So what are you doing?

I know I know Merry Christmas!

I deliberately didn't do a Xmas post as I am actually sick of them. I mean it's all good and well doing one or reading one but piles of them? Ugh! (you can tell I don't get very wound up about Christmas)

So I am doing another post which maybe more Chinese based.

What are you doing tonight?
What do you do on New Year's Eve? Sleep? Jump into a pool at 1/1/1/1/13 (first second, hour, day, month, year)  play cards 'til midnight?

I know lots of people who are doing that though sadly my family might be resigned to the first. Notice I put family ;-) We will be celebrating it but with having Parents who live for sleep at 10:30 we won't being doing anything to wild.

A random bit of information
There is no english song (carol type) for the New Year.
Except we wish you a merry christmas but that being mostly about Xmas it doesn't count.

Merry 2013!

(just to mix it up :)

-Tiffany

A little spark

Here is a little thing to ponder:

"Do I love you because you're beautiful. Or are you beautiful because I love you?"~Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Cinderella

Just in case you'd like to know, the worlds gonna end tonight

Well that's if you care.

According to the Mayan Calendar tonight is the last night ever.
I don't know why people buy it this is what my friends and I think about it:

Part of an email from my dear friend Jasmin

 We are having our christmas party today because tomorrow (family have to go elsewhere)

We are also having our party just in time before the world ends.

In other words it's ridiculous. 

I don't even get why people believe this I mean so many people think that people in history were dumb and witless animals that didn't own essential things like microwave ovens (heehee most of my wide group of friends don't own these either -by choice!)

And yet they believe in the Mayan Calendar.

I'm just glad God's above all this nonsense and that He knows when the world will end and Him alone.

-Miss Tiffany

When the computer fails, call your writer friend

Well after my dearest friend wrote this post on her blog I knew I had to write something back (aren't both sides of a story best)

So on Wednesday I was chatting away on google to Esther about how terribly hard the next scene in my story would be to write. Well actually it was probably whining 'I can't do this, I've got writers block..." blah blah blah and she was saying "I think you should do this I know you can!" anyway I explained more of the situation and she started saying "well maybe you should just quit" and I'm like "I've written 17k+ I can't give up now"
So anyway she was so persuasive that I decided to turn off chat and start plotting (which for me is something short of a miracle as I've only done it 3 times before)
So I put on the head phones and listen to Does anybody see her? -Casting Crowns. I needed something depressing as I was planning the worst thing so far that has happened to my MC -main character-

After  30 minutes or so I something slaps me in the face.  My MC is attacked by the "Baddie" and I need to come up with a injury that seems fatal but she actually survives -without medical attention.

So I surf the internet looking to see if you can actually survive a neck fracture (which is very possible depending on where the break is Buuutttt big fat problem for me: it requires medical attention, just what I need)  So I try something else: Maybe her attacker has a knife? So I google the possibilities of surviving being stabbed by a knife and end up in this forum debating whether being shot or stabbed in the stomach is more lethal. Apparently it is pretty even, though  depending on the gun it is "supposedly" meant to be slightly less prone to infection as when the bullet enters the body it is in one area and the flesh bounces back (more or less) to it former position as opposed to a knife which wrecks havoc. Anyway by now quite a lot of time had past and I was getting no where so I turned chat back on to see if Esther had any wild ideas and this is what I saw:


{4:20 PM}  Esther: You still on? I need to ask a question.
*impatiently* In a BAD WAY!!!{4:21 PM} Hmmm....you’re not responding.
You must be gone. {4:32 PM} Esther: Okay, you probably won’t get this until tomorrow, but anyway—my problem is this:
I know what the history is, and how it’s going to work, but I don’t have a ‘problem’ for my MC [main character—writer’s lingo]. You know how it’s good to have a plot-inside-a-plot? That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t have anything “small” for her to resolve while I tell the real story along side. Nothing for her to fix. I’m stuck. HELP!!!! I’ve prayed about it, but nothing has come…yet. In a moment I’m going to go to a secret hidey-hole with my Bible and try to think…{4:33 PM} your prayers would be very much appreciated (and I’m praying for you, too)


So then I type:

{4:46 PM} hello?
hellooooooooo?{4:47 PM} I have a please please please please answer question, I will like have to ring you if you don’t answer.... I think I might do that anyway....  


