Top ten stories list :)

After finally getting my list down from 25, I have my top ten here. (It was kind of hard to get them in the right order, and I'll probably regret it later... but oh well.) Number 2 is very long and rambly... just warning you. If you think it'll bore you, skip to number 1 because that's more important.

10. Robin Hood

There are too many versions of this story to count, but my favorites are The Outlaw of Sherwood by Robin McKinley and BBC's television series. Growing up, Robin Hood was one of my heroes (though in the version I used to read, I was a bit annoyed when he made fun of romantics; later versions are better for me). This is classic, old-fashioned action, romance, and humor with an underdog for a main character; that describes everything I loved most when I was young.

9. The Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz

I watched Ghost Whisperer when I was young, a show that taught me a lot... about how to overdramatize everything. Really, I hate that show now, and I thought it had ruined all ghost stories for me. But Odd Thomas is not Melinda; he's a completely average man, so average that it's almost sad, who somehow gained the ability to see and talk to ghosts. Everything in the story is fresh and imaginative (ghosts can't speak; I learned so much about Elvis because he follows Odd around; Tasers: definitely not funny... unless Odd gets hit by one and then tries to make a phone call). As always, Dean Koontz writes a story so different and strange and mixes it with beautiful prose and quite a bit of humor. Plus, I can't resist a story with the ghost of Elvis Presley in it. And later, Frank Sinatra!

8. Just Like Heaven

Since I associate this movie with another called Heart & Souls, it took me a while to separate them enough to pick the best one. Once I looked objectively though, I realized how much I love this one more. This story is about a depressed man who rents an apartment and spends all his time on the couch, drinking and watching sports. Sounds awful, I know. It gets better when he starts seeing a blond woman running around his new apartment and even funnier when she convinces him that he's crazy/drunk, and she owns the apartment. They realize that the woman is a ghost, though she swears she's not dead, and a psychic soon tells him that she's right. The pace picks up when the man discovers that he's in love with this ghost and starts trying to find her, wherever she may be, and save her.

7. Bright Star

This is a fictionalized story based on the John Keats poem by the same name. It's about the poet, the death of his brother at a young age, his relationship with a friend, and his love for a young woman who we can't have because of his own financial problems. The acting is amazing in this movie, and I can't ever read John Keats's poetry without hearing Ben Whishaw's (beautiful) voice in my head. The story is definitely sad, and I am not ashamed to say that I cried at the end. You spend an two hours listening to this man speak so elegantly and watching him fall in love, only to see the woman wail for him after his death. (That's not a spoiler; Keats was a real person who died at 25 years of age.)

6. The Husband by Dean Koontz

Another by Dean Koontz, my third favorite author. This is the story of Mitch, a simple gardener who comes home one day to find that his wife has been kidnapped. As he searches for her, following the will of her captors as well as he can, shocking revelations are made about his own life, and it soon becomes apparent that he will do anything for the woman he loves. Psychopaths and geniuses (most of them both at once) abound in this story, and it is never boring. Suspenseful and gripping, oftentimes very confusing, but never, ever boring, even on the second read.

5. Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

Here's something hard to describe. It's a pairing of my two favorite authors as they tell the story of a world trapped in numbness. In the future, emotion has been eradicated, leaving only the necessary fear for survival. There is no love, no joy, no sadness or anger... until Rom and Avra find a vial of blood, and their world explodes with so many new feelings. But the police are chasing them down, and the world is terrifying and saddening place when one's eyes are opened.

4. Moulin Rouge

This movie from director Baz Luhrmann is strange, different from most romances I've ever seen ("most" because Luhrmann also directed Romeo + Juliet, the Leonardo DiCaprio version). It's filled with music of all kinds, from the Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" to Kiss's "I Was Made For Lovin' You" and Sting's "Roxanne." The acting is incredible, and the both the main characters and many side characters have beautiful singing voices. It's a bit inappropriate for the younger crowd, but I do adore the musical romance and the sad, sad ending. (The end is given away in the beginning, so that's not a spoiler.) 

3. Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris

A fun, light romance that I've read over a dozen times (around fifteen, at my best guess) set in a magical, medieval world of princesses and trolls. The story centers on Christian, a boy who ran away from home when he was young and was taken in to be raised by a troll named Ed and his dogs, and Marigold, a princess who no one ever touches because of her curse: the ability to read others' minds with a touch. Though Christian lives in the forest and Marigold in the castle, he can see her through a telescope when she steps onto the ramparts, and as a boy, he watches her and her family as a way of connecting to another human being. Finally, he begins messaging her through "p-mail," carrier pigeons, and they become best friends, though he never tells her his name. After a time, Christian decides to leave home and go to the castle for work, where he meets Marigold face-to-face and begins to love her even more. The story is simple but beautiful as Christian has to rush to save his love's life and discover who he really is.

2. Doctor Who

This is a fun, witty, epic science fiction television series that started all the way back in the sixties. Because the Doctor (a now-900-year-old time and space travelling Time Lord) can regenerate when he dies, becoming a new man with the same memories, the series could go on forever. (Previously, the Doctor only had thirteen regenerations total, but that has changed over time.) Also because of this, each new actor can change the Doctor a bit, keeping the core beliefs on the alien the same; thus, everyone can be a fan of Doctor Who without having anything in common with other fans! Great, right? Most "Whovians" will say things like "my Doctor," which just means whichever version they grew up/love the most. Mine is David Tennant, the Tenth regeneration who left only last year (I own his Sonic Screwdriver, and I'm getting the weapon of his greatest enemy, the Master, for Christmas), though my favorite companions (people who travel with him in his TARDIS, Time And Relative Dimension In Space) are Rory and Amy, who are the most recent. It's a bit confusing if you don't know what you're doing. My advice: watch the modern series; Christopher Eccleston, Nine, explains almost everything. 

1. The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker
Ted is my favorite author. I read House, Thr3e, and Blink when I was fourteen/fifteen, and then I moved on to the Circle Trilogy, Black, Red, and White. These books blew my mind. I am not being overly dramatic; they changed my heart and my life. The way I think about God and Jesus has completely changed since those days. I do know it was just a story, but it was also a look at God through the eyes of a Christian man who has more figured out than I do (not everything, but more). This series makes it to number 1 on my list because it opened my eyes and brought me closer to my Creator than I had ever been before.

NaNoWriMo starts November the first!

  And here I am: Sarah E.N.!!

  I am entering this contest for the first time ever! I don't expect to really get 50k, but I will try. I'll be trying to finish Redemption.

  Not sure what NaNoWriMo is? Let me explain. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. Get it? Month. On November first, would-be writers all over the country will sit down with laptops, word processors, pens and paper, and typewriters! Many will pull all-nighters, drinking whole pots of coffee, to write their novels.

  The rules say to start with a new story and write without editing. Fortunately, I know a guy *wink.* Evan has done this before, and he told me (and the other new guys) that it's okay to use a story you've been working on already so long as you don't count the parts you had before November 1st. Redemption has twelve chapters and almost twenty thousand words, a total of seventy-three pages.

  So wish me luck! On November first, I will enter the Internet for only three things:

1. Youtube - Gotta have my music, and I don't own all that I need for "noveling," as the NaNoWriMo website puts it.
2. Research - I think I have it all down, but you never know. I may need to look up a type of gun for Angel or a car for Nathan.
3. The NaNoWriMo 2011 first-timers support group on Facebook - Hopefully, Evan will be on at some point. Maybe. Probably not.

  Other than that, the Internet will be OFF. Did you know you could turn it off? You can. It's crazy. So, November! Be there, or be square. (And no, it is not hip to be square. Get it right, Huey.)

I hope John Gacy Jr. rots in Hell

This post is offensive and sick. Don't read it if you can't handle it.

  I know there are disgusting, evil, vile people in this world. I know that. I read about Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer and a bunch of others, and I know even more fictional-but-based-on-real-life serial killers.

