The Aspiring Writer's Journal by Susie Morgenstern
At my school, there was a book fair. With money to spend (for once) I looked around. At middle school book fairs, they have some really good books, chapter books mostly. At elementary school, they have picture books and some good books, but none really at my level. Last year, I found a REALLY good book called Writing Magic, by my favorite author, Gail Carson Levine. She gives you techiniques and tips on writing fiction, my exact element.
Well, what do you know! ANOTHER PERFECT WRITING BOOK!!!! The Aspiring Writer’s Journal. I’m aspiring, I write, and I try to keep a journal! Yay! It’s too perfect to write in though, so my parents suggested to blog it wach day to preserve it pure pages.
November 8th (in a little umbrella!)
Quote: “And living without love is not living at all.” -Moliere (second e had a little swosh)
I couldn’t live without. . . [my family]
I couldn’t live without. . . [my friends]
I couldn’t live withough. . . [my life]
I couldn’t live without. . . [words]
I couldn’t live without. . . [books]
Icouldn’t live without. . . [music]
[My writing is in the brackets after the quote.]
Okay, then on the side, there’s a little packet of pages with a binder clip holding a hankerchief (however you spell that) next to a grave that says,“Here lies Mr. Notebook Tragically.”
The little drawing isn’t alway that sad. The packets name is Mr. Paper. Say hello to Mr. Paper. For the month of November, the lines are gray, and smudges representing clouds are on the top of the page. Isn’t this one of the coolest things ever? For authors maybe. . .
11/08/2007 | ken |
Portal (part 2)
My dad suggested I add some more to Portal, so I’ll slowly add parts onto the blog. I’m no that far yet, so you’ll prabably catch up to me soon. I can’t show all of it though, because then I won’t be able to publish the book. Well, enough blabbity, here it is (again):
Chapter 2
Kamberlee Robid woke up, sweating. Her brown hair shook as she looked at the clock next to her bed. Only 2:00 in the morning. She kicked off her sheets and sat on the bed, head in her hands. What was that dream? Something about pink and silver, a war, imagination, unknown, something was happening that involved her.
Alyxie Tamir screamed. She writhed in her bed, the sheets wraping around her. Her brown eyes flashed open and another yell was muffled. She thrashed her dirty-blonde head from the graps of her captor. Alyxie’s parents ran in. She was breathing hard and felt stupid. “It was just a bad dream.” her mother cooed. When they left, Alyxie sobbed to herself. That was the most realistic dream she had ever had. She was battling this evil woman with jet-black hair and crazy gray eyes. Alyxie performed some amazing stunts, but it didn’t seem to be enough. The lady shot some blue streams, which seemed to burn Alyxie’s lungs, and then she was suffocating in a long tunnel of swirling blue and black streaks.
Stacia Lee sighed. She was supposed to write down all her dreams for her sister to try to intepret. Her sister was trying to be a “seer”. Whatever. She was promised $100 for writing down her dreams every month. That wasn’t a bad price, but the hard part was remembering the actual dream, but this one was easy to remember. It was a vivd dream, colors swirling around a battle of the unimaginable. Something was calling, something was being born. Nobody could defeat her. There was something else out there, barely anyone has actually seen. Wasn’t really a dream, but more of a feeling. She wondered if that counted, but wrote it down anyway.
Katalyn Porum was tossing among her pillows, moaning. There was something rushing through her, a pulsating power, revealing colors she hadn’t even imagined before. It was spinning the mind, confusing the soul. She were growing up, but she had much more to learn. Now barely anbody could help her. She have to fend for herself now. Something terrible was going to happen, but, she was not alone.
“Satya, what should we watch now?” whispered her best friend, Savanna.
“Um, how ‘bout a short one? We don’t want to stay up all night and be grouchy on our first day of school.” Satya twisted her slumber-party braided hair.
“Uhn. You’re no fun!” Savanna pouted.
