Happy Memorial Day!

I hope those of you celebrating have a wonderful Memorial Day. And if today isn't a holiday where you are, then I hope you have a great Monday regardless!


-----The Golden Eagle

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you have a wonderful day, regardless of who you're spending it with. 

(And if Valentine's Day really isn't your thing, think of it like this: Tomorrow's Friday!)


-----The Golden Eagle

Happy Holidays!

Many of you are celebrating Christmas today (in which case: A very Merry Christmas to you!) but regardless of what festivities you participate in, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a great New Year!

-----The Golden Eagle

On This November 22nd

If you live in the USA, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

And if you aren't celebrating Thanksgiving this week, may you have a great Thursday. :)


-----The Golden Eagle

To Everyone On This October 31st

Have a great All Hallows' Eve!

-----The Golden Eagle

Happy 4th of July! + IWSG

To the other bloggers in the US: Enjoy your holiday!

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Now, for the Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG). This is a monthly event hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh.

From his blog:

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic.

Because I've rambled about my own problems for almost every post since I joined (and that's far too often) I thought I'd actually offer some support this time around. If you haven't seen this commencement speech by Neil Gaiman yet, you should; it's quite good. I almost didn't watch it, figuring that it was a.) Too long and b.) Wouldn't inspire me much, even if it was Neil Gaiman. But while it's still kind of long, I heartily recommend you see it. Make good art, people. Even if the cat explodes and your husband runs off with a politician, as it were.






Have you been inspired by anyone's words recently?


-----The Golden Eagle

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

By graymalkn, CC-BY-2.0. SOURCE.

May you always have walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire.

-Irish blessing


Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday!



-----The Golden Eagle

Happy Valentine's Day! + Teaser Tuesday (72)

Or, Happy Pan-Universal Be Who You Are Day, formerly titled Interplanetary Be Who You Are Day, in case you don't like Valentine's Day.

At any rate, have an awesome Tuesday!

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Teaser Tuesday is a weekly, bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week, my teaser is from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. He's one of my favorite authors; you may have also heard of him as one of the brothers who runs the popular vlogbrothers YouTube channel. He signed all the pre-orders of this book, which I still struggle to comprehend because there were 150,000 of them. Wow. Geez. Anyway, on with the teaser.

I might have been nervous--what with sitting in the car of a strange boy on the way to his house, keenly aware that my crap lungs complicate efforts to fend off unwanted advances--but his driving was so astonishingly poor that I could think of nothing else.
   We'd gone perhaps a mile in jagged silence before Augustus said, "I failed the driving test three times."
   "You don't say."

-p. 22

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What are you reading right now? Got a teaser to share?


Also, I should have mentioned this on my blog before (bad me), but be sure to stop by My First Book since there's a guest post I wrote about Writing Relationships!


-----The Golden Eagle

Here's To The New Year

The last day of 2011 has arrived, and out goes another year.

It feels like it was the beginning of 2011 just a few months ago . . . though in other ways it doesn't feel like it's gone that fast at all.

I've had a pretty good year. There were downs and there were ups, but some cool things happened and the bad could have been worse. There were a lot of unexpected things that I am grateful I got to experience; like finishing my first novel and writing two others, going to my first dance competition, passing a series of tests I had been worried about, getting to know some nice people.

And, of course, there's been the blogging. Blogfests (sometime I'd like to go back and count them all . . .), the A-Z Challenge (yup, I'm planning to do it next year as well), REN3 (let's give another shout-out to the great hosts), Terry Pratchett Month in September (glad to know there are other fans out there), going through NaNoWriMo with the other writers in the blogosphere, and just generally watching as people traverse their own ups and down, reach their goals, do interesting things. You people are amazing, and I'm honored to get the chance to know you, if even just through blog posts.

How was your year?

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Finally . . .

I hope you have an awesome 2012!

-----The Golden Eagle

I Finished My Novel! (And Other Random Stuff)

At 74,696 words, my NaNoWriMo novel is DONE.

It's my third completed project of the year, and that includes the first story I ever actually finished. I also made a new personal record: one full-length novel in 53 days, of which over 50k was for NaNoWriMo.

Right now, I'm just going to be relieved I finished the project, and I'll worry about rewrites and eliminating the word-vomit and so forth in 2012. Not just because I need some time for the novel to stew, but because I'm afraid I got a bit sick of the plot and characters by the end . . . not to mention the setting. The setting's a disaster.

