Introducing "Living Fearlessly: Girls on a Mission to Live Unashamed"

I am very pleased to announce the launch of a very special blog, Living Fearlessly: Girls on a Mission to be Unashamed.

Living Fearlessly is a blog for girls by girls on a mission to live unashamed for Christ!  We will be posting encouraging stories, inspiring quotes, and probably some funny stuff as well!

I am pleased to say that I am a part of their blogging team.  This blog is definitely worth your time.

I have with me here today 4 my 6 accomplices blogging partners, Shelby, Aubrey, Hosanna, and Karina!

1. How long have you known the Lord?

Hosanna: I became a Christian when I was around 7, but I think that I am still finding out the truths of what being a real Christian is...not just saying I am one. 

Karina: My whole life!

Shelby: All my life.

Aubrey: I have known the Lord since I was in 4th grade. 

2. Favorite food and drink?


Hosanna: My favorite drink is green tea, though I usually stick to just water.  My favorite food is a recipe called Lime Chicken with shredded chicken, rice, black beans, and topped with your choice of tomatoes, sour cream, onions or lime juice!

Karina: Favorite food: Apple crêpes; Favorite drink: tea (iced or hot!)

Shelby: Italian food and sherbert punch.

Aubrey: My favorite food is shrimp and my favorite drink is iced passion tazo tea.

3. Would you rather write or read?  Why?

Hosanna: Ahh!  I would rather do both.  I love reading...and do it more often than writing, but I super enjoy writing too, so I'll skip this question. =)

Karina: Read - as much as I can write, it's hard to think of ideas sometimes...

Shelby: Read, because I love to read.

Aubrey: I would rather read because I love being sent into a new world through imagination.

4. What inspires you?

Hosanna: My mom inspires me by her patience, loving heart and attitude.

Karina: Watching my instructor ride her horse.

Shelby: It can be anything from something I see, read, or hear.

Aubrey: My inspiration comes through my day dreams and thoughts late at night.

5. Where do you see this blog going in the future?

Hosanna: I really have no idea as of yet...hopefully something that can reach girls around the globe for Jesus!  It would be amazing if in the future we have girls coming on there asking us about Jesus and accepting Him!

Karina: Not sure... :) Wherever God wants it to go!

Shelby: I see this blog encouraging girls in day to day life.

Aubrey: I could see this blog going in 2 directions: 1- we will keep up the blog until we die or 2- we slowly forget about the blog and it sits forever un-posted on.

6. How do you encourage people?

Hosanna: I want to encourage people with my writing as I write novels, sending cards to people just to make their day, and trying to remember to say kind things to people around me.

Karina: I encourage people by being kind to them and supportive of them and by helping think through problems they encounter

Shelby: By just being there, someone to listen.

Aubrey: I encourage people through words, quotes, and ridiculous amounts of dancing and cheering.

From the Fandom Friday: Dear Nerdy Genius Sidekicks

Dear Nerdy Genius Sidekicks,
You rock. If you think for a second you are not cool, you're wrong.  You may just be our favorite character, or one of them, anyway.

Thank you for helping our precious Main Character in the tech side of the Quest!  Your inventions are the BEST, could you maybe give us some of them?  :)

Good luck in all your inventing endeavors!

Sincerely,

The Fandom (represented by Alea Harper)

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Who are some of your favorite nerdy sidekicks?  Comment away!

From the Fandom Friday: Dear Villains

Dear Villains,

Yes, you get a letter too.  You are just as essential to the Story as the Hero, though in a more evil sense.

Thank you for being a great villain!  I am so happy that you have a motive for being evil and that your main goal isn't just to thwart the Hero.

You make a fantastic bad guy, and we hope you take this as a compliment.

We hope you do not declare war on us for writing this letter to you.  If you do decide that we offended to, consider yourself warned.  We have an army of Fangirls.

Sincerely,

The Fandom (represented by Alea Harper)

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Who are some villains you think are well written?  Comment below!  I would love to hear from you and reply to as many comments as I can!

"A Time to Die" Readthrough on Goodreads

Greetings, my dear readers!

I am pleased to announce that there will be a readthrough of A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes on Goodreads!  The read through will begin on October 3, and hopefully end by the time A Time to Speak is released on October 16!

