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Subplots and Storylines – April 2017

Tracey Dyck 30 Comments

Hello hello, adventurous questers! My apologies for being late again. Hopefully once college is over in a few weeks I’ll get back to being a prompt blogger again.

Life Adventures

How was your April? Mine went quite well. It started with spring break, which ended up being not very break-ish and rather full of work and social things. But I did manage to get my flight to Realm Makers booked! I’ve never booked a flight before, and since things just weren’t working out properly on my end, I got the help of a travel agent. Maybe it was overkill, but I wanted to get it right. But my goodness, why is it so expensive to hop on a plane and travel a few inches across a map? (Yes, I am a new adult clinging to her delusions as to how money and the world should work, why do you ask?) But regardless of the price, I’m very happy to have that in place!

What else happened, let me think . . .

Some college classmates and I were filmed for a year-end video. #bittersweet

I took an exam, which I think I passed.

Easter happened, and it was lovely.

But the highlight of the month was my class’s trip to Calgary, Alberta! On our first full day in Alberta, we visited Banff and hiked Johnston Canyon. Those mountains are food for my soul, I tell you. The trail was gorgeous, although mostly covered in ice and snow that made navigating inclines rather . . . challenging, especially for those of us wearing fashionable shoes with zero tread. Thankfully my runners (or sneakers, as you Americans call them) had some grip, but I still went slip-sliding all over the place. By the time I reached the bottom of the trail again, I could feel every muscle in my legs. But it was so much fun!

a glimpse of the Rockies on the cloudy drive to Banff

Johnston Canyon
me at Johnston Canyon

more of the canyon

a frozen waterfall in the canyon

 
me and my bro

Banff in all its quaintness

walking through Banff with college friends

One of the main reasons we were in Calgary was to visit a church, so on the second day we got to help out a church picnic. I enjoyed meeting lots of people and making this outreach event possible. Calgary is a city of constant change, and the average person doesn’t live there longer than a couple years. Folks commonly have trouble making friends, so it’s awesome to see relationships forming in a church setting.

After the picnic, some friends and I went to a movie. Because half my group didn’t have money for the c-train, we ended up walking forty minutes in the rain to our hotel afterwards.

On the Sunday we were there, we served in church, which was an amazing experience. I was placed in an area where I had little experience. Even though I made frequent mistakes, I was able to laugh at myself, learn on the fly, and move on–something I wouldn’t have done at the beginning of the school year!

Overall, I had a blast, and I’m sad to see the college year coming to a rapid close.

Screen Adventures

Once Upon a Time, portions of seasons 1, 2, and 5
Again, not much new to report here, except that season 5 is . . . *sniffle* . . . very feelsy. You have been warned.

The Flash, part of season 2
I think the episodes I watched this month are some of the best in the entire show so far! The reasons why are very spoilery, so if you haven’t watched The Flash–DO IT.



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The Lego Batman Movie
Although I didn’t like it as much as The Lego Movie (which had more heart and creativity to it, in my opinion), this was still an entertaining ride. The jokes fly at you a hundred miles an hour, Batman and Robin’s opposite personalities often providing the bulk of them. Plus, the movie was very self-aware and poked plenty of jokes at itself.



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Mulan
Confession: I had never seen this one until now. Never quoted Mushu. Never sang along to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” But I fixed that problem this month! . . . By watching it in probably illegal five-minute video segments on YouTube. Hush, don’t tell anyone. While I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite Disney movie, Mulan herself was an awesome character, Mushu was hilarious, and I can finally see why “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” is so sing-along-able!

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First three episodes of The Musketeers
I watched these on the bus ride with one of my college friends. Love the period costumes, the swords, the horses, and D’Artagnan, but I could do without the bits of sexual content, please.

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Beauty and the Beast (2017)
There’s been a great big hullaballoo over it, yes, and while I was admittedly disappointed in LeFou’s supposed “gay” moments, I loved the movie overall. It was magical! Beautifully filmed and skillfully acted. I wasn’t sure I’d like Emma Watson as Belle, but she grew on me. I love, love, loved the Beast. The wolf scenes were terrifically intense. Maurice was even more lovable than he was in the animated movie. And I was pleased at how closely this film followed the original, while still throwing in some lovely changes.

