100 Day Challenge - Day 4

I didn't do anything with the 100 day Challenge today because I had an exam. Afterwards I didn't feel like thinking about anything really. Perhaps tomorrow I'll try and write two pages. I just was tired and didn't really feel like it today.

100 Day Challenge - Day 3

So...it's getting to that point. Work and exams are hanging around every corner and I'm wondering how to keep this story under my sleeve. I pushed...and I pulled...and I wrote one more page. So I now have 2 pages written. If I could just spit out a page a day, I would definately reach the goal. Since these seem so short, I decided I'd place an excerpt from what I've written so far. So here goes:

Page 1
"Ellinia was a town built high in the trees of a magical forest. It was the town of the wizards. The people got along well, but there was not much change of scenery. The small houses built around the trunks of trees were connected by a myriad of rope bridges. Dakota knew where each of the bridges led and had traveled all over the city. He was prohibited from going down to the ground because there were dangerous monsters there."

Page 2
"If she had lived, he would have a family. He would have someone to worry about him when he didn't return at supper call. He would have someone to fuss with his unruly hair and make comments such as "a family of squirrels could live right here". He would have someone who always smelled like dandylions and who's smile could light up a room. He could have someone...who loved him"

So I hope those were some teasers of how my writing is going. Ta-ta!

100 Day Challenge - Day 2

Today i wrote the first page of the story. It's going to be hard because there's something in me that is never satisfied with my writing. So I have a notebook and I'm just going to keep pushing on. Then when I've filled it, I will type it up and then make changes and things to it. I'm still pretty excited about this challenge. It still scares the crap out of me, but it's interesting seeing it a day at a time. So hence closes Day Two.

100 Day Challenge: Day 1

So, today Carmen and I decided to start a 100 day challenge. Our goal? We hope that 100 days from now that we both will finish a completed copy of our first books. These two books will be complements of each other.

To start out we have developed characters and some of their back-stories. Carmen started working on a cover design for the books. We got some planning of what is going to happen in the first book and some of the things surrounding the story. I'm kind of nervous about this because I've never really written anything this long. I hope that I can pull this off. Day 1 was successful. Now we will just have to make sure it keeps going.

Until tomorrow...

School Stress

So I haven't posted in three days. I think that should probably show you whether or not I kept the "cleaning" mentality going. It's kind of hard to stay focused on everything that is going on. Sometimes lists help, but if I make a list I will just stress myself out. So what I'm trying to do is to just put the next thing in front of me. Right now, that is a huge project due tomorrow at 4:00. I wonder why people invented school to be stressful at the end. It feels like the biggest and most important assignments all happen on the same week. Why couldn't they all space them out just a little more?

Things have been going okay though. I'm coming to grips with a lot fo the things that have been getting me down. I think if I can just finish up this semester, good grades or bad, I will be able to put it behind me and move on. This semester has been the worst one in my college career. It has been one that I'm not proud of on any level. I just hope I can pick up the pieces and move on. The future looks bright, so that's what I will try and focus my emotions on. I'll be here hanging out with my church and developing some of the relationships to a deeper level. So this is my study cramming note where I tell you that I'm stressed, but no one is dying. When I'm down...I just read this:

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
- II Timothy 2:15

Cleaning Day

Today was a good day. It was one of those days that I can look back at and feel like I did some productive things. I cleaned up my room. That was needed so badly. I feel like some cows could have moved in here and felt disgusted by the conditions. However, I put a lot of time into this place and it looks pretty good now. My sister joined the blogging community, and you can check her out at . She is a lot more artsy than I am and you will probably fall in love with her and her rats pretty quickly. It's kind of funny how we've grown up together and really love to be with each other. It's one of those things that I definately thank God for.

While I was cleaning up today, I kept telling myself that this was what I was trying to do with my life. There's all these things right now that look dirty, probably can be cleaned up quickly, but I don't want to touch them. It's a hard thing to deal with. I feel like I've become such an ultra lazy person. The Men's Retreat really challenged me to step up and really take responsability for the things that God has given me charge over. One of those things is my grades, so I did some work today for school. I feel bad, because I could have done a lot more. However, I can look back and be genuinely satisfied with the work I got in today. I just hope it carries on over and keeps going.

Nothing would disappoint me more than for me to lose hope and just stop trying. It's so worthy a thing to try and pick up the pieces of my life right now. I've thought about it more, and I think that was God's purpose behind the accident. I think he wanted me to stop and take an honest look at my life and reevauluate what I've been doing. It's just been taking me a little longer than it probably should have. I see how many things he has given me, and the only reason they're falling apart is because I haven't been watching over them well. I haven't been pulling my end of the rope and letting him know how much it means to me. So today, is a cleaning day. I hope that I will continue to see the cleaning going on in my life.

Passivity

So today I went on a men's retreat and learned a lot about passivity. It is something that I myself am fighting like crazy. I never really thought of passivity in the Christian faith as I thought of it tonight. I struggle with this in school, relationships, my personal walk, purity, and other areas that I never really thought of much. I realize that I let a lot just go by me because I'm too lazy to try and do something about it. Well, I want to change. I want to stop being passive. I'm not sure what this is going to look like, but I want it to occur. The retreat continues tomorrow morning, so I'm going to grab some sleep. I just wanted to post about this amazing reawakening that I hope lasts. I want to see myself fighting to do the best in everything I come in contact with. This is what men are for. We are here to be physically and emotionally strong. I need to use the talents God gave me in order to further the things around me. I'm really excited about tomorrow's talks, and spending more time in this authentic fellowship.

Thanks "Why I Love Italy" for the comment. You should let me know what your blog address is so that I check you out. The comment helped give me a little boost today. Not that I NEED people to read this stuff...but it helped make me feel like there was someone out there. You also seem to be interesting...so I'd love to find out more.