Satya looked around her. There were sleeping friends, snoring around her. Somehow, she never felt right in the dark. “They zonked out at eight. Losers.” Savanna
said, jerking her head at her other friends. She proceeded to skim through DVD covers.
Satya’s stomach turned. She hated when Savanna talked about them behind their back, unable to defend themselves. Satya opened her mouth to say, “It’s not their fault you wore them out with you’re stupid games! Aubrey’s been at her soccer championship all day, playing her best! Gracie woke up at five to watch her little brother! My friends have no reson to be made fun of! You’ve been sleeping and being a lazy hog all day. So you know what, I’m going to sleep, and you can talk behind my back all you want, but I don’t care. I hope you have the worst first day of your life and you’re expelled!”
But it never came out. Instead, Satya sank into the shadows and into her sleeping bag. She didn’t know why she thought about Savanna that way. She got her through some tight fixes, and brought her into the “popular” possy. I guess Satya felt in debt to her.
Jocelny Atin couldn’t sleep at all. She hadn’t slept for days. Something seemed to be happening, something she couldn’t explain. She could feel something terrible, yet wonderful happening, blossoming within her. An evil was coming, and it was up to her and five others to stop it. A dark corner of her was growlimg softly, waiting for something…
Chapter 3
Note:
There is no such thing as coincedence in the portals. Everything is meant to happen for a reason.
Kamberlee, Alexie, Stacia and all wore pink. Jocelyn wore a silver shirt and Katalyn wore a shade of light gray. Satya wore a pink shirt embroidered wit silvery thread.
Kamberlee walked into the first period of the day. She didn’t recognize anyone in the English class. She sighed and slipped into a seat. She was almost late for math, and the only available seat was next to a girl with long black hair in a flattering blue skirt. “Can I sit her?” Kamberlee asked, adjusting her backpack.
The girl head looked up, and she seemed to be scanning her. “Sure.” The girl muttered and went back to copying the board.
Alyxie and Stacia walked into room 745 right before the first period bell rang. They sat on opposite sides of the room and only smiled at each other once. The math teacher droned out the rules, which slipped out of both the girls minds. Four periods later, they recognized each other in science, and sat next to each other and found out that they both had lunch together also.
Katalyn sighed. She managed to finally get through the lunch lines. The tables were all full, and it was almost time to go to fifth period. She couldn’t find anywhere else to sit, so she squeezed next to Satya, who was in her english class. They made small talk, discussing schedules and sixth-graders. When the lunch bell rang, Katalyn headed to history and Satya met up with an impatient Savanna at math.
Jocelyn scurried through the hallway. She didn’t want to be late on her first day. She jostled through the crowd of nervous sixth-graders, calm seventh-graders, and slow eight-graders. Jocelyn bumped into Jesmine, a cold rush going through her arm. Jesmine spun around her and seemed to be scanning Jocelyn the same way she did with Kamberlee. Jocelyn turned around and practically ran the rest of the way to Physical Education.
Drake Wc (Wik) scanned the empty boys restroom. Risto Ms (Mes) slid against the wall, quietly stepping. Drake slowly turned his eyes nervously scanning the room. Risto pressed himself harder into the wall. His powers didn’t work without a bit of portal energy, but his so called “partner” wouldn’t even give him so much as a black stone. Risto still knew where to get a piece of it though. “Who needs her?” he almost thought, but she was pretty powerful, both physically and mentally.
Drake, his prey, scanned the bathroom again, then rummaged through his backpack and took out a small marble. Just when Drake was about to activate it with a small streak of silver, Risto pounced, collasping Drake. “What the?!” Drake sputtered. “Are you stalking me?”
Risto just flipped Drake onto his back. “I know where you come from.” he remarked quietly.
“Utah?”
“No you idiot. The portals!”