Well anyway Esther and I rarely talk on the phone being writers and all that we stick to typing, but by now I'm quite desperate so I pick up the phone and promptly think its Esther answering when it's her Mum.
Anyway to cut it short (well hee-hee not really) we spent 1, 1/2 hours and 4 seconds talking about each of our stories. Oh ok we did spent the last half hour talking about books but that's writing related isn't it?
So after that I ended up with one strange new idea and a lot more clarity of where the story was (more or less) going.
Isn't it awesome that having a writer friend that lives not so far away? And because of what she writes (I assure you our writing is as different as chalk and cheese even though we are both writing Historical Fiction at the moment) she sees my story in a different light and can point out the breaks?
Isn't God great? I mean she and I come from different corners of the globe, in other words  I'm rather thrilled that God sent me a writer friend all the way from America who's lovely-ness doesn't stop at being able to write . She is such a source of encouragement and advice and I'm sure there'll be more phone calls later. As I still haven't figured out what kind of injury I'm gonna give to Beatrice :D

                                                          Thanks Esther!!

 ~Love Miss Tiffany      
  

Changes here, changes there, changes everywhere!

Lets hope they're all for the better! :)
Anyway I am in the middle of changing this blog- so it may look very weird every now and again. Due to my lack  of computer skills this could take a week and a bit. :/
-Miss Tiffany 

The reason, I AM

This is the most true to me post ever well I hope so...


Lately I've been thinking; oh my goodness I'm about to turn fifteen, one 6th of my life is almost over -that is if I live till ninety, I'd rather not :)
But you see if you live to manage to live to 90 you have lived your life in thirds, 30, 60 & 90. And what I find scary is that I've already lived half of one of those, now you may be thinking 15 is that old but when you look it in that light you begin to panic....
                                                                                                 ..... Well that's only if you're me

I don't want to waste my life. full stop. Wasting a life is the worst thing I think you could ever do seeing as everyone has so much potential, so much ability. And the only way I can see of avoiding this is by following God, but the only problem with this is that He doesn't hurry. I am not a patient person, and sometimes this slowness annoys me because the other thing I'd most like to do is to do what He wants me to do while I'm still young and that means that I need to get a move on soon, so I can learn what skills I'll need for serving Him. And while he will take anyone with any ability it frustrates me that He does say "I want you to become a doctor". You have to find out the slow way.


I don't believe I have been called to write. (jaw dropping gab). I meant that. I have never dreamt of writing a book, even though I have thought it would be nice. Writing is actually a skill that has only just matured over the last two years, the years I have been a Christian, and while I've got the ability to do it, I don't want to. I think it is a talent that is only meant for now.
Many people, my Mother included think this is mad, that I am wasting a God given talent. But I believe God has called me to bigger things.

That is why you have heard crazy stuff about me wanting to be a midwife. And I can tell you it isn't what I've always wanted to be, I never knew what I wanted to be. But this has grown and though I don't know what it is like to "have a dream" I think this is pretty close to one. But I wouldn't want to be a midwife here, oh no -that is too boring...

Have you ever seen, lets say imagined a little boy walking along a dusty road. Wait a moment I need to paint...

Swirling winds twist and turn along narrow windy sand strewn road they beat against a boy, a boy is walking this street his cailco robe wraps tightly around his legs. His skin is dark, ebony black showered by specks of sand. He has dark eyes, deep and scarred and shot with sorrow, a sorrow so pained, a sorrow one so young should not know...

There is also a woman. But she is somewhere else. Yet sand still blows here, and the heat is suffacating yet many are dressed in black flowing robes that cover them from head to foot. It is a market and there is one particular woman and she is going home.
And it is in her home I first saw her. It was in a room but the surroundings didn't matter all that mattered was the pain there, I knew then that she had been beaten but more than that, I knew that this woman had never had a flicker of love touch her life and I knew she was dying, that she was being strangled, strangled by some unseen force, not pyscially strangled but mentally, emotionaly. And she was screaming for help, screaming like nothing you've ever heard before, but it was the scream of someone who has lost hope, of someone who knows help won't come. And oh how I wanted to be there, well not me as I didn't think I could help, but I wanted someone to. It was then I remembered that lots of people have this happen to them all the time. One just has to pray for them. And please they are screaming out.

