (I might randomly do this every now and then. Hope you don't mind.)

I'll get it if you need it

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I'll search if you don't see it

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you're thirsty I'll be rain

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you get hurt I'll take your pain

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I know you don't believe it

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but I said it and I still mean it

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when you heard what I told you

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when you get worried I'll be your soldier.

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I'm going to watch Julie and Julia now, and have cake cause it's my Mommy's birthday and cake is a must on birthdays. Be back soonish - hopefully with an ALL MY FEELS Prison Break post. (Which I am working on, by the way.) PEACE OUT YA' LOSERS!

*slides off car*

Bella

"Ugh! Why do I fix everything I touch??"

Hiiiii blooooggggeeeeeeerrrrssss!!!!!!!


Okay yes, I've been a little out of it for the past few days. You will have to forgive me. My life is kinda boring. Kinda. And I've been without the internetz for the past few days because I went camping! That's right! Camping! You know, Tents and bonfires and s'mores and the beautiful rustic open doors where you wake up at five in the morning, smelling like campfire smoke and pine!

*I WOULD NORMALLY INSERT A PICTURE HERE
BUT MWAHAHAHAHA NO CAMERA'S! 

WE WERE BARBARIANS!* 

I hardly remember the last time I was able to camp. I think I was seven. Maybe eight. It's been a very long time and it was nice to be able to do it again, even just for a couple days. My big brother took me, a couple of my sisters and my two little nieces and we spent the weekend as barbarians with forks. It was awesome! I was a little freaked out at first because, I don't know, I was afraid it would be stressful or something because.... My big brother, well, he is my biggie bro and I wuv him but he was in college or married for most of my childhood so it wasn't until the last couple years when he moved out here that I've started to know him. So I was a little nervous, to say the least. But I had no need to worry. My brother is very nice and very relaxed and he just goes with the flow and if water spills, it spills! No big deal. I haven't felt that free of tension in a really long time. We went bike riding and swimming and hiking and at one point we went out and got these MASSIVE ice cream cones for lunch. I mean Massive. I ordered a single and I got this ice cream cone the size of a planet.

Okay, maybe not the size of a planet but it was really, really big. I've never seen such ice cream. I couldn't finish it. 

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NO CAMERA SO NO ME-WITH-ICE-CREAM


I AM AM SHERLOCK

By the end of it I felt a bit tourist-like to be honest, but it was a lot of fun and I am really glad I went. 

Its good to be home though. With my sisters and my stories and my Pinterest. 

I really, really need to write. I've been having a bad writing ditch these past few weeks. I have ideas, I have plots, I have whole SCENES in my head, then I sit down to write and its just....

I have bits and pieces of Broken Trust written down, random scenes here and there scattered about in 7,000 words with no connection. I write, I walk away, I write, I take a snack, I stare at the screen, I roll over on my bed and close my eyes and try not to think. I write a little again. 

I don't get much done. 

I want to try and start properly next week. Pray for me :) 

That's all! Its late and I'm tired and characters are calling for me to come to bed. PEACE OUT Y'ALL!

*slides off car*

Bella

"They Hadn't always been best friends...."

I'm doing a review today. 

This review is on a book that has yet to be published, but it in the process of being edited FOR publishing. The writer very kindly let me read through her first draft with her to help with the editing, and when I asked her if I could review it she said sure, so that is what I'm going to do. I think it deserves a review

Brothers in Arms. 

By Jack Lewis Baillot

It is World War II Germany. Japhet Buchanan and Franz Kampell have been friends since childhood, but now everything they've ever known is coming crashing down around them, and they find themselves being forced to choose their country and each other. 

I am coming right up to the point with this. Brothers in Arms is one of the best books I've read all year. In fact its one of the best book I've read - ever. And that is saying a lot, I'm a picky reader. Because I was helping edit I had a first-draft version, so it was a little rough, but I was genuinely shocked by how good it was for the unpolished product. It was well paced and well balanced and I think, with work it is going to be a brilliant book and a brilliant story. 

