Sunday, July 3, 2011

Amy, noun; A girl who loves words.

Some words are just special, I think. They can immediately conjure up images and feelings, the right words can create just the right atmosphere.
There are some words that I absolutely love, and you can create so many wonderful titles and phrases by just combining a few.

I did a few little squiggles the other day when I was working in the shop and feeling kinda bored.



They gave me the idea to do a post about words I love. I've found that if you're trying to come up with a title (like a username, for example) it can be really help to just jot down some words you really like and see what combinations you come up with. 
I had to make a twitter account to join Pinterest and I couldn't think of a username. I employed this method and came up with the name The Quiet Kingdom, which is probably my favourite username that I've ever used. :)

Some word I love;
Kingdom
Empire
Prince
Legend
Brave
Arrow
Courage
Quiet
Enchant / Enchanting / Enchanted / Enchantment
Kaleidoscope
Intertwined
Tangle / Tangled
Sparrow
Fox
Circus
Paper
Sleep  / Sleepy
Silent / Silence
Marionette
Carousel
Uncharted
Halcyon


And some titles using them;

The Tangled Empire
The paper circus
The Brave Sparrow 
Legend of the Sleepy Fox
Silent Circus
Kaleidoscope Heart (Which is the title of a song by Sara Bareilles)
An Uncharted Empire



Also a big, giant, Happy Birthday to my lovely sister Kathryn, who turns 19 today!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

For the love of books, write faster!

Ahem. Yes, anyway, there are a number of books I'm waiting for that come out in the second-half of the year.
Two of them are the conclusion of their series, which is awesome/exciting AND sad/heartbreaking. >_<



 Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
I loved Jessica Day George's Dragon Slippers trilogy, so I am really looking forward to this.
It's been described by the publishers as "a mix of Home Alone and Hogwarts' Room of Requirement.", which sounds awesome!

Available from October 11, 2011.













  The Sending (Obernewtyn, book 7) by Isobelle Carmody.



As much as I love this series, Isobelle Carmody is possibly one of the most frustrating authors I've ever read, simply because you can't trust her release dates as far as you can throw them (which is nowhere, since they don't have any physical mass.)   

And now The Sending, which was meant to be the final book, will actually be the second to last book, with the conclusion to came out at some as-yet-unspecified date. 

The Sending is purported to be coming out November 8, 2011.


Goliath (Book 3 of the Leviathan Trilogy) by Scott Westerfeld


*Squee!* I can't wait for this to come out! I absolutely love the first two books, so I'm super excited!
Not only is it a fantastic story, but it also has incredible illustrations by Keith Thompson.
 But this awesome is mixed with sadness, Goliath is the last book. It all seems to be over too quickly!

Available from September 20, 2011.










                              


Inheritance (The Inheritance Cycle, book 4) by Christopher Paolini


This is the last of the Eragon books, which is a little sad but mostly awesome because I get to know how it ends. woo!


Available from November 8, 2011















 Cold Fire (Spiritwalker, book 2) by Kate Elliott

I got totally hooked on the first book, and it's always a good sign if my hands are glued to a book like they were to Cold Magic.
So I'm definitely looking forward to this sequel. Getting a little impatient, actually.

Available from September 26, 2011. 

Thursday, June 30, 2011

More on polyvore...

Polyvore is one of the best sites to use when you're bored and have access to the internet. Can't afford the clothes to create your dream outfits? No problem; you can drool over them on polyvore and pretend you have them. :P


Admittedly I haven’t been using it quite as much lately (see “In the interest of pinterest”) but it’s a ton of fun and I heartily recommend it!




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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

How many words is a day worth?

Since mid-2008, Kathryn and I have been doing a daily Word of the Day. It's a little project where you take the word of the day supplied by dictionary.com and write something containing that word. There's no set word limit, so it could be anything from a short sentence to an eight page story.
I think Mum originally intended it as an English exercise to improve our vocabulary, spelling, handwriting, and our use of language in general, but it's actually just a lot of fun :)


Some of the words we've had include triskaidekaphobia, halcyon, wunderkind, kismet, irascible, and pecksniffian.

