Creative Activities, Contests, and the County Fair

Hey, everybody!

Summer is always a busy time for me. In the last few weeks:

-I wrote a Wild West retelling of "Rumplestiltskin" and won a writing contest! My story will be published in an ebook collection. I will give more details once it's out.

-I applied for several scholarships.

-I participated in our County Fair, winning several ribbons in photography and art. 

-I started a personal exercise program, and stuck to it (so far). My secret weapon is audio books-- I can only listen to them while I'm riding my bike, walking the dog, etc.

-I read plenty of books (currently reading Firebird, by Kathy Tyers).

-I wrote a couple thousand more words in my steampunk/fantasy novel.

-I did a digital painting for a contest hosted by the Paper Wings Podcast. You can vote for me! I would greatly appreciate it if you went to this link and clicked "like" on the sidebar. That's it. The entry with the most "likes" in each category will win a Wacom Intuos tablet. The Grand Prize of all the entries will get a live critique of their work with the hosts of the podcast, Disney artist Chris Oatley and Lora Innes, creator of the webcomic "The Dreamer," of which I'm a big fan. Voting is only open for one week!

Some Autumn Poetry

I tend to write more poetry in the spring and fall than during any other time of the year. Here are some of the songs and poems that I came up with these past couple of months.

Dancing
Let go
Spin away from the others
Let them follow
Together twirling
To the rhythm of the wind.
Pirouette with me
A whirling cyclone
Faster
Faster
Sail along the ground
Never touching it
Until...
The wind slows
     and drifts away
My friends whisper farewell
     and settle down to sleep
Only I remain
     carried by the echoes
Far from the tree
from which I fell.


Untitled
Jumbled thoughts
can steal the day
When your mind is lost
Imagination will play
But it won't get you anywhere
Until you let go
Of the thought of controlling air
And follow the flow...

chorus:
Soar with the butterflies
Through the ever-changing skies
Drop down sparks of inspiration
The world needs to catch some imagination.

A bit of fun
can banish the pain
When your heart is broken
See the sun through the rain
You can get about anywhere
If you let go
Of the thought of controlling air
And follow the flow...

When one spark finds a home
      in an open hand
When a free and roaming
      wandering band
With a shout the rising sound
      will command
A movement beyond that which you
      can imagine...

(chorus)

Follow the flow
Let the air currents hold you
The stars all aglow
Let the melody mold you

Soar with the butterflies
Through the ever-changing skies
Drop down sparks of inspiration
And the whole world will catch some
Imagination.



I wrote this last one while we were driving through Illinois farmland, and thinking about our own family's farm back home, as the soybeans were getting harvested. (I'll put some pictures of the harvest on my photo blog as soon as I get a chance)

Harvest Song
Flat, flat farmland
Stretchin' to tomorrow
The beans are gettin' combined
I know that this land is mine
The dirt is turned
The sky is clear
No rain until next week I hear
Gotta get the crops in store
I only got one field more
And I'll be ready for winter's roar.

Snapshots of My Autumn Life

A tree fell on our house a few days ago. The wind was pretty strong that day, and we didn't know it, but the limb was rotten. It made quite a clatter. I thought the cats had gotten into the dishes and broken a few, but alas, it was our maple. And I wanted to build a treehouse in that tree! I guess it's a good thing I didn't. (We made a movie instead.) The tree guys came and chopped it all up and put it through the TREE SHREDDER! *wince* Terrible. Just terrible. And they didn't stop there! Oh no, they had to cut down two other trees near our house! Of course, those were dead already, but I feel like we're losing trees right and left. Last time a storm came through we lost Gandalf and part of Treebeard (now he looks ever so much more like a real Ent).

Anyway, that's the pain of autumn storms.

A few nights ago was the first frost, so we raced down to the garden after dark to save the food! We covered my dad's (GIANT) pumpkins with cozy quilts and I picked my herbs. My dad also had a ton of tomatoes, so we filled two whole boxes of 'em and brought them indoors for safekeeping, a.k.a. canning. My mom has been busy making pizza sauce and salsa. And tonight we had sausage tortellini soup with fresh tomatoes and basil and parsley. Mmmm... perfect for cold weather!

I felt like taking a nap this afternoon, but when I climbed up my ladder to my loft bed, this is the sight that greeted me. Five innocent* cats had already claimed my bed, and there was no room left for me. So I was forced to lay on the couch instead. I know, I'm hopeless. I can't even fight off snoozing cats for my rightful place.

*Sarcasm.

The muted colors of early autumn...

And last but not least, a makeshift cover I created for my upcoming Christian fantasy/sci-fi novel, Bluewillow, that I'm going to write for NaNoWriMo. More on this soon!

Spring Song #2

Spring Song 2

It's fun to watch snow

melt

melt

m

    e

l

   t

down, down

into the ground

like a shrinking island

like Atlantis

like a vanishing cloud

poof

poof

plop.

The snow is no more

I can't wait to see

what spring has

in store.

more

puddles?

plop

plop

SPLAT.

Snow is wetter

on days

no better

than a haze

of clouds.

melt

melt

m

    e

l

    t

down, down

into the ground.

Tiny stranded islands

like white white sands

soon they will 

melt

melt

m

    e

l

   t

down, down

into the ground

icicles fall

and hit people

on the 

head-

like that

plink

plink

-smack-

The sun laughs at me

I jump over a snowdrift

it will

melt

melt

m

    e

l

   t

down, down

into the ground

where the gophers dig

where the worms hum

where life

stirs

stirs

stirs...