Sunday, July 31, 2016

Characters I'm Looking Forward to Writing About in the Future of Bookania


As you guys may know, I have a good twenty or so books planned for the Bookania Quests, with a slew of random ideas and plot swirling around beyond that point. Of course, while plots and ideas are great, much of what I'm looking forward to writing are the characters. I just thought I'd share with you some of the interesting people whose names you might seen floating around on my pinterest board. These characters are in no particular order.

Maryanne - Ah, you guys were expecting this one, weren't you? Robin and Eric's handful of an eldest daughter. I might have talked about her before. She might have also taken over my blog a few times. I'm excited for the procotious toddler of books 4-6, the adventuring expert of books 10-16, and the older, but wiser woman of books 19 onward, and you really should be too.

Alyson - She won't show up for a long time, though she will be mentioned in book 6, but she's still someone I'm looking forward to finally introducing when the time comes. She's a cross between Buttercup of Princess Bride and Atalanta of Greek mythology, a surprising combination that only I would have thought of. Her backstory is more like Buttercup's, involving the loss of her intended to pirates, but unlike Buttercup, she didn't sit around and mope, but opted to become Sworn instead. I'll explain the Sworn in probably book six, but that's where the Atalanta influence comes in.

Tom Thumb - So far, I only have him signed on for one book, but he'll probably show up again in later volumes as well. Along with Thumbelina. I have an interesting reasoning for the two of them, but I can't tell you much.

Archibald XVII - He's a character I can't tell you much about, and he's only going to be in two books. He's actually from an alternate Bookania, and doesn't exist in the real Bookania.

Sandra Hood - Robin Hood and Maid Marian's youngest daughter. She's a few months older than Maryanne, and is one of Maryanne's Best Friends (Maryanne has a collection of Best Friends, by the way, including, but not limited to: Sandra, Jana, Love, and Spoiler. Well, her name isn't actually Spoiler, but I can't tell you what it really is). Sandra has a fear of wolves.

Love - She's one of Maryanne's cousins and, through no fault of her own, one of Maryanne's Best Friends. I say 'no fault of her own' because she's cursed with a personality opposite her name. Which makes things very interesting. I put her in a roleplay once and she spent almost the whole time in a poke war with a dragon.

Peter - Robin and Eric's son. Peter's a doctor and takes after his Uncle Robert in personality. Unlike Robert, however, he usually can be talked into adventures on the excuse of keeping the people he cares about safe. Such as his sister. Especially his sister. Some days he wonders why he bothers.

Bianca and Brianna - Robin and Eric's twins. They were actually the first children I develloped for the couple, by the way (Followed by Maryanne when I decided I wanted their first child to be a singleton girl, and then finally Peter when I decided I wanted them to have a son), and are based on a riddle.

Ella and Penny - Meg's younger sisters. I'm really looking forward to giving them a proper introduction to the series. Mostly I'm looking forward to the sisterly interplay between them and Meg. And Robin, who, as you guys may remember, adopted Meg as her honorarysister, and since she's going through a lot of the trouble to reunite the siblings, would be terribly upset if they left her out.

Rapunzel - I think most of you have guessed where she belongs in Bookania, though we still have a bit to go before I can introduce her. I have some pretty interesting twists planned for her, mostly involving the properties of the rapunzel plant, and I'm looking forward to writing her interactions with Robin. They're both ENFP's you see, but Robin's a jaded ENFP learning to come out of her shell, while Rapunzel's a naive ENFP who's learning that the world's not a nice place after all. Such fun.

Charlene - Yes, you will get to meet Queen Charlotte's sister - and actually in the near future as it's up for the next book. I'm really looking forward to Robin's ineractions with her energetic aunt ... and meeting a female cousin for the first time. (Because Charlene has a daughter, and thus far, Robin has only had Edward and Arthur for her cousins.)

Danidair - Danidair is a name I made up that means clever in a language I made up, so his (very original Fairy Godmother) gave him cleverness as his gift. Beyond that, I can't say anything, since he won't even be born until book 17.

Odette - She's in the realm of "this book's so far off, that it doesn't have a number yet," but her story is actually completely plotted, and it's kinda sad. I have a brilliant twist for (a) her prince and (b) how her curse works. And Doranna's involved, so that will be awesome.

Auralina - Aura is even further out than Odette, but she's also fairly well plotted. She's the Little Mermaid character and is the princess of Atlantis, but I've opted to go with a less traditional approach to things.

Wanda - She's Odette's aunt, and is leftover from a fanfiction sequel my friends and I wrote for Barbie of Swan Lake. Wanda, as her name suggests, is a wanderer. She also is a friend of Doranna's.

The Snow Queen - She's coming. She's deadly. She's dangerous.

All right, so I hope I've whetted your appetite enough that you'll be willing to hear that I'm going to focus on Bookania publications next year instead of Rizkaland stuff. If not, swing over to Anna's blog for an interview with Maryanne, and maybe that'll pique your interest even more.

And Free books!


Saturday, July 30, 2016

Pinterest Pins - Robin and Eric



So my mom has this thing where she'll randomly decide to organize things, and yesterday was our library. So between that and editing, it's now past midnight and I still haven't scheduled a post.

So you guys will get to ooh and ahh over some pins of Robin and Eric. And Maryanne got into a few of Eric. You're welcome. No particular order, rhyme, or reason.


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Any favorites? Don't forget to swing by Sarah's Blog for an interview with Arthur, or to pick up free books.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Beautiful People - Shira


So apparently no one was willing to let me hijack their blog today for interviewing purposes, nor was anyone willing to risk Shira on their blog, so I'm going to interview her myself using the Beautiful People link-up.