But since one of those changes was the aforementioned great big hullaballoo, I feel I need to articulate myself on that topic. Am I 100% sure what I think? No. But I can tell you that:

a) I’m disappointed that Disney felt the need to go that direction,
b) even so, it doesn’t seem to be a step in homosexuality’s favor by making the stupidest character in the movie gay,
and c) most of LeFou’s comments weren’t particularly overt, so I’m not sure if I would’ve missed some of them if I hadn’t been on high alert.

That being said, CAN WE STOP FOR A MOMENT AND APPRECIATE THE LIBRARY SCENE? Oh my heart. Honestly, I think this movie made me cry three or four times.

Book Adventures

Storm Siren // Mary Weber

This one’s been on my TBR for a while, thanks to the enthusiasm of its readers! It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did it was enjoyable. Nym was a snarky bundle of pain, and I loved her character arc. Her elemental powers were awesome, too. I also grew to like Eogan quite a bit. I wish their relationship had had a deeper substance to it, something beyond oh bolcranes, he’s handsome and the calming effect he has on her out-of-control powers. But maybe that will come later in the trilogy.

Sadly, I didn’t connect to most of the cast, even the people I was supposed to like. Not until a certain character death did I really begin to care for that person. Oops?

But I do have to congratulate Mary Weber on a unique combination of premise, storyworld, and theme. I LOVED the themes of this book! I won’t even name any of them, because you’ll just have to take Nym’s journey for yourself.

Outriders and Trackers // Kathryn Mackel


I needed books for the bus ride, so I grabbed these two off my shelf. The first one I read and enjoyed several years ago, but the second I’d never gotten around to. So what did I think this time around? Well, Outriders was both better and worse than I remembered, if that’s possible. I appreciated the characters more now, but the writing and backstory felt weaker at some points. I also would’ve liked to connect with characters a little sooner and a little deeper.

But. The premise was very unique, involving a futuristic world ravaged by toxins and radiation from the Endless Wars. The last of Christianity (though it’s never referred to as such) has taken refuge on an Ark beneath the arctic ice. We never see the Ark, since the story follows the birthrighters, teens and young adults sent out from the Ark to build camps and begin the work of restoring the earth to its God-given birthright. Meanwhile, the baddies mistake DNA manipulation for sorcery, and use it to “transmogrify” creatures into armies of giants and grotesque creatures.

Brady and Niki are my favorite characters, although Ajoba, who annoyed me in the first book, grew on me a lot in the second. I just wish there was a third book, because there were several loose ends that the author never tied up.

(One caution, however. I’d recommend these books for roughly 17 or 18 and up, due to references to rape and the villainous Baron Alrod’s penchant for “lollies,” or concubines.)

The DNA of Relationships // Dr. Gary Smalley


Another college read, and perhaps one of my favorites so far! It was easy to read and offered super practical and insightful advice on how to better all my relationships. One thing I learned was the concept of the Fear Dance, describing the vicious cycle of hurt and reactions between people in a relationship conflict. It opened my eyes to the underlying problems I sometimes have with people I know, what my core fears are, and what I can do to change me. While the book focused more on marriage, I’d recommend it to singles and marrieds alike because the principles are so amazing!

Writing Adventures

I did some more Snowflake Method outlining for The Brightest Thread before deciding that the process had helped me as much as it was going to help (for this story, anyways), and called it quits early. Which means I got to start actually writing again on April 9th!

Alas, I had very little time to write this month, so I was able to work through only the first two chapters, adding about 1200 words to the story. For those of you who don’t know, TBT started out as a novella retelling of Sleeping Beauty, which I’m now expanding into a full novel!

Whew, that was a long post. What sort of April adventures did you undertake? Any thoughts on the books and movies I consumed? Ever been to the Rockies?