I do believe I've been called to women. I believe I've been called to midwifery in the middle east to Muslims. I know what you are thinking.... the middle east..... wars.... certain death, but I'd rather be in the thick of it than lulling where all is peaceful where everything is "Ok"
I believe I've been called to midwifery because then you are reaching the women who are so often shut down in those countries, here you can reach the unreached, here is the worst danger, for here you are under their roof.


"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell."  ~ C. T. Studd


Miss Tiffany
              
                  
       
    

writing -about things you've never done

So how do you?
I don't know but I think this post will help -I haven't read it myself

-Tiffany

A fright*!*

Just then I saw something really honestly scary -about writing, just to warn y'all who are getting sick to death of it, sorry :)

But yup it gave me the most dark gripping fright ever (yeah I'm not totally out of nano yet though it ends today :) it wasn't that bad

so this is what it is and if you know anything about writing you'll get just a bit freaked-out:

3 Day Novel www.3daynovel.com/ Write and edit a full novel in 3 days. (WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I though nano was mad enough) so what is it actually about? -wait I haven't actually  looked, I was getting over my fright :P So now that I have read it I have to say you have to read the testimonials some of them are really funny, I love that dog one Anyway three days? Now that is....intense to say the least,  I doubt I could ever get there (well I could if it was a 300 word story :P)

I'm gonna save this

Every week at nano they have asked a whole lot of fellow nano writers to give advice to the strugglers
and they posted one today and it was about finishing and these are my favorites:

Write write write! Even if it's the worst piece of digested-ten-times-by-an-eight-stomached-cow, it's something. Improving that junk is probably one of the most fun things I've ever done. – Sonya Noble

If you're behind, invite some noveling buddies over for an all-nighter. You can even do it online! – nuttynetti98 -one of my writing buddies

This is the time for you to show the world what you are made of. You've persevered up to this point. Now it's time to tackle the last miles. – friendzyfriend


that is only some of the awesome advice 
-Tiffany

Nanowrimo

I'm writing this just in case you missed this year's National Novel Writing Month and you wished that you could do it ( is there anyone that crazy out there?) I'm also writing to those who did it and won (yahoo!) but still have a lot of writing to do....

You can do it again before Nov 2013!!!
 here is what they do all year round:

NaNoWriMo-Style Events

PlotWriMo – Plot Writing Month (December). Goal: Refine the plot arc of your first draft.

WriYe – (Year-Round). Goal: Set a word-count goal for the year and work toward it between January 1 and December 31.

JanNoWriMo – January Novel Writing Month (January). Goal: Write either 50K or your own word-count goal in January.

FAWM – February Album Writing Month (February). Goal: Write 14 original songs in a month.

Script Frenzy – NaNoWriMo's sister challenge (April). Goal: Write a 100-page screenplay or stage play in April.

April Fool's – (April). Goal: Set a word-count goal for yourself and fulfill it by the end of the month.

AugNoWriMo – August Novel Writing Month (August). Goal: Write a novel in one month.

SeptNoWriMo – September Novel Writing Month (September). Goal: Set a word-count goal and edit, write, or edit and write throughout the month of September!

GothNoWriMo – Gothic Novel Writing Month (October). Goal: Write a gothic novel in October.

NaPlWriMo – National Playwriting Month (November). Goal: Write a play in one month.

750 Words – (Year-Round). Goal: Write 750 words a day. Includes month-long challenges.

NaBloPoMo – National Blog Posting Month (Year-Round). Goal: Post every day for a month.

SciFiWriMo – Science Fiction Writing Month (Year-Round). Goal: Choose a target word-count and reach it in a month, writing sci-fi or fantasy.

24 Hour Comics Day – (Changes annually, lasts 24 hours). Goal: Draw a 24-page comic in one 24-hour period.

48 Hour Film Project – (Varies; operates via tours around the USA, lasts 48 hours). Goal: Create a short film in 48 hours.

Happy writing or filming or what ever!

~Tiffany

I've done it

So nearly a month ago I told you I was doing the nearly impossible; writing 30,000 words in a month.
Well nearly four weeks later after two weeks of travelling, hours of writing, writers block, counting, and a halved word count goal (to 15,000)
I've done it with a grand total of 16024 words. Not as much as I'd have liked but with the added pressers on sewing Victorian dresses for the Heritage week in Oamaru and packing for a flight to my grandparents for an 80th I decided I'd go for half.