(And for those of you who are coming here from the link-up, welcome! I happen to be throwing a party celebrating my blogoversary and my first book's fifth birthday. Feel free to roam around the blog, dropping comments, and you could win a full collection of my ebooks, details here, but don't feel obligated.)

Shira is answering questions herself, and the interview is set right after the main story of My Kingdom for a Quest. She's the strongest person in the world, thanks to her Fairy Godmother mixing her gift up with her brother's.

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  1. Do you want to get married and/or have children? Why or why not?
    I am currently preparing for my wedding to Prince Arthur. As for children, it will be my duty to produce an heir. I ... I know not if I am particularily looking foward to parenthood, but it is a matter of course that I should not worry over.
  2. What is their weapon of choice? (It doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical weapon.)
    My strength. I'm the strongest person in the world, and when that's true, pretty much anything can become a weapon.
  3. What's the nicest thing they've done for someone else, and why did they do it?
    I ... I  know not. I try to help others as often as I can, make use of my gift constructively. I cannot think of any one time in particular, though. Well, I did let Arthur continue being crown prince/soon-be-king on the condition that I married him isntead of throwing him and the rest of the Britons in the dugeons where they belonged. I suppose that was nice of me.
  4. Have they ever been physically violent with someone, and what instigated it?
    I admit I have. I have very great strength and I have a temper. I don't always act as a proper princess should.
  5. Are they a rule-follower or a rebel?
    Perhaps a bit of both. I don't go out of my way to openly rebel - I get into trouble enough as it is - but nor do I like to follow all of the rules either. If I feel that I can take a liberty and bend the rules, I will, but I won't go out of my way to do it.
  6. Are they organized or messy?
    I shall admit that I am not the neatest person in the world - that would have been my elder sister, Dylana. Nor am I the messiest either, though. That would be my twin brother, Samson.
  7. What makes them feel loved, and who was the last person to make them feel that way?
    For someone to accept me for who I am, to not judge me for my gift. I don't look like I should be the strongest person in the world. The last person? Arthur. He's a dear thing.
  8. What do they eat for breakfast? 
    Whatever is searved for breakfast. I am not a picky eater, though I do prefer meats. I ... well, it is assumed that it is a side effect of my gift, but I have a ravenous appetite. Given my size, most people are shocked by what I eat.
  9. Have they ever lost someone close to them? What happened?
    I've lost several people now. My parents due to our castle being attacked, and my elder sister and my original betrothed thanks to attending Rosamond's sixteenth birthday party - Rosamond was cursed, you see. cursed to sleep a hundred years, and the rest of the castle with her. My sister didn't attend, since she'd just had her first son and didn't feel up to the trip, and Maxie ... well, Maxie was immune to magic and the curse couldn't affect him.
  10. What’s their treat of choice? (Or, if not food, how else do they reward themselves?)
    Food's good, especially if it happens to be meat.. As I said, I have a ravenous appetite so something to eat is always nice.
So, that was Shira. Anyway, as I said, no interviews on anyone else's blogs, but check out the free books!

Thursday, July 28, 2016

My Favorite Fairy Tales


Greetings and salutations everyone! I'm here today to talk about my favorite fairy tales. You may already know about some of them because of my Fairy Tale Commentaries, but you can never talk about fairy tales too much.

In no particular order:

The Little Good Mouse. Also known as "The Jolly King's Daughter" in the collection I first found it in, this is a rather unique fairy tale, involving a fairy who's best spell is turning herself into a mouse, a grumpy king and his son, and a beautiful princess who's kidnapped by the first fairy's rival. It's hard to sum this fairy tale up in a few words, so just go read it for yourself. (Also, it's a good story for when you're not in the mood for a romance, because the princess's love interest only appears in the last paragraph as a "Oh, by the way, she did get married so she could have a king." I'd love to see Disney make a movie out of this, because strong female protagonists right here.)

The Evil Enchanter. (I know Lang called it "Prince Narcissus and Princess Potentilla ... but I prefer "The Evil Enchanter better.) This is a fun story of a youngest-son prince under the protection of a fairy and in possession of a magic ring that turns him invisible but doesn't have the side affect of being consumed by the dark lord (which you would think would make this story less interesting, but it doesn't. Trust me, it doesn't). He uses the ring to spy on the daughter of a neighboring king who is rumored to be hideous, but the truth of the matter is that she's so breathtakingly beautiful that her very vain mother doesn't want her to be seen by anyone. Prince Narcissus falls in love with Lucetta (her name in the version I'm used to), but she also catches the eye of Grumadam, the Evil Enchanter.

The Golden Mermaid and The Golden Bird. These are two very similar tales that I love almost equally. For the first half of the fairy tale, they're identical, even, the only difference being that in the first, the young prince is helped by a talking wolf, and in the second, a talking golden fox. Their endings are similar, too. The biggest difference between the two stories is the third challenge the prince must face in order to capture the golden bird that has been eating his father's crops - in one, the prince is supposed to fetch the Golden Mermaid (which is accomplished by the wolf turning into a boat) and the other he's sent after the princess of the Golden Castle.

The White Cat, The Frog, The Frog Princess, and Puddocky, Four very similar tales that I love very much. "The White Cat" is a stand-out because it's the only one where the heroine is a cat, and "The Frog" stands out because it's the only one where the three brothers aren't princes competing for their father's throne. Puddocky also has some Rapunzel elements.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses (French Version). While the Grim version is good, there is a lack of depth to it. None of the princesses have any personality, the reason they dance is unclear, and there's no love between the soldier and the princess he marries. The French improves in every way, including presenting a completely different young man - Michael, or Stargazer, as he's called - a young cow-boy who is sent by a vision to the castle, giving personality to the youngest and eldest princesses - the youngest even gets a name, Lina - and having there be three trips down into the dance, rather than one.

