Elen sila lumenn’ omentielvo — a star shines on the hour of our meeting (depending on what time it is where you live, of course), and I have returned to take part in this marvelous tag created by Hamlette. I discovered it on Kendra’s blog and couldn’t resist taking part (I also love Olivia’s post, especially the aesthetics). If you know anything about me (and you should by now), you know I love Tolkien. He’s my favorite author, LOTR is my favorite book, and I’m known as the Middle-earth expert (aka Quenya, Tengwar, and Elvish history geek) among my friends.
So naturally, I’m doing this tag. 😉
(I’m still mostly active on my other site, but this tag seemed to fit better on my main blog here. I’ll be posting rambles/poetry on when through the woods, and tags here, for the foreseeable future.)
Hello, lovely blog readers! Today I’m participating in Belle Anne’s Meet the Books! linkup, which I found on Sarah @ Sixty-Something Trees‘ blog. Basically this is a way for me to tell you even more about my current project, Remnant.
What is the title?
I think I already said this twice, but… Remnant is the working title. I have a few other ideas but I’m too fond of this one to let it go at the moment. The series title (yes, it will be a series) is the Silver Saga. Previous titles include The Chosen (abandoned when I learned that Chaim Potok had a famous book named this; I didn’t read said — marvelous and deservedly famous — Potok book until last year), Emberhope (channeling my inner S.D. Smith), Keepers of the Past (*cough* Shannon Messenger), and Book Title (my personal favorite).
Tag posts are fun to write, but I have an (irrational?) fear that people don’t like them as much as my other posts.
Since you’re one of these “people,” do you mind telling me? I’d like to know the truth instead of clinging to an assumption that may or may not be true.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are the tags I’ve been tagged for.
the Hamilton book tag
I found this tag at J Long Books; Jaedyn said anyone who loves Hamilton could do it. Since I am doing it, you’ve probably (correctly) assumed that I love Hamilton.
This post is not supposed to be a Hamilton review, but… I have a hard time stopping myself from reviewing things. I’ll be brief.
THEATRE // I love all things musical theatre, and have seen quite a few shows (live and recorded) and participated in dance, acting, and singing lessons. Thus, I know (a little) how hard it is to perform well, and Hamilton is performed very well. The second time I watched it I watched mostly the ensemble, which I encourage everyone to do on their second time through!
WRITING // I also (surprise!) love to write. I consider myself to be fairly good at it (twelve years of practice, six of which were spent consciously trying to improve, helped in that regard). So I advise you to trust me when I say that the writing is marvelous. For example: I’m in the cabinet. I am complicit in
Watching him grabbin’ at power and kiss it
If Washington isn’t gon’ listen
To disciplined dissidents, this is the difference:
This kid is out!
Read that aloud. Can you rhyme as well? I doubt it. (I can’t.)
HISTORY // Hamilton is not completely historically accurate. Basic knowledge of the Revolution/early American history, and access to accurate historical information, is important if you want to fully understand the context and reality of the time period and events portrayed in the musical.
CONTENT // The movie is rated PG-13. It has more profanity than almost any other PG-13 movie I’ve seen. The sexual content is about what you’d expect from that rating. All violence is portrayed via dancing and acting (no blood is actually shown, and gun duels are dramatized). I personally recommend it for ages 15 and up, but please read reviews, talk to your parents (if you live with them), and think carefully before viewing.
That being said, I could easily squeal about this movie all day, and I highly recommend watching it.
Though Isengard be strong and hard, as cold as stone and bare as bone, We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door!
And though the world be messed-up and broken, I go, I go, I go to write this blog post. (See the last flotsam + jetsam here.)
Note: I’m writing this on August 2, but I’m going to schedule it for the 15th 😌 and expect plenty of random emojis because I just discovered how to use them on WordPress. After 1.25 years of blogging. 😂
ALSO! I didn’t post any island living this week, and I might not next week. We’ll see. I absolutely intend to finish it, and to continue to post it on Wednesdays (and other posts on Saturdays), because the schedule has been super helpful, but it won’t be every week.
I spent most of June and July listening to new music. I discovered a lot of songs and artists I never thought I’d like. Here’s a short(ish) list:
turning out // ajr
he is not safe // ross king
addict with a pen // twenty one pilots (content: “addict” + “suicidal”)
homeward // future of forestry
in case you don’t live forever // ben platt
the girl i mean to be // daisy egan
i love betsy // andrew barth feldman (youtube)
dear me // nichole nordman
all you wanna do // aimie atkinson (content: sexual references)
hiding in your hands // mallory bechtel
wander. wonder. // the arcadian wild
forgive us our trespasses // audiomachine
never be alone // shawn mendes
sound + fury // ella mine
grace & mercy // jess ray
peace // taylor swift (content: profanity)
But then I started listening to old playlists. (I was tired of my July playlist.) And remembering all the music I used to love.
correspondence: a fiction // levi the poet (some mature content)
the passing of the elves // howard shore
too good // jess ray (content: mention of drugs + self-harm)
empty chairs at empty tables // gareth gates
this my soul // the gray havens
everything ever 🤣 // andrew peterson
wait for me (reprise) // hadestown
hamilton // lin-manuel miranda (content: profanity, sexual references)
I guess what I’m saying here is, listen to old songs sometimes. Don’t forget the music you used to love. You’ll probably still love it, and even if you don’t, it helped to make you who you are.Read More »
I am burdened with the glorious purpose of posting this tag on my blog…
I was tagged by Mary @ Wild Writing Dreams (thanks, Mary) a while ago, and figured I’d better actually get around to it.
