I Read Eldra's Post

*gasp* Yes, how dare I... but now, I've been tagged. Squeaks did a post about ten things she was thinking about... and Eldra did it and turned it into a tag. *drops dead* I'll do it, but I'll have to keep alive. *pinches self*

1). Horses.
(An Arabian)

Ah, I couldn't stop with the horse pictures. ;) The Appaloosa, especially with the black and white coloring, is my favorite horse.

2). FROM DARKNESS WON!!! (comes out the day after tomorrow!!)

3). WRITING. Started my second novel, so writing has been on my mind... and I've been trying to do it.

4). Drawing. I've been drawing different dragon breeds and kinds, and this is one I've already posted, its the Sanadria Cliff Dragon.

5). ...Hm. I'll have to say dogs. Especially our dog, Moby. And Queasy, our old dog who now lives at my grandpa's farm. Caught her with a rabbit. ;) (she doesn't eat them--guess she's protecting us from Rabbits...)
 QUEASY:

MOBY:

 (this was the Christmas before last, methinks, and somebody made an 'angel's hat' and stuck it on his head. Poor Moby, it kept falling off)

6). Turkeys. Came upon this picture on my mom's blog while looking for a picture of Moby... Mom hit it and we had this HUGE streak on our car that didn't wash off for the longest time... the Turkey was huge, as well. :O

7). SPIDERS. I have no idea why. Another picture from my mom's blog, this spider fell on her head in a rental and killed itself when we compared it with a penny. Nice story, huh? (Venom and all)

8). Dragons. And I found this little picture of a play-dough model of a dragon I made like two years ago... Hmmph. (homemade play-dough, too!) I sure hope I've progressed greatly since then!

9). Mice. We have mice... my mom hates 'em, and is scared of them. *shrugs* I don't know why. Jake, Manny, Ry and I once caught a fieldmouse, and he wasn't all that bad. Mom made us let him go, though, and he died... We found him in the hole from which we'd caught him. :P

10). Food. I can smell it right now... Manny is frying vegetables and Dad is making hamburgers, methinks... *takes a deep breath in through the nose*

Ok, so there ya go! I tag anybody who wants to do it--IF THEY DARE. Oh, well. Off to eat whatever is out there!
Farewell,
--Vrenith

Aging Far Too Fast... O_o

No, not me! My paper. Jake and I figured out how to make aged paper by using a motley group of recipes and mixing 'em together. Find more on it here: http://jakespen.blogspot.com/
WARNING: I don't think it will work with pencil on the piece of paper, so print off anything or copy it. I used a copy of 'The Horse on Midnight Lane.' (my own poem) And remember, print whatever you want on your aged paper BEFORE you do the aging process.

Broken tire swing! Ouch. Manny and I were sitting on the good ol' tireswing, her reading By Darkness Hid (haha, now she loves the books so far...) and me reading Kestrel's Midnight Song (second time). So we were just sitting there, and then there was a snap--and we found ourselves in the dust. The screw/strange thingy had come out, and so now its misshapen... Ha. Manny landed pretty hard, but I wasn't hurt in any way.
Now, we've been looking for different ways to sit on the tireswing, with only two chains! The first way was that we sat between the two unbroken chains and either put our feet on the inside of the opposite or let them hang. The second way... Not as comfortable. Sit with it tilting IN the circle, LOL! Third way, I sat on the outside between the two unbroken chains and slowly went backwards... I only kept the pose for a few moments, but it was strange. Fourth, I did the same thing and then sank into the middle, sometimes actually pulling my arms into the inside. :D