Little One-Eye, Little Two-Eyes, and Little Three-Eyes, A Cinderella-esque tale that is hilariously unique. There are no words to describe it short of its title. Just go read it.

Casperl and the Princess. You might recognize this one from the Bookania Quests. That doesn't stop it from being my favorites.

Princess on the Glass Hill Another Cinderella-esque story, though in a genderswapped manner. And a challenge to climb a glass mountain instead of a ball. Horses instead of a fairy godmother. Golden apples instead of glass slippers. There is also a variant called "The Glass Mountain" that's sort of a cross between this story and the above "Casperl and the Princess."

Dorani A Fairy tale with elements from Cinderella and Rapunzel, this one is truly unique. And interesting.

Fairer-than-a-Fairy. Not only is that the most impractical name you could name your daughter, but indicating that your daughter is more beautiful than the fairies is downright dangerous. This story has elements of Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty, which should and does make for an awesome story - even if the logic occasionally leaves a bit to be desired. (But this is a fairy tale. What else can you expect?)

The Little Green Frog. I discovered this one while trying to hunt down the previous frog stories. This story, however, is more to the tune of "The Golden Bird" since it involves the prince seeking a bird for his father, and failing brilliantly to not wake up a castle as he sneaks out with a valuable. This one has a frog instead of a fox/wolf and the romantic plot is completely different. Also there are meddling fairies.

Felicia and the Pot of Pinks. Upon their father's death, the brother gets everything while the daughter only receives a ring and a pot of pinks. Brother (fittingly named Bruno) immediately becomes a jerk and does everything in his power to make his sister miserable. Except - gasp! - the chicken starts talking and reveals that they aren't truly siblings. And the cabbages talk, too. It's ... it's better than this, but ... just go read it.

Those are some of my favorite tales. So how many of these have you heard of before? What are some of your favorites? Doesn't fairy tale logic just make you want to laugh?

Swing by Alyssa's blog for an interview with Kimberley, and be sure to pick up some free books.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Pinterst and Chess

As some of you may know, I have a Pinterest board for Bookania. Some of you may also know that Robin and Eric, characters of Bookania, love playing chess. So it would be safe to assume that I have some chess-themed pins on my board.

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Sneak Peek - A Lady Made


Hello everyone! How are you enjoying the party so far?

Anyway, I have a snippet to share with you guys today. It's the opening for A Lady Made, which is the prequel about Maid Marian. I need to finish writing this book...

Once upon a time, in a land called Bookania, two youths stood together on an archery field, bows in hand, eyes fixed on the target, a lively argument flying between them.
“The Locksley tournament is for men and boys,” said the elder of the two, a tall young man of fourteen with yellow hair and dancing blue eyes. “Even with your unconventional education, you couldn’t hope to enter, Marian.”
Marian, a girl of twelve, a girl of twelve, with thick black hair contained in a braid down her back, her brown eyes sparkling with determination. “It wasn’t always,” she insisted, making use of every inch her small frame afforded her. “In the days of old, the tournament was open to man or woman, and with no respect to rank. Ah, to live in the days of Queen Robyn!”
“Queen Robyn is surrounded by more myth than fact,” her friend pointed out. “They also say that she was a personal friend of the fairies, even joining them in their battles against the Thwarter. And everyone knows…”
“Everyone does not know, Robert!” Marian insisted, stamping her foot in annoyance. “Besides, my father has spoken with King Maximilian and he is not so against girls participating.”
“Oh, but everyone says that King Maximilian’s a tad touched in the head,” said Robert, shaking his head. “Always has had strange ideas.”
“You’re just scared I’ll beat you in the tournament.” Marian tossed her hair as she let fly an arrow that soon quivered in the heart of the target.
“Come now, what makes you certain of that?” asked Robert as he, too, let an arrow fly, and it soon quivered next to hers. “I let you win when we practice.”
“Let me!” Marian cried, indignant.
“You’re a Lady, Marian, even though you don’t act like one,” said Robert. “It’s only proper, after all. However, it would be a very different story in an actual tournament.”
“Well, maybe I don’t need you to ‘let’ me win,” Marian pointed out. “Maybe you just don’t want to admit that I’m just as good as you are.”
“Marian, I didn’t…”
But Marian was already putting away her bow and heading for the gate. “I need to go prepare for supper, that’s a time-consuming business for a lady such as myself. Good day, Master Fizooth.”
She paused in the gateway to give a quick curtsy, and then disappeared.

Robert shook his head as he saluted her with his bow. “And good day to you as well, Lady Gamewell.”

Feel free to speculate.

Also, swing by Erudessa's blog for an interview with Enna. And don't forget to pick up your free books. Today we have Sew, it's a Quest, The Prior Quest, and Woodcutter Quince.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Let's Write a Fairy Tale!


Hello! I'm popping in with a fun game.

I'll start, course, and you guys can keep it going. One point per comment, and you can comment as much as you like, but you have to wait until someone else comments before you can comment again. You can make your comments as long as you'd like, but longer comments do not give you extra points, unfortunately.

I'll pop in from time to time to keep things going, and this will stay open for the length of the entire party.

Now let's get started.

Once upon a time, there lived a merchant who had three daughters...

A Word from Maryanne


Bonjour!