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Subplots and Storylines – March 2017

Tracey Dyck 20 Comments

According to the saying, March is either a lamb or a lion, but I think this time around it was much more lion than anything else. I mean, yes, the weather exhibited the kind of schizophrenia I expect of March: whiteout conditions one day and a balmy ten degrees Celsius on another. But life was consistently lion-ish.

Life

I gave my third speech in my public speaking class (yay!), met with a friend out from Mexico, went to a fun wedding show with my peeps from the creative ministry (in order to get décor ideas and stay on top of the trends), and went to another Business & Leadership seminar thingie where I learned about the habits of a great leader.

College had an info night, at which I got a chance to share my experience in the program and hopefully convince potential students to attend this fall. That was a great evening–from a spontaneous Olive Garden dinner with classmates, to standing out in the cold drizzle to welcome guests to the event, to the hilarity of cleaning up afterwards amongst laughter and friends.

Other than that, day camp pretty much swallowed up life! Planning and running that camp was my college class’s final project–a chance to put everything we’ve learned about leadership, organization, people skills, public speaking, and relationships to work in an intense environment. We’ve been working on it since the new year, and this week it all came to a head. Sixty-some kids (grades 1-6) showed up for five days of fun.

It was a ton of work, and it meant giving up a lot of my free mornings/evenings/breaks this month. Being in an admin role was a very stretching experience, and I may have melted down once or twice, but I had an incredible safety net of people around me to pick me back up and remind of important truths. I honestly need to post about some of the things I’ve learned through this experience . . .

The camp itself was fantastic! So many precious kids showered me in hugs, giggles, artwork, and homemade bracelets. I loved doing lessons and skits, playing with the kids, and directing my team of fellow students. Waking up at 5:30 am and coming home at 7 pm was exhausting, but so incredibly worth it.

Movies

Still watching and rewatching various Once Upon a Time episodes, as well as going through season 2 of The Flash. There’s not much more to add than what I’ve been saying for the past few months. (What can I say? I watch shows pretty slowly.)

I didn’t watch any movies this month, actually. At least not full movies. I did see the first ten minutes of Transformers: Age of Extinction with a classmate, then had to leave abruptly in an attempt to beat the blizzard home. That was quite the drive.

I also saw the middle third of Trolls during day camp, but missed the beginning and ending. From what I saw, the trolls themselves were cute, but those Bergen creatures were just plain weird. I don’t really have a desire to see the rest of the movie.

Books

Somehow I finished three books this month despite the busyness, so hooray for that!

Winter//Marissa Meyer

Okay, folks, I LOVED this one. I’ve really enjoyed the whole Lunar Chronicles (despite the slight let-down that was Scarlet), but the conclusion? So good! Overall, I’d still say Cress was my favorite book of the series, yet Winter wrapped it all up wonderfully.

A small list of awesomeness:

  • a barrage of problems and obstacles had me thinking “uh oh . . .” on multiple occasions
  • the character interactions positively crackled with depth and sass
  • Winter was such a fascinating POV character, what with her craziness (I adore loopy charries) (some people say she’s an INFJ, which . . . gives me pause, heheh)
  • Cinder + Kai
  • Thorne + Cress
  • seeing Levana lose control and get angry was so satisfying
  • a revolution plot gave the story a dystopian flavor amidst the fairytale elements
  • ALL THE CHARACTER INTERACTIONS (I had to mention it twice because Marissa Meyer is brilliant at this)

The Spirit Contemporary Life: Unleashing the Miraculous in Your Everyday World // Leon Fontaine//(college assignment book)

I’ve heard this pastor speak before, and it was so neat to read about a topic close to his heart. The Spirit Contemporary Life was a really easy read, but don’t mistake the material to be fluff and stuff. It’s challenging, in a good way. It challenged me to get out of my safe little bubble, and to live in a way that attracts people to Jesus.

Rather than some books that make evangelism seem scary and hard, this one reminded me of how natural and amazing it can be when I’m just open to people and open to God! The world is waiting for Christian’s to rise up and live lives full of the Holy Spirit’s power, in a way that’s relevant and understandable to those around them.