I may be posting the story over at where words are woven after the up coming fun of editing :D :-/    
~Tiffany




here's the web badge I got 

I haven't written in like forever! :-/

And that is bad - but there is a reason, I am writing just madly about something else. I've been doing nanowrimo and I'm up to 11,242 words, which is 2,000 behind :( 

so that's what I've been doing.

~ Miss Tiffany 

And so it's Nov the 1st (depending on where you live)

So I've started, this morning as soon as I woke up :) well pretty much. Anyway want to hear it?
(disclaimer: I won't be posting here all the time, and I'm just writing enough to be cruel ;-) )

Down the dark, dank, cobbled streets of London the sister's trudged. They passed a beggar/child with sightless staring eyes and a steaming, feverish brow that had turned his sooty face to a mottled grey. A hat lay beside a wasted arm, there was barely a coin in it, but the sister's ignored his plaintive cries and carried on into the deeper filth of London's East-end.

An icy wind breathed down the narrow street and the sister's drew the tattered shawl they shared tighter    , they increased their pace; today had been pay-day at the factory and they needed to get home quickly before the infamous night dwellers, theives, murderers, whores and drunkards appeared.

On they scuttled quite unaware that one such night-dweller was watching them, stalking their progress.
Tonight there'd be murder done.

So how 'bout that? do you think it will do? Please comment, I adore your advice.

Miss Tiffany
( OH and I'll probably post most of the story over at where words are woven my other blog (yes I have two, one just for writing, feel free to read the other storys)  

Guess What!

We have lambs!!! four to be exact. Not all from the same mother; both twins though. First lot were born in the weekend, but we were hardly home for an hour; except at night ;D. And the other two this afternoon. So cute, and no not so late we borrowed the ram later than most farmers. Don't know about genders yet. I'm guessing two boys and two girls -the usual, this is in total : one of each to the two mothers if that makes sense.

-Tiffany  

I'm embarking on a great adventure...

I've entered the...

                                        NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program! 

I know...writing a novel...in one month...sounds BIG. Like, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY big
  
And exciting! And scary! but mostly exciting! So what am I gonna write about? Well you'll probably just have to wait and see!  Cruel aren't I? I suppose I could tell you a little....
It will be historical fiction taking place in NZ - but that's all for now :D

Photo Courtesy

I think I will. But I really need your prayers. I'm stepping on new ground here. Thank you for praying, and I hope you understand if I don't post very much (though I can't say as I post all that much anyways. : / ) in the next month! And hey, maybe you'll join me? I love having friends writing with me, even if we're writing different things! -The more the merrier!

P.S. I'd love to know what you think of my adventure in doing this crazy thing called writing a novel in thirty days! Have any thoughts on the subject? Any tips? Comment below; and thanks a lot!

ok results [drum roll]

Well mostly it was no, it shouldn't be hers.

But I've done some thinking. And for a while I was thinking it should be hers but then, the child would be young and it didn't quite fit for her to have a child growing up with her after the story is finished.
But I'm gonna make it so everyone thinks it's hers. Well, probably.    

A bit of a vote aka HELP!!!!!

ok so I am writing a story behind some of your backs and I've got a bit that I want your opinion on.

Should the main girl have a child?
as in borne of her, or should it be someone else's?

Please comment asp!!!!
Tiffany

Holidays for you

Pretty good. Late mornings [er later] Friends, sunny days [that suddenly turn overcast]  Franticly sewing dance costumes for a concert [that's in a week] Reading -sort of. And making up dances

No I don't get to be half as lazy as all that, I don't get half as much internet time :-( The dance is a pure workout being 3 and a half minutes long [ages for a dance] Sewing is difficult, all the pattern's fault -Truly! I am quite good at sewing, but there is such things called terribly confusing things written on paper that my sewing teacher can't figure out -and I have the best sewing teacher IN THE WORLD.
-well the nicest.
We also have hours of weeding.
So there is some really nice things about holidays and so really nice things about terms.
There's also something really nice about having help ex -they make yummy foreign food from the stuff you have in your cupboard [not that fancy stuff they put in world recipe books] oh and lots more nice things about them [it's just if they keep changing their mind about coming, constantly, that is annoying!]
So as you can guess we have help ex here. From China, as of yesterday, really nice we had the most delicous lunch.

Oh and I wrote this post with the hopes of it being less boring than my others and to tell you that yes I'm alive and typing.