Me, Maryanne, daughter of Robin and Eric (so excited to finally be able to admit that), here posting in lieu of Kendra because, for some odd reason, Kendra doesn't know what to talk about today. So I'm talking instead.

I'm going to share with you some facts about Bookania that I'm pretty sure you don't know yet, although Kendra tells me that I have to be very careful to not share spoilers, so I can't tell you that Aunt Adelaide ... Oh. Kendra's giving me the look.

- I'm going to be the main or at least a major character in a lot of books. Starting with the next one you get. I can't tell you the exact number of books, though, mostly because that's a number and .... numbers.

- Maid Marian actually knew my mother as a child. Her uncle had sent her to be my grandmother's companion when she (my grandmother) married my grandfather.

- The Ichor berries that Kimberley brings up in My Kingdom for a Quest was actually one of the first bits of worldbuilding Kendra did for Bookania, although it wasn't technically Bookania at the time. Kendra was writing a random story about two girls who ran away from slavery and hid out in the woods, and one of the girls did herbs.

- Kendra has several AU's for Bookania, one of which you will get to see in the series. Not a pretty world that one.

- I had a double inspiration. A Greek myth inspired my adult form, and Kendra's baby sister inspired my baby form. Kendra later decided to combine the two characters into me. And, no, you can't know which myth I am, because that won't happen for a long time.

- Kendra is really mean to me on my birthdays. Well, they're kinda nice, because I learn a new language in its entirety, but I get really nasty headaches when it happens.

- My favorite adventure was the one where I convinced Love to run away from home with me.

- Least favorite would be the one where I had to fix the curse I'd accidentally placed on a girl. Well, she'd already been cursed, I just made it worse.

- I'm dyslexic like my Aunt Madeleine. It helps me pick up languages faster, but it also meant that it took me forever to figure out how reading works.

- But since figuring it out, you can't take my nose out of a book. When I'm not adventuring, that is.

- I have a magic bucket. Kendra says I won't get it in the actual story but ... we'll see. I love my magic bucket.

Also, do head over to Erika's blog for an interview with my Uncle Dick (who isn't really my uncle, but I like him, so I call him that anyway). And you can get Sew It's a Quest and the Prior Quest for free! They're both great books, so far as I'm concerned, I mean, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the first one, so go and read them!

Monday, July 25, 2016

WPFP Q&A: At the Sports Center Part 2

So now it's time for the rest of the questions you asked of the Earth-dwelling Rizkaland characters.

(Wrong party but, shhhhh, just enjoy it.)


"All right, that was a good break. Who's ready for more questions?" I ask as everyone takes their seats again. "Nobody? Well, why don't we start with some of the more difficult questions so we can get them over with?"

Clara narrows her eyes, but answers, "Fine."

"To start, I have a question for Clara from Alyssa. She asks, 'Other than your children, what do you miss the most about Rizkaland?"

Clara frowns. "Difficult questions is right. It's the people that I miss the most. Our friends who we know we're never going to see again. Things can be replaced, rebuilt, but you can't replace people. Leaving our friends from here behind was the hardest part of going to Rizkaland, but we always knew we'd come back, that we'd see our family and old friends again. We don't have that same promise for the Klaranders, and it's painful."

I nod. "In the vein of missing things from Rizkaland, Morgan would like to know if it's weird to not actually be married to Andrew in our world after being Tied so long in Rizkaland."

"Very weird, especially when we're around Rhoda or his brothers," Clara answers. "With everyone else, the understand what we are to each other. With them ... well, we're supposed to be strangers, and we have to act like that. Kath's been helpful with Rhoda, though, so..." She shrugs. "It's weird."

"Kath," I turn to the brunette, "Question for you. Sarah Taleweaver asks, 'since you were shipping Clara and Andrew before they got together (or after, in some ways . . . weird time stuff is weird . . . anyway), do you ever have fangirl moments when you see them doing stuff together now?'"

"They're so cute, how can I not?" Kath answers, grinning at the glare Clara sends her way. "And with the way I break my back keeping Rhoda off of your case and arranging time for the two of you to spend together, I think I've earned the right."

Clara seems about to say something in responce to that, but Andrew leans over and whispers something in her ear. She shakes her head and rests her head against his shoulder, bringing a small giggle from Kath. Clara closes her eyes, clearly trying to ignore her.

"Tom WildRose would like to know what made you realize you loved the Fire Prince, Clara?" I then ask, though I don't really want to spoil the moment. They do look so sweet together.

She picks up her head, opeing her eyes. "It wasn't a realization, it was a choice," she answers. "I knew from the moment I met him that he had many admirable qualities that I could love, but I was so stubborn and deadset on not falling instantly for the Fire Prince when I met him, that I instead set about searching for all the things I couldn't love about him. I was fully aware of my heart betraying me and falling for him when I told it not to ... but it wasn't until the night of the ball when I chose to dive in and give him my heart."

"Well said," I answer. "C.B. would like me to ask if there's anything you wish you could change about your trip to Rizkaland."

"She wants me to say 'be less stubborn,'" says Clara, staring me deadpan.

"She might, I don't know."

"I've glanced through the reviews people have left on Goodreads," Clara continues, "I know that's the main complaint against me, my stubborness, but honestly, I don't want to go back and change that. Maybe it would have been better in the long run if I hadn't been, but how was I to know that then. I was a young girl thrust into an unfamiliar world without any friends that I knew I could trust. With Andrew, I'd just met the guy, I had no idea of his character, and Kath had already predjudiced me against redheads. Sure, the start of our relationship was rocky, but having that to look back on was what helped us get through harder problems later on. Sure, there are things that I wish I could have done differently, words I shouldn't have said, things I should have done ... but sitting around worrying about changing a set-in-stone past is a waste of time. I've lived a good life, and that's the important part."