Both boys were silent. Drake slid his legs underneath Risto and kicked them up, causing Risto to fly across the other side of the bathroom. Risto flipped and landed on his feet. Both boys charged, Drake performing a spinning kick and Risto defending with and stiff arm. Risto grabbed the counter of the sinks and backflipped onto them. He jumped and grabbed onto Drake. Drake sumersaulted backwards, but found himself on top of Risto. Risto pumped his legs, causing Drake to fly into a stall. Risto grabbed the marble on the floor and ran out. Drake crawled out from the stall, now with several bruises. How did Risto know of his orgin? Is he really that obvious?
Drake ran into Eaun’s house, banging the door. “Eaun! Eaun!” he yelled, causing the professor to run to Drake.
“What is it my boy?” Eaun looked up from a microscope and piles of papers.
“Some boy named Risto just took my only portal stone!” Drake panted.
“He must have thought it was a marble or something.”
“No! He knew I was from the portals! He even has some of the Black Witch attacks.”
Eaun was silent. “Why would this Risto want this old portal stone? It doesn’t activate like it does anymore.” Eaun looked at Drake in the eyes. “Does it?”
“Of course not! I just wanted to look at it.” Eaun gave a stern sideways glance, then looked back at the microscope. “Okay, okay, I was trying to see if I could make it work.”
Eaun’s look softened. “I know you want to find your father, but you were sent here by your mother to assist me. Have you seen any odd events?”
“Well, yea, but it’s middle school. What do you expect?” Drake shrugged.
Eaun grabbed his head in fustration. He raised his head, a mischevious glance in his eye. Drake shook his head. “No. No. No, no, no, no, no!”
Half an hour later, a protestind Drake remarked”I’m not going to school looking like this!” He took a large clock with numbers of some absurd language off his backpack.
He was complete with a bunch of screens hanging around his neck, wearing large-rimmed glasses with diagrams floating on the lenses, and large girly boots. He was a cross between and science cowgirl dweeb and a weather satillite. “Why can’t I use the watch-thingy.” Drake asked.
Eaun narrowed his eyebrows. “It’s still experimental.”
Eaun walked off into the library to do gather a couple of prophesy books. Drake had to find a way into Eaun’s lab to get the watch, find the prophesied six, return to the portals, find his dad, and live happily ever after. Sounded simple enough, he thought.
There was something that seemed to be pulling Kamberlee to complete strangers. She would just walk in a random direction and meet up with someone. They would stare, feeling something, a connection of some sort, but then walk off. Then there was the two boys. They would often stare at her. “Freaky crush” Kamberlee always told herself.
Jocelyn noticed this also, so when her and Kamberlee were supposed to be studying at the Atin’s house, they discussed odd happenings. “I noticed that Risto Miss had, like, a pink marble.” Jocelyn scribbled her pen on a sheet of loose leaf, trying to see if there was anymore ink.
“His last name is Ms, which is pretty odd. Only two letters. I mean, Suzanne’s last name has only two letters, but Le makes sense.”
“Exactly. His are two counsenants.”
“Hm, I noticed Drake also has a two-counsanent last name: Wc”
“And how his father creates portals. What is that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t ask my mom. She’ll make us take out our fifty-pound dictionary for a page long definition. I’m pretty sure I have a little one somewhere in my closet.”
They both looked at the closet. “Maybe we should look at the computer.” Kamberlee said, pointing to Jocelyn’s Powerbook.
With a couple of clicks and little typing involved, they found the definition. “Portal: a doorway, gate, or other enterence, espsecially a large and elaborate one. Or it also can mean an Internet site providing acess or links to other sites.” Jessica read aloud.
“You’d think the Internet one would be his dad’s job, but it’s not really a job.”
“Maybe he builds large, fancy gates?” Jocelyn suggested.
“Then why doesn’t he just say a gate-builder?”
“That sounds stupid. He probably wanted it to sound ‘cool’” Jocelyn shrugged and turned back to her textbook.
“It seems like we’re missing something.” mumbled Kamberlee, studying the screen.
