A spot of encouragement

This blog is really awesome and so encouraging!

life isn't always

Last night as the st official day of Jan I did some writing (surprise surprise)
well thats only cause I had to, as I've entered another one of those writing things.

So anyway after writing a really depressing scene I went on the Jannowrimo site to look and see if any  of the members on there might want to friend me (now that sounds really bad but having other writers as friends makes a world of a difference.

So I found this girl called Autumn then I looked on her writing blog just to get more of an idea of who she was. Then I got a shock. She's been dead for five years. Suicide. But to my horror my eyes kept reading. Here is just one of the pieces 

One of the things that really hurt me is that none of the posts have comments, like it was her pouring out her heart screaming for help. And oh how I wanted to help, but I came 5 years too late. I couldn't stop thinking about it,  I couldn't get to sleep knowing that there are other people out there like that. People who think that suicide is relief. People who don't believe in happiness. And that is so so so sad so terrible. And I am only just realizing how blessed I am -I haven't lost someone that I really love two great grandmothers don't really count as I barely knew them.


And as you can see in the poem she was very talented, but she never got to use her gift beyond her 16 years, she never knew the peace and hope that Daddy/God brings. That fact that she wasn't saved tears me to pieces and it is my dearest hope that she met God somehow and that she is finally in true real love but I know that cannot be.

What this taught me is that the beautiful looking world outside the window is really shaded really really shaded, deep with shadows and only tiny glimmers of light. We who know there is love, desperately need to show the people, the hearts the lives that are dying that are being destoried. It is not ok that a child should have to stay every night in a house where the keepers despise her.


Lord though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I'm not scared 'cause you're holding my breath, I only fear that I don't have enough time left to tell the world that there no time left...
-forgive me
Group 1 crew

To all the Ivvy's out there may you find the God of love the one and only, who cares greatly about you.
-Tiffany

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)