Some quotes I loved:

Change always feels strange, even when it places you smack-dab in the middle of God’s will.

Your personal story of how Jesus made a difference in your life is your most powerful tool for sharing the gospel.

Being Spirit Contemporary isn’t about pleasing people so they will like you. It’s about being so confident, strong, and secure in your identity as a child of God that people notice the different in your life and are attracted to you as you direct them to Jesus.




The Shack//William Paul Young

I’m not really sure how I feel about this book. It’s almost like one has to split the book in half when evaluating it: there’s the story, and then there’s the sermon. I’m not interested in adding to the already-muddy waters surrounding this book recently translated to the silver screen, nor am I prepared to do that. Like I said, I didn’t read it studiously at all. It was a quick book I used to unwind between all the rehearsals and day camp prep.

That being said, I do have a few thoughts.

First, the story. The writing is mediocre. The dialogue felt mostly stilted, which is a problem when probably 70% of the book is dialogue. I felt very distant from Mack, the main character, never getting a real chance to hear his thoughts or feel what he felt. The only reason I felt anything was because the concept of one’s daughter being brutally murdered would tug at anyone’s heartstrings. To me, the author missed a chance to dig into the messiness of that kind of pain.

Not only that, but the dialogue of the black woman representing God was inconsistent. Sometimes it was written like it sounds (you know, words like ain’t, or jes’ instead of just), but most of the time there was none of that.

Now for the sermon aspect. Rather than being mostly story with some sermon, it felt like mostly sermon with some story. Some aspects were powerful. Others were heavy-handed and contrived. I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing the rightness or wrongness of the theology, but suffice it to say I fall somewhere between the this-book-is-wonderful-it-changed-my-life camp and the burn-this-sacrilegious-piece-of-heresy-to-ash camp. I don’t agree with either extreme.

Some of the statements this book made could be interpreted multiple ways. Take this, for example. It’s Jesus talking to Mack.

“Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into my brothers and sisters, into my Beloved.”

“Does that mean,” asked Mack, “that all roads will lead to you?”

“Not at all,” smiled Jesus as he reached for the door handle to the shop. “Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.”

That could be taken to mean that the author believes all religions are correct, or it could mean that Christians have come from all those different backgrounds and chosen to follow Christ (which is true). I’m not sure which meaning the author intended, and he didn’t clear that up.

One of the biggest issues I see people debating is whether it’s right for God to be portrayed as a woman. I believe the Bible refers to God as He on purpose. But male and female are both made in God’s image, so He must embody the best masculine and feminine qualities. Again, it’s a little difficult to tell where the author stands on this issue.

However, there were a small handful of things that I found thought-provoking, in a good way.

[Jesus] “If you try to live this without me, without the ongoing dialogue of us sharing this journey together, it will be like trying to walk on the water by yourself. You can’t! And when you try, however well-intentioned, you’re going to sink . . . It’s extremely hard to rescue someone unless they are willing to trust you . . . That’s all I ask of you. When you start to sink, let me rescue you.”

Although this book has made a big impact on some readers, and although I liked a few aspects, I wouldn’t hand it to a new Christian or anybody struggling to figure out their beliefs, and neither do I feel like rereading it. I may see the movie at some point.

Well. I was not intending to write a review, but it looks like I kind of did. Oops!

Writing

It was abysmally quiet on this front, thanks to everything else going on! I worked a little bit more on using the Snowflake Method to plot out The Brightest Thread, and that’s it.

And now for a break . . .

Spring break, that is! I’m so happy to have a week to relax a bit, recover from an annoying cold, read some books, hopefully finish the abovementioned outline, and get back into proper blogging. Thanks for you patience, dear adventurers!

How was your March? Like a lion or a lamb? Do you enjoy working with kids? Have you read any of those books? Tell me about your sundry quests of the month!

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Subplots and Storylines – February 2017

Tracey Dyck 17 Comments

I’M BAAACK!