CHEVEL! Not sure how to spell it, but someone mentioned it being a Chevrolet when we went to get something, So maybe that's just been a nickname. But anyways, we went to get it tagged. *!!* Manny and my mom allowed me to go, and so we drove the Chevel with a legal permit whichimicallit to go to the place to get the tag.
There are three seats in the front seat in the Chevel, though the middle would have to be somebody small. There were holes in two of the seats (the regularly used ones in the front) though we have not driven it for a LONG while. Its seriously almost older than my dad... And he loves it. The backseat is super bouncy and unripped, and its quite comfortable. The windows have handles to roll down the windows, they are not electric at all. There are three seats in the back, also. All the fabric in the car is green, and on the outside, the bottom part of the car is green, and the hood is white.
And we stuffed mom and four kids (including me) Into the car, three in back and two in front, and drove it to Dad's work! His response was a little wider than normal grin, and staring at his car. (he doesn't get very excited.) Two people came by and said, "Nice car." We learned that one of them was his boss. O_o The conversation with his boss went along the lines of this:
Boss: "Nice car."
Dad: "Yeah..."
Boss: "What year is it?"
Dad: "Its a 1970."
(mom joins in)
Mom: "Its fun to drive!" (and she seriously had a lot of fun driving it... A LOT of fun)
Mom: "*dad's name* Did you know it goes 120 miles an hour?"
Dad: "Yeah... did you try it out?"
Mom: "No... I wanted to, though."
Boss: "He knows how fast it goes because he's done it."

So it went sort of like that. Not on the nose, but near it. (probably on the cheek, LOL)
Manny and I hatched a plan... A week from today, Mom's going to be gone. Dad has to take us to co-op. (these are all homeschool MOMS, so this should be hilarious!) and we decided that Dad is going to drive us in the Chevel. *bwahaha* Lets hope we get away with it. XD

Perspiration, participation, and precipitation.
Jake and I had the strangest discussion the other day. He got one word wrong, when he meant to say precipitation, he said perspiration. And then somehow participation got into all of this! So we began talking about them. Jake said what all the words were. These words looks so much the same, except they each mean something a little different! So then we started challenging each other to say them five times fast. We tripped over our own tongues. (I didn't realize they were that long...) Just so I can apply this to my everyday life...
Perspiration: Ah, it was hot the other day. I was perspiring (NO LIE--it was in the eighties!)
Precipitation: It sprinkled lightly the other day--from a super small cloud and there was blue sky above us and the sun was out!
Participate: Umm...? I participated in co-op this morning, I guess.
Haha.

I started another drawing in my 'special' hardcover sketchbook today... I did a person (cloaked) with one leg straight and the other stepping up the incline, hand outstretched. At first I was going to make the person holding a sword to someone else's neck, but it slowly morphed into a helping hand, until there was a woman in a dress on the ground (cloaked, too) whom the person was helping up. I have a name for it--Redeemer. Still working on it!

The paintings... One was terrible. I'll not describe that one. The other... twas okay, but not my best. It was going to be at first an Ebony Flame Dragon, a dragon with two heads, rounded muzzles, long scales, black claws, and no eyes that lives in dark caves, but then it was in the open--I didn't give it scales, just hard skin. And then I made it white. It did have two heads, rounded muzzles and black spines and claws, but it did have eyes, and it was blowing a stream of fire from the ledge it stood on to the edge of the ledge... at something. *shrugs* I added a little smoke, but it didn't work out too well. The sky... was the easiest part, surprisingly! I drew clouds that would fill up the sky, and then put some blue underneath on the bottom of the clouds, and white on the top. Instead, though I did do that part, I pulled my brush over the spots where the colors connected, and they morphed into a cloud-spattered sky. :D It only took one try. And I do not have a name for this dragon, yet... I'll have to draw one in my sketchbook.

JELLYBEANS!! Yummy, Jolly Rancher flavored Jellybeans!! Had 'em last night, and since Manny had a creative-writing paper due, she wrote a story about Jolly Jelly Bean (J.B.B. for short)!

FROM DARKNESS WON ONLY COMES OUT IN A WEEK AND ONE DAY!! :D

I used up my every-day sketchbook... *swipes tear from eye* I had it a whole four months... And a lot of the drawings are unfinished. So luckily I had another I got for Christmas that was the same size, except spiraled on a different end.
I DREW MY FIRST SUCCESSFUL HUMAN! Yes, I have. I had to use my own nose by looking at it in the mirror, and it STILL doesn't look like my nose. So if the nose is bad if you ever see it, no worries. ;) I don't look like that.
Strangely, she reminded me of Vrell Sparrow--Averella Amal. O_o Jake agreed with me (I didn't think he would!) and so I called her Vrell Sparrow. :D Who is one of the main characters in the series that From Darkness Won is coming from!! :D
*waits impatiently for April 1 and when it comes so she can read it*

Farewell! Very eventful week, as ye can see. :)
--Vrenith

From Darkness Won and Paintings

Yes, you heard right! (and sorry, I'm not very creative with blog-post names...) I finally got out my paints again... Part of my procrastination was the excuse that 'I don't have much canvas left!' Which is true. I used the last of it.... One small piece of cardboard canvas, and one medium/small frame canvas. :D

I don't have time to explain them right now... but I'll try to my next post! I've got something else.

