Fighting A Pizza Roll

The other morning my husband woke me up with a plate of pizza rolls in his hands for me. *For all you health freaks, this post may not be for you.* 

Me, having just woken up and therefore not thinking very clearly; decided to instantly bite into one and a stream of oily hot cheese streaked down my chin. The pain should have forewarned me that there would be a burn, but my half awake brain told me there was no way the cheese could have actually been hot enough to truly burn my skin. Ignoring the pain, I continued to eat the rest of the plate of pizza rolls. Why? Well, to put it simply, they are delicious.

Of course, when I looked in the mirror a few minutes later, I saw that I had a very nice sized burn going down the left side of my chin. There was no way makeup could hide this, so I would just have to wear my battle wound for all to see. On top of that, now that it's been a few days, I know for a fact it will still be there for any pictures taken when I visit family during Christmas.

Oh, and as if to add icing on the cake, my boss literally busted up laughing when I told him what happened after he inquired about my injury. 

So, for anyone else who has burned their face while eating a pizza roll, you are not alone and I feel your pain.

For those of you who actually wanted to see a picture to get an idea of how bad the burn was, mine was significantly longer than this, and a brighter red from the flesh that literally got burned away. 

*No, I'm not dumb enough to share a picture of my own for all the world to see and for some to use as a meme later. 

Photo Credits:

Whisper

The Power Of Santa

Just a random tidbit from my day so far...

This morning I was attempting to get my daughter ready for school, just like any other average weekday. Half of the time she loves going to school; the other half of the time she hates it. I'm sure many of you other mothers can relate. Well, as it happens, this was one of the mornings she decided she didn't want to go to school, and I quickly saw it would be a struggle to get her to do anything in a timely manner, (which was another problem as we were already running late). 

As she stood there arguing with me about going to get the hairbrush from the bathroom so I could brush her hair, an idea came to me. 

Me: "You need to get ready for school, and if you continue arguing with me I will call Santa and tell him you are being naughty by not listening to your mommy."

My Daughter: "You don't have Santa's phone number."

Me: "Yes I do, and I can call him right now."

My Daughter: "How do you have Santa's phone number?"

Me: (while thinking about how Santa's number is making it's rounds on facebook) "Because I'm your mother."

The look of shock on her face was priceless. Needless to say I had no further problems this morning with her getting ready for school. Now no judging; for all of us parents have used that threat at least once in our child's life. Let's be honest, we all need a little help from Santa every once in awhile to have a peaceful morning. 

*For those who need Santa's number, here you go...

If for some reason the number listed above doesn't work, the link for Image 2 will take you to another blog with a different number for Santa.

Photo Credits:

Image 1: Free Design File

Image 2: The Balance

Image 3: Money Saving Sisters

Christmas Countdown Traditions

Hey everyone! I know, it's been months since I have posted anything, but my family and I have been making many transitions lately. We made a move across state, I went back to work after two years of being a stay-at-home mom to my baby girl, and that same baby girl has started Kindergarten. (Where has the time gone?) I swear it was just yesterday that she was learning to walk, and now she is learning to read and write!

Well, I wanted to get back into the blogging spirit by sharing a Christmas Countdown tradition that my Stepmother used to do with my sisters and I, (which I now also do for my daughter). 

Every year we would awake on December 1st to see a chain of green and red paper rings hanging from the wall. Each child gets their own, but they will all say the same thing.

Every day has it's own activity to get the family in the Christmas spirit, and it's also a great way to get even the teenagers partaking in family time.

There are certain days that were always the same every year. 

December 1st- The ring always said Look in oven. Inside the oven we would each have a chocolate countdown calendar.

December 24th- This ring would say open one present early. This present would always be a set of warm Christmas pajamas (believe it or not, I still have a couple of the pajama sets because they were so comfortable).

Other rings would consist of, but were not limited to: set up the christmas tree (christmas carols and christmas cookies were always a must during this activity), decorate the house with christmas decorations, pull out the christmas books, pull out the christmas movies, go ice skating (if you have a rink near you), go drive around to look at christmas lights, make christmas cards, read the first Christmas story, and go see Santa.

For those of you who have some children who aren't with you every day during the countdown, you only put enough rings for the number of days they are with you and plan the activities according to what works best for you and your family. It really is a fun tradition. My daughter loves it just as much as I did. It does take a bit of planning, but it is truly worth it. 

Photo Credits

Blog: Our Family Lifstyle

Suicide

*Quick disclaimer: this was a poem I wrote when I was 14, so no this isn't about any current situation in my life. This was just my way of expressing the darkness in myself at that age.