(I have been hanging on to that gif for months, just waiting for the perfect moment to use it. This is so fulfilling.)
But I’m kind of lying, because I’m only halfway back. Posts are scheduled for March, but depending on how day camp prep goes, I may not be able to reply to comments until that’s all over. Not to fret, I will get to them eventually! And come April, I’ll be back for real. Whew, that sounds like a long time from now. But if the next month explodes just like February exploded, it’ll pass in a flash.

Subplots of a February Variety

I think just about every week was packed. I had a friend over for a slumber party . . . I attended my church’s young adult night (an awesome Valentine’s-themed evening about dating relationships) . . . I was a stagehand for a special Valentine’s skit at church (basically just carried stools off stage and carried an easel back on) . . . the youth group where I volunteer every other week had a winter formal . . . I volunteered at a big indoor carnival for families, which was tons of fun (did you know Canada gets a long weekend in February?) . . . and attended a business/leadership seminar one evening.
College is full of volunteering, but this month had all kinds of extra stuff, it seems.
In other college news, I did a book presentation on The Purpose Driven Church, a project on which I made a few mistakes that I learned a lot from. Such as:
  • The way I manage a personal project is not how I should manage a group project. As the lead, I overestimated my group’s abilities and started too late, causing us to have to compromise on a couple of things.
  • Don’t assume your team can read your mind!
  • Don’t assume they will push themselves as hard as I push myself. I need to encourage and motivate them.
  • Stop and think about the why behind the project. Remember the purpose and the people first; the task is secondary.
Oh, and I received my most exotic letter from a friend EVER–it traveled from Kenya!

February Films



The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (rewatch)

Peterrrrr. Gwennnnn. My poor heart. Watching it a second time didn’t make the ending less sad (or frustrating, considering there won’t be a third movie–thanks, Andrew Garfield). I was also watching it late at night, and was too tired to appreciate the last hour of it.

Once Upon a Time – Seasons 1, 2, and 5

I’m still rewatching season 1 with my siblings, but I started season 2 with my parents, and my sisters and I watched a bit more of season 5. I’m all over the place! But now that I’m in the second season, it’s a lot of fun to have Captain Hook around.

The Flash – Season 2

Watched a bit more of this with the sibs too, and it continues to be amazing! Patty Spivot is one of my favorite female characters ever.

On a side note, I just realized that all three pictures up there mirror each other, and all of them included a blonde female. Ha.

February Reads

I went 25 days without reading a novel. 25 DAYS. I felt a bit lost! But I was reading plenty of nonfiction for school, so that sort of made up for it. (Sort of. Recently I started reading Marissa Meyers’ Winter, which now makes up for it completely. Still love mah fiction.) I didn’t complete a lot of books this month, but you do read slower when you’re taking notes.

The 5 Love Languages Singles Edition // Gary Chapman

I’d heard of the love languages concept before, but it was good to read about it for myself. In case you’re unfamiliar, the basic idea is that everyone receives love in different ways: either through words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, or physical touch. It’s important to recognize how you receive love, and to see how to best give love to others in a “language” they’ll understand.
My whole class took the test, and I confirmed that quality time is my top love language. (Words fell in second–no surprise!)

Self-Improvement 101 and Teamwork 101, both from The Complete 101 Collection // John Maxwell

I’m reading through an eight-book collection of John Maxwell’s core leadership principles, and the two parts I read were both amazing! Very easy to read. The info is so condensed, I know I’ll be rereading chapters as I need them in the future. The best part is, many of the principles I’m learning here are directly applicable to college.

