tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8497740988905880272024-02-20T10:58:32.128-08:00Vanessa Paige IsraelVanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-83444474878169096532024-02-06T15:40:00.000-08:002024-02-06T19:58:56.217-08:00Missing You.<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Journal Entry no. 6</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Time. Always so much of it, but never enough. Never enough. And I know it's the natural cycle of things, to live and to die - to lose. But it doesn't make it any less difficult, feeling helpless as time rushes past me in a silent blur, slipping through my frail human fingers as I reach out and try to hold it. But I cannot stop it. And it is gone. Just like you.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Time is just something by which we experience this life by, isn't it? And what if everything is happening, all the time, all at once? Then maybe you are out there, somewhere, sometime. Alive. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes I can feel you like you never left. Like you'll be waiting for me excitedly behind the door when I come in. Like you'll crawl into my lap when I sit down. Like you'll burrow into the blankets of the bed every chance you get. But I know it isn't true and occasionally I notice the blatant emptiness you left behind.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It helps to think of you. To hold the little plushie that looks like you. To whisper goodnight to the ashes of you I have by the bedside. It's the little things like that that bring me comfort, the reminders I have for myself that you were here, once.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As it nears what would have been your 16th birthday, I can't help but feel a little sad. Journaling helps and I guess that's why I'm writing this now. And it makes me feel better to talk about you sometimes, to remember the happy memories of us - of you.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Still, I think I'll hold the plushie a little closer these next few nights and reflect upon the time I was lucky enough to have with you.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">2•14•2008-3•2•2023 🐾</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-77225948186332426172023-10-17T15:21:00.002-07:002023-10-24T16:25:39.837-07:00Energy.<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Journal entry no. 5</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's very dark outside right now. It feels later than it is because it's that time of year when the sun starts setting a little earlier and earlier each day. It's raining too. My body feels very relaxed and my mind is altered. I can smell the petrichor. I can hear the rhythmic patter outside my open window and I thought it was such a lovely sound and I decided to journal a little because writing during the rain is a very romantic notion. So here I am. And I was just thinking about energy.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />I am energy. I am a conscious being and I am energy. What if, when I die, I am still energy? It doesn't just go away. It's always there. I could still be here, always. Existing as energy. What if I do not remember my previous life. I have no memories. I am energy.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I still have feelings though, maybe even emotions. And I experience loss. What if I can't remember my life, nor am I aware I even had one, but what if I feel the emptiness it life behind? I am sad, and I don't know why. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;">Now I am floating in darkness. Floating in space. I see stars, all around me. This is all I see. This is all I know. This is what I am. I am a part of everything and everything is a part of me.</span></div><div><span>I think, Why do I exist? Why am I conscious? Is everyone? Is that what it means to exist? To be alive. To have consciousness. To be consciousness.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am comforted by the Mother, or the universe, or whatever exists. And what if she knows I am sad and she knows there is a part of me that feels the loss of the life I had?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">But the Mother knows this is just part of my existence and somehow, I know too. Because I chose this and she chose this. Because she is me and I am her. Because I was meant to experience everything, even if it meant it hurt. Because I wanted to experience everything. And being able to experience everything is beautiful. So maybe even pain is beautiful because it means I am capable of experiencing it?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What if that's all we were meant to do? Live. Live in harmony with ourselves. Experience. Experience life.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Soon I will fulfill my purpose yet again. I will live and I will experience. And I won't be scared anymore.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-27277917865038629132023-10-17T15:21:00.001-07:002023-10-17T15:21:06.527-07:00Touch.<div style="text-align: left;"><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Journal entry no. 4</span></h2><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Everyday I see people. Usually, though not always, the same people. We look at each other, and sometimes, we even say hello. We might even chat for a moment or two before we feel we've both run out of things to say and awkwardly excuse ourselves from the conversation long after our eyes started looking for a way out.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why do I look for a way out? I am not in danger, I tell myself. Yet, I feel uncomfortable. Like there is a disconnect - a disconnect between two souls which are meant to live harmoniously. A disconnect between I and You. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I see you on a regular basis. I greet you with sincere interest and delight. But I don't think about you. Not often. Hardly at all, really. I don't stop to wonder if you are well. Maybe I should. Maybe I could care more.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember reading <i>Miss Peregrin's Home For Peculiar Children</i> (written by Ransom Riggs) and finding that Millard was my favorite character. His peculiarity? He's invisible. So when the main character see's a blanket or sheet or whatever it was over his face, it means something. I'd never thought about what Millard looks like, that even though we can't see his face, he still has one of course. Seeing the outline of it, seeing his features under the sheet made him more real.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Physical contact is something many of us perhaps don't think on enough. Physical contact is a form of intimacy, a form of connection between humans. When you touched me, I felt it. You tapped on my arm and you had never done that before. I felt you. I thought, briefly, in between the touch and whatever it was you wanted to tell me, about that touch and what it meant. That it made me feel you were real, as real as me. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not that I ever doubted you were, but I never really grasped it either. How a single touch, how knowing you are real, made me care a little bit more. Like there was a moment of unspoken connection between us beyond the physical contact. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think, even though it was a small moment, there could be more moments like that. A moment where it's ok to touch someone's hand. A moment where it's ok to hug a friend. A moment to just be held and drink in the silence.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think, that maybe, with more moments like that, more people would feel a little less alone and maybe the world would be a little bit of a better place.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-3510440845750182922023-10-03T14:55:00.003-07:002023-10-13T19:00:46.605-07:00Dreams.<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Journal entry no. 3</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Twice. Twice now I have seen Them. Well, that's not entirely correct. Let me start again.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">They have always been here, I think, and I have seen Them many times. In my childhood bedroom, I saw Them standing just outside my window, watching as I slept. In the big white house on the hill, They were there. As I ran through the woods, They chased me and stalked behind every tree. Even in the downtown shops, I saw Them and I knew They wanted me. For what purpose, I never wondered.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">They have always been there, even when I could not see Them. I heard Them, I felt Their presence in the shadows beyond the fence, where the dim light from the single street lamp did not reach.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I felt I could not run fast enough, still I outran Them. When I thought I could not fly high enough, still I flew away from Them. When I hid behind the bushes, desperately trying to quiet my heaving breath, They could not find me. But They were always nearby. Lurking. Waiting.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Twice. Twice now I have seen Them closer than ever before, closer than I thought possible. Twice They have caught up to me. Once, the first time to be exact, was about a month ago. I was in the house. Not the one I grew up in, the other one, the one that was two stories tall, three if you count the basement. My room was on the top floor and from my window, I could see the main driveway. I could see anyone approaching. Only, He didn't approach from the front of the house, that would be too easy. Besides, what need would He have to be outside, what need would He have to use a door? None at all. He lives in the wall, just there behind the picture hanging up, right next to the bathroom. As I went to open the door, a gust forced it open just as I began to twist the knob. I felt the wind rushing past me in a great force. But that wasn't all. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was standing inside, the goat-man, not the satyr, the goat-man, for He was just like a man, only He was covered in brown fur, but He wasn't soft, He looked mangy, His fur sparse and unkept, and I could see the leathery animal-like black skin underneath. And He had a long face and wicked eyes and long ears and horns atop His head. He looked at me and before I could run, before the thought to do such a thing could even form in my head, He lunged at me, touching my shoulders with His hands (or were they hooves?). He pushed me back, roughly, so that I tripped over the desk that was there, and then He continued to push me, looking at me with His sinister eyes. As someone else entered the room, He was gone. And I knew his name. Michael. He had told me his name. Why, I am unsure. I don't even know why He had a name, none of the others ever had a name, at least not that They'd ever disclosed to me. But one thing was for sure. He was one of Them. And he had touched me. Until then, I had never been touched before, not by one of Them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The second time was just the other night. Tuesday night I think. I was back in my childhood bedroom. It looked exactly as it once had, exactly how I remembered it used to be. And as I held my little dog, the one who has since passed, I had the blankets pulled over us both, one of us at least sound asleep. And I felt It walk across me. Quickly, with light steps. I wondered for a fleeting moment if it was her, if it was the dog, but I quickly realized she was still asleep at my side. And quickly, too, I realized that her feet were much too small, smaller than the feet I felt walk across me. And as I lied there, I felt It again. It terrified me, as I lied there, my eyes clenched shut, one hand holding onto my dog, the other holding the blankets over me with everything I had, as if I were safe, as if the blankets could protect me the way I believed they could when I was a child.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was gone for the moment, but It came back, and It walked across me again. And then again. I felt It's hurried footsteps, like It was taunting me, like It was waiting for me to lift the blankets, that I could see It and It could gaze upon me. But I didn't look. I reached out, my hand still covered by the blanket, and grabbed It, determined to stop It, whatever It was. It tugged and pulled to get away from me, but I was stronger and It weak, It's body nearly as light as Its footsteps. When I lifted the blankets, It was gone. I never saw It. I don't know what It was. But I felt It.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Twice. Twice I have felt Them. Twice I felt so scared, so violated. I always got away. Always. I was always ahead of Them, just a little bit. But now They have caught up to me. I don't know why my dreams changed. I don't want to dream anymore. I want Them to leave me alone, whatever They are.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-88487294875478566542023-09-26T11:49:00.003-07:002023-09-26T11:49:58.903-07:00Soul Mates.<h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Journal Entry no. 2</span></h2><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I see her name. And I wish she was with me now. Instead, I have only a little mottled bottle with her name engraved on the outside and a little clear bag with white ashes inside. And I have a wooden basket painted a bright shade of green. It reminds me of happy times. It reminds me of spring and new life. But there is no life here, only an empty food bowl and an empty water bowl, a stick and a ball that will never be played with again, and a little collar that's either purple or pink in color, but who's to say because I could never quite be sure even though I look at it now.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm not sure if I believe in soulmates, if I believe in the idea of two souls destined to be together. But I somehow feel like losing her was losing my soulmate. I feel like we were meant to be together. She was my best little companion, not just a friend, but someone I needed. Someone I needed to love, to care for, to grow with. And maybe, in the deepest recesses of our being, we knew we didn't need each other anymore.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some won't understand the empty space we experience by the death of an animal. I find this strange, because they are animals and we could never hope to be as good as them. And we could never love as pure as they.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And though I loved her, I think she loved me more. I think she knew how much she meant to me and how important she was in my life. She was always there for me, a comfort when I needed to be comforted. I wonder if she felt my sadness too in those moments. I wonder if she wanted to help me in any way she could. I wonder if that's why she would sit with me in those times, or bring me one of her toys so I could play with her. She knew that always brought a smile to my face.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I got her through an extreme accident and nursed her back to health for months. I stayed up the entire night with her in the bathroom when she was sick and it was too cold to leave her outside.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">There was such a deep connection between us, an understanding that goes beyond human comprehension. We fed off each other's emotions. We supported each other. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe it's like they say and we were destined to be together. Maybe the universe knew I needed her.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I reminisce for the years we spent together, I know a part of me will always miss her, for she was more than a dog. She was my companion. She was my soulmate.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-45218949605258020282023-09-19T11:26:00.000-07:002023-09-19T11:26:00.729-07:00Journal Entry.<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-size: large;">A Saturday night as I sit to write this. So many things on my mind, so many things have happened. I don't know what to write about, but I know I want to write and that is why I am here. I suppose I feel like I'm just writing words, to write something, anything, to fill up the page. Much like I do for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) every November. I suppose that's a good place to start. Is it ok to start two sentences right next to one another with "I suppose"? It probably doesn't matter, at least that's what I'm telling myself right now.