No Spoilers

When the news of this dark tale came into my view, I knew it would be something I would see… eventually. Opening weekend, it was highly doubtful, but definitely something I would see.

So when I found myself sitting in the IMAX with my husband yesterday, I had to laugh that I was there… and was a bit mortified too. Some people brought their preschoolers. Hummm, did you not get the note that this was a Tim Burton film? Oh well, maybe they are used to freakish things… Moving on.

If you have never seen a film in IMAX, my suggestion is… DO NOT make Alice In Wonderland your first. While it was visually wonderful, it would have been just as well served in regular 2D and there would have been $5 extra in my pocket still for the same experience. Like some of the other critics have said, I think they thought about 3D after the fact. It just wasn’t all “wooooo!” if you know what I mean.

Though this might be Avatar’s fault. If you have seen Avatar, no 3D will compare! Dang that was a good 3D movie… didn’t care for the story, but the graphics were visually AWE.SOME.

So, it’s not entirely Burton’s fault… the curve was set too high.

I digress…

While the world Burton created was visual eye candy, the story itself was a… “whatever”. It just wasn’t engaging. If you are a Burton fan, which I am not, this is right up the same creepy alley… I think the four year old in front of us peed his pants at one point. AND, if you are a fan of the old Alice, save your money and see it when it comes out in Redbox or Netflix. It doesn’t compare.

Am I upset that I wasted my money on the experience? Well no. But I certainly won’t ever “waste” my time on this movie again. Once was quite enough.

The acting was fabulous though. Johnny Depp was just as crazy as I had hoped he would be… but that super imposition of his eyes… creepy. They could have done without THAT little bit. Mia Wasikowska was excellent as Alice. Ann Hathaway was just okay as the white queen… loved her gagging reflux, it really made the character. Haha. And Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the queen of hearts… excellent. If you can’t quite place this woman’s face, but you know you have seen her before… think Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter, then you will see why this was an excellent choice for the queen.

So while I wouldn’t recommend you waste your hard earned dollars on a just okay flick, I would say that I can give it 3 stars for acting (Casting director should get a bonus) and the eye candy of the world… but I had to take off for the lackluster of the story.

Today we are going to have some Friday Fun!

I read… a lot. I also write… a lot.

When I take a break between writing, I read 1-15 books… for research (Haha, I keep telling myself that, but I don’t write some of these Genres LOL).

Sometimes, when I am looking for new things to read, I look on my friends bookshelves and borrow a book or seven, or just get ideas about what people are reading… so I know what to buy next. My reading list is long right now, so I am not looking to pick up any books to read, but I am wanting to see what’s on your shelf!

Here is the Friday Fun challenge and how you play!

1. Get your digital camera out.
2. DO NOT DUST OR ARRANGE just click a pic of your a current favorite bookshelf in your house– filled with your fav books (and maybe dust)– the dust bunnies need screen time too!.
3. Next, take a pick of your to be READ pile/shelf!
4. Upload it to twitpic/snapfish/image hosting
5. Post the link to me via this post, my email, twitter, whatever… and I will arrange it in a post to show the world.
6. You can include WHAT each book is… but its not required.

Here are mine!

The books on my favorite shelf are:
1. Redby Ted Dekker (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
2. Black by Ted Dekker (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
3. White by Ted Dekker (Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
4. Skin by Ted Dekker (Thriller)
5. Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado (Non Fiction)
6. Hangman’s Curse by Frank Peretti (Spiritual Thriller?)
7. Just Like Jesus by Max Lucado (Non Fiction)
8. Nightmare Academy by Frank Peretti (Spiritual Thriller?)
9. A Heart Like His by Beth Moore (Non Fiction)
10. No Wonder They Called Him Savior by (Non Fiction)
11. A Journal by Eisley Jacobs (Non Fiction)
12. Off the Record by Elizabeth White (Christian Romance–I think!)
13. A Journal from YWAM by Eisley Jacobs (Non Fiction)

In the picture of my reading list:
1. Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan(YA)
2. DragonSpell by Donita K. Paul (Sci-fi/Fantasy)
3. DragonQuest by Donita K. Paul (Sci-fi/Fantasy)
4. DragonFire by Donita K. Paul (Sci-fi/Fantasy)
5. Nobody’s Fault by Derek Haines –Won this from Derek in a contest! (Crime/Drama)
6. Deception by Randy Alcorn (Mystery/Suspense)
7. Stranded in Paradise by Lori Copeland (Christian Romance)
8. Nobody by Creston Mapes (Mystery Suspense)
9. Leaper Geoffrey Wood (Fiction/Humor)
10. Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev ARC COPY!!! (YA Fantasy)
11. Monster by Frank Peretti (Thriller?)
12. Gate Keepers by Robert Liparulo (YA Thriller)
13. House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo(YA Thriller)
14. Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo(YA Thriller)
15. Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan(YA)
16. Unconventional by J.J. Hebert (Fiction)
17. Auralia’s Colors by Jeffery Overstreet (Fantasy)

As you can see, I have my work cut out for me… I need to get cracking. I need to read Perchance to Dream next, because I want to get my review up BEFORE it releases so that you can all pre-order it!