FROM DARKNESS WON!!!
No, I have not read it. Well--that's not true. I read the first chapter on Jill Williamson's Blog. AWESOME. Anyways, she changed the cover art slightly... check out the epicness:

EPIC!!

I find it hard to figure out my favorite books... I CANNOT list my top five. But these books--so awesomely well-written--have gotten up there.

Awesome work, Jill Williamson!
Can't wait for your next book, From Darkness Won!
(comes out April 1st)

Farewell!
--Vrenith

Artistry for Lady Ellewyn

I kept forgetting to blog about this, shame on me!! Well, just to tell you all, my awesome friend (who, unfortunately, I do not know in real life but is still an awesome friend) Lady Ellewyn had a birthday on January 21! If I got that wrong, Lady Ellewyn, please correct me. :) I have a terrible memory, as you've probably guessed. Anyways, I 've been working on drawings for her! The first one was a horse from a sidish front view, if that makes any sense. The one thing I was mad about, though, was that my pencil wasn't working correctly, and it was the only kind I could find!! So the shading was terrible. So the next one was a rearing horse, also done with the same pencil. :) The third was probably my favorite--a horse with her head gazing back over her body--her eye is so... dreamy, maybe? I don't know. So anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LADY ELLEWYN!! You're an awesome, awesome, awesome friend, and you're always kind about anything. :D Happy Birthday!
You're an accomplished Elf of the Underground--and your book/novel is amazing! Keep up the good work, and thanks for being an amazing friend!
:D
--Vrenith

Of Endings and Giveaways--Oh, and Parties!

We'll do the 'Giveway' part first. :)
Eldra is having a giveaway, on her blog, http://daremoinsights.blogspot.com/2011/03/chilly-willys-giveaway.html!! And the prizes--Leauphaun's extra amazing, awesome, unimaginably talented drawings!!

THE CHILLY WILLY GIVEAWAY!!!

See Chilly Willy below.

RULES! Yes, rules. Sorry. You can't just enter. There are WAYS to enter. (rules copied from Eldra's blog)

-Become a follower of this blog, or any of Leauphaun's: Drawings, Paintings or Photography. If you already follow one of these blogs, you must follow another in order to be entered, unless, of course, you already follow all four. - Worth 1 entry.

-Post about this giveaway on your blog, then send me the link to the post. Take the picture below and put it in the post. - Worth 2 entries.
-Leave Leauphaun a nice, long comment on any of her three blogs, (Drawings, Paintings or Photography) explaining what you like, what you don't like, or what you'd like to see her do. A "that looks amazing" doesn't count (although they are nice to hear). Make sure the comment is meaningful. - Worth 2 entries.

-Put up to all four of our blog buttons on your sidebar. Make sure that they link back to their appropriate blogs. All the buttons are available on my sidebar. - Each worth 1 entry.


YAHOO!! A GIVEAWAY!! So charge over there like stampeding cattle, and overwhelm her with entries! Seriously.


Guess what? I BEAT JAKE AT SPARRING. Ha ha. 
We got a new dishwasher, and so, when Dad put all the cardboard left-overs out for the recyclable truck, Jake and I went and were going to spar--and we found a bunch of cardboard (really thick, hard cardboard) thingamijigs that were sort of--well, if you looked at the end, it was shaped like this: >   And so they were a little hard to handle. But Jake and I sparred with those, and the sparring match lasted FOREVER. Ha. So Jake lost... partly because we hit so hard and his eventually split in half. So I won that match. We began another, but it lasted longer than the first (and we used different cardboard things, because Jake's was broken and mine was close to being broken) That match ended in a draw--nobody won.


