Three Words Every Girl Wants to Hear

2:27 PM Gemma Fitz 3 Comments

Quick apologies that I haven't been keeping up with comments and such. My internet has been problematic lately, but I should get around to replying in these next couple days. :)

Let me set something straight for you:

I don't want just anyone and everyone to go around telling me "I love you," all the time. Like, seriously, what? That's just so creepy. There are actually only about three people whom I don't mind saying this to me besides my parents, and, let's face it, I only tolerate my parents saying it to me because, well, they're my parents.

What's more, I'm fairly certain there's at least a few other girls out there who share my view on this-- which means "I love you" are not, after all, the three words every girl wants to hear.

"But, Gemma!" you cry. "What can I say to my best-friend/girlfriend/sister/mother/random-girl-at-the-mall to make her day?"

Have no fear. I'm here to help.

Three Words Every Girl Actually Wants to Hear

"Have some chocolate."
The answer to life, the universe, and everything.

"I'll leave now."
Sometimes we need our alone time-- without idiots invading our space.

"Let's watch Avengers."
"Who's your favourite character?"
"No more dieting."
"You don't need it, anyway."

"Here's fifty bucks."
She's worth it, isn't she?

"I am Baymax."
"Your personal healthcare companion."

"I was wrong."
Aren't you always?
"You were right."
We learn to rejoice in these little victories.

"Bowties are cool."
As are fezes.

 "You're a wizard."
"..Harry."
"Who da man?!"
"I'm never saying that again."

"I am Sherlocked."
Isn't everyone?

"The family business."
"Saving people. Hunting things."
"Don't be lasagna."
Do go eat some, though.

"On your left."
Don't you dare say it!

"Use the Force."
If only we could...
"Fandoms took over."
Yeah, so-- sorry about that.

What are three words you'd like to hear more often?

3 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Authorisation Required

7:44 AM Gemma Fitz 4 Comments

Sometimes I just feel like I need permission. And more than just permission-- more like a top level security clearance or a badge I can flash at people to assert the fact that, yes, I do actually know what I'm talking about and y'all better listen up.
Basically, a psychic paper might be nice.
I won't really be an extrovert until everyone recognizes me as one. I won't really be a writer until I have a published novel to point people to. I won't really count as mentally ill until I have a diagnosis from a doctor to tell me so.

I told y'all I was going to start talking about mental illness, didn't I?

Well, to be entirely honest, I've been rethinking that decision lately. After all, what do I really know about depression or anxiety or any of that stuff? Sure, I've been through some tough times, but to call it anything more than that is just being overly dramatic. Nobody else seems to notice anything wrong with me. So what can I have to say to or about those who struggle with the real thing? I shouldn't even be trying.

Actually, I don't even want to talk about this stuff. I'd rather keep being the bubbly, happy-go-lucky Gem everyone knows and hopefully loves. I want to keep my eyes closed and my mind numb and somehow forget the suffering going on all around me. But in the back of my mind, in the depths of my heart, there's a voice that whispers and echoes and gradually grows louder and louder until I can't tune it out any longer. And he says, "As the Father has sent me, even so am I sending you. Go therefore and make disciples."

I try to argue. "You've got the wrong girl. I'll only mess it up for you. No one authorised me to do this stuff. No one prepared me to help people this way. I don't have anything useful to say." But I've got it wrong. I have been authorised. Jesus has called me to labour for his kingdom, and that's all the authorisation I'll ever require.

It's everywhere. I can't get away from it. It's in between the lines in pop culture. It's in the stray hints and vague mentions all over the internet. It's in the voices of those I love, and it's in my own heart. There's just so much pain it's overwhelming.

But there's just so much hope it's unbelievable.

Recently, several young ladies stepped out in faith and started a blog dedicated to encouraging Christians struggling with mental illness. On the way to church this Sunday, the Christian radio station was discussing the attitude the church at large has towards mental illness and the love Jesus has for those who struggle. Over the past few months, God has showed up again and again in my own struggle with depression and anxiety in ways that are nothing short of miraculous. I can see God moving. I know he is doing something spectacular.

And I believe he wants to use me.

The other day I was talking to a very close friend whom I've known for awhile, and, for the first time, she told me about her brother's ongoing battle with depression and anxiety. As she briefly described his condition and everything she is feeling as she watches him go through this, it hit me all over again. Just how many people feel what I feel. Just how many people need help like I need help. And I found the tears welling up as the voice echoed once again, "Go therefore and make disciples."