  But you know what? It doesn't matter. Because when I heard of a guy named John Wayne Gacy, I thought the name was interesting, so I had to Wikipedia him. Serial killer, clown outfit, rapist, etc. I'm unfazed. And then I reach the list of victims.

  It's just a list of names and numbers, but it strikes a chord. I can't focus on anything else, can't think about my stories. I can only think about these names. I can only stare at them.

Timothy McCoy (15) January 3, 1972 John Butkovitch (17) July 29, 1975 Darrell Sampson (18) April 6, 1976 Randall Reffett (15) May 14, 1976 Samuel Stapleton (14) May 14, 1976 Michael Bonnin (17) June 3, 1976 William Carroll (16) June 13, 1976 Rick Johnston (17) August 6, 1976 Kenneth Parker (16) October 24, 1976

Michael Marino (14) October 24, 1976 Gregory Godzik (17) December 12, 1976 John Szyc (19) January 20, 1977 Jon Prestidge (20) March 15, 1977 Matthew Bowman (19) July 5, 1977 Robert Gilroy (18) September 15, 1977 John Mowery (19) September 25, 1977 Russell Nelson (21) October 17, 1977 Robert Winch (16) November 10, 1977

Tommy Boling (20) November 18, 1977 David Talsma (19) December 9, 1977 William Kindred (19) February 16, 1978 Timothy O' Rourke (20) June 16–23, 1978 Frank Landingin (19) November 4, 1978 James Mazzara (21) November 24, 1978 Robert Piest (15) December 11, 1978

  Then there are eight more that are unnamed. Eight boys from ages 15 to 25 were killed by this man, and no one knows who they are. Six days ago, they exhumed the bodies and began testing DNA, but still. Can you imagine being a mother of a missing boy during that time? You find out that eight boys have been found but not identified, and you are suddenly sure that your son is among them.

  So I started reading more about this killer. According to Wikipedia, John Wayne Gacy Jr. raped and killed thirty-three teenage boys to young men, burying them in the crawlspace of his house and in his yard. He worked in fast food restaurants and dressed as a clown for charity events. At one point, he was married with children, but after being arrested for sexual assault, his wife left him and took his kids. His son's name was Michael.

  Michael Marino was one of his later victims. It wasn't his son, but it bothered me immensely when I noticed this. This was the name that I had given the most attention because he was only fourteen. So very young.

  These were children that he raped and murdered in his home, then buried in the crawlspace. It's so very sick and disturbing, so... My regular phrases don't apply here; they don't fit. This is the sh** that terrifies me when I think of bringing children into this fu**ed up world.

  I pray that God takes mercy on the souls of these poor children. And I hope that the black soul of John Wayne Gacy currently resides in the worst torment, the kind that no one on earth could ever imagine.

When did seventeen start meaning OLD?

My tastes have matured,
but they haven't really changed.

  I discovered Youtube when I was about twelve or thirteen. I was still new at surfing through the videos, and I remember those days when I was cute and favorited videos of jets because they had clips of my favorite songs in them. Heh, I was so cute...

  Anyway, even back then, I liked boys. Really liked boys. I also liked Harry Potter, which meant that I fell for... Can anyone guess? Draco Malfoy! The bad boy with the blond hair and (sometimes) a longing to be good. I still like those types, as you can see. That picture over there is my current and probably longest-lasting actor crush, not counting Robert Downey Jr.

Anyway, I used to watch the same video over and over. Britney Spears's "Toxic" played while images of Draco flashed past me. I was practically bouncing as I watched, even though I didn't really understand that lusty feeling back then. I was a child.

But the thing is, he was a child too. I found the video again tonight and decided to watch it. It was okay at first because Draco was really mature at fourteen, so those clips were still pretty hot. But then this other scene flashed by. The still-kinda-chubby face of an eleven-year-old boy, one year younger than my baby brother. My eyes did this: O.O

I felt like a pervert watching that video. It was disgusting. Not that I was still interested in him at that age, but the song and the memories of when I was younger... Gah! I've been noticing more and more lately that the boys I used to love are now children. I guess that's why movie/television crushes are so silly; you grow up and they don't. Still, it made me feel old, and that isn't anywhere close to fair!