Suicide

The screams drown out the lessons she was supposed to learn

People just watch as her skin begins to burn

The moans fade into the silence of the pitch black night

Ashamed that she gave in without putting up a fight

Plunging headfirst off the cliff into the crashing waves

Smashed against rocks for the end of all days

The knives cut into her scarred up skin

She's way too weak to even try to win

She gives into her now half-crazed mind

Going towards the light to never again glance behind

Photo Credit goes to Deviant Art

The artist's gallery page is in the link below

Lucas

The Offer

I've been reading this book called Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook, and I have to say it is one of the most helpful things I have read in terms of writing tips. I will be referencing it for a few more posts and highly recommend you taking the time to read it if your looking for useful writing tips.

Throughout this book the two authors give you random prompts for you to practice different writing ideas/techniques. One of them was to take two people you admire, write down one thing you admire from each person, and use those qualities to make one character. Then they give you a situation to have that character respond to. So I wanted to share my short story stemming from this prompt.

The two people I chose were:

Mom- her admirable trait was her perseverance (seriously, she has been through Hell and back and I have never seen her give up or slow down)

Dad- his admirable trait was honesty (he was the kind of guy who would rather tell you I will answer you when you're older, instead of lying to you)

Anyways, here is the story......

The Offer

Lisa was on her way to Grand Central Park to go for a quick jog before work. She pressed the button on the pole at the intersection and began to wait for the light to indicate she could cross the street. Looking around she saw a short bald man with an umbrella hat and beach clothes on moving quickly in her direction. As he got closer, he made eye contact with her and gave her a relieved smile. Then he handed her a small sealed carton she hadn't noticed him carrying a moment before and said, "Don't let anything happen to this!" Before she could say anything to him, the man ran off in the opposite direction.

Looking down at the carton, Lisa's mind raced about what could be inside. The man hadn't really looked dangerous, just strange. After standing there looking dumbfounded, she finally came to a decision. She would give the man one hour to return it before taking it to the police station as a lost and found item. She would be a little late to work if he didn't come back before the hour finished, but the man had decided to trust her for some reason; and she really wanted to ask him what was inside.

She walked across the street and sat at the first bench she found to wait for the man. After 45 minutes passed, Lisa began to think he wouldn't come back; but just as she got up to look around, the man came across the street towards her with a huge grin on his face.

"I knew you would be the one lawyer in New York City I could trust!", he exclaimed. Now she was nervous. Who was this man and how did he know she was a lawyer? And how did he know she ran in Grand Central Park every morning before work? Realizing he had been stalking her or having her followed, she started to back away.

"Don't be afraid! My name is Matt Hamilton from The Prime Ink Corporation and I've been looking for a lawyer to handle my private and business affairs.", he said.

Her interest had peaked upon realizing who he was, but she was still feeling a little unsettled.

"Look, I don't care if you're the owner of a billion dollar company or not, you can't go around stalking people! You could have just as easily called me at my office if you were looking to hire me.", she told him angrily.

"Yes, but I needed to know if I could trust you to look after my affairs. If you open the box, you will see how much I am willing to pay you per month to work full-time for me with benefits.", he replied smugly.

Getting annoyed at how he seemed to think she would just instantly agree, she looked down at the carton Opening it, she glanced inside. Struggling to swallow, she looked back up at him.

"This would be my monthly salary?", she asked in disbelief.

He just smiled, nodded his head, reached into his pocket, and handed her his business card before turning around and walking away. She turned it over and saw he had written her start date and time for two weeks from today; giving her just enough time to give her firm two weeks notice. When she looked back up from the card, Mr. Hamilton was gone.

Lost Innocence

Live above the influence

Don't let life bring you down

Be the best you can be

If you fail, try another round

Listen to the words of your broken dreams

Beat yourself up over every little thing

Fall, fall, fall into a deep abyss

Soon all you'll see is pure darkmess

Watch as your life turns inside out

Let pain cloud every judgement with worry and doubt

Have rage take hold of your life's wheel

For soon it will be all you can feel

Hold on to a moment, then let it go

Give into temptation and watch the lies grow

Twist reality until it matches your worst nightmare

Then life will no longer hold anything to fear

Contort your inner self until your unrecognizable

Spin, spin, spin out of your own self control

Enjoy every moment of complete ecstacy

With the pleasure comes the illusion that your free

One day, you'll look in the mirror and see

It's too late; you can never return to who you used to be

Photo credit goes to writer J.W Kash

A link to the exact page on his site this picture was used is below. It's worth clicking on the link guys because he has a pretty interesting/funny post along with this picture and a few others.

J.W. Kash

Deathnote Series vs. Deathnote Movie

For anyone who loves the animated series Deathnote, take my advice and DO NOT watch the movie adaptation on Netflix. As someone who has never really loved anime, when I actually sat down with my husband to watch the Deathnote series, it blew me away how much I ended up loving it. The intricate battle of wits between the characters Light and L are what make this series so enticing to watch. Not to mention the overall concept/plot. 

The show takes place in Japan, and is about a high school kid (Light) who comes across a notebook that allows him to kill people by writing their names into it. The deathnote itself comes with many rules that become revealed to the audience throughout the show and each rule is vital in how Light s able to escape getting caught by L.