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, about NaNoWriMo. I'm the ML, or "leader/volunteer" for my region now. That's pretty exciting. It takes a lot out of me sometimes. I enjoy it though, I so enjoy the writing community that I always get. I've already started prepping for this November, thinking about where I want to host events and getting together goodie bags for my fellow writers.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing a good job and if my absence from the group chat/servers has caused people to grow tired of me as their ML. I want to believe the best of them, but I also doubt myself and I keep telling myself I should be doing more. I should be more present. Maybe I'm too hard on myself and everything is ok and we'll have another great year. That's what I'd like to believe.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">I'm trying to have a better outlook on things, to be more positive in my thinking. It's not always easy. Though I have been on a journey of self-discovery the last couple of years. I've become more sure about some things, mainly that I don't really understand much. Such as, what is real and what exists and what happens after we die?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Loosing loved ones makes you think about that a lot. With everyone saying, "we'll see them again one day", I have to ask myself, "am I different?" Am I different for not sharing this belief by those around me? Am I different for telling myself, "I may never see them again"? Am I a bad person for wondering, "maybe there isn't anything after this"? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Or maybe there is. And maybe we still exist, in some form or energy. And maybe we don't share the memories we have with us now. So maybe we will see one another again, in a different form, in a different life. Maybe we'll be floating in the cosmos. And we'll be sad at first, but then we'll know we are safe and we won't even question the possibility of who we once were. And somewhere, deep down, we'll know it was all worth it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-55341972885654715642022-09-23T11:18:00.006-07:002023-02-03T22:21:17.349-08:00The World Under The Oak Tree.<div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjUDz12VS8acvunU9Ib2-NzY-LJsUrBNFgeXAPe1FYPeASEeZn6cO2Z6gjpcBTS0b82Fy6_Cu0moLwJBvHwFz4z4KjvUIwY9Q27irmeOeMNOWWLJH2wxYsecPK7tQyw78CLRp8MHDw3Ce8BYkCcialrAGl9a6DvLa8fLmr_hZUgYJH-Rth8Cx31AVjg/s1291/IMG_9428.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1291" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQjUDz12VS8acvunU9Ib2-NzY-LJsUrBNFgeXAPe1FYPeASEeZn6cO2Z6gjpcBTS0b82Fy6_Cu0moLwJBvHwFz4z4KjvUIwY9Q27irmeOeMNOWWLJH2wxYsecPK7tQyw78CLRp8MHDw3Ce8BYkCcialrAGl9a6DvLa8fLmr_hZUgYJH-Rth8Cx31AVjg/w186-h320/IMG_9428.jpg" width="186" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you see the little red-haired girl in the garden outside her father's castle? She is crying, crying as she desperately holds onto the black hound for comfort.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The boy notices her. He is nothing more than an apprentice blacksmith and the illegitimate son of a poor farmer. He notices her, only the little red-haired girl doesn't know it. He stands silently in the distance, watching. Someone like him would never be allowed to speak to someone like her, but still he stands, watching, wondering, <i>"is she as lonely as I am?"</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And in that moment, his heart felt what her heart felt. He felt connected to her. He had never felt connected to anyone or anything before.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">He would come back to see her. He even rescued her one time from a vicious monster, held her small body in his arms. She patted against his chest, begging him to save her <i>"puppy"</i>. Once she was no longer in danger, he went back to the brave black hound, who had died trying to protect his girl.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The boy left her wondering why her four-legged companion had not returned to her. How could he tell her he had buried her best friend?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fate would take him away, to far away places, in search of a better life - a life to make something of himself. He would become a mercenary. He would become the greatest swordsmen in the continent and he would be knighted, granted land and a castle, and placed as the commander of the Remdragon Knights.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In his darkest times, he could remember the only happy memories he had. He would remember her, the little red-haired girl from his boyhood. He would remember her in the garden, surrounded by lush green grass and bright fragrant flowers. He would remember blue skies and white puffy clouds. He would remember her sitting amidst it all, picking up shiny pebbles he had left for her the day before. He would remember the smile on her face and the light in her eyes as she added them to her collection of trinkets she found in the garden.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">He remembered her so often, that he wished for his visions of her to be real. One day, fate brought him to her father's castle again. And he saw her, recognized her by her long red locks tied neatly behind her back. She had grown into a beautiful young woman. And she did not remember him. After all, why would she? He was no one. A mere servant. A blacksmith.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">His heart aching, he would leave once again. He would face many hardships, fight many battles, and raid countless monster lairs. He would spend the harsh winter outside with his comrades, in the name of his duty as a knight. Eventually he would have the chance to marry her. And marry her he reluctantly would, for though he loved her, he hated the way she looked at him, like she feared him, saw him as some sort of monster.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">He had wanted her for so long, but not like this, not unless she wanted him too. He didn't want to be forced into it, manipulated, humiliated, his life endangered because of it. She was scared, feeling exposed and violated during their wedding night and he was to blame. While she slept, he left for three long years, fighting in a battle that had earned her as his wife.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">During his absence, he sent many to escort her to his castle, but he heard she did not want to leave. Why would she? She was the daughter of a duke and could not possibly be expected to leave her life of luxury to live in his old castle.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If only he had known she was abused by her father during those three years. If only he had known she had been abused by her father since she was a small child. If only he had known she sought comfort in the black hound because no one loved her, no one cared for her. But the hound did. The hound comforted her in her darkest times and then died saving her.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If only he had known. If only he knew...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours Truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i>(This is the story </i>Under the Oak Tree<i> and Riftan's POV by Korean author, Suji Kim.)</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I kept seeing the comic version advertised on Facebook and Instagram. Finally I started reading and was immediately hooked. Once I finished comic version, I discovered it was adapted from a webnovel, so I had to read that too! It's so so so good. It's very well written and well translated if you read the English version, and it's possibly some of the best character-development in a story that I've ever seen. I might write a post entirely on that...</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">I highly recommend reading <i>Under The Oak Tree</i>. I proudly give this ⭐⭐</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span>⭐</span><span>⭐</span><span>⭐</span><span>!!</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADDITIONAL:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">- <a href="https://www.webnovel.com/book/under-the-oak-tree_21949582605391005" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>Under the Oak Tree</i></span></a> (webnovel - official English translation)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pay by chapter. Costs somewhere around 70usd</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">- <a href="https://www.webnovel.com/book/under-the-oak-tree_21949582605391005" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>Riftan's POV</i></span></a> (<b>chapter 195</b> - webnovel - official English translation)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pay by chapter.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">- <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Y5GTH4Q?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_shvlr&storeType=ebooks" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Under the Oak Tree</span></a></i> (novel version, same as webnovel version)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Buy part 1-5 on Amazon. Costs about 20usd</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">- <a href="https://manta.net/under-the-oak-tree" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>Under the Oak Tree</i></span></a> (Manta comics - comic version)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pay by monthly subscription. Costs 3.99usd</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">- <a href="https://ridibooks.com/books/1922000011" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>Riftan's POV</i></span></a> (ridibooks)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not sure how to use this site haha, it's in Korean</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-20842056089175846322022-03-18T15:00:00.000-07:002022-03-18T15:00:18.816-07:00I've Been Better.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br />and to my fellow creatives,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whew. It's been a while since I've written anything. I feel a bit guilty and upset with myself for allowing that to happen, but I'm here now, so I hope we can all move forward together.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Basically, since about the middle/end of January, I've been dealing with a lot of stress. I got some sort of infection on my right leg - possibly a staff infection. It wasn't bad at first. In fact, I didn't really pay much attention to it at all, thinking it wasn't much of an issue. And this is where I messed up. Big time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Delaying any sort of treatment allowed the infection to spread to both legs and get really bad, to the point I had to walk with crutches because my right leg had gotten so swollen. But I finally realized there was an issue - a serious one at that - and began treating it right away. It slowly got worse and worse as the days passed, and I grew more and more tired. The infection made me stressed which caused the healing to slow down. The pain and discomfort caused me to not be able to sleep. The exhaustion also slowed the healing process.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And because I was exhausted and stressed, I felt like I didn't want to do anything - including working on finishing my novel - a feat I still have not completed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">After several weeks, my legs finally started to show progress. And, by the end of February, I could finally walk again without the aid of the crutches. I could finally leave the house and go do something. I was excited!! My husband and I celebrated by getting food, and doing some shopping and just having fun.<br /><br />I guess we celebrated a little too soon though. As outside drama kept rising up and causing more stress for me, the infection flared up in both my legs again!!<br />Needless to say, this year has been extremely difficult and stressful for me so far and not AT ALL what I intended. All positive thoughts and prayers are appreciated for healing!!<br /><br />Here we are in the later half of March, and the knowledge that I still haven't finished my novel is still weighing down pretty heavy on me. In an attempt to turn things around, I did make the decision, after participating in NaNoWriMo for 3 non-consecutive years, to participate for the first time in Camp NaNo, a month long writing challenge beginning on April 1st!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Here's to hoping next month is a better month.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours Truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">check out my first novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks: </span></a><i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Tales from Beyond the Veil book 1</span></a></i><br /><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/b8bb9f7bf2" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Vinyl stickers available in my ko-fi shop</span></a>!!<br /><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/7c11858590" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Jack Frost handmade journal</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-14459603774599972172022-01-28T14:19:00.001-08:002022-01-28T14:19:22.393-08:00The Nutcracker.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever read a book by the name of <i>The Story of a Nutcracker</i> or <i>The Nutcracker of Nuremberg</i> or simply, <i>The Nutcracker</i>? I am talking about the book written not by the original author, E.T.A. Hoffman, but by Alexandre Dumas, the French writer known for his other works, <i>The Count Of Monte Cristo</i> and <i>The Three Musketeers</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I became infatuated with the story as a small child when I watched, for the first time, <i>Barbie in the Nutcracker</i>. I then began to collect my own Nutcracker dolls, as I wanted to have one just like the character in the story. And then one turned into twenty-one. As a teenager, I saw the Nutcracker ballet performed, and only one year after that, I saw it performed by the Moscow Ballet. To date, I have seen it twice by the Moscow Ballet and I still love the story every bit as much as I did when I was a kid.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Alexandre Dumas wrote a retelling of Hoffman's story in 1844. Why? I have no idea. Supposedly, it was Dumas' version that inspired Tchaikovsky to compose the now world-famous Nutcracker suite.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, before I get started talking about Alexandre Dumas' <i>The Nutcracker</i>, I should point out that I've actually never read the original by Hoffman. I know, how can I even consider myself a fan, but hey, I have every intention to read it - one day...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I don't know how much Dumas' version differs from the original, but I must say, it's quite a bit different from the version I'm sure most of us are familiar with, thanks to the ballet. In a word, it's dark. Much darker than I ever knew the story to be.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And it often makes the reader question, what is real and what is not? I was very confused throughout most of the story. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The author spends the preface explaining his whereabouts and why he is to retell the story - basically, he's being held captive by the children of the party he has attended and they demand he tell them a story. So he does of course. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">He tells them of young Mary and her brother, Fritz. Now, mind you, it never really says the age of the children, but I imagine Mary is about 6 years old. I'm not sure about Fritz, sometimes I think he's older than Mary, and sometimes I think he's younger (the story might have said whether he was older or not, but I can't remember).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's Christmas day and Godfather Drosselmayer brings the children gifts, including a Nutcracker doll for Mary.