LOTR.
Ok... better start at the first. A long time ago, in a land far, far away... Yes, it was far away. China, in fact. So my Dad bought Jake a pack of extended LOTR movies. All extended. Except, of course, when they watched 'em, Return of the King was *not* Extended Edition. So that was too bad. I wasn't allowed to watch LOTR back then, so it didn't matter much to me... I was too young, LOL.
So! Up to date. Jake found a Return of the King extended Edition with two extra CDs of Appendixes! It was formerly thirty two dollars, but it was on sale for twelve! Unfortunately, it went up to sixteen before Jake bought it. But now we have it! And we were watching some of the Appendixes, and it was so strange! Frodo more grown up (heh, real name is Elijah)! And the only actor who didn't seem to have changed was good old Pippin... Even his accent was the same, and it was hilarious seeing him! Sam's accent was faked... and Gandalf! Oh, my. The only thing that was the same about him was his NOSE! 'Twas strange. We saw how they did their sets and such... even for the huge cities! :D So it was quite interesting. But there's much more... we only saw a small portion of whats on ONE CD, so I can't wait to see the rest! 


AND MY OTHER NEWS!!! No matter if you don't believe me--*I* almost don't believe it myself!! But you shall see. Bah, I've got to stop babbling and tell you already!! Okay, look below... and no sneak peeking!
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I FINISHED MY NOVEL!!! 


And so now we party. :D


"I sat there in front of the computer, typing fervently. It was dark outside, and I had been working for hours on end while my family did who knows what somewhere else... and then it hit me, clear as a slap in the face, and I did, in fact, slap my face. I was finished. Honest to goodnessly finished. I was free... and yet sad. But it was a series book! So I would have another. And another. And maybe even another. 
And so I say now--farewell for a time. I'm off to party."

Naw, I'll only be gone... oh, lets just say less than a few seconds.


SEE? I'm back! Or not. I guess this right here is sort of a party. 


I AM DONE!! *rants* DONE!! HA HA!! 


Ok. I'm done. Guess my post was a little boring, eh? Ah, but I cannot stay... to quote what I said on the UG, "I have to go meet a rabbit. I think he means to drown me."


*being gagged, bound, and drowned in a two foot kiddie pool by a rabbit*,
--Vrenith

Swords and Crashes--Crashes and Swords

Short post. Ok, so my mom's birthday is in two days, but my grandparents were here now, so we went out for her birthday to Cracker Barrel. :D My grandpa bought Manny some Lye Soap, LOL, and Ry a little lady bug stand-up thingy, and I'm not sure what Jake got... But I didn't get anything, except that Manny and I picked out ten candy sticks--sort of like old-fashioned candy canes, different flavors. So each of us got two of those, and then my grandparents each had one. :)
 Then, Jake, my grandpa, and my dad all got into the car (my mom and my grandma and sisters went in a separate car) and then we were all talking--and someone had parked right behind us on the side of the road, probably just running in to get something! So we accidentally hit the side of the car, and my dad got out and went and asked about the car... the owner came out and was actually REALLY relieved. She had thought that it ruined her whole door (It had happened to her brother not too long ago), but luckily there was barely a mark! :D We just got a scratch, and so we were all fine.

More news! Jake has started ANOTHER NOVEL!!! :D He says that its allegorical, its five hundred words long, and that its called 'Revolution.' He also has decided that every one thousand words he writes in Revolution, he will re-write one thousand in the Book of Shaldu. So! There's the news.

Currently, I am super near the end of my novel. :D :D 65,700 words at the moment, and going strong! I want 75,000, but that may not be possible. I wrote four thousand words last night, waiting for my parents to come home from a group. So, now, I'm really excited because sometime this month (if I write a little every day or a lot in a few days) I'm going to FINISH MY FIRST NOVEL.

AND! For my subject. Swords. Don't know much about them, but I'm going to talk about swords in my novel. :)
Heh, would any of you want to fight with one of these?

There's a sword picture. But my swords don't look anything like that... lol.