"All right..." I say, once the storm has blown over. "A question for Kath, and then she can run and get Rhoda for her questions. Sarah Taleweaver wants to know if you fangirl over anything else - books, TV, movies, and if so, what?"

Kath grins, "Well, I do have a few..."

But before she can start listing, Clara flies out of her chair with a, "Nope, nope, nope!" hauls Kath out of her chair, and declares, "We are not going to sit here listening to that. You can go find Rhoda now."

"But!"

"Nope, now."

So a dejected Kath sulks out of the room.

"You could have let her continue," I say, hiding a smile behind my notes.

"If I had, we would have been here all day," Clara answers, sitting back down next to Andrew. "Do not get Kath started on her fandoms. Proceed with the questions."

"All right, I have one from Amanda. It's directed specifically towards Andrew, but it's really for both of you. She wants to know when you plan to get married."

"I promised Clara that she can go to the Olympics first, and the next one is in four years," Andrew answers, so not until then. "That also gives me time to prepare financially,"

"Probably smart," I say. "And Sarah Taleweaver asks, 'Before the whole Rizkaland happened, what were your plans for your future? What did you want to do when you grew up? How have those plans changed now that Rizkaland happened? (Besides the obvious you and Clara being an item).'"

Andrew glances down at Clara. "I know I had plans ... they most involved seeing my brothers grow up, and either pursuing a culinary career or become a scientist like my dad. How have they changed? Most of the changes are because I'm now actively preparing for marraige in the near future rather than the hazy someday. Dad has even offered me a job managing his website, which I think I'll take him up on."

"Anna would like to know what was the biggest thing you learnt while in Rizkaland."

"Confidence with people," Andrew answers. "I was never a people person growing up, I kept to my family, and that was that. I let my dad talk to people, because that's what dad was good at. Now ... well, I won't say that it's always easier, but it's not as hard as it used to be."

"And Tom WildRose whants to know how tall you are, since the only semi-exact description of your height is being a head taller than Clara, who's just shy of five foot."

"I'm about 5'5" right now," Andrew answers. "But I'm going into a growth spurt which had left me at 5'7" by the time I met Clara. I was 6'2" when I stopped growing."

"He's tall, that's all you need know," Clara inserts.

"One more question before we get to Rhoda's," I noticed, glancing back at the list. "Clara, Amanda would like to know if you could meet any fictional character or author, who would it be."

Clara bites her lip as she thinks. "Peggotry," she finally decides. "It just always amused me that we shared a name."

And perfect timing, because the door opens and Kath enters with a Rhoda in tow. "Hi!" I say, waving.

"Hi," Rhoda answers, giving Clara and Andrew a sidewise glance before sitting down next to him. "Kath says you're an author and are writing a book about us, and need to ask us questions because of that."

"That about sums it up."

"Why?"

"Because I decided you guys were interesting," I answer. I decide to hit her with Sarah Taleweaver's question first. "First off, what do you think of the fact that Clara, Andrew, Kath, and Rich are all acting weird now? Do you have a guess as to why?"

She blinks. "I was not expecting that question. I was expecting something like 'how many hours do you train each day to get those amazing swim times!'"

"Sorry, but that's not the part I found interesting, what do you think of your friends being weird?"

She shrugs. "They're being weird. Kath had a concussion last year, and Rich probably hit his head, too, so it's par for the course that they'd go loopy, not that they were the most sensical to begin with. As for Clara. I guess love really does chang a person. Didn't know it happened this fast, but I guess I can now believe in love at first sight."

Kath starts snickering. Clara shoots her a glare.

"And on that note," I say, pulling out Hannah Roger's question, "What did you think when Kath was all the time shipping Clara with your cousin all the sudden?"

"Following the concussion?"

"I assume so," I answer.

"She'd had a concussion and went loopy," Rhoda answers, with another shrug. "What I'm more surprised about is the fact that Clara played along and actually fell for Andrew. And Andew actually talks to her. This was my cousin who never talked to girls unless they were related to him. Any other questions?"

"Nope, that's it. Thank you all for cooperating and I'm sure my readers will enjoy learning more about you."

Five Years of Bookania - Tag



What's a Knitted By God's Plan party without the tag? Boring, that's right!

Tag! Everyone's it. Now take the questions below, answer them on your blog, and you'll get three points towards all of those ebooks.

1. How long have you been blogging and why did you start?
2. How long have you been following my blog and how did you find me?
3. Which of the books on my WIP list sound the most interesting to you?
4. What are three of your favorite fairy tale?
5. What is the strangest fairy tale you've ever read?
6. What are some things that you're looking forward to/hope will happen in future Bookania Quests? (Or, if you haven't read the Bookania Quests yet, in the series in general, or, you know, you could just delete this question and pretend it never existed...)
7. Recommend a book for me to read. (You can check my Goodreads shelf to see what I've already read/my interests)
8. What, to you, are the essential elements of a good story?
9. What is your favorite fairy tale retelling, whether film or book, and why?
10. Tell me about a project (preferably a book, but I'll understand if you're not a writer), that you're incredibly excited about.

There we go. Quick, easy, and I can't wait to read your answers. Just leave the link to your post in the comments below.

Also, swing by Morgan Huneke's blog for an interview with Eric,

And, if you don't have copies already, I'd like to point out that Sew, it's a Quest and "The Prior Quest" are both free for Kindle today, so scoot over to Amazon and pick up your copies!