I thought I'd post one of  my stories here, this one is from December last year. It's a little darker and creeper then most of my writing, which is generally much more lighthearted. But Kathryn liked this one, and I was pretty pleased with it, so here you go. 
It's also a little long; sorry!



Liminal \LIM-uh-nl\ , adjective;

1.Relating to the point beyond which a sensation becomes too faint to be experienced.
 
 
The Ash Glades could take days to reach if you didn’t know the way, but for those who did, it could be reached within half an hour.
The temperature began to drop as the healthy pines and oaks thinned, giving way to twisting brambles and creaking, slender trees so grey and lifeless they looked like stone. By the time Luka stopped Ava’s nervous, shuddering breaths were clouding before her face, curling away like ribbons of white smoke.
Ava Trueboat hated the Ash Glades; she could feel the luminal sigh of death brush across her neck, hear the groan and creak of every tree, like a thousand souls trapped in some eternal misery, and she felt the mystery and horror that hung in the air seep in through her toes and fingertips.
“Well, don’t dawdle.” Fear made her snap.
“Keep your pants on,” Luka muttered, unconcerned where Ava was terrified. And that was reason the Headmaster had asked him to do this little errand; Luka knew every twisting turn and narrow path. And he had asked Ava because he knew she wouldn’t let Luka out of her sight; because no-one, no-one who wanted to return whole and sane, went into the Ash Glades alone.
“Here it is.” Luka said, having located their quarry.
And there it was.
Hanging from the bushes’ spindly branches, surrounded by inch long thorns, were Hairy Hearts, their plump beating mass covered in thick dark fur.
“How many did he want?” Ava asked, all the while fighting down nausea.
“Five.” Luka replied shortly. He unscrewed the jar they had taken for the grisly use of storing the hearts. “I don’t suppose there’s any point asking which one of us is going to do this?”
Ava shook her head. In comparison to their grey surroundings, even her ashen tresses shone with colour.
Luka knelt grimly to his task. He grimaced as he took hold of one and twisted until it pulled free. The heart shuddered in his hand as he dispensed it into the jar.
By the third one, Ava had to turn away. She screamed when she felt a hand grip her shoulder.
“It’s just me, Ava.” Luka gave a shaky laugh.
“You’d better cover that up; we don’t want to scare the students.” Ava said, motioning vaguely to the Hairy Hearts.
Luka nodded, slipping it into his backpack. “Let’s get out of here, you look like you’re about to faint, or throw up.”
So do you, Ava could have replied in perfect truth, but she just nodded and followed him out into the normal world, where the ground didn’t smell like death and the sir didn’t taste like ash.



There you have it! Writing is fun, so hop to it!


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Time to break open the piggy bank

Etsy is a wonderful and whimsical place to browse through vintage and handcrafted items. The only problem is that there are too many things to buy; a fact causes me great suffering.

Anywho, I was going to pick a theme (stationary, jewellery, accesories, or something like that) but instead you get some random awesome stuff! woo, random awesome stuff!














Monday, June 27, 2011

In the interest of pinterest...

The internet is a big place, and it's full of awesome stuff, but the question is; how can one person find all that quirky, interesting, beautiful, inspiring stuff on their own?
The answer is, you can't. That's why there's Pinterest , so you can let other people do it for you!
I am slightly (ok, totally, hopelessly) in love with pinterest, and the reason is thus; when I see something I love, (a beautiful image or an inspiring quote, a fantastic bit of art, or something that cracks me up,) I want to save it. Pinterest gives me a way to keep it, look back on it, organise it, and add to it.


Here are just a couple of things I've pinned, but keep in mind there are millions of colourful, unusual, lovely, fantastical images to see.


Source: imgfave.com via Amy on Pinterest






Source: msnbc.msn.com via Amy on Pinterest



Source: google.com via Amy on Pinterest