So here is the actual video. *sigh*

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Writing a book: tips

Got your attention?
 Good; now read ==>

  Here's some advice on writing for anyone who cares to listen. I'm not big and famous, but I have been writing for most of my life, so I do have some experience. Here is the why, what, who, when, where, and how of writing.

1. Words of warning. You will not be famous. You will not be rich. The first idea you ever have will be a joke, your characters will be flat, your plot will be full of holes, and your prose will need tons of work. This is coming from someone who started at eight-nine years old; at seventeen, I still need more practice. And this isn't just me. Every writer must go through the process (though some will be luckier than others).

2. The message. This is the why of writing. Your story will have some meaning, whether it's that love conquers all, that we should take better care of our planet, or even that a laugh does a person good. I truly don't care what you choose, but it must mean something to you. If you try to write about something that doesn't put fire in your heart and charge up your soul, you will fail in your writing.

Check your work, kids.

3. Plot. This is what you write. This is the most difficult part of writing, from my perspective (every writer is different). If you want it to be believable and realistic, you will have problem after problem with this. Comedies are easier but not strictly easy. You will write, realize that it doesn't work, take pieces from that to rewrite, and repeat. Eventually, you may have a working story, but even then, it could be just a mash-up, in which case your prose has suffered, and you must redo it all. But don't give up! You will find that story, even if it takes a very long time.

4. Characters. This is the who of writing. After so many years of practice based solely on this area of writing, characters are my expertise. I was even told that, though my plot is sometimes weak, the strength of my characters make up for it. Anyway, it may not be so "easy" (years of practice, remember?) for you. A character has to be more than a list of attributes and clothing colors. He must be a person to be believable. You have to know him; you have to grow to know him like you would any friend. One of the best ways is to write short stories centered on one character. It doesn't even have to fit your real story; it's just there for you to discover how he talks, acts, and thinks. You'll know when he/she is right.

It's a delicate job.

5. Setting. This is the when and where of your work. It doesn't matter what you choose; you will need to do research. Are you writing about a town in your own state/country? What street do they live on? (I actually made up the town in Redemption, but I still have to research small towns in general.) Are you writing about the jungles of South America? What do you know about jungles, not including what you learned from Indiana Jones? How about medieval times? Yes, you even have to research that. Use the heck out of Wikipedia and Google; they are very helpful tools.

Overwhelming? Thesaurus.com is
your best friend.

5. Style. This is how you write. This is not something I can explain because it develops on its own over time, and everyone is different. However, there are a special few who rise above the rest, and these are the ones who become famous. Take a look at some of Ted Dekker's, Dean Koontz's, or Tosca Lee's works and notice the poetry they are able to work into their novels. It's truly beautiful. I know quite a few authors, and most of them are very, very good, but only a few are truly unique, rising stars of the writing world. One of these is a dear friend of mine, whose name I won't post for privacy issues. His wording is so elegant and different that I always have to pause and look again. Truly amazing work.

And one more thing. "There is no such thing as writer's block. There is only fear. Fear of the unknown." - Ted Dekker. There is fear that you are not good enough and fear that you never will be. Sometimes, it becomes frustrating and overwhelming, but don't give up! Stick with it because it is always worth it to write, whether or not you even become published.

He causes the blind to see

  I got contacts!

  I am not technically blind.  But I am legally blind, and I refuse to take off my glasses in public because I hate the helpless feeling I get when I can't see.  I have to trust someone a lot to take off my glasses with them, which is why a good optometrist is so important.

  I have had glasses for nine years.  I hate things touching me, hate plastic rims on my face, and hate the dependency I have on those things.  I can't take them off, and when I do, they're always inches away.  (In the morning sometimes, I drop them.  Then I have to blindly find my mama or wait for someone, hopefully her, to walk in and help me.)  Another downside of my nearsightedness is that no one can really see my eyes.  First, people are distracted by the glasses.  Then, my eyes are made small by the lenses (like a backwards magnifying glass).