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">At night, when the children are supposed to go to bed, Mary asks her mama if she can stay up just a little bit longer to finish putting her toys away, to which her mama agrees. Suddenly, the clock doesn't chime the hour and Mary thinks she sees Godfather Drosselmayer sitting on top of it, preventing it from striking. The absence of the chime doesn't scare away the mice as it seems it usually does, and the mice enter the room and a great battle breaks out between the mice and the toys. The Mouse King has seven heads and is quite terrifying. Just when he is about to kill the Nutcracker, Mary throws her shoe at him and he leaves, but threatens that he will be back to finish the Nutcracker.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mary then wakes up the next day in bed and everyone thinks her delirious from an injury she had gotten the day before. However, while she is in bed, Drosselmayer tells her a story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It is about a pretty princess who is only a baby, and one day, Dame Mousey (the not-so-friendly castle mouse) crawls into the crib of the baby and bites her nose. However, this leaves the princess with an ugly head, much too large for her body, a thick beard, and a smile that stretches from ear to ear. I suppose Dame Mousey is an enchantress of sorts? But the narrator never tells us.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dame Mousey distorts the princess's beauty out of revenge when the king had her seven sons killed.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Drosselmayer, the mechanician in this story, gets together with the astrologist to come up with what to do about the princess.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">At one point, the mechanician takes apart the infant princess, removing her head, her arms and her legs, in an attempt to see if he can repair her. When he finds that he cannot, he puts her back together - like she's a doll...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mechanician Drosselmayer and the astrologist discover that they need a crackatook nut and it can only be cracked by the Nutcracker, a boy who has never shaven and who has always worn boots. This will cure the princess of her current state when she then eats said nut. Basically, the king gives them until the princess is of age to be married. Years later, the two men return empty handed with only a few months to spare. The king is angry, but allows them to return to Nuremberg, their hometown, until their execution day. When they return home, they go to Drosselmayer's brother's house, where he had the crackatook nut the entire time, AND his son, Nathaniel Drosselmayer, who is sometimes called the Nutcracker, has never shaved, and has always worn boots. They attach a wooden plank to the young man, as if he is a nutcracker doll, and return to the kingdom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The young man is able to crack the nut when they pull on the wooden plank, and he gives it to the princess. When she eats it, she returns to her former beauty. Being now 15 years of age, and Nathaniel Drosselmayer 17 years of age, they were promised to marry, but when Nathaniel steps backward, he steps on Dame Mousey, who curses him. He then becomes exactly like a Nutcracker doll, and the princess finds him repulsive.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Dame Mousey's dying words, she says to the Nutcracker, that he will have to win a great battle and defeat the seven-headed mouse - descended from her seven sons, and that a girl will have to fall in love with him, despite his uglyness.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Mary recovers and firmly believes that her Nutcracker is the one from the story. She is determined to help him and does everything she can to protect him from the mouse king who keeps returning. Eventually, the Nutcracker defeats his opponent and takes Mary to the Kingdom of toys. I still couldn't tell if she was dreaming or if this is her imagination or if it's real or if something else is going on? Basically, the next day, Nathaniel Drosselmayer shows up at the house, only he isn't a teenager, he is a child. He and Mary get married one year later (so I'm guessing she's like, 7 now?) and rule the Kingdom of toys together.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book was very creative and full of interesting characters and silly occurrences, but what the heck did I just read?! I finished the book feeling very confused. Maybe it's just about a child's imagination? I think that's the only thing that makes sense, because otherwise it doesn't make sense and I don't know what actually happened and what Mary dreamt happened and my head started to hurt.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the book, there is a doll named Clair who belongs to Mary. This doll seems to have some (possibly romantic?) interest in the Nutcracker, though it is never really explored or even mentioned again. I wonder if this was the inspiration for the ballet, where we see the main character shrink down to the size of the nutcracker? Or possibly I'm missing something having not read the original.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Really interesting story though. At the very least, it's cool to see the roots of the Nutcracker ballet that I love so much and I'd say it's definitely worth a read just for that sake.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I would like to note that the version I read was published in 2018 by <i>Fall River Press</i>. While the book is beautiful on the outside, it was very poorly put together with several typos and errors. Also, the illustrations do not match the story, but instead, the part that is illustrated happens several pages later. If you want a copy, maybe try the Penguin classic or something else..?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my book, <i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks: Tales from Beyond the Veil (book 1)</span></a></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nutcracker-Mouse-King-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143104837/ref=asc_df_0143104837/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312178241251&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13996812438085297174&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031262&hvtargid=pla-495577884922&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=60258871577&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312178241251&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13996812438085297174&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031262&hvtargid=pla-495577884922" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Nutcracker and the Mouse King </i>and<i> The Tale of the Nutcracker</i></span></a> by E.T.A. Hoffman and Alexandre Dumas (2-in-1 Penguin Classic)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-69991599527129356142022-01-14T10:53:00.000-08:002022-01-14T10:53:45.273-08:00Looking at 2021.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br />and to my fellow creatives,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's now 2022 and we can wave goodbye to yet another crazy year. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I feel like a lot happened in my life. I let go of some things and I have found myself a little bit and begun to explore what it means to be human - to be an adult in a new world (for me), to experience things I've never experienced before. I feel like I'm taking more time for myself to just exist and to be happy.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've also allowed some people in my life whom I thought would never be a part of it. I've grown closer to some and distanced myself from others, I believe for the best.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I went to the library several times and I checked out books for the first time ever!! That was pretty exciting. Somehow, I still managed to finish the year having read less books than I wanted to, but at least I hit my Goodreads goal of 10 books. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In July, I brought a new member into the family, the Samantha doll 35th anniversary edition, from American Girl. :D</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In August, I bought a book from <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">ScribeForge</span></a> titled, <i>The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</i>. I worked through it in about 2 months with my sister and WOWZA. It is such a good book and has really helped me not only appreciate good storytelling/worldbuilding in other people's stories, but also how to better create a world for my own book. So any writers out there, you might just wanna take a look at that.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In October I got to spend my birthday with my sister, which hasn't happened in several years, so that was a really great time. My husband and I also started going to an artist meetup and have made a few new acquaintances, which is cool. I love having the opportunity to make more creative friends. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In November, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I was working on my second novel, The Death of Jack: Tales from Beyond the Veil (book 2). I did not finish the book by any means, but I hit 50k, making me a NaNo winner, and doubling my word count in the process.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I ended up taking December off, playing an mmorpg (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) and building a great community there with my sister, but now that it's January, I am writing again with a goal of a minimum of 500 words a day. The goal is to have the book finished by the end of February. Fingers crossed that I can pull that off. XD<br /><br />I would also like to add that I have some handmade journals and some stickers of my main character, Jack, available in my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Ko-fi shop</span></a>, so I would love it if you checked those out, maybe got one for yourself or a friend.<br /><br />I'm looking forward to a new year and the possibilities that come with it!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Thank you so much for reading,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours Truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">ADDITIONAL:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/7c11858590" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Jack Frost handmade journal</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/b8bb9f7bf2" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Jack Frost vinyl sticker</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks: Tales from Beyond the Veil (book 1)</span></a></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-58851219704576751822021-12-10T14:09:00.000-08:002021-12-10T14:09:15.345-08:00Finished with NaNoWriMo21.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikWyqgpGeBesjL7nv13rtLlWPAgF28LGJVl7Ss4CZ-OAwCOhjRt3LZ_Qu_2B1t1MKPmxCBO84CN1lLD1TzZqNX31zSKF0A-_mpXT-TQ3inMDP1XAB-9lewPaXC9SM1rO82H9K7YN0X70ew/s2048/NaNoWinner.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1580" data-original-width="2048" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikWyqgpGeBesjL7nv13rtLlWPAgF28LGJVl7Ss4CZ-OAwCOhjRt3LZ_Qu_2B1t1MKPmxCBO84CN1lLD1TzZqNX31zSKF0A-_mpXT-TQ3inMDP1XAB-9lewPaXC9SM1rO82H9K7YN0X70ew/w320-h247/NaNoWinner.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">click to enlarge</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">and to my fellow creatives,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What a crazy time it's been!!<br />During the month of November, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It was my every intention to write a blog and keep you all up to date on how my progress was going. Unfortunately that didn't happen, as all of my writing energy went towards working on my project.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Basically, the NaNo goal was to write a novel (a minimum of 50k words) in 30 days during the month of November. I finished the month with a total word count of 50,234!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The project I worked on this year, <i>The Death of Jack (Tales from Beyond the Veil) book 2</i> was a continuation of the project I started last year, so the current total word count is 101,910. I'm guessing I've got about 40k-ish more words to go before the novel is finished. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Every day of November, I had to write a minimum of 1,667 words per day to stay on track. Some days I wrote 3k words and some days I wrote 400 words - in the end, they balanced each other out and I managed to hit my goal of 50k. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I love NaNoWriMo so much and the challenge and community it provides. If it weren't for NaNo, I know it would have taken a lot longer to get to where I am now with my current WIP and with <i>Hollyhocks</i> (which I wrote a large portion of during NaNo 2016).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, that being said, NaNoWriMo is extremely hectic and exhausting. Once November was over, I just wanted to sleep and do nothing. I've been doing some meditation and burning some sage to cleanse the energy from my space to move on from the chaotic energy that is NaNoWriMo.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had planned to read a bit in between writing during November, but that didn't work out. My brain just felt like mush and I just wanted to rest in my downtime. I then decided I would just wait to read once NaNo was over. That hasn't really happened either though, as I feel like I'm still in recovery mode. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The current plan is to take most of December off, with reading just a little bit and writing when I feel up to it, but not pressuring myself. Then, I'll start writing again in January and plan to finish the novel then or in February. I'll take off the spring and summer, and begin the revising and editing phase in the fall and hopefully be ready to publish early in 2023. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It feels great to be over halfway there with this book!! I'm excited for my writing journey ahead and can't wait to share Jack's story with the world!!<br />Speaking of Jack, I turned a sketch I made of him into some vinyl stickers which you can check out by <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/b8bb9f7bf2" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">clicking here</span></a>. Also, I have a handmade journal / notebook with Jack on the cover, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/7c11858590" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">click here</span></a> to check it out!!<br />One last thing...if you haven't read my first book, may I suggest you <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">check it out</span></a>?? As I talk about Jack's story more in the future, you'll definitely want to have read book 1.<br />Thank you so much for reading!!<br /><br />Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please consider <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">supporting me on ko-fi for $3</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/b8bb9f7bf2" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Jack Frost Vinyl Stickers</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/7c11858590" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Jack Frost Handmade Journal</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks (Tales from Beyond the Veil) book 1</span></a></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-61793933523642071772021-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:002021-11-12T12:12:02.255-08:00Second Week of NaNoWriMo.<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">and to my fellow creatives,</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: left;">It's hard to believe it's already the second week of NaNoWriMo!!<br /></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">I feel like I was the least prepared this year than I've been in the past, but surprisingly, I've been hitting my word count goals every day and staying ahead!! Here's to hoping the rest of the month works out in my favor too and I will hit 50k words by November 30th!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I know a lot of people have been getting busy and/or worn out and feel discouraged with their NaNo projects. To those people I say, don't give up. When I first participated in 2016, I didn't push for the 50k words in 30 days challenge. Instead, I made it my goal to show up every day, even if that meant for 10 minutes to write 100 words. Because any amount of words was more than I started with. Hang in there fellow Wrimos, you got this!