There was something very special about this book, something that separates from almost everything else. First off, the style. Unlike some historical fiction it doesn't feel modern. It is very 1940's centered, and I loved feeling like I was apart of that time frame. It was refreshing, especially after the less impressive historical fiction I've been trying to read. It was actually a war book, not.... having a war for the romance. It is a bit darker than I am used to. There is a section near the middle which is bleak and desperate and awful and if it had been handled any differently I don't know if I could have gotten through it. But the way it was written it wasn't completely without hope. I think that was the saving grace. It wasn't depressing. I think there is a fine line between dark and depressing and the Author did a very good job not crossing that line. I'm not sure how many could manage pulling off something like this but she did, and she did it well. I picked it up and I read it straight through in two days. I haven't found a book like that in weeks. Months even. I think I was in the perfect mood for it too, and that was a plus. I got ridiculously fangirly over it and have been on a high with it ever since. And I can tell you the two main reasons: Franz and Japhet. 

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Franz and Japhet have one of the best friendships ever written on paper. I am not even kidding. They were like the Steve and Bucky of the book world. They grew up together. They were as thick as thieves, partly because they were both the only boys in a family of sisters, and it was nice to finally have a boy around to play with. They did everything together, whether it was playing pranks on their sisters or hiking through the meadows or making rope swings. They were incredibly close and they do their best to keep each other safe. I loved them almost immediately and as the book went on I just loved them more and more. They gave me so many feels. Painful, terrible feels but also happy, fuzzy feels that made me squeeze my eyes shut and grin like and idiot because they are just so sweet and protective of each other. 

It felt like nothing could come between them.

When the war came everything changed. Everything they had ever known became uncertain from day to day. Japhet found himself the outcast and saw hate wherever he went, because even though he was a baptized Christian he was also a Jew, and Jews had no place in Germany. Japhet was hated for what he was and Franz was hated because he was friends with him.

When tragedy strikes the boys right at their home, they decide they have to do what they should have done in the first place. They have to leave Germany. Franz and Japhet go under cover in Berlin and try to pick up as much information as possible in order to their families out of the country safely. But its hard, being in the center of so much hate, and as the war screams on it gets harder for them to keep up their spirits, and they begin to drift apart.  

And then Japhet finds out his best friend in the whole world has joined the Nazis, and from that point on their stories go in two very separate directions. Japhet joins the Resistance and Franz is left on his own with the Nazis and you don't see how anything could ever be alright again. Its all gone wrong, everything, and their is too much pain and hurt and nothing can ever make this better, ever. Then the story reaches its peak and its so dark and so painful and everything is this whirlwind and you wish the boys would just freakin find each other and TALK to each other and figure things out because they need each other, and they can't make it on their own. And Franz, who only joined the Nazis to get information and help his family, begins to lose himself and he is so broken and awful and Japhet is miles away, dying inside and so lonely and tired and.....

I JUST HAD A LOT OF FEELINGS.

Okay this is where I vent. I fell in LOVE with these boys. They were both so different yet so alike and they both were trying to do that right thing and be brave and they just got lost and it felt like the whole world was against them, telling them a German and a Jew couldn't be friends, telling them they couldn't make it out, not together. And it was so painful to watch them fall to pieces and all I wanted to do was slam doors and shout STEIN! Because he was an incredibly AWFUL Nazi who needed to die! 

The whole ending though, it was absolutely stunning. At first it just hurts because something happens, and it is so awful and terrible that it feels like nothing is ever going to be okay again. But then the friendship story climaxes at the same time as the plot and it was just.....

FEEEEELINGS

I would highly recommend being stalkers and lurking about until you find out its been published, then buy it and dive into it and let your emotions be destroyed and put back together by a Nazi and a Jew and one of the best friendships EVER!

Tomorrow or the next day I'm posting about a fuzzy bug robot. Stay tuned!

*Slides off car*

Bella

"You held your head like a hero, on a history book page."

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I'm late again. I sort of messed up near the end didn't I? And I started out so well.... *sigh*

Anyway........

LAST DAY OF THE CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!! You're favorite hero!!!

I am guessing this means Main Character. I can't believe they are making me narrow it down to one.