Sunday, July 24, 2016

Types of Gems

Chapter 14!!! Gems!

Just a reminder answering the questions at the bottom of the post will enter you for a chance to win a paperback copy of My Kingdom for a Quest!

Also, for the duration of the "Five Years of Bookania" party, answering the questions also count towards the Ebook giveaway.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to read Sew yet, it's currently free on Amazon.

But anyway, we're on chapter 14 where we'll be introducing Agatha, who was interviewed today over at TomWildRose's blog. It's a short chapter, rather a filler, but there are some good puns ... I guess.

On the Road again...
Sitting in a castle reading books isn't going to help them find their Fairy Godmother, so now that Robin has "go" on the brain again, it's time for them to leave. They solve their Rosamond problem by having Doranna accompany them. Eric can't blame them for bride snatching if Rosamond is traveling with her own cousin, and Robin and Robert just happen to be in their company.

Magic is Returning
 This is another point where I feel the immaturity of my writing at this time. Telling instead of showing was strong right here. Still, I do love Skewwood forest. (although, quick wonder here, did I ever actually state that this was Skewwood forest???? Eh...). Those trees. Those puns.

Geoma Tree and Faultline
Let's get some puns out of the way before Agatha comes onto the scene. Filler stuff that was supposed to be worldbuilding, and was fun to write, but I have no idea if actually contributed to the story. I don't think it did.

Geoma Tree - clearly a pun for Geometry. A tree that actually grows gems. That are accepted currency. Guess money actually does grow on trees in Bookania. Though ... if something grows on a tree, wouldn't it soon loose value? Eh ... let's leave the philosophy for later.

Faultline - After coming up with the Punchline, I wanted to make a pun on every line in existence. You'll be seeing the Assembly Line later in the book, and the sideline never made it in, but I did enjoy the faultline. Ah, good times blaming each other for tripping.

Still, filler chapters are the bane of my existence. I could have spent this time character building for Casperl! Maybe. I dunno.

More Thieves! Another Girl to Rescue!
I don't state how large this group of thieves is, but Casperl helps Robin take care of them this time. Again, I'd like to state that Robin wouldn't have killed any of them, though I don't know that I can say the same about Casperl. He was raised very differently, rather than her sheltered life in a palace, he had to survive on his own in the woods, where there are wolves, possibly bandits ...

Anyway, they rescue the girl with minimal description. I find it interesting that I have to make a note that they only bothered to rescue her at the pleas from Rosamond and Doranna. That will probably leave when I do edits, because I've since learned that Robin's code of chivalry that comes with being the best swordsman in the world wouldn't have allowed her to see a damsel in distress without offering her aid.

The Girl
The girl doesn't seem interested in talking, or in the bag of money that they find. Doranna and Rosamond seem to have a suspicion - a suspicion that seems to have something to do with Yifinna (one of the fairies, if you'll remember, and the one known to make mistakes), but they immediately dismiss.

Robin starts throwing theories, each worse than the one before it. One of them, the no-tongue theory and Rosamond's immediate dismissal (although I have no idea when Rosamond might have someone who didn't have a tongue), was inspired by the fact that I had just read the Roman Mysteries where one of the four protagonists, Lupas, didn't have a tongue.

At last, Robert remarks that he's never seen anything like this, to which Rosamond answers that they have.

Amy
Seems that they had a childhood friend named Amy. (Not a fiend, though, Doranna) Due to having a kind heart, Yifinna had blessed with gems falling from her mouth every time she spoke. Not the most practical of gifts, but one that Yifinna had seemed to like since this was the fifth girl to have received such a gift, the first two being Rosamond's and Doranna's own mothers.

And then they realize something - Yifinna had only promised to wait another hundred years before giving the gift out again, and it had been a hundred years. So they ask the girl for confirmation and, yep, she's a victim of the fairy's goodwill.

Party of Misfits
And this sparks a comment on how strange everyone in the party is and the fact that Casperl is the most normal among them. This was supposed to spark a comment about nutshells, which would lead to the reference to a fairy tale for Rosamond and Doranna's shared grandmother.

But that didn't happen.

Sign Language!
Fun fact about my family. We love sign language. My sister's rather fluent in it. (Embarrassed me at an Isaac's concert once because of it.) When I wrote Sew, we were at the height of our sign-language enthusiasm, and of course I'm going to throw that in when I have a character for whom speech is awkward.

Also, it keeps inflation down.

Favorite Lines:

That night, as they were setting up camp, Robin tripped. “Robert!” she exclaimed, “Why’d you do that!”
Do what?” Robert asked.
Trip me!”
Uh, I don’t think I did that,” he said, confused, “I’m kind of over here, and you’re kind of over there.”
Well it must have been one of you,” Robin exclaimed, whirling on the other three, she had gotten back on her feet by this point.
I don’t think I did,” said Casperl, “In fact, no one was by you when you fell.”

Rosamond and Doranna started laughing. “Faultline,” they said together.

As they sat down to eat, Robin started making up stories, trying to figure out what, exactly, was the reason for the girls silence.
Maybe she’s an escaped prisoner,” she suggested, “who had her tongue removed for some devious crime.”
Look at the way she eats,” Rosamond cautioned, “People who have not tongues eat very differently.”
Okay…” said Robin with a roll of her eyes, “Maybe she was mute from birth, and ran away from someone after stealing their jewels, that would explain why she doesn’t want to associate with them.”
Then why did she admit that they were hers?” asked Doranna. “If I had stolen gems, and were to be in the situation she’s in, I wouldst have made it out that the gems had been stolen by the bees.”
On and on the theories went, and each were disproved.