Before I do, though, a warning: I’m on vacation (as of two days ago) and will not be replying to comments/reading other people’s posts/etc. for a couple weeks. I promise I’ll return (probably around the 15th or 20th, depending on various factors)!
Now that we’ve got that out of the way… the tag!
the rules
Feel free to include the above graphic somewhere in your post (but it’s definitely not necessary).
Take the questions and answer them on your blog (or social media or wherever!).
Hello hello, readers, and welcome to (as the title suggests) a post in which I talk about the books I have read so far this year, the books I want to read later, and the fact that despite my grand plans to read 40 works of nonfiction this year, I have yet to read a single one.
Before we start: I wrote this post on June 21; I will have (hopefully) read more books before its publication. (Including some nonfiction?) And, I’m going to relegate rereads to the “honorable mention” category (unless there’s a very good reason not to).
reading stats
books read
total: 77 (+ two in-progress works by friends and about 10 Melanie Dickerson books — more on that later)
library books/borrowed: 47 (that was hard to count!)
ebooks/read on computer: 18
audiobooks/read alouds: 3
DNF: plenty that I will finish (including some I’m currently in the middle of); I don’t think I’m abandoning any
Hello, my friends! I haven’t done a tag in a while, but I saved this one in my email because it looked like lots of fun, and I figured I should probably actually do it someday…
I found this tag on Marie and Nyx’s blog, Drizzle and Hurricane Books, and they left it open for anyone who wanted to do it!
1 // What books or series that intimidate you (because of length, density, subject) would feel like an accomplishment to finish?
Hmm. Well, there are a lot of series that I started when I was younger but never got around to finishing. Two that come to mind are Five Little Peppers and Swallows and Amazons. I don’t know if I’ll ever return to either, but it would definitely be a huge accomplishment to go back to the books I stopped reading and complete the series. (I do want to know what happens to the characters, I just… never found out.)
I also have, for a long time now, been meaning to finish Les Misérables. I really, really want to finish reading it so that I can watch the movie and listen to the musical soundtrack (so far I’ve only heard “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” which is so beautiful).
If only Victor Hugo wasn’t so fond of writing about Waterloo.Read More »
As you can probably tell by the title of this post, I’ve been blogging (on this blog) for a year now. And it’s been such fun.
I started this blog because I wanted to grow my platform as a writer, but I’ve kept it up because I enjoy writing posts, commenting on other people’s posts, and making new friends. (Of course, I do want to grow my platform, but my favorite part of blogging is the community.)
It seems to be conventional to write a long post on a blogging anniversary (traditionally known as a blogiversary. But not here. Here, we use the full and proper term), often with a Q&A. And one must follow convention (but not too closely, hence the lack of a Q&A section).
Tally ho!
(This phrase has many helpful uses, as demonstrated by the Hawke brothers in the Out of Time trilogy by Nadine Brandes.
In this circumstance, it means “I couldn’t think of a good transition here, but now I’m going to actually write this blog post instead of telling you about it.”)
in which I make an announcement unrelated to this post
Last week I launched my site Maya’s Library, a free personalized book recommendation site. You fill out a form and tell me about the kind of books you do and don’t like to read, and I’ll send you a list of stories to add to your TBR. (If you give me permission, I’ll post it in a blog post there too so other people can see it.) Go check it out!
in which I discuss my changing blog design + name
My blog has changed a great deal since I started. But sadly, I didn’t think to take screenshots of its changes. I do, however, still have a lot of the blog headers in my Canva account.
It was originally called “maya’s magic musings: writer. dreamer. daughter of the king.” and I’m still rather fond of that name. The color scheme was completely different, and I think the theme was Dara, so it looked something like this:
obviously the content was different. and the navigation menu. and the sidebar. so basically everything was different back then.
I was nominated for the mystery blogger award (again) (as the title says; see the first rendition here) by C.M.! Thank you kindly, my friend. (Readers, go check out her blog.)
I was also… sort of… nominated by Lemon. (She said she wasn’t going to nominate me because I’d already been nominated… so she left it open to anyone who wanted to do the tag… and after reading the questions she asked her nominees, I decided I wanted to answer them.)
the rules
Put the award logo/image on your blog.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well (this award was created by Okoto Enigmas).
Answer the five questions you were asked.
Nominate ten – twenty people.
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blogs linking to their most recent posts.
Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice with one weird or funny question.
Share a link to your best post(s).
C.M.’s questions
What is one vice you must fight against the most often?
I struggle with procrastination, and with having absolutely no motivation to do things I know I should and must do.
Which fictional character can you relate to the most and why?
Hermione Granger — she loves to read and visit the library (and other reasons that are harder to articulate).
Janner Wingfeather — he’s an oldest sibling and shares my vice of selfishness and my desire to protect
Jo March — she loves to write and wants to make it her career, and she’s passionate and emotional and dramatic
Anne Shirle — she sees beauty all around her and loves adventure