Then Unconventional by J.J. Hebert… Then more Percy Jackson… then Auralia’s Colors… then… well all of them if I could. At once, please?

This is a spoiler free review… so read on and be merry.

Ahem, so… if you read my review of the first book, The Lightning Theif, you know that I only have gave it 3.5 stars… I really wanted to give it 5 because of the mad writing skilz Rick Riordan has, but I couldn’t because of the lack of character development… or smarts. Just wouldn’t be doing the public justice if I wasn’t honest.

Again, Mr. Riordan’s writing was excellent! He really can tell a good story, get you interested right away and really make you enjoy the adventure.

However, again I felt like he made Percy and his friends a little daft. They take everything for face value and never “fear” the situations they are getting into. Now, being that I have read the first book, I know, and they know, people are out to get them. Monsters from everywhere! So you would think, if they had brains in their heads, they would NOT waltz around and be like, I wonder why it smells funny in here.

Really? I mean Really? Soooo unbelievable in the character development. It’s so disappointing BUT it’s a good reminder for the rest of us to MAKE SURE our characters are believable.

A friend pointed out the fact that its very similar to Harry Potter… 3 friends, one with a prophecy, all trying to save their magical world. Hmmm, she was right. It is exactly a potter book, minus the magicians and add in the mythological of it all

NOW, I was going to have to give this book 2 stars… Because I felt like I could have done without about 200 of the pages… no really, his writing and all. I found myself reading the first sentence and nothing else of some paragraphs… BUT then came the end… great hook at the end! Raised it a full star for me… and makes me want to read Titan’s Curse.

Hoping for more stars in book three!

RUNAWAY CHOICES has indeed ran away… I saw it sprint for the finish line then break through the orange tape… it completed at 79,065 words. For those of you keeping track, that is 4,065 more words then I assumed I would finish at… but you have to mind the muse. And the muse pressed on for 4,065 words.

Yup, it’s finished…Now what? Frankly, now’s the time to rejoice I don’t have to sit in front of the computer and bang out my thoughts. Now, is time to close it and let it rest in it’s pool of words… not opening it again for at least a couple weeks… no really.

No. Really.

People who haven’t completed their first novel yet won’t really grasp this concept, so I thought I would talk about the reason it’s important to allow your manuscript to rest.

When I completed my first novel, THE RINGS OF TIME, and took my first pass after it was done… I really struggled. I had been on this journey with these characters for five years! And though I loved my book… I was just tired.

I cried… a bit. It was embarrassing. I cried because I struggled with what I was reading, finding fault in everything and after deleting 12 or so pages of the first twelve pages, I had a friend tell me to close the MS and not come back until I could read it with fresh eyes.

Eisley say what?

Fresh eyes? What exactly does that mean? These are the eyes God gave me, how can they be fresh?

But, because I was so frustrated and I loved my MS dearly, I did it in hopes that I would not want to burn it in the closest fire.

A week went by, tempted to open it my friend said, “Back off Eisley!”

Good friend.

Week two. Week three. Week four. Month two… It was summer, so I had a bit more to consume my time…

I think at the end of month two (and after I had written some UNSEEN CHRONICLES, some RUNAWAY CHOICES, blogs and other things) I felt it was time to reopen the MS.

With a quick call to friend, “Yes, Eisley… you may open your MS now.”

*Squeeeeeeal* then *panic* in that order…

Would I really feel differently about my MS? Would I really have new FRESH eyes for this story? Would… would… what if… but how… plaguing thoughts.

“Just open the freaking thing…” Says friend. Good friend.

I peeked into the file, wondering what I might see. When I closed it two months ago there were black words on a white digital page with no life. No life because they had already sucked all the life from me in the last five years! Peeking into the file, I promptly minimized it, got up from my computer and ran to the kitchen for coffee… drank a full cup, paced around the computer desk, then sat again, tapping my foot wondering if I could really do this. If I would really love it all over again.

Cautiously, I reached for my mouse. The arrow clicked on the toolbar, restored the MS and I began to read the abandoned words on the page.