-Miss Tiffany

room tyding

So much for doing it she canceled the flight two days before she was coming. This has happened three times :-(
which is really bad as I have to move out of my room. Well not any more :-)
-slightly annoyed Tiffany 

er um whoopsys

I forgot about posting the story from storyteller so if your sick of waiting you can read the whole lot in
two days over at JOJ

which has quite a few posts on it now! :-)

Long overdue ballet exam results

That shocked both me and my teacher.

here was the email, you know the kind that people see and start screaming over:

WELL DONE TIFFANY - YOU GOT DISTINCTION!! 

THE REPORT does not have marks as such, it has 4 categories - fail, pass, merit and DISTINCTION!!!! 

I am so impressed with that!!

So now we're on to concert work

and I'm making up a 3&1/2 min dance which is lonnnnnnnnnnggggg [in dancing circles] for a different concert [Raise]

Awesome music, you'll get to see it if you come to the Ballet concert ;-)

I plan to do the spilts in it [*plan*]

so if you're interested here's a thing that will [supposedly help you do it in a week]

Try having a light cardio for 4-5 minutes. Then go into light, easy stretches such as touching your toes (or going as close as you can) ten times while breathing deeply. Then separate your legs a little take a deep breath, touch the floor (or as close as you can get without ANY pain), then exhale. Repeat five times. Then sit on the floor with legs together and touch your toes once more doing the breathing technique aforementioned. Repeat five times. Then separate your legs and reach for you left leg, the the the floor in front of you then your other leg.

After warming up your legs, begin kneeling lunges. Go as far as you can, stop, take a deep breath and then slow flex and unflex the muscle. Then do a reverse lunge (as performed in video I'll link you to). Then repeat your kneeling lunges. This should last around five minutes. Then put your back foot against a couch or chair (know as Lunge with back leg against a wall/box on the site I'm going to link you to). Repeat three times resting between each one. Now go into your split as far as you can without pain (you should just feel tension and/or slight pain or slight uncomfort). Then pull up, relax for thirty seconds, stand up and shake your legs, and then repeat your lunges for around a minute, do your split and hold for thirty seconds once more. Then repeat everything with your other leg.

For side splits. You should do frog stretches butterflies, and then v-sit stretches mentioned in the warm-up. Then do side ways lunges and then push up, with hips square and knees pointed to the ceiling, against a wall. Then hold for one minute. Repeat this three times. Then go into a straddle split as you would normally and hold for thirty seconds.

Cool down. Just use the stretches from your warm-up but backwards slowly, and carefully. This transitions your body from excercising mode and reduces chance of injury.

Helpful Links:

http://www.body-fizzeek.co.uk/splits.htm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pVq9nL_tLbo

P.S.: You may feel numbness during stretching which is GOOD it means your doing the exercises properly. Also, the next morning you may have slight soreness. This is because your body isn't used to stretch but eventually it will. If this happens don't stretch to intensely. But do stretch. Just do your warm-up and cool-down (the first paragraph is warm up, second is front splits, third is side splits, and fourth is cool down). If you continue to feel discomfort after exercising it means your doing it wrong, too fast/to hard for your body, or your warm-up/cool-down isn't long enough. Just relax for a day, and then start anew with a longer warm-up, less intense stretching, and a longer cool down.

Hope I helped  

There done finally 

Hello!

Hello!
I'm this crazy person who is doing a random post and touch typing cause she can't do much else as she went snowboarding yesterday [for the first time] and has the most painful arms, ever [no I assure you snowboarding is fun if you can get up the rope pully things again, which is not me :P the down coming bit is awesome fun] my arms are sore because as a beginner you spend more time on your bum. Which has a lot to do with my arms? Yes, because if you are falling forwards you have to land knees first then elbows [the whole of the lower arm is straight or else you can break it] and after doing that goodness knows how many times your whole body starts to ache [specially the day after]
ok so that was my random post, I'll have to go tidy up my room we have help ex's coming at the beginning of next month.
Miss Tiffany

the next one

The Battle Surrendered

Part Six

Storyteller SilverLoom

     I cried myself to sleep.

     A gentle touch pulled me from my slumber. I looked up. It was Him.

     As fresh tears cascaded down my face, He pulled me into His arms. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed out.

     “Dear heart,” He said tenderly. “I forgive you.”

     He held me until my wails evolved into hiccupping spasms. Then He helped me stand. “Come on,” He said. “You can’t stay here.” Taking that small gold key from his pocket again, He unbound my chained hands and feet.