But it's done, after all. Goodbye, novel, until next time!

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In other news, today is my birthday.

So, have I accomplished things in the last year? Yes. Have I done as much as I'd hoped to do? I met some of my goals, didn't meet others. Overall, though, I'd say it was a pretty good year.

And now another one's about to swing around . . .

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Have you seen The Hobbit trailer yet?

Sigh. I'd say I hope December 2012 comes fast, but then the year will rush by and I'll regret it. :P

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Finally, I'd like to wish all of you a Happy Holidays, whatever it may be that you celebrate. Have a wonderful end-of-December and a joyous new year, everyone!


-----The Golden Eagle

To Those Celebrating: Happy Thanksgiving!

To those not celebrating, have a great Thursday. :)

And, since I think it's always a good idea to not take anything for granted, I thought I'd list a few of the (many and varied) things I'm thankful for here (really, I cannot pack everything into a single list):

Blogging--in particular, the other bloggers (i.e. you awesome people reading this post).
Writing--being able to express myself in so many ways.
Dance--it can be hard, but there's no substitute.
Family--Mom, you rock.
Life--because there are things to do and see that are still out there.
. . . finally, I am thankful I don't have to write tomorrow for NaNoWriMo. I reached 50,014 words on Monday (hooray!). And while we're planning to spend the holiday at home, it's nice not to have to do anything in particular that day.

What are you thankful for?


-----The Golden Eagle

Happy Halloween!

(SOURCE)

Whether you're going trick-or-treating or no, I hope you all have a great October 31st!

And to the fellow NaNoWriMo participants out there: GOOD LUCK.


-----The Golden Eagle

Halloween Hop!

This bloghop is hosted by Jeremy Bates.

About:


1) Add your blog to the list below. (See linky list on Jeremy's site)
2) Over the Halloween weekend (October 28-31) visit as many of the other blogs listed below as you wish.
3) Be sure to mention your favorite monster movie or book and your Halloween costume this year.
4) If you like the blog, follow it!
5) Grab the badge here and stick it on your blog for a few weeks to spread the word! (If you scratch it, it smells like pumpkin).


My answers:


Favorite monster book: I don't actually read that many monster books; they aren't my forte, though I don't mind a few of them here and there. So if I had to pick . . . Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters.

(Ahem. I love Quirk Books . . .)

EDIT: I just remembered Rick Yancey's Monstrumologist series. Excellent, chilling books, those.


Costume: Not dressing up for Halloween this time around. I haven't in years. :P

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What's your favorite monster movie or book? Are you dressing up this year, and if so, what as?


-----The Golden Eagle

A Writing Update And Gearing Up For NaNoWriMo

First, the writing update. As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to finish my current project before the end of October, ending around 90,000 words or so. At this point I have:

66892 words

I had hoped to be at 71,000 words, but since I'm closing in on the end of the novel I'm not so bothered by the word count at this point. And hey, there are still three weeks until NaNoWriMo, which is the date I absolutely have to finish. I don't think I really want to be working on two stories during that crazy month.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I still haven't decided which novel I'm going to write. I said back in August/September that I had an idea, but that has kind of fizzled since then. I got another idea yesterday, but I'm not sure my current enthusiasm for it will stick around.

It might just be another one of those infuriating New Shinys which a.) drag me away from my current project and b.) don't actually turn into a full-fledged story.

How's your writing coming? Do you have any deadlines you're trying to meet, either self-imposed or otherwise? Are you trying to finish any projects this month?


And are you doing NaNoWriMo?


(Oh, and you can friend me HERE at the NaNoWriMo site, if you're so inclined. Though I'm not sure what exactly is happening with their site as they're supposedly relaunching it today . . .)

Finally:

Happy Columbus Day!


-----The Golden Eage

Happy Labor Day!

Hope you have a great Labor Day, bloggers!

And for those not celebrating, I hope you have have a great week. :)


-----The Golden Eagle

Happy 4th of July!

On July 1st, 1776, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and took a vote. Nine out of the thirteen delegations (one for each colony) voted for declaring independence, while Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against, Delaware split with one delegate on each side, and New York could not vote. But delegates wanted the vote to be unanimous, and not a divided. So they postponed it.

On July 2nd, there was another vote by Congress. Two Pennsylvania delegates abstained and the colony turned out in favor of declaring independence, South Carolina switched, and aside from New York (which still could not vote), the decision came out 12 colonies in favor.