  So what do I think of contacts?  They're freaking amazing!  A bit difficult to put in but easy to take out, and I can't feel them at all.  Do you know what that means?

  If I don't think about it, I have perfect vision.  I feel like a normal person, and I can SEE!  I LOVE IT!!!

  Sure, I only just got them, so they do irritate after I wear them awhile.  Then there's the process of putting them in, which is annoying after a dozen or so tries, but I'm stubborn, and every hit-and-miss makes me angry, so I keep trying until I get it.  Like playing Zelda.

  I used to pray that God would heal my vision.  And I know He did, even if He did it with Acuvue Oasis instead of a flash of bright light and thunder.  How do I know He did it?  I have astigmatism like my daddy, and his eyes are so sensitive.  Plus, the idea of touching his own eye bothers him immensely.  I am blessed with being able to put them in with barely a flinch; blinking is reflex, but I'm not consciously disturbed.  And it doesn't hurt!  That's God.

  Now I just need to get the money to keep them.  They're disposable because the kind you can keep give people infections, so they don't make them anymore.  I have to throw mine out every 2 weeks or a month (I forget).  So I'm hoping that I can give up Christmas and maybe my birthday in April for these...

Prejudiced parents

  I have recently discovered a new type of prejudice.  By reading two blogs (that hardly makes me an expert, I know) by parents with autistic children, I have learned what some, at least this one and her readers, think of those parents who have what they call "typical" kids.  In this particular post, she writes that "Typical Parents Are a Bunch of Drunken Pussies." (If you don't understand this, please don't look it up.)
  This sickens me. And it isn't just one post; she is constantly bashing "typical" parents and their "angelic" kids. She has this air of, "My life is harder, so I can say whatever I want," about her writing.
WRONG.  Life is not about who has it the worst. No one can judge that. For example, I know it's hard raising an autistic child, but is it really harder than raising my sister? The girl who started dating (which means, of course, going behind my parents' backs with boys) when she was in elementary school. The girl who snuck out at all hours of the night to be with the boyfriend who was four years older than her. The one who blank-faced lied to her parents, cursed at her mother (a cardinal sin in my book), hit her little sister (that would be me), and did everything else she could to provoke. Why? Her biological father, a sociopath and a druggie, left when she was three. Not because her mother remarried to a good-hearted, Christian man who loved them both with his whole heart. And you think my parents had it easy?  Now this one riles me. With this post, "typical" parents are reduced to ignorant jerks. Just because someone is blessed doesn't mean that he or she doesn't sympathize with your situation! There are ignorant Philistines out there who think that autism is just faulty parenting, but you cannot judge everyone by the few morons.
  And this. That comment by j* made me so incredibly upset. "Typical" parents have it easy, huh? Why are "typical" parents so unhappy?
  Because, creep, we all live in the same devastating world with the same terrible problems. Do you want to know why my mama took "happy pills" for a while? I was eleven in 2005, but I remember the grief around me after my aunt died. She was my father's big sissy and my mother's best friend since school. That means they were friends for more years than I care to count.
  Same year, quite soon after my aunt's sudden death (in which she left behind four children, three of them minors, and many, many loved ones), my sister moved out. Eighteen, just graduated, and angry at the world, she barely came around the house anymore. She got a "roommate" named Jessica, and they later "came out." Now, she got over that phase relatively quick and went back to men, not that her choices with them were much better.  (Now, I love my sister, and she has really turned her life around.  I forgive her choices, and I know that God does too, so there is no more judgement here, only a stating of facts.)
  So all of this is going on, and my parents get some medication from their doctor. Because they're DEPRESSED. And, no, they don't have any autistic children. Do you still think your life is harder? Still think you have more stress?
  Thankfully, we have Jesus to level us out, but that doesn't mean that life is a cakewalk. This prejudice against "typical" people has me shaking with anger, just like almost all other prejudices will do to me. You have a right to your own opinion, but treat others around with the respect that all human beings deserve. That is the only way to ensure tolerance and a fair world, which we all long for, even if it is in secret