Come join the forum for the Out of Time Trilogy and join in on the read!

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/172883-out-of-time-series

Sometimes My Writing Looks Like it was Written by a 2-Year-Old

Last night I edited Chapter 6 of Part 2 of The Clockshifter, aka the worst chapter ever written.  I am not kidding, it sounded like a 2 year old wrote it.  Here is the first line:

"Finn and I left Cryptic Stadium together and went home.  We were met by (spoilers here, sorry).  That was sure annoying.  And then we went home."

That's pathetic.  Absolutely pathetic.  The entire chapter was like that.  I ended up deleting post of it, cringing the entire time.

I think rewriting these parts of my novel are some of the most embarrassing things I have done in my writing career.  I thought I was a terrible writer for writing as bad as that.

Author Nadine Brandes, my fellow writing buddy, gave me some fantastic encouragement last night. She told me that every writer's first draft is terrible.  Even hers.  Now, you must understand that her writing is amazing.  If you don't believe me, you can go read the first chapter of her book, A Time to Die right here.

Now that we have established that Nadine is a fantastic writer, we can move on in the story.  So I always knew that every writer's first draft is messy and very rough, but I still didn't completely believe it.  I mean, how could an amazing author have badly written parts in their rough draft?  It is so perfect when it's published.  Great authors are perfect writers.

Let me free you of something right now.  THAT IS A LIE.

So, sometimes, my writing looks like it was written by a 2-year-old.  Sometimes yours does too.  It doesn't make you a bad writer.  It is all part of the process!

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Do you ever feel like you are a bad writer because of something you wrote?

From the Fandom Friday: Dear Favorite Characters

Dear Favorite Characters,

Thank you for allowing us to peak into what is probably the most eventful time in your life (unless you are in a number of books)!  We love getting to know you!  You probably don't know us, but we are the Readers of your Book, also known as The Fandom.

We would like to apologize for your tragic past!  Here is a hug from us!  :)  Honestly, your past only made us love you more.  If you ever need to talk, The Fandom is here.

Oh, favorite character, you have encouraged us beyond belief.  The lesson you learned on your journey also impacted us.  Thank you for teaching us!

Above all, thank you for being uniquly you!  No other character should be like you!

Love,

The Fandom (a.k.a. Alea Harper representing all Fandoms everywhere)

Who is your favorite character?  Let me know in the comments!  (Feel free to fangirl if you want.  I will be right in there with you.)

Building My Writing Platform, Dear Readers

There are so many posts that say authors must have platforms.  I have this blog, but that isn't enough. Hence, I have heeded the advice of every published author out there and signed up for a Facebook page.

Here you can check it out (even if you don't have a Facebook account)!

https://www.facebook.com/882628005150384

If you do have a Facebook, please like my page!

Do you have a Facebook page?  Link to it below in the comments so I can like it!

Water Princess, Fire Prince Blog Tour - REVIEW + SNIPPET

About the Book

 

When the Lady Dragon does come,
Hold fast, do not fear, do not run.
Your Water Princess will fight,
Fire Prince will set all to right.
Each shall come from a Fall,
Their union will save you all.

Despite the fact that she's on track for competing in the Olympics, and he's practically raised his younger brothers since they lost their mom in a car accident, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson are pretty much normal teens. They have normal hopes, normal dreams, and they live in a normal world.
All this is torn away from them when they are thrust into another world and declared Water Princess and Fire Prince. With no experience ruling a country, meeting each other for the first time, and being expected to fight the Lady Dragon – an evil sorceress plaguing the world of Rizkaland – Clara and Andrew are underprepared and inexperienced. Unless they learn to work together despite their standing opposition, Rizkaland's hope will be lost. 

What is to come will change their lives forever.

My Review

Oh my goodness, where do I even start?  This book was fantastic!  Seriously, go read it.  :D

The Plot

Very Narnia-ish.  :) But also very unique!  It revolves around 2 teens who get thrust into a medieval world and hailed as the Water Princess and Fire Prince.  These aren't just normal, average teens though.  They are alive with personality, flaws, and awesomeness, which brings me to my next point.

The Characters

Oh my goodness, the characters are some of my favorites in Book History!  Clara is a fiery teen with a sharp temper and athletic abilities.  There are other things I could tell you about her, but...spoilers!  Andrew is more laid back and organized.  He is also very selfless.