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If anyone is interested in seeing my daily updates and some sneak peaks about the project I'm working on, make sure you're following me on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/vanessa_paige_israel/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Instagram</span></a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/PilIywiggin" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Twitter</span></a>, because I'm posting my progress updates almost every day!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Aside from my brief NaNoWriMo update, I also wanted to let you all know some very exciting news!! <b>This Monday, November 15th, I'll be dropping some new items in my shop on <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">ko-fi</span></a></b>, so make sure you keep a lookout for that!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Basically, you can expect a limited number of vinyl stickers of my main character, Jack Frost, from my current WIP, <i>The Death of Jack,</i><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">in addition to a limited number of handmade journals also featuring Jack Frost. Items will be released at 12:01am on Monday, November 15th!! Make sure you follow my social media platforms where I'll be releasing photos of the products!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Also, if you want to see more item releases from my shop, feel free to support me on <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">ko-fi</span></a>. It's just a nice way to say, "hey, I like what you do, keep doing it!"</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks <i>(Tales from Beyond the Veil)</i> book 1</span></a>.<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Make sure you check my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">ko-fi shop</span></a> on Monday for new items!!<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div></div></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-9660952767911465582021-10-29T11:51:00.001-07:002021-10-29T11:51:58.463-07:00Buckle up Wrimos!!<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br />and to my fellow creatives, </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can't believe it's almost November already!!<br />For some of you, perhaps you're sad that Spooky season is almost over. Or maybe you're excited that it's getting closer to Christmas. Maybe some of you are just finishing up Inktober. And maybe some of you are getting ready for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) like me.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This year will be my third time participating in the month long writing challenge that is known as NaNoWriMo. For whatever reason, my region decided to host the annual kick-off early this year, and as a result, I've already begun to write my novel, <i>The Death of Jack</i>!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm scared, ha. I feel like this year I'm the least prepared than I have been in the past. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure what I could do to change that. Usually, I'd be beginning NaNo with a project that I'd only just started to write days or weeks prior. However, this year I am continuing to write the project I started last year. I'm already over 50k words in, so I would think I'd be more confident in where the story is going and ready to write the next half of the book. But I don't feel ready.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />I took some time off writing since last year, I took the time to read what I had written, I completed a book on world building, and I've written so many notes to build my story and the world it is set in. I have done everything I can think of to prepare myself. I guess all I can do is try my best and write something every day for the next month. Maybe the community of writers is all I need - for encouragement and accountability.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I feel like my characters are just waiting for me to finish their story. I shall try my best to not delay Jack's death any longer. Let's friggin' do this...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">NaNoWriMo is all virtual again this year due to the pandemic, so if anyone wants to be part of an awesome community of writers, hit me up and I can send you my region so we can be writing buddies!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Buckle up fellow Wrimo's and here's to a great National Novel Writing Month and writing 50k words in 30 days!!<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">P.S. Make sure you keep a lookout in my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">ko-fi shop</span></a> in the upcoming weeks!! You never know if I'll drop a new item...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">(I know the P.S. section of a letter is supposed to go after my name at the end, but I wanted to make sure you saw this. I know some of you don't scroll all the way to the bottom...I see you...)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional: </b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my first novel, <i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks</span></a></i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Become a <a href="https://nanowrimo.org" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">NaNoWriMo</span></a> participant!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Support me on <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Ko-fi</span></a>!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-33603427887440962022021-10-15T16:01:00.004-07:002021-10-15T18:47:57.899-07:00The Triple Goddess.<div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCRTuedGXxkd1E8flgXrHNeYkUeJ1EGxYVmqiCXmD2GZKPuEaFRBqW8Us7R-9TfZNYCF02AP0ddQHH4BPIwnrvSGgXTBCfjxIk_WSfotY511S5VNzSAdrKsWSYfzwDepIVCUEoJrHH4i02/s2048/Crone.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCRTuedGXxkd1E8flgXrHNeYkUeJ1EGxYVmqiCXmD2GZKPuEaFRBqW8Us7R-9TfZNYCF02AP0ddQHH4BPIwnrvSGgXTBCfjxIk_WSfotY511S5VNzSAdrKsWSYfzwDepIVCUEoJrHH4i02/w250-h400/Crone.png" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibg7UcPffMLlOG90L2u1aoYgE64j3Ri6K1LY7utQzGbIulV3dGHSG37Q6CfpMUw4tsG29ZIaWtXBZXX2r6hSPAKmnsf9NK_aZUMfT3UtZnEhOfdgeKN4zb7_Vu0Q3hTnf35WU4OapYMihJ/s2048/Maiden.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibg7UcPffMLlOG90L2u1aoYgE64j3Ri6K1LY7utQzGbIulV3dGHSG37Q6CfpMUw4tsG29ZIaWtXBZXX2r6hSPAKmnsf9NK_aZUMfT3UtZnEhOfdgeKN4zb7_Vu0Q3hTnf35WU4OapYMihJ/w250-h400/Maiden.png" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2ltdKj_r0XBOdnIYR79w-AJG3T07uNtC84oMHsPedRIuj3j1o70ukS_R9FOh26v4PCIOIP_vb1iWIIal1RR2YA347LOY1DX_TrkiszXdhNdGSCyhW4ZnkGQVJnaHYIkq0zFPYemAbdI3/s2048/Mother.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2ltdKj_r0XBOdnIYR79w-AJG3T07uNtC84oMHsPedRIuj3j1o70ukS_R9FOh26v4PCIOIP_vb1iWIIal1RR2YA347LOY1DX_TrkiszXdhNdGSCyhW4ZnkGQVJnaHYIkq0zFPYemAbdI3/w250-h400/Mother.png" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">and to my fellow creatives,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever looked up at the full moon, its cool light shining all around you, radiating through you, while the brisk breeze blew against your skin? Did it ever make you feel inspired? Inspired to create? Did it ever make you feel - alive?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Moon.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">When I was in my late teens, I began tracking the moon cycles. I did it simply because I always liked moonlight. It was beautiful and I liked how it lit up the dark night. I then found that I would be excited as I awaited the next full moon. Even if all I did was look out my window to gaze upon its beauty, I felt satisfied inside and I was ready again for the next full moon.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In time, I began to sit outside and write in its light. My book, <i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i>, has several chapters that were written in moonlight. In general, I felt more alive during the night than I did during the day - more inspired to write and get things done.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I began to think about how the moon affects people. It was obvious the moon had an effect on nature, water in particular, especially the ocean and how the tides work. If people are 60% water, it made sense to me that we would be affected by the moon as well, though in what way, I wasn't sure. Perhaps there was some phenomenon happening which explained why I felt more alive under the full moon - like I had more energy.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In recent research for my second book, <i>The Death of Jack</i>, I began exploring the ideology of the Triple Goddess from Greek mythology. I have had a love for the Greek myths for about 11 years, but only in the last year did I come across the goddess known as the Triple Goddess and the moon phases associated with her.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Goddess.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Greek mythology, the goddess was the mother of all gods. She was the first one, the creator. She was known by some as Gaia, others knew her as Rhea. She birthed a son, Zeus, and hid him away to be nursed by a goat - or in some stories, a sheep with a golden fleece (yes, THAT golden fleece). She was the head of the gods and she was worshipped as the triple goddess, the maiden goddess, the mother goddess, and the crone or old woman goddess (similar to the idea of the Trinity in Christianity). She embodied all three, but she was one.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As the western world shifted from a matriarchy to a patriarchy, so did the gods. The child (Zeus) became the father and highest power, whilst the mother (Gaia) became the wife (Hera). She who was the authority became subject to her husband.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hecate, the goddess priestess of witchcraft, is often thought to have become the triple goddess, goddess of the crossroads and decision-making.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm not sure why this is. I like to think of the triple goddess as becoming Artemis, the maiden goddess of the hunt and the moon, Hera, the mother goddess of marriage and childbirth and creation and new life, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Ideology of the Triple Moon.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">🌒🌕🌘</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Triple Moon symbol shows a waxing moon, a full moon, and a waning moon. It represents the three sides of the triple goddess, the maiden, the mother, and the crone.<br />I love the ideology behind it, representing all walks of life. The maiden, representing everyone from an infant to a youth, young and alive and curious and beautiful. The mother, representing adulthood, strength, power, and maturity. The crone, representing wisdom.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The paintings I created were meant to capture the ideology of the triple moon and triple goddess. The first painting shows the maiden with the waxing moon, radiating with beauty and life. The second painting shows the mother, the creator, pregnant with life - pregnant with the full moon. The third painting shows the crone with the waning moon, absorbing the last bit of moonlight before the circle is complete, for without endings, there would be no beginnings. On the first and last paintings, I included the snake, a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings in Greek mythology.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I have been thinking of taking these paintings and making them into journals to sell on my shop. I would love your feedback if that's something you would be interested in and if you would like one (or all three!!). As always, thank you so much for reading. XD<br /><br />Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADDITIONAL:</b><br />Check out my shop on <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Ko-fi</span></a>!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Grab a copy of my book, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-73502222521854111492021-10-01T13:14:00.000-07:002021-10-01T13:14:19.957-07:00My Review of "The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook"<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br />and to my fellow creatives,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I had a story to tell which was unplanned for. It was about a character who wasn't even going to exist in the beginning. However, a little seed floated through the air and blew back and forth, begging to be planted. I watched it pass right in front of me until I reached out and grabbed it. I found a nice place for it in between the pages of my notebook and I placed it there for safekeeping. When the time was right, I took it out and I planted it. Once that seed had been grounded, it grew and grew as I fed it and nourished it. What it grew into was a tiny winged boy who was not of this world. He was a bit impudent, maybe slightly arrogant, but exceedingly charming. Above all else though, he was dead.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">They say the dead don't talk. But he did. He spoke to me so much. I didn't expect him to talk at all, so the fact that he did threw me off guard. And then he wouldn't stop talking. I couldn't shut out his voice, for though he was small, his voice rang in my head. What he said was this: <i>write my story</i>. That was it. Someone who possibly might not have existed at all was now demanding to be the center of attention - to have his story told. How could I deny him? I had brought him into this world, and it was I who would give him what he deserved and tell his story, for his story had captivated me - he had captivated me.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I did my research and I began to write. I soon realized I didn't understand him or his world enough to know everything there was to tell. So my muses ceased to sing, the lights went dark, and I placed his story aside.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And then I found <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #800180;">The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</span></i></a> by Scribe Forge. I bought it and I diligently worked though it for 2 months. That's right, I finally finished the world building for my book, <i>The Death of Jack</i>!!!!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I feel like I understand him and his world better than I ever have. I understand how things work, I know the history to his world, I know how the people live day to day. I feel once again ready to write his story. And I couldn't have done it (at least, not to this extent) without the help of Scribe Forge and their wonderful resources. I promised I would report back to you with my final thoughts on this book and if I recommend it to any other writers out there...this is my final review on the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It asked really thought provoking questions and touched on so many topics. I've filled up nearly 60 full sheets of paper with hand-written notes.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The <i>Worldbuilding</i> book even offers a section of "finer details" to write about things in your world that might not be discussed in the questions, such as art, fashion, architecture, sports, holidays, etc.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I made my own list to write about for the finer details section, such as relationships (dating, courting, etc.), weddings (specifically what a wedding ceremony is like in the fairy realm), how certain events came to be (no spoilers), etc.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The team at Scribe Forge did such an awesome job putting this book together and compiling these questions. I definitely recommend getting it. I know it benefited me so much, I can only hope it would benefit someone else half as much.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">My only complaint about this book is the order of chapters. It has the <i>Building a Social Structure</i> chapter AND THEN the <i>Religion, Mythology, and Philosophy</i> chapter. I worked on them in the opposite order, as I believe to fully understand how a society works, you must first know their religious beliefs, for what they believe about the world and themselves will be heavily reflected in how they run their society. Anyhow, that's just me being nitpicky.