     I followed Him to the rope dangling into my prison through the crack in the wall. He gestured at our escape route and said, “Ladies first.”

     I tried to pull myself up the rope, but the sides of my prison had somehow become smoother than last time, and my feet couldn’t find a good hold. If I hadn’t been so weak from days without eating, I may have been able to climb it, but I’m not sure.

     After a few tries, I turned to Jesus. “I can’t do it. I can’t climb up.”

     He nodded. “It’s always harder to escape the second time.”

     “So, we’re stuck in here?!” I panicked aloud.

     He waited.

     I remembered Who I was talking to. Not even a sealed tomb could keep Him in, much less my prison. “Can You help me get out? Please?”

     With an ear-to-ear smile, He replied, “I was hoping you would ask.”

     He climbed the rope as easily as a fish swims; the slick wall could not hinder Him. When He was safely above ground, He told me to hang onto the rope. I obeyed, and He slowly drew me up. We were both under the blue sky in a matter of minutes.

     Jesus untied the rope from the tree He had secured it to. As He began coiling the rope, a thought suddenly hit me, but I hesitated to voice it. He stopped His work and looked at me. “Go ahead,” He said.

     “Jesus,” I began, “I know my capture was my own fault; I shouldn’t have given into the shadow creatures. But… why didn’t You help me? Didn’t You… I mean, You must have known what was happening. Didn’t You wake up?”

     His eyes grew deeply sad. “Yes, dear heart, I knew what was happening. I was watching.” His voice cracked just a bit. “But,” He added, “you didn’t ask Me to help. You were too busy trying to fight them on your own.”

     “I have to ask for Your help?” How could He have just stood there and let me be dragged off? I was incredulous.

     He was patient. “You have to want my help. I never force it on anyone; I will only help you if you want Me to. My way is the perfect way, but I gave you a free will to accept or decline My help.”

     So it was still all my fault.

     We started walking through the forest, covering the same ground we had covered before. The sun moved across the sky slowly, but I kept a close eye on it. When it was past noon, I spoke up, “Hey, um, Jesus. Do You think now would be a good time to start my training? Because, those shadow creatures might come back for me tonight and I want to be prepared.”

     “Your training has already begun.”

     “What?” I cried. “But all I’ve done is get captured! You haven’t even given me the smallest bit of advice on how to wield a sword!”

     He stopped and turned to look at me. “Did I ever say your training would involve weapons?”

     “Um, well, not exactly….”

     “I never hinted at anything of the sort.”

     “But that’s what training is!” I protested.

     Shaking His head, He explained, “You train to become better at something, and it doesn’t have to be with weapons. Athletes train to race better. Warriors train to fight better.”

     “But I thought You were going to train me to be a warrior to fight the shadow creatures!”

     He looked me in the eyes before responding gently, “Dear heart, I am training you not to fight.”

Secret Unveiled

As you know I have a secret, which I'm bursting to tell.
Well [suspense]
The magazine Jewels Of Jesus is now a blog!!!!!!
and you can now go to J.O.J
Hope you like it! We, Esther and I plan to post as often as possible, but if you have something you'd like to bless someone with you can go to the contact us page [on the blog] and we'll see if it's suitable to put in. Do comment we'd love to hear what you think!  

Something that didn't work yesterday

the computer went mad yesterday, so here it is today:

The Battle Surrendered

Part Five

Storyteller SilverLoom

     The shadow creatures were back.

     Again they pulled at me with their freezing hands. I cried out, “No!” and tried to stand, but they kept me firmly fixed to the ground. I looked around for Jesus, but the shadow creatures surrounded me and blocked my view of Him.

      Suddenly, there was that same dizzying light. The same feeling of stupor. The same urge to give in.

     No! I willed myself to fight back. I felt that I couldn’t fail again. I couldn’t let myself give in.

     But the shadow creatures did not let me go, and I couldn’t tear myself from them. I wondered if I really wanted to. Was that prison so bad? Were the chains so heavy? And Jesus would rescue me as soon as I asked Him to. He was nice like that.

     The intoxicating aura of false peace washed over me, irresistible. The creature leaned over and whispered, “Followmeee….”

     I don’t even remember the first step this time. All I know is that I found myself starting awake, once again, in the prison tower with the vague recollection that I had chained myself there.