I've been fighting and fighting. I've been too scared to go. I've kept my mouth shut because I'm terrified if I open it I'll only say the wrong thing. I've been paralysed by the fear that I don't count. That I'm not authorised to do this.

But I hear a whisper I can't ignore. A command that demands just one reply:

"Here I am! Send me."

What is something God has called you to do at some point? 

4 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

A Game of Truth and Lies (aka, the New Dragon's Loyalty Award)

5:07 AM Gemma Fitz 4 Comments

The Dragon's Loyalty Award is making the rounds again, with a set of brand new and dragonish rules. The stupendous Ashley has tagged me to share several truths and a few lies about myself and since the dragon in me heartily approves of spreading confusion and chaos, I have complied.

So here are seven facts or not-so-facts about me. Most of them shouldn't be too hard, so go ahead and take a guess in the comments, if you like.

I hate high heels.

Comfort before beauty, sorry.

I enjoy Algebra.

Time to work on my mad scientist handwriting.


Thor is my favourite Avenger.

He is worthy.

I hate big cities.

Crowds everywhere.

I'm not at all musical.

It takes a special kind of talent to be tone deaf.

I'm irrationally terrified of spiders.

KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT

Mulan and Hercules are my favourite Disney Princess movies.

They have the most action.


So eventually I guess I'll do another post to explain which are true and which are lies-- or I could just leave it at this and you'll be left to wonder for ever. *evil smirk* We'll see.

What is the practical purpose of stilettos? Who is your favourite Avenger? And any tips on how to kill a spider without getting within five feet of it?

4 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Survey Results

3:11 PM Gemma Fitz 4 Comments

So I wasn't going to do this until the end of the month, but all my other ideas for blog posts this week didn't work out (yeah, so, recovering from hiatus is harder than I thought it would be), so here you go.

Topics

Writing Advice was by far the most popular post topic (which kinda surprised me because my advice never feels all that helpful, but okay), so I'll be handing out more of that, hopefully. Pep talks were the least popular, but I happen to like writing pep talks, so I'm not going to stop. The frequency with which I throw motivational speeches at you may, however, decrease somewhat.

(Wait, how do you decrease from 0 posts a month? *shifty glance at March*)

As for new topics, apparently what people wanted to hear about most were fandoms, my relationship with Jesus, depression, and anxiety. Also, somebody wanted me to talk about peanut butter, and I'm 100% on board with that, so yeah. I may venture into other subjects occasionally, but I'm planning on making the aforementioned topics regular fixtures on the blog. (Especially peanut butter.)
In conclusion, Chasing Daisies is no longer going to be a niche blog. Yeah, writing stuff will still be the main focus, but if y'all know me at all, you know I don't like confinement and I'm not going to try to confine myself to just talking about books and such. I'm going to be branching out in my subject matter, and hopefully some of it, at least, will interest you. :)

Actual Posts

OKAY SO YEAH GUYS I'M REALLY SORRY ABOUT MARCH BUT I'M NOT PLANNING ON MAKING THAT A REGULAR THING SO DON'T FREAK OUT. (Like I'm doing. Right now.)

Ahem.

In case you didn't notice, I had an impromptu hiatus (because that sounds more mature and professional than "I was being super lazy and had really bad blogger's block and just didn't really try all that hard') in March and didn't post anything. But I don't mean to let it happen again (at least without warning) and hopefully I'll get back on a posting schedule soon.

But I am going to have to tweak the schedule a bit, at least for now, because honestly, even apart from the fact I let all my creativity die during hiatus and now I can't seem to revive it, I can't keep up with posting twice a week any more. So I'll be cutting the Sunday posts, and just try to get something up every Thursday (ish).

Also, most of you wanted me to continue doing monthly wrap-ups, so those will probably still be a thing.

Improvements

So thank you all SOOOOO much for your lovely input in this section. I've duly considered all your advice, and hopefully I'll be putting it into action in these coming weeks.

Keep your eyes peeled, because changes are coming!

Questions

Yay! Time for the fun part!!

"What type of person would you be in your favourite fantasy world (please include weapon, race, hobbies, quest, etc.)? What about in your favourite sci-fi world?"

Um, well-- my favourite fantasy world would be First Age Arda (Silmarillion, yissss), and I think I'd be a Maiar. I'd use a sword most likely, but I probably wouldn't fight much. Mainly I'd just hang out with Ulmo and the Teleri, probably, because they're cool people. Unless I could be Maehdros, in which case I'd be Maehdros. Without the kinslaying, maybe.
And I don't really have a favourite sci-fi world? I guess I'd be a human with a laser pistol/blaster, and I'd explore the galaxy in my tiny space ship with a couple of really good friends.
...Did I just describe Han Solo? Apparently I'd be Han Solo. (I dunno. I don't even like Han Solo.)

