I love my cat.
He was born in a very rough time of my life, and so it seemed only fitting that I name him after my favorite of the ultimate comfort food, Raffael; after Raffaelo Chocolate.
No one that is my kinda crazy is complete without a cat as their companion.
He is my comforter. And since I am usually too broke to eat my fill of Raffaelo's, every bad day ends with Raffael cuddles.
"You are Peace when my Fear is crippling."
~Forever Reign
I've been pretty busy these past few weeks, and this week was definitely no exception.
The To Do list is never ending. The stress is making me anxious and reality is starting to sink in.
Some days the idea of the journey I am on fills me with exhilaration, but days like today it absolutely terrifies me. Worse still, the fear is starting to take root in a place where I know that it will grow.
I read somewhere that if your dreams do not scare you they're not big enough.
But the truth is, in the end, there is one thing that scares me above all else; and that is the thought that my dreams will remain unfulfilled.
So in the end none of it matters. Not the stress or the anxiety. Not the fear or the doubt.
Because at the end of my life I would rather know that I have fought with all the vigor and fierceness I have in me than to pass away and never know what might have happened if I had.
So it is time to take my own advice and see what I can make of it. It is time to tear the crap out my the root and see what else will grow when it is gone.
This novel is bound to be one the next big hits in teen fiction. I rarely read these kinds of books and was surprised to find that I enjoyed it.
When I first read Red Queen it was a lonesome book, undiscovered on a shelf written by a first time writer. It had just come out and I started it unsure whether or not I would like it.
Now, months later, the second novel has been released and Red Queen is rapidly increasing in popularity. It currently has a five star rating and is popping up all over the place. I just read Glass Sword, the second novel of the series and so decided to post a quick review.
Victoria Aveyard has a lot of spark and a lot of potential. She has the skills of a marvelous story teller and at the same time knows her way with words. Unfortunately far too few writers have the luxury of possessing both these traits. Aveyard is defiantly gifted! Her lovable personality brings a lot of character to her books. I think me and Victoria would get along very nicely.
The second novel was a lot more action packed than the first, which was great...right up until the ending.
That is where I feel Aveyard fell short. The pace of the story was totally thrown off in the last few chapters. I found that the ending was far too rushed. Their was somewhat of a gap before the climax, where you think the climax has reached it's highest peak but suddenly the book hits you with a double ending. There was just too much intensity stuffed into the final few pages, a gripping plot twist that was poorly planned.
Despite that I am still looking forward to seeing where Mare Barrow's story will turn to next.
This is one of the few teen fiction novels I have not given up on. And for me that's saying a lot!
"If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek it abroad."
~Jane Austen
When I was still too young to read my hero was Pippi Longstocking. So it should come as no surprise that my dream as a kid was to be a pirate.
Growing up not much has changed. Ok maybe a little has changed.
But in my second life I would pursue the Pirate life, I have no doubt about it.
I have an overwhelming fascination for being where I am not. Call it wanderlust if you will. I am not in pursuit of a home. I will not be satisfied where I am comfortable.
What I am seeking is adventure. What I desire is the exhilaration of the journey.
There is no finally in my quest. The end of my voyage lies on the
other side of life; beyond the seas of death and into all things
eternal. Until then I am simply in it for the journey. Only God knows knows where it will take me.
I believe that in life there is no destination. And if you have a set objective, I guarantee you that you will miss it by a thousand miles. Cause the truth is, life will never be as perfect as you wish it be. He who anticipates the moment that their life aligns with this picture perfect image will wish their life away. They will never live in the grace of the moment but always be lost in the hope that life will get better. Life is not yesterday or tomorrow. Life is today. Today life is better. Don't let it slip away before you embrace it.
You can spend your whole life in pursuit of things that will never satisfy. Some of us live and die and never once realize that life is all about the journey. It's all about the moments of suspense. The moments when the tables turn. Those moment's when, despite uncertainty, you laugh in the face of danger.
As a writer my greatest inspiration is to live. My greatest task is to experience. Writers capture experiences just as photographers capture moments.
I read somewhere that writers are people who pay attention to the world, and I full heatedly agree.
A writer is someone who is fascinated by the world. Someone who has fallen in love with it and taken the task upon themselves to capture even just a fragment of its beauty. A writer is a singular person who sees that stories are not made by divine heroes; they are not told by narrators and they are not about ascendance's towards a climax.
Stories are made and told by ordinary people; just like you and me.
As for me, I want to write love poems about the world, because I am still so newly in love with all that surrounds me. I want to make you and me heroes in a story of our own. I want to understand the villains that knock about our lives and tell their stories just as fiercely.
I want to write things beyond the count of pages, beyond the count of words. Things you could not possibly fit into chapters, or even entire books; things with which I could fill libraries.
God is the painter of an extraordinary diverse and manifolded universe. Every explicit detail is as eternally intricate as the stars. He has signed his heavenly mark even within the tips of our fingers. Everything, both heavenly, and earthly, is based upon his brush strokes.
I want to write about the colors of his pictures. You and I, we are a work of art. I want to write about us. I want to make your story my Odyssey.