I read quickly, devouring the text.. I was through the third page when I realized that instead of dull black and white words on a page… I saw people, colors, sounds, smells and… was that dust on my fingers? I inhaled the scents described and gasped… I loved this manuscript!

I think I cried again… I am such a baby. I realized at that moment, my friend was right! Resting was exactly what my manuscript needed.

Dare I say, exactly what *I* needed to see my manuscript in the way it was meant to be seen. Like cracking open a much anticipated best seller… it happened. I loved my manuscript again.

So… RUNAWAY CHOICES will see rest time. Not sure how much; not sure when I will open it again, but it is resting and fermenting a bit.

Goodness, I can’t believe it’s March already! I guess time flies when your having fun.

I start week five of my running program (More like week seven or eight, but only on week five because I think the program is for super humans, not regular Joe average people like Debbie and I). I am loosely following the couch to 5K program from Coolrunning.com and listening to the podcasts by Robert Ullrey while I run… well I was, until this last week. The later you get in the weeks, the harder the program is… obviously. You are training for a 5K!

So, I decided to cheat a little… Okay, maybe it’s not cheating per say… but I didn’t listen to the podcast for day two and three of week four. Instead I watched a movie on my iPhone. Handy little thing that is.

The first day (which was actually the second, are you following along?), I watched UP. So.the.wrong.movie.to.watch.while.you.run…period. Don’t try it at home folks. It was so slow and not a running time movie. Really, instead of making me forget about the time, I just stared at it. Hahaha.

So day two (which was actually the third day of the run week, and last day), I had downloaded, quite by accident (I plugged my phone and synced it to another computer in my house), another movie. A certain teenage vampire movie I received for my birthday last year from a great friend. I had forgotten I had it on that computer and so when it was synced back up to retrieve my ringtones, it transferred over.

Now before you go into, “that movie was so lame, blah blah blah…” I am not asking you to watch it. To each their own.

That doesn’t change the fact it was now on my iPhone and I ran to it last night.

Believe it or not… watching the darn thing worked like a charm! I messed up with my run times… a little… cuzz I was too involved in Bella and Edward (haha) but boy the time passed like a charm! I even wanted to keep going so that I could watch longer. Crazy movie.

So when I consider week five in two days, I will definitely bring the sparkley teenage vampire movie… because it worked! I will try anything at this point to trick my body into not realizing its running or training for a 5K.

Writing update: Today I should finish RUNAWAY CHOICES. Then I will let it rest for a few weeks and jump into editing.

In the meantime, I will probably write another couple UNSEEN CHRONICLES or really dive in and plot book 3 Mandorian Prophecies. Haven’t quite figured it completely out yet.

No new news on any other nonfiction fronts. I queried an agent on Thursday… or was that Wednesday? But they are moving their offices this week, so I don’t expect to hear anything back for some time. No worries, I am not in a hurry. It’s God’s timing, not mine.

Off to complete a novel… and ponder a 5K.

And yes, I am over the age of 12… so really, it should just annoy me. But I love the whimsical techno kiddy sound… and it doesn’t hurt that the lyrics are rated G for Giggly!

Ahem, why yes I am listening to them right now, why do you ask?

Totally not what I intended to post though. Actually I have a bit of fabulous news… well fabulous in a “I am one in a thousand” way.

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest Round 1 announcement was yesterday and as luck would have it… I made the cut.

*silence*

Ok, where is the applause? Really now, this is something (Really its nothing)! I have been picked, along with 999 of my closest (who are they—Oh I know two!) friends, over 4000 other entries! So, the 1000 of us now go into the next round where they will judge our long pitches.

My long pitch absolutely rocks because of this Faerie Princess I know (who doesn’t like chocolate–what princess doesn’t like chocolate? Isn’t that illegal?!) who helped me with it repeatedly…. And I have to mention the couple other writer buddies who read over my query twelve hundred times and emailed me back telling me what they thought. Really, I couldn’t have done it without the support staff I employ with payment of love and sprinkles.

So… noting that it’s not JUST me out there and knowing my long pitch rocks… we are totally making the March 23rd cut too. No doubts… now if it could make the first 3,000 word cut (round three), I would be most thrilled. Cuzz, I know the story rocks, they just need to agree. *wink*

*Sigh* Yes, somewhat celebrating today… by listening to Owl City. And maybe writing a few words in my RUNAWAY CHOICES novel… which is sitting around 64K now. I can’t wait to finish so I can edit… what a nerd I am.

That is okay, at least I embrace my nerdiness… and smile today.

Boy, my characters in Runaway Choices have thrown me for a loop this week.