In the Netflix movie Deathnote; not only does the setting take place in America, but the characters story lines are changed drastically. Even the characters themselves seem to be having two conflicting personalities; one that sticks to the original plot line of the show, and one that fits into this new setting/story line. As if this wasn't depressing enough for someone who was hoping they wouldn't screw up this adaptation too much, the special effects just didn't make the cut at all. The shinigami looked awful! With all of the amazing alien and paranormal movies coming out left and right these days, I truly expected more from the special effects teams in this movie. 

Overall this movie will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth and make you cringe anytime Netflix decides they want to turn any show you love into a movie.

Photo Credits

Image 1- IGN

Image 2- The Daily Dot

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A couple examples of these Sites

Home Job Position

Master Writing Jobs

Image is just a screenshot of the payment page that pops up at the end of the link listed above

Sassy Sauce Time

Lately there are so many things going on in America that show how big of a divide we truly have living in this country. The media, of course, is going to play off of our differences just so they can get better ratings. It's sad, but true. What is even more sad is the amount of people who take one or two news channels word for what really happened in an incident or who was behind it, etc. I don't know about you guys, but in a "basic"high school english class, we were taught the importance of getting multiple sources for any paper we wrote, any stance we took, and for any speech we gave. 

I know, it can get pretty annoying to go ahead and dig for the truth, especially if you weren't born with a curious mind, but we live in a time where we have to start fact checking every source we read or listen to.

Also, with the wide divide that we are seeing in our beautiful country, it is our duty to stop remaining silent about important issues. It is time for us to put our necks on the line and not be afraid to hurt feelings by standing up for what we believe is right. If we lose friends along the way of trying to dig out the truth, share it, and take a stance on that issue, then who really needed that friend anyway. This is no longer a time when we can let fear hold our tongues. Take a stance, and most importantly, spread truth and love to everyone in America because we all call this amazing country our home. 

Photo Credits

Image 1-  The Odyssey

Image 2- Browse Wallpapers

Church Hunt

We've all been there. That moment when you pull into a parking lot of a church you've never been to before. It can be pretty intimidating. Especially if you are going in through those doors alone.

This past Sunday, that is the exact experience I had. It's been a long time since I have attended a church service, and for me I was in half the mind to not even go because of course, I was running late. As if it wasn't already going to feel weird enough, I had to add on that extra pressure of walking in 5-10 minutes late. 

But it ended up being worth it. My daughter is 5 and she loves going to church, so no matter what I had to be sure that we actually went because this was something she wanted to go do, and who am I to hold my child back from wanting to get to know God better? Especially when I am the one who has been teaching her about him.

So there we were, getting out of our car and immediately I notice a few other people making their way into the service; which of course made me feel a little bit better. I got my daughter checked in to her kids service in the smaller building to the left of the main building and then I made the scary walk over to those double doors. Anyone who has ever been late to a church service knows what this exact moment is like. As soon as you open those doors, everyone in the room turns to look at you (for those who haven't ever been to a church, just think of a time when you were late to a high school or college class). It's like having a spotlight over your head that says, "Yes, I am the one who just couldn't manage to resist hitting that snooze button a few extra times this morning."

Anyways, the church we went to actually ended up having a really relaxed environment and the people there were all pretty welcoming. It's kind of a smaller church. There were maybe 25-30 adults in the 9:00 am adult service. Honestly though, I prefer smaller churches to a larger church any day. When you walk into a large church with hundreds or even thousands of people who attend it, you could end up going years before crossing paths with other people who have been a part of that church family for the same amount of time. To me, larger churches lose their touch with everyone who attends and rely too much on small groups as a way for their members to stay/be connected.

So after attending our first service at One Church, I have to say (maybe a little prematurely) that I think we have found a church that we can feel comfortable at, and even try and get involved in. That's another great thing about smaller churches; they are always trying to find ways to get involved with their communities and build them up so they can get awareness out there.

 This is another thing I am looking for in a church. I want to get involved with making the community I live in a better place, because that is truly where you can start making a difference in this world. 

Photo Credits

Image 1- Today.com

Image 2- The Cripplegate

The Sarahah App

Hey everyone! Today I am just going to be sharing a few things about this new app called Sarahah. If you have a social media account, odds are you have already come across this apps name and have been wondering what it is.

Essentially, you can make a profile in this app and other people (whether they are users of the app or not) can give you anonymous comments and ask you anonymous questions. You do have the option to change your privacy settings so only people who use the app can leave comments, and you can make it so your profile is only available to whoever you choose to share it with. 

However, having said that, this app sounds like a terrible idea. In reality the only reason you would use this app is in the hopes that people will leave you anonymous compliments (do you really need the empty flattery?) or so people can ask you questions about your life. (Because who doesn't enjoy informing people they don't know about themselves? That doesn't sound like your inviting stalkers into your life for no reason other than to have someone to talk to.) 