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As I stated <a href="http://www.vanessapaigeisrael.com/2021/09/planning-ahead.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">last week</span></a>, I will be participating in <i><a href="https://nanowrimo.org/about-nano" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">NaNoWriMo</span></a></i> again this year and I feel more ready than ever to get back into writing Jack's story!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Thank you so much for reading!!<br /><br />Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Visit my website to check out my first novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i></span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out <i><a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Essential Workdbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</span></a></i> by Scribe Forge</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-82741139454340011522021-09-17T14:32:00.000-07:002021-09-17T14:32:39.333-07:00Planning Ahead.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br />and to my fellow creatives,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since August I have been working on my WIP (work in progress), aka, my novel, <i>The Death of Jack</i>, pretty consistently. I purchased <i>The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</i> by Scribe Forge and I have since been consistently building the world for my story and Jack's world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">During November 2020, I participated in <i>NaNoWriMo</i> (National Novel Writing Month). For those of you who are unaware, NaNoWriMo is a non-profit organization that hosts the annual month long challenge (of the same name) for writers to work on their stories, and write a minimum of 50k words (the minimum word count for a novel). They offer writing advice and tips on storytelling, a word count tracker for keeping your novel on schedule, writing sprints (writing as much as possible in a timed session, in a group or by yourself), and a community of other participants and writers there to write along side you, encourage you, and help keep you accountable.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">2020 was my second time doing <i>NaNoWriMo</i> (I first participated in 2016), and my first time hitting the 50k word count goal! I thought for sure I would finish <i>The Death of Jack</i> a few months after that. Looking back in my notebook, I see that I had a goal to have completed my rough draft by April of this year. That didn't happen, hehe. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can also see that I kept updating my notebook, "finish book by May 15th," "finish book by June 30th," "finish book by September 22nd."</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Needless to say, none of those dates were met, ha, oops. Life gets busy, you find other things to do, you get writers block - you understand, right? Right..?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In theory, I really wanted to finish my novel, but I felt like I wasn't able to, like my muses were silent, like I didn't know where my story was going, like I didn't understand the world it was set in. So I bought the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book. I thought I'd get through it pretty fast and still finish my novel by the autumnal equinox. Turns out, there's a lot more to world building than I realized (and I'm not mad about it). </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So now my plans have changed once again. I will finish the world building for my book by the end of September. I will spend October planning out the second half of my novel. In November, I will participate in <i>NaNoWriMo</i> once again and work toward finishing the second half of my second novel, <i>The Death of Jack</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my first novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i></span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What is <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/about-nano" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>NaNoWriMo</i></span></a>?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook?variant=32191483379845" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</i></span></a> by Scribe Forge.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-77825077920395945222021-08-27T14:09:00.000-07:002021-08-27T14:09:19.250-07:00Smash Writer's Block.<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw9koWDyJKKEq7jKRFwDElpr8ljlHMJfNmrfOOZhR51srV7uV47en-vauJqJBLKf-3ScKhEXLxhGISOdN6haUev9BQRDewJ3JO3d99xRmGYJeVxGI6CpmXE2_Kh1cer4AFhoyc7GgeabJ/s1545/Untitled+design.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1545" data-original-width="1545" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw9koWDyJKKEq7jKRFwDElpr8ljlHMJfNmrfOOZhR51srV7uV47en-vauJqJBLKf-3ScKhEXLxhGISOdN6haUev9BQRDewJ3JO3d99xRmGYJeVxGI6CpmXE2_Kh1cer4AFhoyc7GgeabJ/s320/Untitled+design.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table>Writing <i>The Death of Jack</i> has been going really well!! I am still in the world building phase of it (check out last week's <a href="http://www.vanessapaigeisrael.com/2021/08/worldbuilding-book-update.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">post</span></a> if you missed it, as I talk about some of the things I've learned about my novel through working on <i><a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</span></a></i> book by <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Scribe Forge</span></a>).</span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week I am working on building the magic system in my book (where does the magic come from, how does it work, who practices it, etc). It's a lot of fun and I feel like this section from the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book is really valuable for my own book because this is helping me to really understand the differences between how the fairies live vs. how the humans live and their respective perspectives on life based on the magic (or lack thereof) used. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've been really happy with some additional questions for me to answer about my book/characters as well. Before I continue, let me go back...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, I have been in contact with <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Scribe Forge</span></a> via email (I've also tagged them on social media several times). Basically, I told them that I bought the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book and I've been using it to work on my novel. I also sent them the link to my blog for them to check out if they liked. I then asked multiple times (on my blog, through email, and on Twitter) if they would sponsor me. They basically said no. 😂</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Buuuut, they did the next best thing, which is send me their <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/smash-writers-block-card-deck" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Smash Writer's Block</span></a> card deck for free!! Sooooooo, that's pretty cool.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>**THIS IS NOT A SPONSORSHIP, I'</span><span>m not being paid to say what I'm about to say.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/smash-writers-block-card-deck" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Smash Writer's Block</span></a> is a deck of 100 cards with writing prompts printed on both sides of the card. The cards have a gloss finish and are actually really sturdy, which I wasn't expecting, so that was a nice addition. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think the idea behind the cards is that you use them while you're working on your story. When the muses have ceased to inspire you, you select a card from the stack, read the question printed on it, and then continue to write your story, riffing off the idea you got from the prompt on the card.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Really, they can be used any way you want. When I get tired of working on the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book, I've been selecting a random card from the stack, writing down the question or prompt in the notebook I made, and then thinking about my characters and answering the question with the thought that I just might incorporate some of my newly written material into my story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To the team at <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Scribe Forge</span></a>, you guys did an amazing job at asking probing questions (via the Writer's Block cards) to help build our characters and our stories.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some of the questions are so simple, but they're things I never thought about before (and I think they REALLY help me understand my characters more), such as:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">If your protagonist died tomorrow, what would they regret the most?</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">What traits do your main characters like in other people? Why?</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">What is one ethical line your protagonist won't cross? Tempt them to cross it.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Something your protagonist believes about himself/herself/themself is a lie. What is it?</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">How do those who can use magic treat those who cannot use magic?</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Of course, that's just 5 examples of 199 questions and prompts!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm in love with these cards, I'm so happy I have them and I will probably use them for not just the novel I am currently writing, but for future projects as well.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">You know when you see an ad for a company and you're not sure if the company is legit so you Google them and you still can't find anything on them, but you really want the product they're selling so you take a chance and then you receive the item and it exceeds your expectations (which were pretty low, but still!) and you're so excited and now they're one of your new favorite companies??</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, that's how Scribe Forge is to me haha.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To any of you who are writers or story tellers, I think you might like the <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/smash-writers-block-card-deck" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Smash Writer's Block</span></a> card deck from <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Scribe Forge</span></a>. I know I do. Everything I've gotten from this company has been excellent quality and has proved to be very useful to me in writing my novel. I can't recommend them enough!!<br /><br />Again, this is NOT a sponsorship, I'm just so happy with my experience with Scribe Forge so far.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Additional: </span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my first novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i></span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">You should totally take a look at the <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/smash-writers-block-card-deck" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Smash Writer's Block</span></a> card deck from Scribe Forge because they're on sale right now for $5 off their original price!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-42840406550768701272021-08-20T14:25:00.002-07:002021-08-27T19:38:57.705-07:00Worldbuilding Book Update.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This week has been pretty exciting for a multitude of reasons, one of those being that I started working through <i><a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</span></a></i> by Scribe Forge and am building the best world I can for my second novel, <i>The Death of Jack</i>.<br /><br />My sister and I have been working on it together a few times a week (the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book that is) and we are three chapters in so far.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book assumes I am beginning a new project, I decided to write down everything I know and understand about my world in <i>The Death of Jack</i> thus far (or at least everything I could think of at the time), down to the mundane. Here are some of the details I wrote, so you, my dear reader, might understand better what my book will contain:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The Death of Jack</i> is the sequel to <i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i> and takes place in a time Hollyhocks's world refers to as the "Ancient World". Possibly 100 years (or more) before Hollyhocks is born.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The separation between the fairy world and the human world has not happened yet.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The setting is primarily in the forest (lower case "f" intentional here, as the forest is not yet named). The forest is primarily flat land. The mountain range is to the north and the human village is to the east.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The Earth Mother (Rhea) is the supreme being, the creator of the world and the earth itself. The god, Cernunnos, is the nature god who is the father to the dryads, though all of the fairies (sprites, pixies, pillywiggins, hobgoblins, dryads, etc.) are considered Goddess Children and are referred to as her children and she their mother. The Great White Stag was the Earth's protector before the god, Hypnosis, put the other gods to sleep.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">A prophecy says that with the falling of the stars, a new protector/champion would emerge.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The forest only experiences spring and autumn (the dryads and the sprites keep the colder elements from entering into their home).</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Each of the fairies has magic (sun magic, moon magic, and star magic).</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The grove is not connected to the forest.</span></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I feel like there's a lot more mythology and magic in this book than there was in Hollyhocks's story. I think that's because Hollyhocks went into the human world and experienced what that was like, whereas in the Jack's story, we (the readers) are going to experience what his world is like.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book, the first chapter covers the stars and planets your world takes place in. It was a pretty easy section for me to get through, since my world does take place on Earth, in the known galaxy, and the same stars we know of. The second chapter covers the location aspect, including geography, climate, and ecology.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few things I learned about my world (in addition to some things I already knew, but forgot to write in my list) from this chapter are:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">Geographically, the story takes place in mythological Wales.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The beings who live in the location are the various kinds of fairies and animals, and humans, though the humans are not native to the land.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">They don't have electricity yet, but rely on fire (for candles or cooking), moonlight and fireflies.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Food is foraged in the forest and surrounding land (meat is not eaten by anyone, as that would be disrespectful to the Earth Mother and her creations).</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">Water is found in the river for drinking and irrigating crops (only the humans have crops).</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">There are little "natural resources" in the land, though the humans and fairies do trade in herbs, food, and the like.