     I had never thought I would fall into the same trap. If it had been horrible the first time I failed, it was double the horror now.

     And then I thought of Him. I’d let Him down. And that was the greatest heartbreak of all. How could I have ever thought He would rescue me again? And even if He did, how could I face Him?

     My shame overwhelmed me. My guilt was heavier than my shackles. I mourned and moaned in the tower for days. No one came, which only made my sorrow deepen, until it was so deep I felt like I could drown in it.

     I was hungry, thirsty, tired, and cold. It was the closest to death I had ever been.

     Finally, just when I thought I would burst from the pain, I did the only thing left to be done. I cried out for help.

     “God,” I whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please… help me. I’ll die without You.”

     I cried myself to sleep.


I think I might do two today, else it's a very sssssssllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwww businesss 

Secret

I'm practicly (sorry) bursting to tell.....  Bbuutt [but] I can't really, something to do with blogs and a magazine   Don't read that or you'll know

a secretive
Miss Tiffy

Part Four

and a belated four

The Battle Surrendered

Part Four

Storyteller SilverLoom

     He shouldered the coiled rope and strode into the forest.

     I scurried after Him, calling, “Wait! Where are we going?”

     “Follow me.”

     I halted. “Did You just quote Yourself?”

     Thankfully, He understood my sense of humor and laughed. “Yes, I tend to do that. It makes it easier for people to see things the way I do.”

     “And that’s supposed to mean…?” I asked as I again hurried to keep up with Him.

     “That I never change. I am the same at this moment as I was two-thousand years ago, and as I was at the creation of the universe. Today, tomorrow, and yesterday, I remain the same. And so I can quote Myself in everything.”

     We continued walking. And walking. And… walking. The forest floor was uncommonly free of debris, and a soft carpet of moss covered the earth, much to the glee of my bare feet. But after several hours of walking, and walking, and… walking, I finally said, “Ok, don’t get me wrong. I want to follow You wherever You go. But can You give me some clue as to where we’re headed? Please?”

     “We are going home,” Jesus replied.

     I gasped audibly, feeling both excitement and fear. He took one look at my face and cracked up. “No, dear heart! I mean your house. It’s not your time yet.”

     “Oh,” I said. Then I saw the funny side of it and laughed along with Him. After a few minutes, it finally occurred to me what He had said. “Hey! Why are You taking me back home? You said You were going to train me!” I cried.

     “No worries,” He replied. “We won’t arrive until you’re trained.”

     It took me a while to try to sort that out. “So… You’ll be training me on the way?”

     “Yes. We won’t get there until you’re trained.”

     “Oh, ok. Gotcha.” Little did I suspect that I had no clue what He meant.

     We walked some more. And walked. And… well, you know. But it wasn’t as boring as it sounded. The forest was beautiful and peaceful, and I was walking beside the Prince of Peace.

     Presently, Jesus remarked, “We’ll stop here and make camp. We’ll continue your training in the morning.”

     I can’t deny that I gave Him a funny glance. Continue? I wasn’t aware that we had started. I hadn’t even touched a sword or a bow yet!

     He stripped the lower branches off some nearby trees and soon had a small fire going. We ate bread and drank water that came from the pack He carried on His back.

     We slept on the soft moss under some light blankets from Jesus’s pack. The weather was perfect. I didn’t feel cold until early in the morning.

     Shivering, I pulled the blanket more tightly around me. My eyelids fluttered for just a second, but what I saw in that moment made me sit up and scream.

     The shadow creatures were back.

Well how 'bout that?

And three

I'm just whipping this on and running off to a ballet practice exam -prayers please.
Anyway... here 'tis

     The Battle Surrendered 

Part Three

Storyteller SilverLoom 

     I lifted my shackled wrists up and said wistfully, “I’m chained. I don’t know where the key is.”

     He reached into a pocket on his tunic and took out a tiny gold object. “You mean this key?” Grinning at my surprise, he quickly bent to unlock the chains on my wrists and ankles.

     “How did you know I was here?” I inquired as he unbound me.

     “Well,” he replied, “I’m here to train you. And I can’t train you if you’re locked up like this.”

     I decided not to push the question he had obviously avoided and let the conversation carry on. “Train me? Why?” I had read many stories of kids who were sucked into fantasy worlds and trained to be warriors for special missions. The thought that I could be like them filled me with jittery excitement.