On another note, you are more likely to get negative comments than positive ones. Is this guessing on my part? Yes it is. But seriously people, this is the internet we are talking about. Why open yourself up to the potential to be cyber bullied? Do you really need anyone else's voice in your head telling you that you aren't good enough as you go to sleep at night? To me this app just seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth and if you are a parent I urge you to stop your kids from making a profile with sarahah. The last thing you will want is people who do or don't personally know your child leaving them comments that could potentially rip their self esteem to shreds. 

If you would like to read a few other articles about the app then click the links below:

NDTV

USA Today

ABC7 News

Photo Credits

Image 1- Z News

Image 2- The Indian Express

A Modern Day Romeo & Juliet

If you have a deep passion for music and a love for depressing romantic stories, then I encourage you to listen to the album, Broken Bride by Ludo.

This album is one of the most heart wrenching combinations of a story told through a series of songs that I have ever come across. There are only 5 songs total in this album and it will take you roughly 30 minutes to listen to all of them (that is, if you aren't constantly stopping to grab some more tissue).

The love story told through the songs is about a guy who lost the love of his life one morning in May due to a fatal car crash. He ends up building a time machine so he can go back and save her; but every time he goes back she ends up dying anyways/different ways. The time machine ends up malfunctioning during one of his ventures and he crash lands in apocalyptic times. While he is fixing his machine, he sees how chaotic the world has become and how much everyone is suffering. He ends up using his time machine to crash into/vanquish the dragon (aka Lucifer); thereby destroying his ability to get back to his time. Then comes a part where he is communing with the angels and they let him choose one thing as thanks for destroying the dragon. He chooses to go back to the morning in May when his broken bride died in that crash so he can say goodbye to her. Since he knows that no matter what he does she will end up dying anyways, he decides to get into the car with her so they can both die in the crash and go into the afterlife together.

Now I don't know about all of you, but I sincerely believe with some more songs added and a script (that I would be more than happy to have a hand in writing if the band is reading this), this album could be adapted into an extremely successful Broadway Musical. It is truly a modern day Romeo and Juliet and deserves to be heard and recognized by the world for the masterpiece it is.

Photo Credits

Image 1- Youtube

Image 2- Deviant Art

Link to the entire album on youtube is below

Broken Bride-Ludo

Understanding Perseverance

Oh, the crushing weight we feel from failures sting

Watching others fly as we nurse our broken wing

Now lost as we ponder what a new day shall bring

Amidst the mist of despair a moment of clarity will arise

Revealing the missed target was not our actual demise

Twas just the chance of new opportunity we must learn to recognize

Following the signs leading to this new trail

We acknowledge failure as a momentary derail

Necessary in discovering how we are to truly prevail

Top 3 Fantasy Book Series

The First Book Series I want to start with, is actually a Trilogy. However, the author Anne Bishop, actually went on to write more books that tie to the characters from the original trilogy.

The Black Jewels Trilogy is honestly one of the most enticing, creative, and beautiful world I have come across so far in my life (and that is saying something since I read the first book when I was 12 and I am now very close to turning 24). These three books are dark and sensual (so beware if that is not your thing). The entire Trilogy and the other books to go with it take place in three realms that are all connected. You will come across people with magic being used in a way I have never seen it used before, dragons, unicorns, queens, priestesses, etc. If you are into Fantasy, then these books are perfect to add to your reading list. (I truly hope that these books are one day made into movies or even a TV show.)

The two pictures above are just a couple of the books that have stemmed from the trilogy.

The next book series on our list of Top 3 is Harry Potter. There are a few books that have stemmed from this series as well, but I find them to be nothing compared to the original 7 books. I'm sure most of you have heard the name Harry Potter at this point in your life, because it has become more than a book series to many of the people who have read it. There is a website that was made by the author, where you (the reader) can join the school Hogwarts from the books, countless fan made stories have stemmed from the wizarding world in these books, apparel and many other things you can by that are from the world in these books, and even theme parks that recreate places from this series. If you have yet to jump on the Harry Potter bandwagon, then my only question for you at this point is; What are you waiting for?

Last but not least, let us talk about the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Now this series is exciting in a few ways. One, there is a show that has stemmed from these books, called Game of Thrones (you can find the show on HBO). Two, the last book has yet to be released because it is still being written. Three, not only is the world in these books amazing, but you literally fall in love with the characters just to watch many of them die. I am still slowly making my way through this book series, but I urge you to take the time to read them, especially if you are watching the show. There are so many things the show doesn't fully dive into that the books have to offer. There are even characters that I feel are important to the story line that the show hasn't introduced. 