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: large;">The third chapter covers fictional beings created by the author (me in this case) and what they're like. Here are some things I've written about them in my notebook (for the sake of length, the types of creatures I'll be covering in this blog post will be the sprites, pixies, and pillywiggins):</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: large;">The environment the fairies have evolved in is the forest, as they have been there for a very long time and were created by the Earth Mother. They have great respect for nature and all living things and for one another.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The type of shelter they live in varies between the different fairy species. The sprites live in trees - quite literally <i>in</i> trees, such as preexisting hollowed out trees or holes in trees. They are also not confined to living near each other, but are spread out throughout the forest (the central areas of the forest). The pixies live on the ground, in their own little community, with houses made out of mud or clay, dried grass and sticks, and small rocks. The pillywiggins don't live in the forest, but just outside it, in a single massive willow tree. They don't really have individual houses, but treat the willow tree as one big house and each fairy sleeps on a branch or twig with a bed made of dried flowers, herbs, and other plants, such as heather.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The fairies eat wild berries (dried or fresh), tiny mushrooms, and honey. They drink nectar for a similar effect to that of wine, and drink dew drops for water. They also like sweet treats provided by humans, such as bread, lemon treats, and cream.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: large;">The fairies are very small, ranging from 3-4 inches at full height. 4 inches is the maximum height and any fairy over 4 inches would be quite tall.</span></li></ul><span style="font-size: large;">I haven't finished going through the questions for my fictional beings I created, but I'm really excited to finish and learn more about my characters.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I love Scribe Forge's <i>Worldbuilding</i> book so far, as it has provided me with not only a reason for my sister and I to work together, but its also asked some very interesting questions about my world that are really making me think. One thing I will say is that it asks a lot of questions that might not seem relevant to my current WIP (work in progress), but that's ok because those questions might prompt aspects of my world that I hadn't previously thought about and then I'll go ahead and answer those questions and maybe, just maybe, I'll end up using this new element in my story. At the very least, I won't use it on my story at all, but I'll still gain something by better understanding the world I am building.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you are a creator of any kind, I highly suggest checking out a copy from <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Scribe Forge</span></a> for yourself, so you can better understand the story you want to tell and the world it takes place in.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>**Disclaimer: this is not a sponsorship</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my shop on Ko-Fi to get a copy of my novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i></span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-48399172125917163582021-08-06T12:56:00.001-07:002021-08-07T15:00:57.779-07:00The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook<div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMq2Kx2CfrRMQ4GVP4Ngy23-qC8uLcI3nhkzfC_DrHykI-0FhyphenhyphenbgQCvQeNYDPDsBgB5xUWDtjs8mXjXYNdA8qXXxDNNNHUlk40LCnW7Ep4856ioDt_-CsbVulwn9z_bs3EYcHzMIxOgdKS/s2048/IMG_6688.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1474" data-original-width="2048" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMq2Kx2CfrRMQ4GVP4Ngy23-qC8uLcI3nhkzfC_DrHykI-0FhyphenhyphenbgQCvQeNYDPDsBgB5xUWDtjs8mXjXYNdA8qXXxDNNNHUlk40LCnW7Ep4856ioDt_-CsbVulwn9z_bs3EYcHzMIxOgdKS/w400-h288/IMG_6688.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">A few weeks ago, I shared that I had purchased a book titled: <i>The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook: Create a compelling world your readers will love </i>by Scribe Forge. As you probably guessed, Scribe Forge is not a person's name. It's a print-on-demand publisher. If you go to their <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">website</span></a>, it looks like they offer several tips and tools for writing a story, including Smash Writer's Block prompt cards, notebooks, and more, though it appears that the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book is the most popular. Supposedly Scribe Forge collaborated with several authors to create this book, though I do find it a bit odd that they don't say who those authors are...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The book has only been published since 2020, but it has a lot of positive reviews, so I'm definitely here for it.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The first novel I wrote, <i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i> is a fantasy novel about a fairy who ventures into the human world. It was a lot of fun to write and it was easy. Not easy in the sense that I knew exactly what I wanted to say each time I sat down to write or even in the sense that I really knew where I wanted the story to go. It was easy in the sense that I was writing about a world I know - nevermind that the story is set in 1400's England, because that can be researched, but I understand what the human world is like and I understand the belief systems they had at the time that the story is set in.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdbrStZTAA-LC9rECdddbnYG-uHSCPSg1iW9fVxih7QzODfRwFmJOSf34BzvU3tWD2eHXifRb97tSEAVv-AMQ1JrkYTo8PHqtQ0X-bXWY0-t5Xjb3aTXbsDa8hWw6-p-begw49IcGDD0i/s2048/IMG_6691.jpeg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdbrStZTAA-LC9rECdddbnYG-uHSCPSg1iW9fVxih7QzODfRwFmJOSf34BzvU3tWD2eHXifRb97tSEAVv-AMQ1JrkYTo8PHqtQ0X-bXWY0-t5Xjb3aTXbsDa8hWw6-p-begw49IcGDD0i/s320/IMG_6691.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click to enlarge</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Now I am writing book 2, <i>The Death of Jack</i>. Let me tell you, it's very different. I'm not writing about a fairy who left home to be a part of the human world. I'm writing about a fairy whose home is inhabited by humans. Here's the thing that's drastically different from Hollyhocks and Jack: <i>he</i> never leaves the forest. That means I'm writing about the fairy world - a world which is different from ours, with pagan gods as ancient deities, with a multitude of different fairy types, and with star magic, prophecies, and spirituality. It's a world that I'm so excited about and I want to write about it, but in order to do so, I need to understand it.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">That's why, when I saw an ad for a book on worldbuilding, I bought it. And it arrived!! As you can see from the picture, it's a spiral bound book which I think is so smart because it makes the book more easily accessible and easier to write in, etc.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am so excited to begin working through it with the companion notebook I made (for the sake of being able to use the worldbuilding book for future stories I write) featuring my MC, Jack, on the cover. Also, my sister is going to be working on her own copy of the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book!! I'm really happy she's doing it too, I feel like it will help to keep me motivated. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If any of you are wanting a copy, definitely let me know, it would be fun to hear from you and learn what you're working on.<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my fantasy novel, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i></span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I highly suggest taking a look at the <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Scribe Forge website</span></a> and seeing what they offer. They're definitely one of my favorite go-to sites right now for writing. I've even downloaded their <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/pages/book-compass-tracker" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Free Novel Tracker and Course</span></a>.<br />Take a look at <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><i>The Essential Workdbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</i></span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my Ko-fi shop for my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">fairy journals</span></a> that can be used as companion notebooks to the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">* Please sponsor me Scribe Forge 😂</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-63801164745067512212021-07-30T11:38:00.000-07:002021-07-30T11:38:26.087-07:00Reading Samantha.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's Christmas day and I'm 7 years old. There are lots of presents under the tree for my family of 6, as there was every Christmas during my childhood.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">This Christmas felt extra special and it would turn into one I would never forget, for under the tree was a large rectangular box prettily wrapped in shiny silver paper. In the box was, what I thought would be a doll - not just any doll, but an <i>American Girl</i> doll. Imagine my disappointment when I opened the box and there was no such doll, but a <i>Disney's</i> porcelain Cinderella doll.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I don't remember exactly what followed, but eventually I got around to opening the elongated rectangular box which contained the Kirsten doll by <i>American Girl</i>!! She was just what I had asked for and she was beautiful!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I still have her to this day and she is just as special to me as she was nearly 20 years ago.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">At some point in my childhood, I decided I wanted to add the Molly doll to my collection. However, I already had several of the books from her collection, including the <i>Meet Molly</i> book. For some reason, I felt like I couldn't get the Molly doll because she came with the <i>Meet Molly</i> book and then I'd have 2 copies of the same book and I couldn't possibly do that and the thought of getting rid of one never occurred to me. Yeah, I don't get how my brain worked either. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Point being, I never got the Molly doll. And then at some point, I wanted the Samantha doll as well, but I went through a phase of thinking I shouldn't get her/ask for her because I felt I was too old for dolls. I am happy to say that I got past that phase and I LOVE toys again, especially dolls. </span><span style="font-size: large;">I would like to point out that <i>American Girl</i> retired many of thee original dolls between 2010 and 2014, so it seemed like the chance of me ever getting one of those dolls was impossible. Of course, I could ways get a used doll, but I never really settled on doing that. Getting something used is never as exciting as getting something new.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recently I borrowed all of the Samantha books from the library. For those of you who are perhaps unfamiliar with American Girl, it is a doll company started in 1986 by a woman named Pleasant Rowland. She wanted to offer something for young girls to play with other than baby dolls and the hugely popular <i>Barbie</i> dolls, which Rowland saw as basically an unfit toy for young girls, teaching beauty and setting unhealthy body expectations. So she started her own doll company of high quality dolls that were meant to be about 8-12 years old (the same ages as the girls who were playing with them) and teach valuable lessons through American history. Each doll was from a different time era and had a set of clothes that were historically accurate, along with a 6 book set about a girl growing up in that particular time, giving modern girls the chance to learn the history in a fun way and be able to relate to the main character.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Samantha's story takes place in 1904, where she is growing up in high society in a Victorian style mansion in New York. Her books are really good, written by 3 different authors: Susan S. Adler, Maxine Rose Schur, and Valerie Tripp. The first 2 books are written by Adler and the 3rd book is written by Schur, while Tripp wrote the last 3 books. I'm not sure why they had so many different authors write the series, but I wish Susan S. Adler had written them all. The tone of the first 2 books is, in my opinion, much more enjoyable. They're a bit slow paced and some the characters feel more stiff, but I don't mean that in a negative way at all. It actually felt more time appropriate. Samantha likes to have fun and is a very curious 9 year old, determined to lead and to achieve her goals, meanwhile her grandmother is very old-fashioned and a "proper lady", making Samantha feel as if she were in trouble when she is around her grandmother, because she knew she had to speak only when spoken to, sit up straight, and be on her best behavior.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Schur's book is very enjoyable as well, but she did leave out some of the characters we got to know from Adler's books. And then there's Valerie Tripp. I would say she became much more popular than the previous 2 authors, as she went on to write many of the <i>American Girl</i> books. In my opinion, her writing isn't as enjoyable though. The stories were still good, but they were very fast paced and we got to see a much more spunky and energetic side of Samantha that we hadn't seen in the first 3 books. It honestly felt to me that I wasn't reading about the same character at times, especially when Samantha would exclaim things like, "Oh gosh!" and "Jiminy!" It felt like too much, like Samantha wouldn't say that and like the story is in a slightly different time - only for the fact that Tripp's writing style did not mimic the writing style that was being written during the early 1900's, and I feel that Adler's style very much so felt like the style produced during that time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Still, even though I know the books were targeted toward young girls, I thoroughly enjoyed them and felt like a kid again, being able to relate to Samantha on several aspects, as I remember very well how I felt about certain situations when I was her age.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I believe that <i>American Girl</i> was doing something very positive, with each book containing a "peak into the past" section at the back, talking about the historical events that were happening at that time in relation to the events that were happening in the story. They dared to touch on such topics as child labor in factories and dangerous conditions they faced and the next to nothing wages they made, immigrants coming from Ireland to work as servants, how awful the orphanages were most of the time, and young girls quickly growing up to be "proper ladies" or suffragists advocating for women's rights and the right to vote.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Every character and every book was so bold as to touch on the topics they did, including the trials and difficulty faced by pioneers, fighting for the freedom of slaves, winning independence from Britain, facing the Great Depression, growing up during World War II, and so much more. These were all huge moments in history and <i>American Girl</i> was making sure they were teaching that history and those lessons to young American girls.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I feel sad that the newer dolls being released do not have as impactful stories and they have taken away the historical sections at the backs of the the books, like they are trying to erase the history (the good, the bad, and the ugly) that shaped this country.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think that <i>American Girl</i> is doing a lot of things right and I believe they are a positive influence on kids today, but I think they have also strayed away from some of the more impactful stories of their past.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">That being said, I am so excited that they have rereleased 6 original characters for their 35th birthday, and I am happy to say that I now own a Samantha doll. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Definitely be sure to check out their website if you're thinking you want to get yourself a new doll because they are selling out fast!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">As always, thank you for reading. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">ADDITIONAL:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out <a href="https://www.americangirl.com/shop/c/35-anniversary-dolls" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">American Girl's 35th birthday</span></a> collection!!<br>Check out my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">fantasy novel</span></a> on my ko-fi shop!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-22558803970327198542021-07-23T10:14:00.000-07:002021-07-23T10:14:29.057-07:00A Book For Writers.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">One thing that really helps me with writing and in this case, getting motivated to write, is reading.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I believe, one way to always be improving your writing is to read and never stop reading. Because when we read, we are learning. Obviously if we're reading educational or informational books, we're learning, but we're also learning when we read fiction. We're learning new words, writing structure, and style. Every writer has their own unique style and I think there's something to learn from each and every one of them. And as a bonus, maybe something you read sparked an idea which can be used as inspiration for your own work.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've been reading a lot of fiction lately (which is typical of me) and I'm really excited to share with you the latest book I ordered!! It's not a typical book, and by typical, I mean it's not the typical kind of book I usually read, it's actually a book put together specifically to help someone with their writing.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I saw it advertised on Facebook. I usually try to stay away from ads like these, but this one really pulled me in and it seems legit. The ad was for a book titled <i><a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Essential Worldbuilding Blueprint and Workbook</span></a></i> by Scribe Forge. Caught my attention almost immediately.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's supposed to help you organize your ideas and build a world for your story (whether it's a fantasy world you're creating, paranormal romance, or sci-fi) by offering tips on worldbuilding, thinking about the location (geography, climate, etc.), the magic system, the technology, the religion and/or mythology and philosophy, the history, etc.. It also includes tons of worksheets allowing you to think about your answers and build the ideal world for your story.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Personally, I feel like I probably won't write my ideas in the spaces they provided, I'll probably get a separate notebook or journal to write in so I can use the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book for other projects in the future.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since I've been having a bit of trouble writing <i>The Death of Jack</i>, I thought this would be really helpful for building the world for this project along with understanding how to build worlds in future projects.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">My order hasn't arrived yet, as I just placed it yesterday, but I'm super excited to work through it!! I'll definitely write another post on this in the future to give you my thoughts and to let you know if the book is actually helpful. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />The price isn't bad and the shipping is free anywhere in the USA, so if you want to check out the book, feel free to do so by <a href="https://scribeforge.ink/products/the-essential-worldbuilding-blueprint-and-workbook" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">clicking here</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Disclaimer: I feel like I should add that this isn't a sponsorship, I'm just excited about the </i>Worldbuilding<i> book and I wanted to share it with you lovely people in case anyone else would benefit from it. XD</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b><br />If you are interested in getting a copy of the <i>Worldbuilding</i> book, might I suggest getting one of my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/vanessapaigeisrael/shop" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">handmade fairy journals</span></a> from my Ko-fi shop to use as your companion for writing down ideas?? The support means more to me than you know...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">...you should totally take a look at my fantasy novel, <i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks</span></a></i>. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-22536091132371763842021-07-16T11:32:00.004-07:002022-01-27T15:08:12.980-08:00My Thoughts on Coraline.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> To my dearest friends and followers,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">A couple weeks ago, I went to the local library and borrowed a small stack of books, one of those being <i>Coraline</i> by Neil Gaiman.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So...<i>Coraline</i> is an interesting one haha. It's a book that was published in 2002 and in 2009 it was adapted into a stop-motion claymation film with <i>Laika</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was aware when the <i>Coraline</i> film came out. My parents wouldn't have let me watch it, but it reminded me of Tim Burton's films which I also wasn't allowed to watch. That's probably a good thing, because having seen them now, I think they would have really scared me at the time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the summer of 2019, someone asked me and my husband if we'd seen the movie and then proceeded to tell us a little bit about it (if you're reading this, thanks Brianna 💜). It sounded creepy as hell, but it also intrigued me. I thought, "I should give that a watch." And then I put that in the back of my brain and didn't come back to it until early 2020. So my husband and I watched the movie.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, here's the thing. I like scary movies. But for some reason, animated creepiness is more terrifying to me than live-action creepyness.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Basically, I thought the <i>Coraline</i> movie was REALLY creepy and disturbing. I wasn't sure if I even liked the movie or not. But it's one of those movies that you can't stop thinking about.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Earlier this year, I watched the movie again with my sister. And last week, I read the novella.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, then you might want to skip this post because I'm going to be giving away spoilers. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are a few differences between the book and the movie. I'm honestly having a hard time deciding which I liked better as I can now say I enjoyed them both. The movie features a character not in the book: Wybie (short for Why Were You Born). Horrible, right? But he's a likable enough character and it's fun to see someone else in the movie who is Coraline's age. I kind of wish he was in the book.<br />The other thing is, the beldam seems to know what Coraline wants and what she (Coraline) thinks she's missing in life. How does she know this? In the movie, it seems to be through the eyes of the doll she made that Coraline now possesses. In the book, it's a little unclear how she knows, though we do see a spider-like shadow which seems to be her spying on Coraline.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I did a bit of research about the beldam and I found very little. I wanted to know, what is a beldam? Is it a creature found in folklore in different cultures? Is it a monster who appears in several fairy tales? I don't know. It seems maybe Neil Gaiman invented it, but don't quote me on that. What I did find, is that beldam basically means "witch". So who is the beldam in <i>Coraline</i>?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To answer that, I suppose we must first look at who Coraline is. Coraline Jones is around 10 years old when her family moves in to a new house. Only it's a very large victorian house that's been divided up into multiple apartments. Coraline's parents work at home and ignore her and want her to keep quiet and keep to herself. She's not allowed to play outside in the rain, and she's not allowed into the drawing room of the house. So her life seems rather dull. She loves exploring and has a wild imagination though. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">At one point when her mother asked where she was, she answered by saying she was <i>"kidnapped by aliens,"</i> but managed to escape by <i>"wearing a wig and laughing in a foreign accent." </i>I really liked this side of Coraline and I wish they had shown it in the film. She's not as likable a character in the movie in my opinion. She shares a lot of traits with her mother and is mean to Wybie for really no reason that I can see.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So who is the beldam? She is the being who creates a world almost identical to Coraline's - with the house and the surrounding garden. The beldam then disguises herslef as Coraline's mother <i>(and by disguising herself, it's hard to say if she can shape-shift or if she puts the idea in Coraline's head that she is her mother, therefore tricking Coraline into thinking that she looks like her actual mother). </i>She also "creates" a creature to look like Coraline's father. I feel like I should note that the beldam doesn't really create something from nothing, rather she takes things which already exist and twists them and shapes them in to her liking, creating something new. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The beldam has shiny black buttons instead of eyes. And she was a little bit too thin and a little bit too tall and her fingers were a little too long and her skin was a little bit whiter than Coraline's actual mother. The beldam introduces herself as Coraline's "other mother" and the father as the "other father". The other mother even says that everyone has "another mother." I sure hope not.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coraline comes to learn that the other mother wants her to stay in her world that she created, but Coraline must allow the other mother to take her eyes out and sew on button eyes instead. Pretty messed up, right? That's because the eyes are the windows to the soul - and with the windows open or gone, the soul is vulnerable. And it appears that the other mother likes to feed on children's "lives", though she doesn't actually eat the soul, she just drains them of everything that makes up their lives - love and happiness and memories. Coraline is definitely not the first child the beldam has come after, but I do appreciate that in the movie, we get to learn a bit more backstory about who one of the other children was.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the end, Coraline escapes the other mother and returns to the real world where her real parents don't even seem aware of what was happening. The book does leave the reader wondering if Coraline actually defeated the beldam...</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;">One thing I might add here is that while we can all agree that the other mother is super creepy, I would beg to differ that she's actually not the scariest thing in the book. I guess I should mention how Coraline actually gets to the other world. There is a door in the drawing room that opens up to a brick wall, and on the other side of the wall is the other apartment which nobody lives in. However, sometimes this door opens into a hallway or a corridor - a corridor that is similar the one in Coraline's actual house, only it's not her actual house, it's the house the other mother created to look like Coraline's house. Toward the end of the book when Coraline is running for her life back to the real world, we are told that <i>"whatever the corridor was was older by far than the other mother. It was deep, and slow, and it knew that [Coraline] was there..."</i></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Notice it says <i>"whatever the corridor WAS"</i> and not <i>"whatever was IN the corridor."</i> So that begs the question, is the entire corridor / other world in and of itself a living being like Tartarus in Greek mythology? Does that make the other mother a parasite within that being..?</span></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Probably my favorite character in the book is the cat. He's just a stray black cat and for whatever reason, the other mother doesn't like him. I'd even go as far as to say she's scared of him.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The cat is cool and witty though. Coraline isn't really startled that the cat can talk and assumes that he's the "other cat", but the cat says, <i>"I'm not the other anything. I'm me...You people are spread all over the place. Cats, on the other hand, keep ourselves together."</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span>When Coraline asks him his name, he says, <i>"Cat's don't have names...Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are. We know who we are, so we don't need names."</i> And when Coraline is in the world that the other mother created, she asks, <i>"...what is this place?"</i> and the cat answers, <i>"It's here."</i> </span>Coraline then wonders "<i>whether cats could all talk where she came from and just chose not to, or whether they could only talk when they were here - wherever here was." </i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Another favorite part is in chapter 5, when Coraline is back in the real world and the beldam has taken her real parents so she must go back to the other world to rescue them from the other mother. The cat is with her and she's telling the cat about a time when her father and her were out and were being attacked by wasps. Her father told Coraline to run ahead of him and he stayed back to let the wasps attack him so she could get away. In the process he loses his glasses, but he too makes it out ok, though he was stung nearly 40 times. He then went back to that spot to find the glasses. She remembers her father saying that he was not brave the first time because he didn't know the wasps were there. Staying there so she could get out was the only thing he could do. But when they both got out and he decided to go back to get his glasses - that was brave because he knew the dangers that were there. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">She tells the cat that she too is brave because she is choosing to go back to the other world when she knows the other mother is waiting for her. I appreciated that little insight. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I feel like the message of the story is pretty simple: the grass isn't always greener on the other side, or be careful what you wish for. On one hand, the message is so clear, it hits you over the head. On the other hand, the terrifying and disturbing images distract from what's really going on in the story and it might take a minute or two to actually grasp what's happening.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coraline is a tricky book because it's one of those that's written for children and it will be found in the children's section of a bookstore, but I'm not sure how many children will actually appreciate it for what it is. Its message is simple, but the way that message is told is, in my opinion, not for children.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I really enjoyed the book as well as the movie, but if I'm choosing here, I think I'd have to choose the book. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coraline had a lot more personality and imagination and was more likable. The cat had some pretty great lines that were missing in the movie. The corridor added a whole other dimension. The spider references are everywhere and plainly told to the reader (I had a difficult time interpreting several things from the movie when it came to that). Also, it's so fun to see Gaiman's writing style.