Usually I write in order… A leads to B… B heads into C and D brings up the rear… followed by the rest of the alphabet. However, there are times when Z needs to be written… Like with Runaway Choices.

One day a few months ago, my characters weren’t speaking to me very well. I would start, then delete… start again, then delete more. Finally frustrated, I was about to close my WIP when I realized I could still write… the ending!

It’s not very often I write out of order… in fact I can count on one hand the times I have done it, but this instance was going to work out just peachy. Because regardless of how the characters acted during the A-Y sections, we would still end up at Z.

Now we come to this week. I had written through sections M-N-O-P and was headed for Q when I realized I forgot a small detail in M… I went back, edited it in, and then read through the sections to make sure I didn’t miss anything… All of the sudden, from right field I was broadsided by MC2! Not only does he throw me a wrench but he also throws me a bone. He decides to doing something completely different then anything I had written thus far in section M! Furthermore, it now wouldn’t match up in N-O-P. I paused, thinking about how I could work this out, if it could really be where the character wanted to go. Matched it up with Z and BINGO, it would work perfectly.

However, that meant I had to write new words, while deleting others. Which meant instead of my word count going up… it went down, down, down…

Not all for loss though… it’s a better story this way when I follow the characters lead. More emotional because of this scene, and yes it’s suppose to be emotional, it’s Women’s Religious Fiction… so umm, yah, totally got the heartstrings with this one.

Thanks MC2…

So yes, I am a character driven writer. Plot seldom drives my words. Though, in Mandorian Prophecies 3… it might have to. Because I have to tie up all the loose ends. We will see.

Off to adventure with MC1 in Runaway Choices some more today… she is in her final 15,000 words of her journey, which is panning out nicely

I have been invited to participate in Teaser Tuesday…

So without further adieu… here it is. The first chapter in my current WIP…

RUNAWAY CHOICES

Click here to comment on this post…

Time to do some serious… serious… writing updates.

I put on my serious face just for this occasion. *serious*

UNSEEN CHRONICLES: Some of you have noticed there is a new tab above labeled such. I am posting those as Serial Fiction now… so you can read them anytime.

I have written eight chronicles based on true stories to total close to 30,000 awesome words. Hehehe, hey, it’s my story… and yes I think it’s awesome!

I have six other story ideas which would probably bring my total up to novel length… But I think I am just going to continue posting them on here until I figure out what to do with them after they are all written. Because there really isn’t a genre for “Religious Paranormal True Stroies from an Unseen Speculative Perspective…” or maybe there is? Hummmm….

As always, if you have a story you want to share with me about the Unseen hands that helped you through a situation, let me know. It’s MUCH more fun to write for a person then a situation. Hard to explain but the three chronicles I have written recently have no personal attachment to myself and they don’t seem as exciting as the others. However, they are in the resting phase, so maybe when I read them again and edit them they will change enough that I can get super excited about them like the others. Maybe.

THE RINGS OF TIME: It’s still with Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest… I will know Thursday if I made the first cut. Their loss if I don’t. If I do… well, then I wait some more. This is a waiting game… till June. JUNE! Boy, what was I thinking? I am not the most patient of people, this is going to be a real growing time for me. (Book 1 of Mandorian Prophecies)

No querying for this yet, though the query is written and perfect (if I can be so bold Hahaha!). So if ABNA doesn’t pick it up, I can send it out to procure an agent.

THE SECRETS OF MANDOR: (Book 2) Is still being edited. I am about to give the editors email address out so he can be bugged by more then just me. Gosh, why does editing take so long? Oh yah, I know, it’s cuzz he is taking out all of my THATs.. and maybe a few JUSTs… okay and maybe one or two MOMENTS… but really. COME ON! Ahem… Yes, he is reading. *waves*

REDEMPTION: (Book 3) Title still in progress, but that’s what I am calling it… It will probably end up being a four name title like the other two… Who knows. But it’s being plotted. Well, sorta… not actively though. I write down notes here and there.

RUNAWAY CHOICES: Looking excellent… Around 52.5K words… Would be more like 53 but I had one of those nights that I hated everything I wrote and deleted it. Yes, I deleted it out of the WIP. I did save it, but its not part of this MS. I decided… errr rather my characters decided to go a different way… only AFTER I wrote the dang scene transition… I wish they would speak up MUCH earlier then they do. I mean really… 600+ words down the drain for what purpose? Still deciding.

NONFICTION STUFF: And yes, it’s stuff… plural. Hmm, what is the singular of stuff? Never mind, don’t answer that. Haha.