The Negative

There isn't much to put here.  :)  The only thing I saw was that there were a couple of typos (aside from the purposeful ones due to Rizkaland spelling).  They might have been changed in the final version, I just read the Advanced Reader Copy.

Final Thoughts

Go.  Read.  It.  Now.  You won't be disappointed!  This book has become one of my favorites, right up there with the Ilyon Chronicles, the Out of Time Trilogy, and Tales of Goldstone Wood.  Way to go Kendra!  I will definitely be reading the rest of this series!

Here is another snippet from Water Princess, Fire Prince.

“I’ll decide if there’s a quarrel or not,” the girl hissed. She spun back around to face Andrew. “I don’t believe it. You’re too clumsy to be the Fire Prince.”

Clumsy. Well, that was a new one.

“Well, I came out of the Firefall,” Andrew protested.

Her already narrow blue eyes narrowed even further. “So you say.”

Suddenly something clicked in Andrew’s head. She’d been quoting books from his world, including Alice in Wonderland. That meant that she must come from his world. And she fought. Very well.

“You’re the Water Princess,” he realized, wanting desperately to be wrong. She was gorgeous, and that was half the problem. The other problem was that she was staring up at him from the hilt of his sword.

“Well, well,” she said, with mocking surprise. “You can figure something out on your own after all. Yes, I’m the Water Princess, and I am not impressed.” She waved with his sword. “Turn around and march. I can ask questions of you far better at my own camp. And you, Lord Abraham, had best follow, unless you want me to give you a reason.”

About the Author

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairy tales and twisting them in new and exciting ways.  She's been practicing her skills on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years, "Finish your story, Kendra", is frequently heard at family gatherings.  Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that also glorify God and his Word. You can read more about her on her blog,knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.

From the Fandom Friday: Dear Movie Directors

Movies make our precious books come alive.  We can see real faces experience what happened in the  book...or in most cases, not what happened in the book.

So.....

Dear Movie Directors,

Thank you for taking an interest in our precious book series.  We appreciate that you want to turn an epic tale into a cinematic masterpiece.  However, we, The Fandom, have some requests.

1. Please study the book.  This is very important to us.  The author created the character with that color hair and eyes for a reason, so please don't change it.

2. PLEASE DON'T CHANGE A THING!  This is a big one for us.  The author who wrote this book made everything so interesting you don't need to "beef up the plot".  There is a reason it has a Fandom.  Please listen to the audience who will be watching this movie/series of movies.

3. Please don't add anything innappropriate.  I think you know what I'm talking about, Movie Director.  It isn't necessary and probably wasn't in the book, so please leave it out.  

4. Please keep costumes like the descriptions in the book.  Again, the author wrote the costumes the way he/she did for a reason.  Look on their Pinterest board if you need help.

5. Please offer the author a small part.  The author of this incredible book must be honored!  Need we say more?

We hope that you will consider these five points when you produce this movie.  Thank you for listening!

God Bless!

The Fandom

(a.k.a. Alea Harper representing all the Fandoms)

Do you think this is accurate?  Have you ever liked a book's movie better than the actual book?  Let me know in the comments!

Why Authors Should Be Merciless

Dear Author,

WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO MY AMAZING CHARACTER?! THEY WERE SO CUTE TOGETHER!  I LITERALLY JUST THREW THE BOOK ACROSS THE ROOM!

Sincerely,

The Fandom

You know what I'm talking about.  

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/505599495644788395/

 

That book where everyone you love dies (a.k.a. most amazing books).

So why should you, as a writer, be merciless as an author?  I mean, you absolutely hate seeing characters you love stabbed, shot, killed, and anything else the author has the imagination to think of.

To start off, here is a quote from Steven King:

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/51509989462699884/https://www.pinterest.com/pin/51509989462699884/

 

1. It makes your readers care about the characters more.

2. It makes them scream at you.  

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/404690716493511800/

Mwahaha :) Evil author time.

3. It makes the story more realistic.

4. It raises the stakes.

5. For some reason it usually hooks the readers even more.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/505599495643834595/

Have you ever killed a character?  Was he or she a major character?  How does it make you feel when an author kills a character?