"Favourite 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' character?"

Slartibartfast. (I told you it didn't matter.) I also like Marvin. And Arthur Dent. And Zaphod Beeblebrox. And the random mattress thing. And a whole lot of other characters I can't remember right now.

"Okay, so what's your favourite character from Super Mario Smash Bros?"

*high pitched screaming* SNAKE. AND IKE. AND MARTH. AND PIT.
I... may have problems.

"When you were younger did you have a movie you watched again and again?"

Define "younger"??
I went through a stage where I watched How To Train Your Dragon basically every week, and it's still one of my favourite movies. And I feel sure there are more, but my mind is drawing up a blank. (I'm tired.)

"Do you like curly fries? Have you ever read Percy Jackson?"

I like all fries. Greasy potatoes covered in salt taste good no matter what shape they are. But I prefer normal ones.
And yeah, I've read the first Percy Jackson book, but... I didn't particularly care for it? I just didn't like any of the characters and was bored.

"What's your favourite Anthem Lights song?"

Um-- "Love You Like the Movies"?? It makes me laugh, and it's the first song I've ever heard by them. (My sister would go around singing it all the time.)

In Conclusion

You all are amazing. That's really all there is to say. :)

4 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

That Punk Post

4:54 AM Gemma Fitz 9 Comments

Welcome to my super serious post on all the different genres with the suffix "punk". Hopefully this will be highly enlightening and possibly inspire you to explore some more of these lesser-known but just as awesome genres.

Steampunk- Because clockwork is cool.

 Cyberpunk- And computers are cooler.

Dieselpunk- I see your clockwork computers and raise you punk 1920s.

Biopunk- DNA manipulation is punk.

 Nanopunk- What is nanotechnology? Apparently it's punk.

Stonepunk- Cave men are more advanced than we gave them credit for. Also punk.

 Decopunk- More punk 1920s. Only prettier?

 Atompunk- Punk atom bombs. Punk Russia. Punk hippies. What could possibly go wrong?

 Solarpunk- Going Green is punk. (I actually made this up and then found out it was a thing.)

Petrolpunk- World War 1 can be punk.

Woodpunk- The Middle Ages can be punk.

Slavepunk- Ancient Greece, Rome, or Egypt can be punk.

Gunpowderpunk- Ancient China can be punk.
Revolutionpunk- French Revolution, American Revolution, Easter Rising. Can we punk it? Yes, we can!

Timepunk- Or you can just time travel to all the different punk periods. Time travel is cool. (And punk.)

Girlpowerpunk- You go, girl.

Horsepowerpunk- Well, why not?

Pinkpunk- It's an assonance.

Trampolinepunk- If machines can work by tiny cogs, why not giant springs?

 Coffeepunk- We all know the world runs on coffee, anyway.

Motrinpunk- Take some Motrin. Walk it off.

Hamsterpunk- Uh-- what?

Pizzapunk- I don't even know any more.

What are some punk genres you'd like to write in? Any of these catch your fancy? Any others I should have included?

 (My blog survey is still receiving responses! You can fill it out here.)

9 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Happy Birthday, Chasing Daisies!

5:35 AM Gemma Fitz 10 Comments

That's right. Chasing Daisies has been up and running for exactly one year. Which is incredibly exciting, obviously.
I'd normally be the type of person to go gushing on and on about how thankful I am for all you lovely readers and how this blog couldn't possibly exist without you and how you are undoubtedly the most awesome peeps in the universe, but not today. (Though that's all completely true and I love y'all.)

I'd normally be the type of person to reminisce over all the good times and the bad times that I've come through with this blog during the past year, rehashing old themes and struggles and triumphs, tenderly remembering the topics I've discussed, the mistakes I've made, and the friends I've met, but not today. (Though it has been ridiculously amazing.)

I'd normally be the type to scream about how exciting this is and make corny jokes and ramble on and on about how much I love birthdays and shove cake and ice cream in your faces, but-- not today. (Though y'all should totally use this as an excuse for ice cream. You should use everything as an excuse for ice cream.)

Which is honestly what this post comes down to-- I've been changing a lot lately. It's probably not permanent, but there it is. And it's kind of inevitable that the blog is going to change, too. So what's this next year going to be looking like at Chasing Daisies?