Umm so yah, I have some nonfiction ideas. I have actually thought about starting on a couple of them recently but haven’t stepped over that threshold yet… but I will Lord willing be stepping over soon. And maybe even sharing some exciting bits of news regarding this avenue. We will see… totally not in my hands right now.

KIDS FICTION: I also have this fantabulous idea for a boys series of books… But I have to flesh that one out with my boys And they aren’t willing participants yet… so really this shouldn’t be in the Writing Updates but more of the “Somewhere down the road when my boys are old enough to pay attention” category.

I wonder if that will ever happen…

Sorry about my unauthorized leave of absence… Life has nudged it’s beautiful neck in the way of my time. Since we homeschool, sometimes there is just no backseat to the things that need to happen.

Which is what happened…

My DS (Dear Son), who just turned 9, is a fabulous kid. Loving, caring, athletic, talented in anything he attempts, very good at video games, full of unbridled energy… you name it, the kid can do it. Well, save one thing… school.

When we started homeschooling, we really thought the reason we needed to do this was because of our oldest DD (Dear Daughter) who is 10.5 years old (She wants to make sure I get that point five in there… *headdesk*). To read why we thought we started, you can go to PluggedInParents.com and read my monthly homeschool article about just that.

So five years later, we realize there is a host of reasons we homeschool and DS 9 is another one of those reasons.

To the normal eye, he is just as I described above… Healthy child, curious about life, loving… well you know. I won’t dote on him again, but its tempting cuzz he is such a love. However, if this child was in a public school setting, I think I would have serious, SERIOUS issues.

Because… Umm… he is like me.

Obviously, this means he is brilliant beyond measure and will just be fantastic in school right? Hahahaha… Umm no. You know that “Creative Blogger” award below… the correct lie was the valedictorian one. I was no where ever CLOSE to the podium, in fact I screamed with joy to see my diploma was ACTUALLY in the folder. Yup, average C Student… though my senior year I did get 3.1 once, but that was due to the barrage of electives I took.

I couldn’t focus in school. Not because it was boring, though at times it was, but because my brain moved at 400 miles per hour and ended up on bunny trails that had nothing to do with the a math related hypothesis my teacher was trying to explain. It about drove me crazy to go to class and sit between the walls with NO WINDOWS (it was prison, I swear) and try to focus on one subject not twelve at once.

Some people would call this A.D.D., but I don’t think so. Reason being, I can focus fine on things I love and desire to learn. When there was a subject I desired to be in, I was all there. 100% focused on what the teacher/professor was saying and trying to be as absorbent as possible. However, when I was in Math… Meh, whatever. The concepts didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me…

For example:

The teacher would be talking about why we need to, I dunno, change fractions to common denominators so that you can calculate them… I would start with the concept and then think about the fraction of my school day I actually learned, then the fact we had no windows in our classrooms, then that our doors were orange (like prison suits), then that I hoped I never ended up in jail, then the fact Juvy was just a block away across from the cemetery, then realize I was still in class… What was the question?

Now, following this train of thought causes people scream A.D.D.! However, I would like to challenge that thought… I believe it’s just a different learning style… One that I now see in my DS9. One that I plan to foster and help him to grow and learn in a way HE loves and is comfortable with.

One that actually HAS a name! It’s called a Visual Spatial Learning… here is the definition:

A visual-spatial learner is a student who learns holistically rather than in a step-by-step fashion. Visual imagery plays an important role in the student’s learning process. Because the individual is processing primarily in pictures rather than words, ideas are interconnected (imagine a web). Linear sequential thinking — the norm in American education — is particularly difficult for this person and requires a translation of his or her usual thought processes, which often takes more time.

Some visual-spatial learners are excellent at auditory sequential processing as well. They have full access to both systems, so that if they don’t get an immediate “aha” when they are looking at a problem, they can resort to sequential, trial-and-error methods of problem solving. These students are usually highly gifted with well integrated abilities. However, the majority of visual-spatial learners we have found in our work are deficient in auditory sequential skills. This leads to a complex set of problems for the student. A definite mismatch exists between the student’s learning style and the instructional methods employed by the student’s teachers.

Which means, boring text and application means nothing to him… it’s time to get creative and help this boy love to learn. And I do believe this is what he needs. After sitting down with him this week and realizing his brain is working 400 miles per hour, like mine did, it’s time for me to make some changes.

He is excited about the changes, because he admitted, “Mom, this *IS* boring.” Which is why I believe his mind wonders down the wayward bunny trails and sometimes NEVER comes back.

I am excited about next week of school time and while he maybe hesitant, not knowing if this will work. I think it will and we will have a blast!

I will update you on our progress as I teach my Visual Spatial child…