I know, long, I like to write long things. Bear with me. ;D
11/05/2007 | hugh | Comment [1]
Winter Garden Update
A couple weeks ago we planted our winter crop. The photos above (taken today) show that our peas are about 3-6 inches high, the radishes are a couple inches high and our carrots are starting to poke through. We also have small seedlings of lettuce, spinach and cilantro.
Good morning sunshine
Our neighbor that backs up to our house cut down a tree this weekend that was in the south corner. As a result our little garden will be getting a LOT more sunshine in the morning. I’m pretty excited to see if it will make a difference.
11/04/2007 | hugh | Comment: what's in your garden? [3]
The FHE before Halloween
We often get together with Dave & Mary and Pat & Anna Lee for FHE. This week we observed FHE (Family Home Evening) at our house and I snapped a few pictures. The first one shows us (Dave, Jen, Anna Lee, Pat and Mary Ann) gathered around the piano singing Scripture Power. The second shows Pat getting into the music (did she teach school or something)? The third photo shows Quinan pinching Mary Ann’s finger with a magnet clip, that can’t feel good, who’s kid is that anyway?
11/03/2007 | hugh | Comment: what did you do for FHE?
Trunky or Treaty
This year’s trunk or treat was a lot of fun. I had to work, so unfortunately we didn’t have much time to decorate our “trunk”. I threw together a fun house last minute, but it wasn’t nearly as good as last year’s.
Ken hung with her friend Jessica, both dressed as witches (twitches)? Jen was Princess Leia (sigh… maybe we’ll dress as Lego Star Wars characters next year) and Quinan was Spiderman (and a little bit jedi).
When things were winding down, Quinan was acting funny so I picked him up and he spewed all over us. He was fine as soon as I removed the spiderman costumer, so I think it could have been that spider’s stomach don’t like sweets so much.
I didn’t see Damon Schmidt’s trunk, but it sounds like he won this year. Kids had to stick their hands in gooey stuff and retrieve a token in order to get their treat. Reports have it that there was a long line of kids waiting to smoother their hands in goo.
I’ll have to pull out all the stops next year in an attempt to win the unofficial trunk crown back. Maybe we’ll setup a nine-hole halloween put-put golf course or something.
11/03/2007 | hugh | Comment: how was your trunk (or trick) or treat?
Making the Chain
I signed up for an account at makingthechain.com and started a chain to “Do something in the garden”. Maybe it’s the seven-year-old in me, but I’m pretty excited to add a link to my chain tomorrow.
11/03/2007 | hugh | Comment: what's your chain?
Halloween
Irene sent the family a photo of a treat she made for her office today.
Is my mother-in-law cool or what?
10/31/2007 | hugh | Comment: Is this gross?
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10/29/2007 | hugh | Would you prefer email?
Trunk or Treat NOT Trick or Treat
Saturday night we had a church activity. We came in and sat a table, dressed in our costumes. I was Princess Leia from Star Wars, Q was dresssed as Spiderman, and Ken was dressed as a witch with the coolest, or should I say awesomest,if that’s a word, shiny green hat ever!!!!! We ate dinner. I had a delicous chili,a salad with Italian dressing, a yummy roll with butter, water, andddddddddd…………………………………………………a donut. After that, we headed outside to do what we had been waiting for.GETTING CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the adults stood at their posts. Well,mainly they sat at their posts. Their trunks. Of their car. All the kids and teens then did the most important part of this whole gathering. Running around saying “trunk or treat” and getting candy!! My buddy just happened to be Kassie, one of my best friends. But to make all “don’t let kids eat to much candy and by to much candy I mean like no more than 2 a day” adults, I was still a bit sick from horrible flu that stuck me home for almost 10 days, so I chose not eat any candy that night. Well, I think this is the longest blog thingy I’ve ever written!!! Well, I have to get ready for school. BYE!!!!!!!