Photo Credits:

Image 1- Epic Fantasy Books Blog

Image 2 & 3- Amazon

Image 4- Wiki Book Club

Image 5- Booktopia Blog

The Man Upstairs

Brandon was sitting in the living room playing Modern Warfare 2 on his Xbox360, just as he did on any average day after getting home from school. It was just him and his dog Athena in the house; another thing that was normal these days since his mom was a lawyer and usually worked late. He was laughing with his friends online as they made fun of this noob who clearly didn't understand anything about the game, when Athena started barking.
Taking off his headphones, Brandon got up to walk over to the front door to see if someone was there, but no one was. So he went to the back door to let Athena out, thinking that maybe she just needed to pee. While he waited for her to do her business, he grabbed himself a cup of water. While filling up the cup he heard what sounded like the house settling. It had been doing that a lot the last few days; especially the attic area and his moms room, which were directly above the living room.
After letting Athena back in, he went and sat back down on the couch. Just as he was about to put his headphones back on, he heard heavy footsteps coming from his moms room, immediately followed by Athena running up the stairs barking.
Knowing it was too early for his mom to be home, Brandon grabbed a knife from the kitchen just as Athena raced back downstairs, barked a few more times, and then back up the stairs as if she was beckoning him to follow her.  Heart thumping in his chest, he quietly made his way up the stairs towards his moms room. Turning the knob slowly, he prepared to lunge on the unsuspecting intruder; but when he opened the door, no one was there. He closed the door and quickly checked the rest of the rooms upstairs, but the coast was clear. Turning to head downstairs he noticed Athena was just letting out a quiet whine while just sitting, staring at his moms bedroom door. Knowing there was no one inside, he told her to hush and went back downstairs to get back on his game.

...

Brandon got off the school bus at his stop and began walking the rest of the way home. All of his friends had plans today so he was forced to go home and face whatever lay in store for him. For weeks now he had been hearing those heavy footsteps walk back and forth in his moms room. Occasionally there would be the sound of the doorknob being rattled as if someone was having trouble opening it. Every time he had checked though, there was no one in the house. He had started trying the method of just ignoring Athena's barking and the sounds coming from upstairs, by leaving his headphones on while he played his games until his mom came home. So far this had been working perfectly and he saw no reason to stray from this new routine.
When he got inside, Brandon noticed a note from his mom stating that Athena was in her crate upstairs (in his moms bedroom), and under no circumstances was he to let her out. Apparently she had chewed up one of his moms pairs of expensive heels. Not wanting to go anywhere near his moms room anyways, he went over to the freezer to grab a couple of hot pockets; since the note had also stated that his mom would be later than usual tonight and he was on his own for dinner.
Just as the microwave beeped, Athena started to bark and growl as the sound of the footsteps began. For a moment, he wondered if he should go up there and rescue her from her "time out" in the cage, but he quickly dismissed the idea at the thought of having to actually enter that room in order to accomplish the task. Turning on his console and grabbing his headphones, controller, and food, he headed over to his usual spot on the couch. Right as he sat down, he heard a sound that made him stop dead in his tracks.
Athena had stopped barking and had begun whining as the footsteps now accompanied the sound of her crate being dragged along the floor of his moms bedroom. Brandon listened in utter horror as the cage went from one side of the room to the other, just to repeat on an endless cycle. Refusing to give into his instincts and flee the house, he stubbornly sat down and began playing Call of Duty online to drown out the noise.

...

It was a Sunday night and Brandon was finally laying down to go to sleep at around 2 in the morning. His mom had gone to sleep hours ago watching a movie on the couch after having spent the whole day cleaning the house. Feeling much more at ease knowing she was in the room right next to him, sleep did not elude him for long.
He began to have the most curious dream. He could feel himself lifting slowly out of his body as it lay asleep on the bed. Looking down he watched as someone else, or some thing tried to enter his body below. Then he suddenly slammed back into his body and woke up drenched in sweat. Shivering he looked at the time to see it was 3:30 in the morning. Not wanting to fall back asleep he stayed up watching movies while chatting with people online.
The next day at school was long and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open during classes. When it was finally over he tried to see if any of his friends wanted to hang out, since he didn't want to go home until closer to when his mom would be there. But all of his friends had things they needed to do today, so he was forced to go straight home. When he walked in the door he was happy to see that Athena was downstairs and not stuck in her crate again today (something that was becoming a bit of a habit for his mom to do).
His relief at seeing her out of the crate was short lived though; for not even 1 minute after coming inside the house, the heavy footsteps began to pace. Athena began to bark, racing up and down the stairs as the footsteps turned into angry stomps that stopped abruptly as they reached the door. Brandon watched as the doorknob began to rattle and then slowly start to turn. Athena stayed at the bottom of the stairs now as she barked. The door to his moms bedroom began to creep open and this was the point when Brandon decided he'd had too much. Running back outside and slamming the door shut behind him, he waited out on the curb with his backpack still on his back until his mom came home from work.