Epic swords, dull swords, magnificent swords--describe them as you will. But if it doesn't work, I don't think I'd call it a sword.
Okay. So what swords am I talking about? MY SWORDS. Swords from my novel. I currently have no pictures, but I'm going to try to draw some of my different swords. Here, I'll explain some of them... after you see BETTER picture. :D

Ah, I especially loved the second one. Found it on the internet, and it turns out its from a Christian site! Haha! So I'm guessing that the sword is over a bible... or something like that.
But this is not quite what my swords look like, just a few pictures of some swords.
The Sword of Yawso is one of the Five Things of Wisdom which are needed. Called Yawsoka by my main character's father (who died, knowing that it was the Sword of Yawso). It has a strange, twisting crossguard that I'm still working on. The ends come back on themselves and curl entwined. The blade is of medium width, with a sharp tip. The hilt is wrapped in green-dyed leather, and in the pommel is a dark green jewel that is not an emerald--but something else.
Syjak's sword, which I'm not sure what it's name is. Syjak is a Lightguard, and his sword was made by Sharurl (God). The gem in the pommel looks as if it's light, but it is solid. The blade also looks almost like light, but is steel. The crossguard... I'm still working on that part.
Myrean's? Hers is a plain one she managed to grab before she had to flee Seriand.
Lord Dvinstra's sword--A thin but flexible blade--wouldn't stand a chance if it clashed with a broadsword, though.
That's all I have for now, folks!
Sorry for the strange post,
--Vrenith

Moods

Moods... do you have moods? I'm pretty sure you do. Unless you're a rock. Even rabbits have moods! Grr, I know. I have dozens of moods.
I'm not talking about moods such as 'sad' 'mad' or 'happy', but moods such as what you feel like doing. Just to name a few:

Reading mood. All I want to do is sit around and READ. I get excited about the book and grin at victories won.

Writing mood. I get all jittery and can't wait to get my ideas down.

Sleeping mood. I feel the day is over and just want to sleep. Strange, huh?

Heh, I even have a tree climbing mood! Hate it when I get that in the winter, though. Its more of a climbing mood, though, because I feel like climbing anything--not just a tree.

Books! What have I been up to? Books! A few of the books I've been reading:

1). Firegold, by Dia Calhoun. Very likable characters, good plot, and--well, I'm not sure how good the writing was. I'm terrible at telling such things. I rate it four stars.

2). A bunch of books off the shelf... they weren't that good.

3). The Keepers of Elenath! Great job on it, Amanda Bradburn! I totally loved the characters. They were real to me--real emotions, real in the way they acted--and other things. I rate this four and a half stars!

4). Chosen Ones--this was more of a 'something to read' book. It didn't ever fully capture my attention. It was a practically a copy of Narnia... There were two children instead of one, but there was so much alike. I way prefer C.S. Lewis, though! His writing is awesome.

5). Masters and Slayers. More of an adult book. Though I'm not even close to being one... (an adult). If you've read Starlighter, then you know who Jason is. This is through his older brother, Adrian's eyes, how he went to rescue the 'Lost Ones'.
I have to say, one of my favorite characters was Marcelle. She had a high spirit (and a sharp tongue!) and still had flaws.
Ha, I literally didn't put this book down until I finished it. LITERALLY. I read it from five o'clock to maybe nine or ten.

6). MY FAVORITE OF THEM ALL!!! The Ale Boy's Feast. Jake has an account on something called Blogging for Books, and he got this book free--and it isn't even coming out till next month! So this book isn't out yet, and lucky for me, Jake got it. So I got to read it. :D
Jeffrey Overstreet is an amazing writer--his writing is detailed, but most of the time not boring. I was totally into this book--its a hard read at times, and confusing, (not as much as the first book, though) but since I had a day off, I was able to read it in twenty four hours! :D
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. I rate it a full five stars!!

Ok, so those are the books I've been reading. I kept forgetting to order in 'Nightmare's Edge' by Bryan Davis, but I finally have! So now I'm waiting for that. Jake has (or will) placed a hold on 'Warrior' the book after Starlighter. :D

Art? Not much--EXCEPT FOR A LOT!!
I did a horse thats hard to explain--but blah, my mechanical pencil was bad. But I couldn't find a sharpener so that I could use a regular pencil, and we had like no other pencils! So I had to stick with it. Then I did a rearing horse who's shading was even worse than the first. Luckily the next one was a little better. Part of a horse's body facing right, while the horse's head turned to look to the left of the page. And the last two I wasn't that much into. They had no deep shading, just a little bit of a shadow. A unicorn's head--and gah, I don't think I want to do anymore unicorns! The horns are hard to get exactly right. I did it for Ryebrynn as a header--but then she didn't want that one, she wanted a FULL bodied unicorn! So I did a rearing one.
And I think that's all! Goodbye, folks!
Oh, yes, and my wordcount is currently around 61,500!
--Vrenith