February Writings

Technically, I didn’t write anything this month. But I did make the decision to set aside The Prophet’s Key for the time being, in favor of getting started on the expansion of The Brightest Thread. I had wanted to finish the first draft of TPK completely before switching gears, but I was struggling to get into the right frame of mind. And . . . well, before I explain more . . .
I registered for Realm Makers! Yippee! It’s becoming more and more real. My hotel is booked too, but I’m still watching flight prices and hoping they’ll come down soon. If not, I’ll just have to go for it and buy my ticket. I’m very excited for the learning opportunities a writing conference will bring!
Realm Makers is one reason I switched gears. You remember how I wanted to publish a standalone novel before publishing all the Prophet books? And how that standalone is going to be my Sleeping Beauty retelling? Well, there’s the chance to pitch a complete, ready-to-go manuscript to agents and acquisitions editors at the conference, and I’d really like The Brightest Thread to be ready for that! But if I were to plod along for another few months to finish The Prophet’s Key, I would have precious little time to write an expanded TBT draft and edit it to my satisfaction–and figure out my pitch–before the end of July. Even starting out now, in February, may be cutting it close.
But I want to put my self-imposed deadline out of my mind, and simply focus on enjoying this story. Enjoying the process. I want to get myself back into a healthy writing place. But that’s a post for another day.
In the meantime, what I actually accomplished this month was reading over TBT, both the polished version and the longer first draft, and writing up several pages of notes on what I’d like to expand. There’s still work to do: I want to write out a brand new outline, possibly experimenting with the Snowflake Method, before jumping into the actual writing.
I’m looking forward to it! This is one of my favorite stories I’ve ever written, and it’s exciting to think of how it will grow and change in the near future.

Storylines of Growth

February was definitely a month of growing and learning. Some days were overwhelming, but I’m arming myself with what I need to face March–a month that promises to be even more of a stretch!
What have y’all been up to? Tell me all! And while you’re at it, what are some ways you gear yourselves up for a busy season of life?
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Subplots and Storylines – January 2017

Tracey Dyck 21 Comments

The first 2017 edition of Subplots and Storylines is here! It’s a day later than planned, but January has left me a little breathless. To keep my head (and yours) from spinning, here’s the month in list form.

  • Christmas holidays wrapped up, and college resumed on the 9th.
  • I started officially bullet journaling, and I’m loving it so far! I’m keeping up with it better than with my old planners, plus it’s great for tracking habits. (Future post topic, maybe?)
  • I renewed my passport. Bleeeegh, paperwork.
  • Remember how I was in youth ministry during my first semester? Now I’m in creative ministry! I have discovered what a broad term “creative” is. So far I’ve tidied the warehouse, re-strung lights on garland being packed away with all the Christmas décor, painted signs, brainstormed spring/Easter/Mother’s Day décor, and more.
  • Because of the abovementioned brainstorming, I was asked to join Pinterest. (See, I’m a social media hermit, basically. I intended to wait a good long while to make a Pinterest account, knowing how much of a temptation all those pretty pictures would be when I have productive things to be doing. But alas, my hand has been forced. I’m currently clawing my way out of a black hole of gorgeousness . . .)
  • Skating!
  • A random assortment of new experiences this month, like Skyping in a class because snow kept me home, stepping into a professional recording studio for the first time to help classmates record stuff for a promotional video, and being totally engrossed in a class about how to pitch ideas. (So many things I want to do with that info!)
  • My great-grandma passed away. She left a legacy of love behind, and was more than ready to travel home, so I’m honestly glad for her.
  • My class started working on our final project: a day camp for kids ages 6-12, happening during spring break! Though we’re guided by our teachers, it’s basically our responsibility to organize, plan, and build this camp. Lessons, crafts, outings, décor, everything. I’ve been placed on the admin team, which is stretching me like crazy. But it’s going to be an incredible experience!

movies



Once Upon a Time // 14 episodes
Season 1: four episodes with my parents, six with my siblings. Season 5: Look what was under the Christmas tree! My sisters and I have watched the first four episodes and, um, wow. My mind’s already being blown.
The Flash Season 2 // 5 episodes
Another Christmas gift. SO GOOD. If you like superheroes, fantastic character chemistry, and character development, and you haven’t watched The Flash yet, DO IT.