I'm not totally sure I have the answer to that question, and I'm interested to hear your opinion before I state mine. So I've put together a quick survey, and I would really appreciate it if you'd take a few minutes to fill it out. Consider it a birthday present to Chasing Daisies, if you like.



(Here's a link, if for any reason it's not working.)

Thank you so much for being the awesome people you are. I'm looking forward to seeing what this year brings, and I hope you are too!!

10 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Sunshine Blogger Award

11:39 AM Gemma Fitz 6 Comments

Gabrielle, of Write for the King, has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award! Thank you, Gabrielle-- this looks like exactly my sort of thing!
LOOK!!! It has a daisy on it!!!!
There are rules...
  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
  2. Display the logo thingy on your blog.
  3. Share 7 facts or things about yourself.
  4. Nominate 5 bloggers that you admire and notify nominees by commenting on their blogs.
...But I'm really bad at following rules, so I won't make any promises.

Stuff About Me You Might Not Know

1. I am not British. (You probably already knew this, but...) I do, however, use mostly British spellings of words like "colour" and "centre" and "recognise". This is a) because I can rarely remember which is the British spelling and which is the American anyway, b) because I think they look better for some reason, and c) because someone at some point set my Chromebook and iPod to English UK, and I can't figure out how to switch them back. (This gets annoying when I try to write distinctly American stories.)

2. Don't let my pink, fuzzy persona fool you. I like villains and depressing books/movies and the colour black and creepy psychological thrillers and morbid poetry. I also like pink stuff and flowers and fashion and decorating and tea parties and fluffy anything. (But you already knew that.) Are these things contradictions? No. One can be cute and dark at the same time, and I like to think I pull it off pretty well. *is not vain at all*

3. Daisies actually aren't my favourite flowers. *cue gasps* My favourite flower is actually goldenrod-- a simple weed that grows in my backyard in September and October. But "Chasing Goldenrod" sounds weird and doesn't really have the same meaning behind it. So-- yeah, anyway. I do really love daisies, but they're not my favourite ever.

4. I began writing books before I could spell. And I don't mean before I could spell words like "baccalaureate" (never mind, I still can't spell that word). I mean before I found out that "of" is not spelled "uv" and that it's "girl", not "gurl". I still have my first book (it was a very short and badly illustrated graphic novel) kicking around somewhere, and I can read exactly 0.001% of it.

5. I hand out free advice, very freely. (And on practically any topic.) Some people have told me that my advice is really good, which is surprising, since I totally make it all up off the top of my head. If I ever give you advice (for instance, writing advice on this blog) and you actually follow it, let me know how it works out, because basically nothing I say has ever been tested and I actually have no idea whether it works or not.

6. I have some very diverse interests. Now that I'm sixteen, people are constantly asking me what I want to study in college. I usually answer, "Either cosmetology, office administration, or some kind of computer programming." They always reply, "Wow-- uh-- those are three very different fields--"

7. My spirit animals are Unikitty, Kylo Ren, and the twelfth Doctor. (But, just for the record, this does not translate to me particularly liking Unikitty or admiring Kylo Ren.) Do not ask me how I relate to three such totally different people as much as I do, all at the same time. Let's just say, I do. A lot. Somehow.

And I'm just going to leave this one up for grabs. You like sunshine? Go spread some around! You don't like sunshine? Fine-- crawl back to your Gollum cave and eat raw fish. Whatever you do, have a great day!

So, I'm curious-- what or who is your spirit animal? Favourite flower? Potential (or official) major?

6 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

I Haven't Written in Weeks (and I'm not even sorry)

7:00 AM Gemma Fitz 18 Comments

I had this month all planned out.

I was going to pull Splitting Atoms out of its dusty hiding place, go on a rewriting blitz, and have this new edition at least halfway done by the 31st. And yet, here it is the 22nd (as I write this), and I've got 1.5 pages of complete and utter trash which haven't been modified in weeks.

Go me.

But, honestly, I'm not bothered. I'm not beating myself up about it. (or at least I'm trying not to) I'm not even sorry.
I hear a lot about "writing everyday", "not waiting for inspiration to write", and "write even when you don't want to". And, in general, I agree. Normally, I believe in forcing myself to write-- because if I didn't, I'd never get anything done.

But this month, every time I opened the document and looked at that blank space on the screen, perfectly complimented by the blank space in my mind, I didn't feel just indisposed-- I felt paralysed. Completely overwhelmed and stressed out and incapable of making my brain create words and transfer them to the keyboard.