 “Back when we were much younger,” said Doranna, “One of our best fiends wast a girl named Amy. Amy had been born a pheasant, and her stepmother and stepsister had treated her cruelly. Rosamond, thou must tell it, thou art the better starry feller.

Discussion Questions!!

1. How are you on writing filler? Fail like me?
2. Quick! Tell me a pun and make me laugh!
3. Any favorite lines?

LET'S START THE PARTY!!!



It's hard to believe that it's been nearly five years since I hit publish on Sew, It's a Quest, five years since I took the plunge into publication, a journey that has had its fair share of bumps and mistakes, but one I've never looked back from.

Regretted that I hadn't put Sew through more edits first, yes, but looked back from, no.

Anyway, hello, welcome to the party! If you'll just sit through a bit of me reminiscing, I'll get into some of the games and giveaways we'll be playing this week. Won't that be fun?

I'm also celebrating seven years of blogging, and since today is my actual blogoversary, I'm going to focus on that for this post. And, yes, I can't believe that it's been seven years over here, either.

I started this blog because I thought blogs were cool and I wanted to become famous. (I ... I may have had vanity problems.) I chose the name because I was really into knitting at the time and my mom insisted that it have a Biblical theme. (My first choice was LNG, after the fact that I collect Ladybugs, Nutcrackers, and Giraffes.) I don't knit as much anymore, but I've never had the audacity to change the name, and so it stays.

Over the last seven years, I have published 807 posts up to and including this one. My most prolific year was 2012 when I managed to publish 233 posts. Least prolific year was 2010 with 15 posts, half of them in December when I suddenly panicked and remembered that I had a blog and that I was supposed to be posting on the blog. My most prolific month of all time was September of 2012 with a staggering 42 posts. If I remember right, no I didn't post every day, but I did have days with multiple posts.

I have received 2,198 comments, which I suppose is low but (1), I'm not the most consistent about replying to comments (I try ... but sometimes I forget) and (2), I didn't receive my first comment until Valentine's Day of 2011 on this post.

(For the record, the BTH in BTH Patricia stood for "Back to Homeschool" which was an e-magazine for which I was a contributor for a while. If you're curious, you can check out the abandoned, but still functional website here.)

According to my stats page, the following are my most popular posts of all time. Personally, I think this list makes no sense ... but I wasn't the one doing all of the viewing.

What Does the Bible Say About Being Trustworthy - With over 1,300 views. It's an essay I wrote for school, then published one day when I was panicking because I thought my computer was going to die. Why it's my most popular, I have no idea, although variations of "what does the Bible say about trustworthiness" is my most popular search term outside of people purposefully searching for my blog.

What Does the Bible Have To Say About Not Being Trustworthy - This one has a more modest view count of around 700, but I still don't understand.

My WIP's Page - For some odd reason, I decided to publish my WIP's page as a post instead of an actual page (during September of 2012 when I was trying to break the world record of how many blog posts a person can post in a month). I understand why it's on this list (it is advertised right at the top of my blog), though I'd have thought it'd have a few more views than its 250.

About Andrew - There is quite a bit of Rizkaland on the list of "most popular" as you'll soon find out. But I have no idea why this one is the most popular. I wrote this one late at night, was in a rush, and well, I've written better posts. I also don't understand why the companion post I wrote for Clara didn't receive the same love...

Character Encounters - April 2015 - The only reason I can come up with for this particular encounter post to have been so popular was the fact that it was the post where I threatened to end Character encounters. I need to get back into those, but I haven't had the mental energy... (And it isn't as though I don't have good ideas...)

Cover Reveal - The King's Scrolls - Okay, so TKS is a pretty popular book. Still, I am mildly confused why a reveal for someone else's book is more popular than any of my own.

The Sob Story of My Life - Okay, I get this one. It's the one where I talked about my own life, and I left it as my top post for quite some time while I focused on school. It was a difficult post to write, and scary to post, but I received so much love from all of you, so thank-you. It meant a lot to me.

Who Wants to Party? - And I get this one, too. The introduction and information post for my Rizkaland party, sure, it'll be popular as much as I promoted it.

Let There Be Water and Fire - This was the cover reveal for Water Princess, Fire Prince. Okay. I'll buy it.

Influences of WPFP - And last but not least, we have one of the posts from WPFP's blog tour.  Why this particular post? I have no idea. People just really like hearing where I steal ideas, I guess.

I guess the moral of the story is that I don't understand what interests people. Maybe I should go back to writing essays about Trustworthiness, and I'll have the most popular blog in the world?

How about I dig through and find some of my favorite posts from the last seven years while I ponder this decision?

Rizkaland Q&A - At the Sports Center part 1 - If you've read Water Princess, Fire Prince, you need to read this. Someday I'll get around to the rest of the questions that you readers sent me...

My Favorite Couples - This year's Valentine's post where I talked about some of my favorite couples that I've written. Sweet list, that one.

A Post About Clara - This is not the companion to the aforementioned "About Andrew," this one is more of a companion to In Which I Talk About Robin. Both posts were in response to my lead ladies coming under some fire for their personalities, in which I explained why they acted as they did and let out some of their backstories. So if you've read WPFP or the Bookanias and just didn't get the main characters, do check out these posts and maybe you'll understand them a bit better?

Great Destiny - This was a bit of Rizkaland-themed flashfiction that I wrote for a link-up. Though not in this exact form, the scene did make it into Lady Dragon, Tela Du.