For Books

Eugenides from The Queens Thief Trilogy. I think he might actually be my favorite character.... ever.And there is entirely too little of him in the series. The first book is written in first person so he is the main character, but then the second and third book are in third person, so you get less of him, and then the third book is told from someone else's point of viewpoint entirely, making Eugenides the side-character. And he isn't in it nearly enough. The thing is, the less you have of him the more you love him when he is there. He is SO AWESOME and he has a good character ark from book one to three. He is always a good man - but he becomes great. And he is clever and brave and amazing and he can be bratty but not in a bad way. He is infuriating and brilliant and strong and stubborn and very determined. 

I love him. 

For Movies

There are far too many heroic people in movies for me to just choose one and not feel wrong about it, so I closed my eyes and pointed and I got Jimmy Braddock from The Cinderella Man.

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Well he is certainly one of my favorites :) Jimmy Braddock is amazing and ... well he really existed which is a plus. He has a very special place in my heart. He is a good dad and a good man and he is a hero in all the normal, ordinary ways that don't require saving the world or slaying dragons but just doing what is right despite all the odds, even when it seems that everything has gone dark and its all you can do to keep fighting. He is just a normal, down to earth guys who wants to provide for his family and fight for the good in a world gone bad, and that is what makes him spectacular. He's an ordinary man who accomplishes the extraordinary and I love him. 

For a TV Show

Sam Winchester from Supernatural. 

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Sam is one of the greatest characters on television - ever. I don't think I've ever known a character so selfless, forgiving and sacrificing. He is one of the sweetest people ever and he is able to stay hopeful and optimistic even after all the horrors he's seen and all the crap he's been through. He won't give up on you. He is incredibly understanding and loyal and ... he will do anything for those he loves. Even when he was betrayed by his supposed 'friend' and forced to suffer months of trauma, mental torture and nightmares, He STILL DIDN'T GIVE UP ON HIM. He forgave him and asked him to come back so he could help. 

He is beyond epic okay?

If he thinks something is right he'll do it no matter the consequences. He is willing to lay down his life for others without a moments thought - In fact he does more. He didn't just die to save the world, he committed himself to a thousand years of torture, full knowing there was no escaping it. He just sacrificed himself to save everyone and he never thought twice. 

I love Sam Winchester and that's that. 

Peace out y'all!!! Auf Wiedersehen!

*slides off car*

Bella

"Every fairytale needs a good old fashion villain."

 

'Cause it was really fun listening to this song while blogging.

It puts you in a very villain-mood.

Read and listen folks. Read and listen

 

 

Day Fourteen of the Challenge is "Favorite Villain." (Yes, I missed another day. Wee-woo.)

 

For Books

 

Hmmmm. I'm blanking on villains right now because recently I read my friend's book to help her edit it and there was this awful German who did terrible things to people and he is all I can think about. He makes me SO. ANGRY. I ... I hate his face. I hate his name. I hate HIM!!! He does awful things to the boys in that book, and I luf those boys.

 

HE IS EVIL!!!!!!! 

 

I don't know though.... I don't think I have a favorite all time villain of the book-world. I liked Cluny from the Redwall series. He really freaked me out, and he was way creepier in the books then those silly cartoons. (Seriously, we need better Redwall adaptions.) I liked both Kurda and Sesstra from Triss. I like Marlfox - he was really good. All of Brian Jacques villains are brilliant, to be honest. I need to read the rest of his books.

 

For Movies

 

This is NOT including cartoons.

 

I'm going to be incredibly lazy and go with Loki from the Avengers. He is an awful person but he is funny and charismatic and complicated and overall a very good villain with lots of personality. And there is that part of him that is still good that I keep hoping will win through, in the end. Plus he is played by Tom Hiddleston so.... :D

 

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For a TV Show

 

I watch so many TV shows you guys.....

 

Ok!!! A villain that I actually like not because they are good but because they are good VILLAINS. 

 

Hmmm. 

 

I'm doing The Master from Doctor Who. He was like an Evil-Doctor and he was a really good villain. You can't help but like him and the whole time you feel like you should be hating or horrified, but you just can't be because... well because he is like an Evil Doctor. A crazy Evil Doctor, who ended up being kind of sympathetic and sad. He is a really, really good bad guy and I hope we get him with Twelve since he wasn't around for Eleven. And you know what would be really great? If there was an episode where the Master and Doctor have to team up. How cool would that be???

 

I need that now. I really need that.