Life has been hitting harder that usual, I guess. I feel like I've been drowning in school, and my Mom just keeps putting more pressure on me, academically. Which is a good thing, but it's stressful. Church and youth group have been intense lately, which is a good thing, but it's stressful. We're renovating our basement, which means strangers coming and going constantly and lots of loud noises coming from beneath my feet-- it's a good thing, but it's stressful.

And, outside of a couple minutes to talk to my friends at church every Sunday, my social life has been practically non-existent, which means my extrovert soul has been running on empty, which makes functioning in general just. hard.
With everything that's been going on, I don't really feel like forcing myself to work on an already complicated and stressful WIP. And honestly-- right now, writing isn't my first priority. I'm just a kid in high school, and if I don't write for a week or two, it's not going to kill the rest of my writing life. (probably)

So I've taken an unofficial break from writing. And I think that's okay. I don't think we need to beat ourselves up when we don't write regularly or when we don't accomplish our goals. Sometimes we need to step back and reassess what's really important.

Writing, or a much needed seven hours of sleep? A good night's sleep.
Writing, or a long overdue time to read God's word? The Bible.
Writing, or the loads of school work sitting on your desk? School.
Writing, or six hours binge watching Netflix? Uh-- probably writing. But not necessarily.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't stress it. There are things that are more important than writing-- like your physical/mental/emotional/spiritual health-- and if writing is getting in the way of one of those things, it is entirely justified to take a break.

Do you think it's ever okay to take a break from writing? Or do we need to write everyday? Are there any things in your life you've prioritized over writing?

18 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Nobody's Perfect

9:18 AM Gemma Fitz 6 Comments

Believe it or not, writing fan fiction really did teach me a lot of things. And it only took me a few months in the fan fiction community to learn the ultimate, number one rule of writing (fan fiction or otherwise):

The Mary-Sue is fatal. Avoid her at all costs.


My friends and I made a BIG deal out of this on FF.net-- maybe a bigger deal than we needed to. But then again, my fandom (Lord of the Rings) was renowned for churning out endless piles of 197 chapter fics, chronicling the tales of gorgeous teenaged elleths, bestowed with never-before seen powers (never-before seen in Middle Earth, anyway), who swooped into the Fellowship of the Ring and saved Frodo multiple times before finally destroying the ring themselves and riding off into the sunset with Legolas or Aragorn (or sometimes both).

It was stories like these that gave fan fiction a bad reputation, and we were determined to redeem ourselves. So no more Mary Sues. In fact, in my time on FF.net, I really only saw maybe five or six Mary Sues. Not so when I turned my eyes outside of fan fiction, and looked around at all the so-called "original" books and movies that were coming out.
Last night I watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the first time. And I should stop right about now and say there are going to be spoilers in this post because I'm assuming everyone's seen it by now. If you haven't, stop reading right here.

So you've seen it? You sure? Okay, keep reading.

I don't tend to like the girl characters in movies. They're usually wildly unrealistic, arrogant, and really only there for all the guys, both those in the movie and in the audience, to stare at. Girl characters usually just annoy me to death, because so few movies portray them correctly. And so something that really got me excited near the beginning of Star Wars episode 7 was Rey.

She was kind. She was feminine. She was good with machines and robots and space junk. She wasn't really that pretty and she definitely wasn't objectified. She was a perfectly normal and awesome human being (or alien, more likely), and it didn't take long before I was cheering wildly for her, screaming "You GO, girl!"

I liked how she was good with parts and machinery. It made up an interesting part of her personality and actually contributed to the storyline, so I was totally on board with it, in spite of the subtle hint at trying to be that strong female character. I didn't totally buy it when she beat up two guys at the same time in less than two minutes, but I supposed that it was probably good they didn't make Finn have to save her. I was extremely doubtful when she turned out to be a great pilot and a little bit upset when I found out that she had some kind of connection to Luke's lightsabre. But I still clung to the hope that eventually she'd get some flaws that would help even it all out.

And then turns out she's strong in the force-- stronger than Kylo Ren, who I'm assuming has been training since childhood (right? right?), and just-- nope. I was done.
And I'm probably more upset with Star Wars episode 7 than I would have been if Rey had just been the stereotypical strong female character that I honestly hate a lot, because instead, they created a really likeable, compelling character that I desperately wanted to be on board with. And then they ruined her, because,

a) she had no flaws, and
b) she could do anything

Nobody's perfect. I don't care if you need a mechanic AND a pilot AND a talented jedi. I don't care if you think that it will make the feminists happy to see a Mary Sue on screen. I don't care if you're trying to represent women in a positive light.