Pete’s Dragon

This one’s going on the list of favorite movies ever! I’ve never seen the original, so I don’t know how it compares, but this one is the sweet tale of an orphaned boy raised by a dragon in the woods. It’s a beautiful, gently told story that hit me right in the heart. I need an Elliot now.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
After hearing mixed reviews, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Though it was better than I assumed it would be, I’m not sure what my full opinion is. I’m more of a Marvel girl, let’s just get that out of the way right now.

What else do I know for sure? This movie was dark. I skipped the unnecessary bathtub scene. Batman was more cruel than I liked. (I thought he had a no-killing rule, but he goes around brutally killing people and using guns no problem.) I liked Ben Affleck in the Batman role, however. Superman’s human side came out, which was great, though it wasn’t explored as deeply as I was hoping. I think that’s my main bone to pick: the characters, the heart behind the story, got lost behind gunfire and villainous plots.

Speaking of villains, Lex Luthor was one of my favorite parts of the movie. I know, I know, he’s dark and twisted and just plain weird. But Jesse Eisenberg did a great job bringing across a fascinating enemy with a warped view of right and wrong and God.

Oh, I’m also really hoping Wonder Woman gets fleshed out more in her own film. Yes, she’s a kick-butt hero in a genre with few female supers. But I didn’t get to know her. Prior to her action scene, she was the typical, personality-deficient gorgeous woman in a dress.

(Apparently I have more to say about movies that complicate my thoughts than I do about solid, I-love-this movies like Pete’s Dragon. Oops.)

books



Knife // R.J. Anderson

I read this one years ago, enjoyed it, but never continued the series. Last year I won a copy of my own in a giveaway, so I figured it deserved a reread. It was better than I remembered, though the plot was a wee bit thin in places. I thought the story had some interesting things to say about the nature of art and creativity, and how relationships inspire that. Four stars.



The Purpose Driven Church // Rick Warren

Although the cover is outdated, the main thrust of the message (how you can grow a healthy church without compromising the Word) is something a lot of churches need to grab hold of. I’m doing a presentation on this book pretty soon. Four stars.



The Lightning Thief // Rick Riordan

One of my sisters picked this out for me, and I’m glad she did! I’ve been meaning to read the Percy Jackson books for a long time, but she gave me the push I needed. What a fun story. Percy’s sass is A+, and I enjoyed how Greek mythology was woven into an urban setting. I did predict one of the twists, but overall, this was a five star book. I’ll be continuing the series!



Blue Lily, Lily Blue // Maggie Stiefvater

Okay. I’m torn again. I loved all the same things I loved in the first two Raven Cycle books: fantabulous characterization and writing that slays me every other sentence with its gorgeousness. But I also disliked all the same things: tarot cards and profanity. (I confess, I did a very reviewer-ish thing, and kept track of the swear words. I wanted to get a handle on whether there really was as much as it felt like, or if I was being hyper-sensitive. There were over 140 swear words or rude references, plus one instance of implied sex. Argh.)

BUT. Tone-wise, I liked this book more than The Dream Thieves. It wasn’t as dark. And Blue + Gansey = YES.

writing

Thanks to free time over the tail end of Christmas holidays, this was my most productive month ever! Well, ever since I started tracking monthly word counts. Compared to last year’s best month of 12k, I wrote 17,000 words this January. Woohoo! I managed to meet my goal of reaching 100k in The Prophet’s Key just in time. Griffins have flown into the story recently, which is fun.
I also did one session of The Creative Way. It was nice to return to it after a long absence. Another highlight was receiving feedback on The Prophet’s Quest from a friend. (So many comments. It’s lovely.)

okay . . . breathe.

If one month can hold so much, I’m excited to see what the rest of 2017 will look like! How was your January, patient questers?
A note about the blogging schedule: I foresee increased busyness with the day camp project and ambitious writing goals. So I’m giving myself permission to miss a few posts in February if necessary. Then the plan is to schedule a boatload of fun tags for March! I don’t like bumping the blog lower down the list of priorities, but I need to keep a healthy amount of brainspace free for other things during the next couple of months. Not to worry, I hope to return to my normal schedule at the end of March, which coincides with Adventure Awaits’ 2nd birthday!
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