 

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Time for me to go, we have company for dinner and then cake afterwards.

You know, reading most of my post endings you probably get the idea we do nothing but eat.

What can I say? we love food and we love dessert.

Don't hate!

Peace out y'all!!!

 

*slides off car*

 

 

 

Bella

"If the Sky comes falling down, for you, there's nothing in this world I wouldn't do."

TODAY I GET TO POST ABOUT  MY FAVORITE CHARACTER FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!

For Books

Choosing a favorite friendship is going to be hard since those are the stories I hunt down and fall in love with. I'll do this. I'll pick a most-recently-discovered friendship, otherwise I will never be able to narrow it down, I'll be like "oh but this one... oh and there was that one ... Oh and them!!!" and you'll never hear the end of it. Sooooo... my favorite friendship right now, is the one that exists Jaron, Roden and Tobias in the Ascendant's Trilogy. They are so cool, and I love the complexity of their relationship. 

For Movies

Again, I have to narrow down. Basically any friendship in LOTR is my favorite. I like John and Sherlock from the Sherlock movie with RDJ, I like Reepicheep and Eustace... goooosh!! Okay - most recent! (and the one I am currently obsessing and freaking out over)

Steve and Bucky

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This friendship caused me months of pain and I am still not really over it. It is definitely one of my favorite friendship - ever. And I can't go into it too much because otherwise who knows how long I'll rave, but suffice to say I haven't experienced so much raw emotion from a friendship since Merry and Pippin. It is heartbreaking and horrible but at the same time beautiful and amazing. I loved the big brother/little brother feel and how protective Bucky was of Steve, and how  much they were willing to do for each other, and how even after Bucky was taken away and brainwashed and made into a weapon, Steve never gave up on him and saved him and......

I just love them.

For A TV Show

Benny and Dean from Supernatural and Michael and Sucre from Prison Break  are tied.

Benny and Dean start out and not really trusting each other. Benny is a Vampire, Dean is a Hunter - not the best pair. But they learn to rely on each other and Benny becomes like family to Dean, and vise-versa. Before I met Sucre I was sure Benny was the BEST best friend in the whole world. He and Dean meet him in Purgatory, after Dean'dies' and ends up there, and he is the reason Dean gets out alive. See, in this show Purgatory is the place REALLY BAD monsters go - werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters - (Which is totally wrong, I know.) and Dean almost dies in there, alone and abandoned by Cas. And then Benny comes and he spends a year fighting along-side Dean, keeping him alive and safe and showing him the way out of the monster den. And in return Dean gets Benny out with him. And their friendship on earth is... so brilliant. Benny is like the big brother Dean never had and I LOVE how protective he was of him. It was adorable.

The moment I decided he was beyond the best is when Sam got sucked into Purgatory at the end of S8 and he literally lets Dean KILL him to send him back and get Dean's brother out. He dies at the hand of his best friend to save a stranger, and.... and its doubly painful because Sam never trusted or believed in Benny until right there at the END! (he had good reasons, but still...)

I just love Benny and I want him back.

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Sucre and Michael. 

This is the type of thing I need to go back and do a review on, because there is so much I want to say about it. In fact, that is probably what I'll do. I want to do a Prison Break post soon anyway. But .... Sucre and Michael were very, very special. Sucre is one of those amazing friends who is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for the people he loves and is completely selfless and brave and amazing. He starts out as a sweet idiot and ends up being like the third brother to Lincoln and Michael. And that is all I am going to say about it right now, because otherwise I'll start fangirling like an idiot. Plus I am doing a review thingy and plan to talk a good bit about them. 

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Prince Caspian and coffee is calling, so as much as I love you all it is time for me to go. See ya' all tomorrow - this challenge is almost over! Peace out y'all!!!

*slides off car*

Bella

The opposite of an OTP: A NOtp

Day 12 of this challenge is your least favorite pairing.

For Books

I don't like .... Okay, my least favorite normal-and-not-creepy pairing is probably Hazel and Frank from Percy Jackson. It isn't that they're bad, its just neither of those characters are my favorite and I don't find their story as good as the others. (This doesn't mean I hate them.) 