 Representing women as perfect is every bit as annoying as representing them as weak. Want another shocker? We're human beings, people. We're aren't objects only there for the sake of men, but we aren't goddesses, either. We have character and personality and interests and hobbies and likes and dislikes and strengths and flaws and skills and things we're just downright bad at. Just like everyone else.

Of course, it's not just women who get painted perfect on screen. The Gary Stu counterpart isn't quite as common, but he still makes an appearance. He's still annoying. Surprise, surprise-- guys can't do everything, either! Guys mess up sometimes, too! Everybody does.

Just because you're not writing fan fiction doesn't mean you can get away with Mary Sues and Gary Stus. Thankfully, it's not that hard to avoid writing these types of characters. There's just one simple rule you have to keep in mind.

Nobody's perfect.

Nobody. Ever. So your characters shouldn't be, either. It's that simple.
(And, for the record, I did love the new Star Wars movie-- and I'm still clinging to the hope that Rey will shape up-- or down, in this case-- in the upcoming films. So don't kill me, please.)

So, what did you think of the newest Star Wars instalment? What are some Mary Sues or Gary Stus in pop culture that annoy you personally? Do you think it's ever okay to write "perfect" characters?

6 comments:

I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

Old English, Immature Shadows, and Cheesy Threats: Snazzy Snippets is Back!

11:48 AM Gemma Fitz 12 Comments

Oh, look what's back!! It's Snazzy Snippets, the bi-monthly link-up hosted by Alyssa and Emily, in which I get to throw cake and snippets and whatever else I feel like at you guys. But mostly snippets.
Technically, this month I'm rewriting 'Splitting Atoms', so I probably should be posting snippets from that novel. But I'm not. Because it stinks and it's really embarrassing. Instead I'm giving one last, long HURRAH for NaNo and my novel, 'Shadowwhisper'. So here goes.

a snippet from page 16

As surprising as it is to find out that the first person you've ever thought of as your best friend isn't actually your best friend at all, but somebody else's, I've never actually minded being third wheel in this crazy friend triangle. It might have something to do with the fact that best friends and boyfriends are two totally different things and Micah was always the former. But besides that, Glenn is a really great guy and he's actually a lot of fun.
I mean, most people might think of a dude with six siblings, an obsession with videotaping literally everything on his phone, a penchant for texting only in Old English, and a totally serious aspiration to slay a dragon as just plain weird. But then, I'm weird. And Micah's weird. And it's kinda nice to have other people to be weird with. 
I'm kinda in love with Glenn. Rae, Glenn, and Micah make up my dynamic trio (if that's a thing). Micah and Glenn have always been best friends, while Rae just kinda tags along, but that doesn't mean that she isn't an important part of the team. They've all been friends for years and they all love each other so much and it's so fluffy and MORE FLUFFY and aaarrggh. *buries face in pillow because FLUFF*

a snippet of 16 words

"You're so immature."
"I'm a shadow. We aren't confined by human concepts like maturity."
"Go figure."
 Have I mentioned that the relationship between Rae and her shadow is probably my favourite part of this story? IT PROBABLY IS. That's all.

a snippet about something new

"--Oh! But I'm forgetting. I don't own you."
"That's right," I whisper. "You really don't."
Another pause. "What if I told you Darryl was right?" it asks at last. "That I really am dangerous?"
The way it says it is so different from how it usually speaks. Colder-- almost savage. I feel a chill tingle through my body and pull my blanket tighter.
"Anyone can be dangerous if he wants to be," I say. "Even me. But you and I are friends. I promise."
"I want to be your friend, Rae," says my shadow, "but you've got to stop pushing me."
"I'm not trying to push you."
But it doesn't answer. The conversation is over. And the silence feels-- dangerous.
I'm probably cheating, but I guess you could say that this snippet is about a new threat. Up until this point in the story, Rae has seen her shadow as harmless, friendly, even cute. This is really the first time that serious doubts as to its motives come into her head. (Because she's kinda dense. Sorry, Rae.) From here on out, it only becomes more obvious that something needs to be done about this creature that's dogging her footsteps.

Okay, so now it's your turn-- Share a line or two from page 16 of YOUR novel. Bonus points if it's sixteen words long! And if you did Snazzy Snippets, maybe leave me a link, so I can check it out?

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I adore comments! Just keep it clean and respectful...please no profanity and while I respect people's opinions and love a good argument, simply bashing my post is obviously not appreciated. :)

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