On July 4th, 1776, Congress formally adopted the United States Declaration of Independence, written by the Committee of Five, which consisted of Thomas Jefferson (who wrote the first draft), John Adams, Robert R. Livingstone, Benjamin Franklin, and Roger Sherman.

To read the Declaration of Independence, go HERE.

(SOURCE)

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Sources:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_history.html
http://www.ushistory.org/DECLARATION/timeline.htm
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_timeline.html
http://www.history.com/topics/declaration-of-independence
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-votes-for-independence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence#Draft_and_adoption

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Have a great holiday, everyone!


-----The Golden Eagle

I Think That Hiatus Was Long Enough, Don't You?

I know, I know, I missed a blogfest.

I was supposed to write an entry for the It's the Muse-ic Writing Blogfest yesterday, June 18, but didn't. I remembered last week, then forgot about it, then remembered but didn't have time to type up anything resembling suitable. My apologies--I made an obligation and failed to meet it.

(SOURCE)

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You may have also noticed I haven't blogged since Thursday. I still have to reply to your comments from Tuesday, and haven't commented anywhere in three days.

Er, I suppose it's obvious I have some catching up to do, don't I?

Good thing I'm pretty sure I'll have time tomorrow, now that the tests are over and recital is done and things are pretty much back to normal.

As for that, my dance recital yesterday went well, and I FINISHED ALL MY TESTS TODAY.

*woot*

No, I didn't fail any of them. Which I was afraid I might. In fact, I'm pretty happy with my scores.

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I was also tagged and awarded, (thank you! You bloggers are awesome) and I'll acknowledge those later.

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And finally, Happy Father's Day!

(SOURCE)

To all the dads in the world: have a great day!

-----The Golden Eagle

Happy Memorial Day!

A little history:

Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, was made official on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan. It was first observed 30 May that same year--flowers were placed on the graves of over 20,000 Union and Confederation soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery, and there were events in 27 other states.

(SOURCE)

The first state to recognize the holiday was New York in 1873; in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, NY as the birthplace of Memorial Day. In 1971 Congress made it a national holiday that would always land on the last Monday in May, although there have been efforts (notably by Senator Inouye who introduced a bill in 1999) to change it back to 30 May.

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Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_day
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html
http://www.history.com/topics/memorial-day-history

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So, have a great Memorial Day! And don't forget to remember why this holiday began: to honor those who died in service.

-----The Golden Eagle

I Caught A Toad (+ 2 Awards)

I did. With my bare hands and all that jazz.

Okay, first I put a flower pot over it, got my mom to show her, and then I picked it up and put it in the impromptu pond that formed in the neighbor's backyard because of all the pouring, drenching, incessant rain we've been having.

No, I don't have pics to prove it.

But I can show you want kind of toad it was:

Very toad-like, no? Warts and all.

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Anyway. Just a bit of odd stuff I wanted to post.

Now for the stuff you really want to know.

I was awarded by Canyon Girl at Desert Canyon Living:

Thank you so much, Canyon Girl!

. . . and I was also awarded either the Versatile Blogger Award or the Blog On Fire Award by Trisha at W O R D + S T U F F, and since I've never seen the latter before, I chose that one:

Thanks, Trisha! :)

And I award this one to:

Sarah at Glissades and Gabble (for cool posts--and an awesome title. I love dancing!)
Amanda the Aspiring at Truth, Justice, And Other Stuff (for excellent writing posts)
L. G. Smith at Bards and Prophets (for posts on everything including faint-worthy bookstores. I want to go to Buenos Aires. Like, immediately)
M Pax at Wistful Nebulae (for fascinating science information)
Karla at The Writing Pad (for great writing/life posts. And I adore the title of her blog, for some reason. Don't know exactly why.)
Jai Joshi at Jai Joshi's Tulsi Tree (for awesome vlog posts on the Mahabharat--I can say it right! I think--and her book)

I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to award 15 or something like that (isn't that usually the case?) but I'm just going to leave it here, okay? Good.

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Also, I wanted to thank all of those who did for commenting on my last post! I didn't expect to get 41 people to come by and respond--with pretty long responses, too! Awesome. I guess liking/not liking main characters in the books people read is more important than I had assumed.

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Hope you're all have a great Memorial Day Weekend! If you live in the USA. If you don't, I hope you're having a great non-holiday weekend!


-----The Golden Eagle

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Don't forget to do something special for a mom. :)

-----The Golden Eagle