Writer's Note: This is an adaptation of an experience submitted to me by one of my viewers. If you have an experience you would like to submit, my e-mail address is crystal.k.18@gmail.com (please be sure to write Submission in the subject). If you enjoyed this story and would like to see more of them, hit that like button and hit that share button. I would love to hear any comments you all have about this. If you are new to the page, don't forget to hit that follow button or enter your e-mail in the top right hand corner of the blog to subscribe to new posts.

Photo Credit goes to the blog Must Be This Tall To Ride

If you like creepy stories here are a couple of links of interest
The Ghost Upstairs-by MBTTTR
66 Paranormal Stories-Video

Submit An Experience

My apologies to my readers for the pause in my posts. I have been working on collecting some experiences from some of my readers so I can turn them into short stories. These short stories will be based on the experiences submitted, but of course will have some added embellishments, alterations to the names of the people involved in the experience, etc. 

If you are interested in having an experience you've gone through turned into a short story, please feel free to send it to me at my e-mail address which I will include at the end of this post. 

I will accept any type of experience; paranormal, an encounter with a stranger at a store, an infestation of some sort, etc. Really, the sky is the limit with what you submit. These submissions will be completely anonymous when I release the short stories. Also, please keep in mind that just because you submit an experience, it does not mean that I will automatically use it. 

I am just trying to use this as 

1. A way to interact with my readers/viewers

and

2. A way to challenge my own writing

When submitting your experience, please include the words Anonymous Submission in the Subject line.

So without further ado

My e-mail address is: crystal.k.18@gmail.com

Follow Me

When your lost and alone

When your world turns to stone

Just follow me down to the sea

Away from the world's insanity

When it comes in the night

When you've no strength to fight

Just follow me to nature's bed

Where you may rest your weary head

When your outside of the crowd

When your feeling close to the ground

Just follow me to the mountains peak

Where you will feel anything but weak

When the pressure is too much to bare

When you've had more than your fair share

Just follow me to gaze at the stars

Far from all your earthly scars

When you feel yourself bend

When it's all come to an end

Just follow me to heavens gates

Where eternal love and peace awaits

Photo Credit goes to pinterest 

How To Organize Your Novel's Outline

Trying to organize your plot points, world building, and character development can be pretty tough when writing your first novel. So today I want to share with you all the way I have finally found that works for me. It's kind of an old school method to be honest, but I find that if I use my computer or any other device as my novel planning platform, then my novel isn't "in my face" as much as I need it to be to continue coming up with ideas and stay committed to my story long enough to write it.

Well, here is my secret weapon below

That's right, its a pin board. You would be surprised how much a simple pin board and some sticky notes have helped me so far. On my left hand side of the board I have my gods and goddesses; what they represent, what they look like, what their story is, etc. In the middle of the board I have my first 4 books of the series and their major plot points. Finally on the right hand side is my world building and character development section.

Now obviously as you start adding more ideas to your pin board, it will start to look more like the picture above. Once you fill up the board, I would advise typing all of the ideas that you are completed with out, and keeping the ones you are still adding to or developing on the board.  

This method may not be for everyone, but for someone like me it has truly helped.

 Keep the board in  the room you spend the most time in at home so you can easily add ideas as they come to you (or in some instances pull ideas from the board because you thought of better ones). There may even come a time when you just pull the board off the wall and end up bringing it from room to room with you while you clean, get ready, watch tv, etc.  

I hope this helps some of you to be able to break out of any writers block or even to just think outside of the box more with the way you plan out your novel, short story, or hey maybe even a movie script, (or whatever it is your trying to accomplish).

If you would like to look at more writing tips, check out the links below:

20 Writing Tips from Fiction Authors

David Farland-Story Doctor

Photo Credits

Image 1- Deposit Photos link below

Deposit Photos Website

Image 2- Seasoned & Agile (blog link below)

Seasoned & Agile

Game Of Thrones Theories

With only three days left before the new season comes out, let's take a moment to look at some of the major theories circulating about what is to come in season 7 and season 8 of Game of Thrones.

We will start with my favorite character in the show Daenerys Targaryan (Khaleesi), the unburnt, the mother of dragons, breaker of chains.

First off, we know from the end of last season that she is going to be looking to forge an alliance through marriage. However, it is unlikely that she will actually get married in the upcoming season. Their are really only two eligible bachelors for her to choose from at the moment;

Jaime Lannister (who Cersei would never permit to marry Daenerys)

and

Jon Snow.

Another thing we know from last season, is that the Queen of thorns (Olenna Tyrell) has the  

ability to cut supplies to King's Landing off; and now, with her family being dead she will surely seek her revenge for there is nothing to hold her back from doing so. By starving the people of King's Landing she can weaken them enough for Daenerys to come and make an attack (the battle hinted at in the trailer for season 7).