It's a Girl! - A Bookania flashfiction set after the bonus story at the end of My Kingdom for a Quest. If you haven't read Kingdom, well, spoilers, but for those of you who have ... well, it's a delightful little story and introduces my favorite character of all time.

Magic of Rizkaland - This is a post that I should probably set as a page like I did my WIP list because it is an important post. Basically, it's where I explained my magic system, both the specific one I created for Rizkaland, and the broader system that covers all of my books.

My Kingdom for a Name - A lot of people ask me where I get my names. Well, in this post I talked about how I named a good number of Bookania characters. I also promised a follow-up and never followed through. Maybe after I publish a few more books...

Dragons in my Writing - If you're curious about how I include dragons in almost every book I've written/plotted, well, this is the post for you.

Beautiful People: Kendra Edition - Beautiful People is a linkup where you're supposed to answer questions about characters. This particular one was questions about yourself. And for some reason I let one of my characters answer the questions. I let Maryanne get away with way too much...

Christmas Around My Imagination - A Christmas post similar to the dragon one, where I talk about Christmas-like holidays instead. Some of them are very different from Christmas. Many are combined with New Years because I'm Efficient like that.

Let It Go - Rocks Edition - I can't sing, but I love rewriting songs. After one of my readers pointed out some similarities between Roxanne, the Main Character of HaV Academy and Elsa from Frozen, I just had to write this.

Cliche with Kendra: Prophecies - I love cliches, but only if they're done right. This was supposed to be the start of a series where I talked about how to do various cliches correctly. Still, there are some good thoughts in this one. You may enjoy it.

CE Narnia - Jakob - For some reason, this is one of my favorite CEs. Jakob is such a sweet fellow.

The Elving - This was a story game my sister and I did as kids. It was ... interesting.

CE Roof - Maryanne - Another of my favorite CEs. I was really down when I wrote this one, and Maryanne gave me a bit of a talking-to. Ah, fun times.

Jelly Donuts and the Great Feud - This was another flashfiction written for a linkup, though not the same as Great Destiny's. While the plays on words are unfortunately inaccurate for the worldbuilding I've since done with the world of this story, it was a blast to write, and I'm told a blast to read.

CE Kitchen - Push Au Kim - Another CE. Oh, Push.

Hair Sisters - This bit of flashfiction was supposed to be a start of a series of flashfic based on my random inspiration pins. Subsequent stories never happened, but this is a sweet bit of backstory about Robin and Meg.

Tigerlilly at Christmas - This was the first story of any substance that I ever finished. Kinda cute. Kinda bang my head against the wall with "what was I thinking..."

Sleepover with Clara - This isn't an official Character Encounter, but it was something in the same vein where I talked with Clara about the books on my bookshelf. And why she didn't want to like Andrew. Good times.

Tips from a Young Writer - "There are Two Moons in the Sky!" - This was one of the last of a long series of posts of posts about writing. This particular one was about the physics of worldbuilding. I followed it up with one about nature but never did finish the one about culture that was supposed to finish that particular trilogy of posts.

Casperl and the Princess - Since I had only ever found this particular fairy tale in two or three books and nowhere online, I needed somewhere to point readers if they wanted to know the real story behind Casperl and Doranna. This is the fairy tale I retold for Woodcutter Quince, by the by.

Fan Art - This one is exactly what it sounds like. Fan art by my readers. I have such talented little readers.

Memory Monday - Just Tryin' to Help - This is a walk even further down memory lane to when I was a very young child.

The Enchanted Deer - I probably could have filled this whole list with my Fairy Tale Commentaries, but I chose to limit it to the first one I did. I have a blast writing these, and wish I had the time to write more.

Gawain and Lancelot and the Golden Knight - I wrote this for school. The title pretty much sums it up. It was very interesting.

Down in a Manger - Another example of me rewriting songs. This time, I rewrote "Up on a Housetop" so it's about the Real Reason for the Season.

For Me - A poem I wrote that I was very proud of. Still am, by the way.

The Case of My Missing Feet - One of my first posts. This one was fun. Even more fun to dig the holes and bury my feet.

Coaster Night at Church - And finally, the first post I ever wrote. Has to be good, I guess.

So, still with me? I promised you some stuff about prizes and such, so here we go.

There is a giveaway going on during this party, the prize being a full ebook collection of my books, including LDTD, and three unfinished stories of your choice from my documents folder.

Ways to enter:

Review my books. Already written reviews DO count. Reviews for the Bookania short stories are double points, and reviews for the three main books are triple points. Standard rules of "extra points for each location you post your review" and "email me with a list of the links to ALL of your reviews so I can count them" apply.

Take part in LDTD's cover reveal. I'll probably be closing the sign-up tomorrow, so if you haven't signed up yet, do it now. Giving up your blog for this purpose will earn you five points

Comments. You'll earn points for each comment you leave on any post posted during this tour, (1 point per comment). This includes the posts on other people's blogs. You can also get points for commenting on any backpost with the Bookania or Fairy Tales labels, or by commenting on any of the posts that I have linked above. For commenting on the Author's Commentary posts for Sew, It's a Quest, you will earn a point per question answered.

Participating in the various games and challenges. I'll give you details as I post the various games and challenges.

Speaking of posts on other people's blogs, Agatha is being interviewed by TomWildRose on her blog today.

Last but not least, this would not be one of my parties without free books. I have a number of my stories lined up to be free this week. I won't tell you which ones, but today we're starting out with Sew, It's a Quest. So swing over to Amazon and get yourself a copy if you don't have one already. And then leave a review so you can get points for it.

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