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Whether you enjoy dark fantasy / horror stories or not, I would highly suggest reading <i>Coraline </i>if only to take note of the writing style itself. It is, after all, written by Neil Gaiman who is easily one of the best writers of fiction of our time.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Also, if you want to know more about <i>Coraline</i> and the history / backstories of the different characters, you should definitely take a look at the <i>Horror History</i> video series on YouTube made by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9U9496dcP0&list=PLL3r8G2ymJ03XWYNrIb0w2umgXMSF8Lgr" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">CZ's World</span></a>. His videos are slightly creepy, but extremely intriguing and insightful.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>ADDITIONAL:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my young adult fantasy novel, <i><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks</span></a></i> from my <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Ko-fi</span></a> shop!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Read<i> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coraline-Deluxe-Classic-CORALINE-Hardcover/dp/B00QPOLSME/ref=sr_1_6?crid=NT0B2MKZCMLV&dchild=1&keywords=coraline+book&qid=1626387793&sprefix=coraline%2Caps%2C296&sr=8-6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Coraline</span></a></i> by Neil Gaiman</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Watch the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coraline-Dakota-Fanning/dp/B089DVQSNN/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=coraline&qid=1626387738&sr=8-2" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Coraline</span></a> movie!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-35076980041375286722021-07-09T23:54:00.000-07:002021-07-09T23:54:13.709-07:00Into the Wildwood.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,<br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">For the past month, I've felt really dry. By that I mean, creatively dry. Several times I sat down with the intention of writing a blog post and I just stared at the blank page before me, my mind equally as empty. I felt I had nothing to share, nothing exciting was happening that I felt like I wanted to talk about, and I still haven't worked on my novel.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I really need to take the time to write it, I know I keep saying that. What I think I want to do and maybe will set a goal for myself in the next few weeks, is find a writing buddy who will motivate me and share the experience of writing with me. Someone to keep me accountable basically. And I will do likewise for them.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">While I've felt a bit dry, I've been doing some reading. I wasn't allowed to read this certain book when I was a kid, but I recently came across it again and began reading it. <i>Wildwood Dancing</i> is the title, written by Juliet Marillier.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read, right up there with <i>The Little White Horse</i> by Elizabeth Goudge and <i>The Princess and the Goblin</i> by George MacDonald.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Wildwood Dancing</i> is a bit different than most middle grade fantasy novels I've read though, in that it is not set in the traditional English settings that most fantasy novels are, but rather, it is set in Transylvania and pulls heavily from the folklore from that surrounding area.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The story is lightly based on the fairy tale <i>The Twelve Dancing Princesses</i> by the Brother's Grimm. Instead of 12 sisters though, Marillier writes about 5 sisters who live in a castle. Every Full Moon, the sisters pass in secret from their world into the Other Kingdom and spend the night dancing with the fairy folk.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jena is the second eldest sister, but behaves like the oldest sister, while Tati is the eldest sister, but behaves, in my opinion, much more like the youngest sister.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tati becomes deeply involved in the seemingly dangerous affairs of the vampire-like Night People, while Jena is trying her best to look after the household in her father's absence.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Possibly my favorite parts of the story are in the flashbacks where 5 year old Jena and her 2 older cousins, Costi and his younger brother, Cezar, are playing near the Deadwash (the body of water that separates their world from the Other Kingdom and which they are forbidden to play near). <br>The 3 children find themselves playing a game of make-believe in which Jena is Queen of the Fairies, Costi is King of the Lake, and Cezar is King of the land. However, while the children are playing, the Witch of the Wood comes to them and tells them that their game is not a game of make-believe, but that there is truth in it, and that each of them must sacrifice something to get what they want. Jena gives the witch her precious paper maché tiara, while Costi gives the witch a precious family heirloom given to the eldest son, and Cezar - well, we weren't sure what he gave up.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Eventually the witch left and the children continued their game. If only they hadn't been playing near the Deadwash, Costi would still be alive. If only Cezar were as kind-hearted as his father had been, the village might still live in peace. If only Father had not gotten ill and left Jena in charge. And why did the Night People have to show up and steal Jena's sister away? Why won't the witch help her make things right again? And who is the little talking frog who mysteriously showed up?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Honestly, it's such a good book filled with strong friendships, family bonds, heart wrenching betrayals, forbidden love, and hidden secrets.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are many unforgettable characters, such as Gogu the frog, Drâgu<span class="Latn headword" lang="ro" style="color: #202122;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: inherit;">ț</span></span>a the shapeshifting witch riding upon her tiny white fox, Sorrow and his sister, Silence, and of course, strong headed Jena.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">There are many things I really liked about the book, but one of the things that really stood out to me was Jena's character. I feel like there are a lot of modern shows being made that are not historically accurate at all, in that the woman is not at all what a woman would have been at that time; she talks back, is not respectful of others, is stubborn, unladylike, etc. and it's not addressed by any of the other characters - like it's not out of the ordinary. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, Juliet Marillier did a really great job in writing a character who is not like the typical women of that time in that she incorporated it appropriately into the story. Jena is different, she stands out, she is outspoken about women's rights. An early feminist as it were. I compare her to Jo March from <i>Little Women</i>. She is a strong female character without being a physically strong bad-ass warrior woman like we see so often today. She is strong because she is breaking the stereotype of women of her day, she is standing up for what she believes in, and is pursuing her dreams and determined to succeed in a man's world and she is acknowledged for her efforts and faces backlash from her male peers. It feels very real for the time that the story is set in. But most of all, it feels real. It feels like something achievable. While Katness Everdeen and Wonder Woman are pretty epic ladies, they're not realistic or achievable for someone like you or me.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I give much credit to Juliet Marillier for keeping the book feeling time-appropriate and also writing a strong female heroine. We need more books like this.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Currently I am reading <i>Coraline</i> by Neil Gaiman. Perhaps I'll give my thoughts on that next week.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I hope you all are doing well and thank you so much for reading!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,<br>Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Additional:</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Check out my book, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks (<i>Tales from Beyond the Veil, book 1</i>)</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I highly suggest you take a look at <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wildwood-Dancing-Juliet-Marillier/dp/0375844740/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1625778914&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #800180;">Wildwood Dancing</span></i></a> by Juliet Marillier. I definitely give it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-67202242591613210432021-05-28T01:01:00.010-07:002021-05-28T14:14:49.383-07:00Happy One Year...<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh3KyH48TcsykJ7RFtf3KW0Sjq7d7OSaRbv0c0r8BEu12Hc8f0I-J9r-BlFB9VXcnzcNzxt7RDldQTX0pGvJdjfHZS0CPDFrnKKB58HnL7YlqTteGIGRbYuLssAM77sXKqltLaFQ9eAFa1/s2048/2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh3KyH48TcsykJ7RFtf3KW0Sjq7d7OSaRbv0c0r8BEu12Hc8f0I-J9r-BlFB9VXcnzcNzxt7RDldQTX0pGvJdjfHZS0CPDFrnKKB58HnL7YlqTteGIGRbYuLssAM77sXKqltLaFQ9eAFa1/w250-h400/2.png" width="250" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8LM4b6R1-bqsO7JL6FjSuEQA6HuvAQSOT2M9nOGvY7SJku76Tx5sLpy9sZw1mtKs-NTb6y7WCuVzbVUXf6v28HlFRtz0YENxtxdnMdmEgWAj9y6t3CtL7KE8rrKsvgGt3ib3Sd-4XwuO/s2048/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8LM4b6R1-bqsO7JL6FjSuEQA6HuvAQSOT2M9nOGvY7SJku76Tx5sLpy9sZw1mtKs-NTb6y7WCuVzbVUXf6v28HlFRtz0YENxtxdnMdmEgWAj9y6t3CtL7KE8rrKsvgGt3ib3Sd-4XwuO/w250-h400/3.png" width="250" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2SGde7w8wvlFoC6Iqi-1EWA16AVrOtwhhyJXJcnHAu0COK3Hn_Da19k13sVUaiulAlbLzqHb1jlFaoK7HmfyboLHZNhyphenhyphen1uuHoHKx8y_n0ph-GTjJg7s7oKXC1C6oLMF2nnX9iROix_Rw/s2048/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1283" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2SGde7w8wvlFoC6Iqi-1EWA16AVrOtwhhyJXJcnHAu0COK3Hn_Da19k13sVUaiulAlbLzqHb1jlFaoK7HmfyboLHZNhyphenhyphen1uuHoHKx8y_n0ph-GTjJg7s7oKXC1C6oLMF2nnX9iROix_Rw/w250-h400/1.png" width="250" /></a></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To my dearest friends and followers,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you haven't heard, I'm having a book giveaway for my novel, <i>The Story of Hollyhocks</i>, on Twitter (which you can enter by <a href="https://twitter.com/Pillywiggen/status/1395893641869103108" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">clicking here</span></a>) in honor of the one year anniversary since publishing it!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">NOTE: only US residents eligible to win.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">In a few words, my novel is a fairytale-esk fantasy / historical fiction novel, set in mythological Wales and England at the end of the 15th century. The story follows a young sprite from the "Invisible World" whose curiosity in the human world leads her away from home. She meets and befriends Edward V, a young human child who became a king at just 12 years old.<br />At its core, Hollyhocks's story is a coming of age story, a story about friendship and love, about facing struggles and overcoming them, about growing up, maybe losing yourself a little along the way and coming to the realization that your childlike perception of the world is not 100% accurate.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To further celebrate, I'm selling my book for 30% off the original price in my Ko-fi shop AND I'm shipping it worldwide for the first time. The sale will run from today to Monday (May 28th-May 31st), so if you've been wanting to grab a copy, I can't think of a better time than now. XD</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://ko-fi.com/s/c73cde8cf6" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">Click here</span></a> to pick up a copy of my book at a discounted price!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy one year anniversary to Hollyhocks's story becoming available to the world!!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-849774098890588027.post-81013350066325476672021-05-21T14:35:00.002-07:002021-05-23T12:15:45.347-07:00One Year Anniversary.<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> To my dearest friends and followers,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I can't believe it's already been a year since I published my book with IngramSpark (May 1st), and <i>almost</i> 1 year since my book became available for purchase (May 29th).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's been a crazy journey, to say the least. I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was around 12 years old (more than 10 years ago). After having written multiple novellas and short stories and achieving that goal, my next goal was to become a published author. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">So I met with a published author in 2015. I had questions on advice for writing, for writing fiction, and what to expect from the world of publishing. It was her who encouraged me to start a blog and begin talking about what I do...so I took her advice and started this blog, having previously no knowledge of what a blog even was.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Several things I'm extremely grateful for since starting my blog, is building a small following of people interested in what I do and what I'm writing about, and just being a part of a writing community. I've made several friends who are fellow writers, I've completely changed my view of independently published authors (and become one myself), I've joined several writing groups, I've gained so much knowledge about different publishing options and writing as a whole (not to mention sharing my own experience and answering people's questions when I can), and I've gotten so much encouragement about my own writing.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Since starting my blog, I have 147 published posts, I've shared 2 short stories and 1 novella I wrote as a kid, I have a regular following of about 100 weekly readers on my blog, a Twitter account with just over 3,000 followers, and 1 published novel.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">It still feels a little surreal that I actually did it - I became a published author. I always knew I would, but still, it's weird sometimes to see my book in stores, both online and brick and mortar. It's a little uncomfortable to have people who've known me my entire life read my book. It's weird to think that someone somewhere, someone I've never met, bought my book.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of my book, I am hosting a book giveaway on <a href="https://twitter.com/Pillywiggen/status/1394756162449412097" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><b>Twitter</b></span></a> (for <a href="http://www.vanessapaigeisrael.com/p/my-books.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #800180;">The Story of Hollyhocks</span></i></a>) which you can enter and follow the instructions on the post.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">The rules are pretty simple. You have to have a Twitter account to enter, you have to be from the US, and you have to like and retweet the post. I'll be choosing the winner on May 29th by DM. If the winner doesn't respond within 24 hours, I'll choose another winner.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm also hosting a giveaway on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CPBzR2rL-M1/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;"><b>Instagram</b></span></a>, which you can enter if you don't have Twitter (it's the same giveaway, so there's no need to enter both). The same rules apply, except you must have an Instagram account, and like and comment on the post to enter.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you entered the giveaway, thank you!! And as always, thank you for reading. XD<br /><br />Yours truly,</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Me</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Vanessa Paige Israelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16412550362465067765noreply@blogger.com0