Now, let's move on to Tyrion Lannister. Should we even be calling him that? Many believe he is actually a Targaryan. Here are the clues used to come to that conclusion. Like Jon snow, Tyrion was always an outcast in his family; maybe that is why they formed a small bond in their few but meaningful interactions (or was it because they are actually blood?).  Tyrion also has the same hair color as Targaryans. Tywin Lannister's last words to Tyrion were that he was no son of his. Was this just another attempt to shame Tyrion? Or did he know that Tyrion wasn't his son? Let us not forget that The Mad King, Aegis Targaryan was completely infatuated with Joanna Lannister (Tywin's wife).

If Tyrion truly is a Targaryan, then this would provide an answer to another theory, that Jaime Lannister can be the only brother of Cersei's to fulfill the final part of the prophecy given to her as a young girl. (Jaime will be the one to kill her.)

There is also a theory going around that Syrio Forel is still alive and that he is one of the faceless men. As we know from the first season, Syrio is from Bravos just like the faceless men; however, as much as I wish this theory to be true, I highly doubt that we will see Syrio again.    

Lastly, my favorite theory, Bran is actually the Knight King. The three eyed raven told Bran, "You will never walk again, but you will fly." Many believe that this means he will learn to fly through time. We have already seen him begin to travel to the past and in these moments he has proven to not just be a spectator to the events taking place. Examples: For a moment, the younger Hodor saw him, his father heard him, and the Knight King not only saw him, but also grabbed his arm.

So essentially the theory goes like this, Bran could be the other Brandon Stark from all of the stories nans tells him, he is the voices the Mad King hears telling him to burn all the white walkers, and he is Bran the builder (the builder of winterfell and the wall). The theory ends with Bran eventually going back in time to when the children of the forest create the Knight King so he can try to stop them. But he will have forgotten something important about that time period; the children of the forest were at war with the first men. Because of this, when they see him they wont recognize him and will decide to use him to create the Knight King. Though, if this theory is correct, then Bran will have to be killed by none other than his brother Jon Snow.

I hope you all enjoyed these theories. Below is a couple of links that will take you to the trailer for season 7 and a couple of videos that talk about more Game of Thrones theories.

 Season 7 Trailer

Game Of Thrones Theories

White Walker King Theory

Photo Credits

Image 1-Wallpaper Cave

Images 2, 4, & 6-Game of Thrones Wiki Fandom Page

Image 3-The Daily Beast

Image 5-The Comic Vine 

Naming your Gods and Goddesses for your World

Naming a character for your book can feel a lot like coming up with a name for your child. The pressure to name them appropriately can feel slightly overwhelming, especially if you are working on your first novel like I am. 

Well the other night I spent hours (no I'm not kidding) coming up with completely unique names for the 5 gods and goddesses of the world my series will take place in. If any of you are like me, and are completely unsatisfied with using names that already exist in other books, shows, mythology, etc. I want to share the process of how I came up with these 5 names.

I took the characteristics of my gods and goddesses and found names from all corners of the world that resonated with these characteristics and then I would find a fun way to combine them into one name.

Example: For my god of strength and wisdom i combined two names

Kenzo- a Japanese name for strength and health

and 

Kenzie- a unisex Scottish name meaning, "wise leader"

When I combined them together I ended up with the name Kenzio.

But let's be honest, that was an easy one to come up with. 

Now for one of the more difficult/creative ones.

The goddess of wind, water, and light.

I combined three names for this one.

Ziv- hebrew for the radiance or light of God

Aysu- turkish, meaning moon water

Aura- latin, meaning air, breeze, and wind

When combined together, I created Zivaysra.

You will notice with this one that it all came down to a play with the sounds in the three names that best suited each other. 

In total my 5 gods and goddesses came out looking like this:

Vulricus (vul-reek-us)- the god of power, fire, and darkness.

Ishvenkosh (the first h is silent, pronounced ees-ven-kosh)- the goddess of creation

Kenzio (ken-zee-o)- the god of strength and wisdom

Keshoria (kae-shore-ee-uh)- the goddess of death, life, and time

Zivaysra (ziv-ace-sruh)- the goddess of wind, water, and light

Obviously when combined, not all these names make sense in our world, but that is perfectly okay, because at the end of the day they are only supposed to make sense in the world I am creating.

Photo credit goes to the tumblr blog beautiful-minds-alike

She also has a list of gods and goddesses in the post this picture is included in, so for those of you who are interested, the link to that page is below

http://tinyical.com/18So

The Cry For War

We humans can never ignore the cry for war

Always caused by greed, power, and land on some other shore

Never ceasing to be fought by a countries endless supply of the poor

Though who cares, as long as we get what we came for

The ones who are left in the end to cry are always our mothers

So many of our young who will never experience having lovers

Too soon does society forget all our fallen brothers

Forever ignoring the warnings of our war seasoned fathers

Does the history of the world teach us nothing at all

Other than the glory that comes in an army that stands tall

Just remember every empire eventually reaches it's downfall

No matter how high they try to build their fortresses wall

Alas, these words will still fall prey on deaf ears

For those at the top will continue to play on our fears

By giving purpose behind all of our bloodstained tears

Perhaps we will finally learn the truth in future years

Photo credit goes to the website Gold is Money

link to the exact page below

http://www.goldismoney2.com/threads/us-nearly-detonated-atomic-bomb-over-north-carolina-%E2%80%93-secret-document.52496/

For anyone who is looking for an anti-war website, the link below will take you to the mission page of one
http://tinyical.com/16nB

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge-Who Moved My Cheese?