     “‘Why?’” he repeated, letting my final shackle fall to the floor. “You think you don’t need training?”

     “No, no! It’s just that… why me? Why was I chosen to be trained? Why were those creatures after me?”

     He looked me in the eye. “They are after all of you, dear heart.” With that, he turned back toward the rope, leaving me to follow and wonder what he had against direct answers.

     It was fairly easy to climb out of the dungeon with my feet braced on the wall and my rescuer beneath me to give me a lift if I needed it. Soon, he and I were treading the green grass outside my prison. I shaded my eyes from the sun as I turned to look at the dreadful place. It was a single, tall tower without any doors or windows that I could see from this side. No banner flew from the top of this lonely turret, so I had no emblem to associate with the enemy who had captured me. The tower was set in the middle of a forest.

     “Um, so, Sir…?” I let my sentence trail off and turned to look at my rescuer, who was busy coiling the rope. “Sorry. I didn’t get your name?”

     “Jesus,” was the calm reply.

     I balked. His grin returned as He added, “You wanted directness.”

     Now I had to decide if it was a complete miracle or complete lunacy. The fact that He could read my mind pretty much ruled out insanity, but could it really be Him?

     Before I could say anything, He stretched out His hand toward me. One look at the ugly scar marring His skin was enough to convince me. My mind spun.

     He pulled me out of my circling thoughts by pointing out, “You were about to ask Me something?”

     “Uh, yeah. When do we start… um, that is, when are You…?”

     “When does your training begin?” He prompted.

     I nodded, still dumbfounded.

     “When you are ready,” He said.

     I managed to squeak out, “Am I ready now?” 

     He smiled. “You tell Me. Are you?”

     “I think so.”

     He waited.

     “Yes. I’m ready.”

     “Good. Then let’s get to work.” He shouldered the coiled rope and strode into the forest

Isn't it sad? Five more stories to go :(
-Miss Tiffany  

Part two

For all those who could wait for the next one [I'm included]

The Battle Surrendered    Part Two     Storyteller SilverLoom   

    The next thing I knew, I was blinking as if I had just woken up and saw that I was no longer in my bedroom.

     The eerie light was gone. The shadow creatures were gone. I was completely alone in a dark, damp prison. The only light in the place filtered in from a crack far above me. Someone had chained my ankles and wrists to the stone floor of the dungeon. I had a vague memory of the creatures telling me to chain myself up.

     Now I realized just how dumb I had been to follow the shadow creatures. “Hello?” I called. No answer except for the constant dripping of water from a corner of my prison. “Hey! Let me go! Get me out of here!” I yelled. Was it my imagination, or did I hear malicious laughter coming from the darker parts of the dungeon?

     My heart pounded with fear. I had never thought something like this could happen to me. This sort of thing only happened to people in books. It wasn’t supposed to happen in real life.

     A scream welled up inside of me and I let it go, along with a torrent of tears. The worst part of it was that I knew I had put myself in this place; that I hadn’t fought hard enough.

     I curled up on the cold stone floor and sobbed. Then I called for the only One who could hear me. “God, please… please help me! I don’t know where I am! I shouldn’t have given in. Please! Help me!”

     As my tears fell afresh, the light from the crack in the wall suddenly disappeared. I stopped mid-sob and froze. I even held my breath.

     A voice reverberated off the solid walls of my prison. “Hello, down there!”

     I looked up at the crack. The face of a man stared back at me, his head almost completely covering the crack. He had the widest smile I had ever seen. “Not the most comfortable place to live, I’d say,” he remarked in a friendly manner.

     I wiped my teary eyes with my pajama sleeve. “Can… can you get me out?” I stammered. I felt reluctant to trust this guy, afraid this was another trap.

     His smile grew even larger. “That’s what I came here to do; to help you out." His face drew back from the hole as he stood.

     I waited while he hacked away at the stone, making the crack large enough for him to crawl through. It was a few minutes before I realized that he was using his sword to send the bricks of my prison tumbling down. That was one strong blade.

     Finally, he secured a rope outside the dungeon and used it to climb down through the gap he had made. He looked like a prince out of a fairy tale; dressed from head to toe in white stitched with gold thread, a voluminous cape thrown over his shoulders.

     When he stood in front of me, I lifted my shackled wrists up and said wistfully, “I’m chained. I don’t know where the key is.”...

And that's all for now more tomorrow ;P

-Miss Tiffany