For Movies

I make it a point not to watch something with an annoying or overdone romance. I remember hating the couple in Letters to Julia but I hated them so much I don't even remembers their names. They were just OBNOXIOUS. I also don't like MJ with Peter Parker. He deserved so much better than her, she was a brat and she toyed with his emotions.

For a TV Show

Okay, fans ship EVERYTHING, and there are a lot of couples out there I don't like, simply because THEY AREN'T IN LOVE. Like Clara and The Doctor. Or Molly and Sherlock, or Merlin and Gwen (waaat?) or Amy and the Doctor, or Elliot and Parker... not to mention the weird, creepy, perv-y ships. Those... just no. They are awful, too awful to mention. But in spirit of the challenge I'm doing a ship that actually makes sense if you were to ship it. One where it can't be denied that they were meant to be shipped but I still didn't like it.

Sam and Amelia from Supernatural.

okay, I wanted to like Amelia, I did. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't do it. She was one of those annoying girls who are suppose to be 'independent' or 'strong' or whatever but just come off as overbearing and a jerk. And her introduction turns you off completely. See, Sam accidentally hits a dog and immediately rushes it in to the vet to try and save it. Amelia is the vet, and she is.... she is just such a little TURD! Like.... seriously. She is rude and nasty and she makes Sam feel awful, like he hit the dog just to be malicious or something.

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Wow. Did I mention she was a turd? Sam didn't deserve that, she had no right to attack him in that way. Its doubly awful because Sam has only just lost his brother like, maybe two weeks ago, so he's suffering and broken and he really didn't need snooty Amelia cuting into him over a dog THAT HE ALREADY FEELS BAD ABOUT HITTING!

She is like this for... 90% of your time with her. I mean, sometimes she's okay, and once or twice I thought she did something kind of sweet but overall she was just a brat and I hated her. Sam deserved so much better than her. And to be honest, I don't think he was even in love with her, at least not in the way he was with Jess. I think he did care for her, but I think it was more.... he needed something to live for and she was all he had so he clung to her. She was there for him when he NEEDED someone, so he loves her. 

But seriously, she was awful. So. Awful. I am so glad they didn't work out. 

That's it for Day 12! Peace out y'all :D

*slides off car*

Bella

I ship it Like Fed-Ex

Day Eleven: Favorite Pairing

For Books

I am conflicted. I loooved Paul and Ann from The Last Crescendo they were awesome. I loved Farimir and Eowyn.. But.... I think I also loved Imogen and Jaron from The Ascendants Trilogy. And Peter and Darcy from Haphazardly Implausible. I mean, seriously, I shipped them soooo hard. THEY ARE SO CUTE!!! THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THEY ARE IN LOVE AND THEN THEY ARE AND IT IS ADORABLE AND SWEET AND I LUF THEM AND NEED THEM HAPPY!!!!!!

I'll do a toss up between Imogen/Jaron and Darcy/Peter.  

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For Movies

I like Tony and Pepper. I like Steve and Peggy, they were over too soon and they were sweet. I liked .... Kate and Leopold. Jimmy and May from The Cinderella Man. Carl and Ellie from UP. They were super cute. and sad. 

 It should not be this hard to pick a favorite pairing. I am going to close my eyes and point...

TONY AND PEPPER!!!!!!

I have to Protect the one thing I cant live without

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That's You.

For a TV Shows

There are a lot of couples I love in TV shows. I love Sarah and Michael from Prison Break, I like River and The Doctor, John and Mary from Sherlock, Jess and Sam, Jo and Dean, Arthur and Gwen, Jules and Shawn, Parker and Hardison.... the list goes on! But above all of them I think my favorite ship is Amy and Rory Pond. They are my OTP!!!!! They are so adorable and unique and beautiful. I loved their story and how far they were willing to go for each other. It is the best love story in television history, I firmly believe that. They are legendary. I loved the fairytale-like feel their story has, what with Rory waiting TWO THOUSAND YEARS for Amy outside the Pandorica and becoming her Last Centurion. And I loved how they were willing to rip apart time and space to save each other and no matter what they always find their way back to each other and....

They are just awesome.

Ponds.... My Ponds.... :')

Time to go! I has a friend over and we has to watch stuff. and drink stuff. and eat stuff. and do fun sleep-over things. Peace out y'all!

*slides off car*

Bella