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson is truly worth taking the time to read.

It's an extremely short book, which will only take around an hour for you to finish, but the information inside the book will last a lifetime. After reading it I immediately recommended it to a few people with the short description of, "It's essentially a self-help book disguised as a short story."

I know, I know, your thinking to yourself that the last thing you want to read is a self-help book, but I promise you it will make you crack a numerous amount of smiles as you make your way through the pages. There may even be moments where you will laugh at yourself as you see how you have acted like certain characters in the story.

There are a total of four characters in the story and each of them represents a different way that we react to changes in life. With each character we see the little things we do that prohibit our ability to cope with change and adapt to it. The change in the book can represent any type of change in your life; financial, professional, relationships, etc.

Who Moved My Cheese? was truly unlike any other book I've ever encountered and I strongly recommend reading it and passing it along to others to benefit from.

For those of you who are looking for the complete list of books in the challenge, click the link below

http://tinyical.com/17PJ

Image 1 photo credit goes to buzzfeed

Image 2 photo credit goes to Google Books

Just a Quick Thank You To All Of My Readers

As someone who has always wanted to reach people through writing, I never actually expected my blog to reach as far as it has. I was genuinely surprised when I checked my stats and saw that I had people viewing my blog from another country across the seas. Now, having been viewed in 5 countries total, I am almost exploding with excitement.
To all of my friends and family that are helping by sharing my posts, I want to thank you for the dedication and love you are showing me.
To all of my viewers in other countries, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read my short stories, thoughts/views, and poems.
You all are truly motivating me in more ways than you know. Not only have I been blogging more frequently than I ever have in the past; I am also putting more time and effort into trying to finish an outline for a book series that my husband and I came up with. I will give little sneak peaks from time to time for those who are interested, and I will also do a few posts here and there as to how I went about with character development, creating the world the books will take place in, etc.
Again, thank you to all my viewers. If you like my blog hit that follow button, or even if you just like a single post, please don't forget to hit the like button and share.

Photo credit goes to none other than me, myself, and I. 

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge-Gone With The Wind

About a year ago I started the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge. For those of you who have never heard of it; its a challenge to read 339 books that were all referenced in the popular show, The Gilmore Girls. This show was one of my favorites growing up. It was where I learned to have a healthy amount of sarcasm, humor, and even where I got the name I later gave to my daughter Loralai. 

Friends and family all pitched in together and helped to obtain a good chunk of the books I would need in order to start making my way through this long list of books. There are quite a few I had already read on the list, but me always loving a good challenge decided I would even re-read the books I should already be able to cross off the list. (Silly me right?) I have a healthy appetite for reading, but being a mother and a wife, I don't have the same amount of time to devote to reading as I did in my youth. 

Well anyways, the first time I read Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell I was in my mid teens and it quickly became one of my favorite books even though I didn't pick it back up again until a short time ago. As I made my way through the almost 1,000 page book I realized how much had skipped my notice the first time I read it. This book truly is a masterpiece and anyone who views it as only a love story is just kidding themselves. There are so many times where Margaret took the time to paint a picture for her readers about how hard life was in the South during the civil war and reconstruction. There are so many times where I put the book down and looked up at my husband and asked him if certain things that were taking place in the story had actually taken place in real life. Things that we hadn't even learned about in our American History classes all through K-12. 

When I was done reading this beautifully written novel, I decided that I would take the time to watch the almost 4 hour long movie I had heard praised throughout my life. Unfortunately, I was to be extremely disappointed. I expected the movie to leave out many of the smaller details, because let's be honest, a movie never does the book proper justice. But this was just too much to bear. So many things happened too quickly in the movie, the timeline was utterly wrong in some areas, and even two of Scarlet's children were left out of the movie. Though even all of this I could have looked the other way on if they hadn't completely ruined one of my favorite characters in the book. Rhett Butler was not made out to be the scoundrel, the scallywag, the complete ungentlemenlike man that he was in the book. They never showed how much the town/society truly hated him, despised him, but yet had to endure him because of the times that he helped them out. It completely ruined the movie for me and therefore I will never recommend anyone watch it if they truly love the book.

The link below will take you to the complete list of books in the challenge
http://tinyical.com/17SR

Image 1 credit goes to buzzfeed

Image 2 credit goes to Goodreads

Image 3 credit goes to IMDb