Invasion of the Feechies!

For those of you who caught my subtle hintings in my next-to-last post (yeah, I thought they were a wee bit too subtle), this is indeed something monumental, creeping in through the crimson back door.

GIVEAWAY!

That is right!  Didn't you heart just leap at the sound?  The feechies are invading Teenage Writer in the form of a giveaway!  Tis the INVASION OF THE FEECHIES GIVEAWAY! :D

*applause recording*

The book?

The one and only, brand-new paperback: The Charlatan's Boy, a Christian Fantasy with a Southern twang!  (You can check out my review of it here.)

Many thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah for the inadvertent opportunity for this giveaway.  (They sent it to me on accident and said I could use it for a giveaway.  Oh well. ;)

Now, the rules go thus:

1. You must be within the United States or Canada to enter.  My apologies, Aussies and European friends (as well as anyone else who is outside of either category). :)

2. You cannot be a sibling.   (Those of you who live near me and know me...no secret pacts to evilly steal the prize.)  By the way, I forgot to mention that Manny the Magnificent Mooch (mwahahha) managed to make up the title.  Wow, alliteration galore.

Now, to the good stuff.  Like my other giveaways, I shall conduct this by way of entries.  You do yada yada and get yada yada entries into the giveaway.  Then, once the giveaway is over, I pop the numbers into the Random Number Generator and poof!  We get a winner!

Now, here are the tasks you can undertake to attempt to conquer your opponents and join the feechie side.

1) You can be a follower or follow my blog.  Bam.  Instant entry.

2) You can blog about the giveaway.  Bang.  Instant entry.  Please give me the link once you've blogged about it via email or a comment below, so I can verify. :)  And, should someone come off of your blog and enter my giveaway, you get an extra entry.

3) Now, this is the tricky part.  Whoever can find the reference to one following passages of Scripture AND tie it to something in a Christian Fantasy book (believe me, all of them have a tie-in), gets another entry.  You may NOT look it up on an online Bible site or anywhere else on the Internet.  Believe me, it's just too easy that way. ;)  Feel free to scour your Bible, though.

Here are the passages. :)  Once someone finds the references AND the tie-in (you cannot get the entry without it) it can no longer be claimed for an entry.  So hurry! :O  Please make note of this: You can only figure out ONE reference and fantasy tie-in per person.  This gets you one entry--you CANNOT get two of the references and tie-ins for two entries, etc..  Please do not spoil it for other seekers. :)

Seek, and you shall find.

1)

"The wolf and the lamb will feed together,  

   and the lion will eat straw like the ox, 

   and dust will be the serpent’s food. 

They will neither harm nor destroy 

   on all my holy mountain,” 

            says the LORD."

2)

They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die.

3) (this one is the last half of a verse)

"He will crush your head, 

   and you will strike his heel.”

Good luck!  You'll need it. ;)  Some of the fantasy tie-in's are rather obscure.

One last note: this giveaway ends February 4th, at 11:59 PM.  The winner will be required to send me their address so I can mail the book.

All right, then!

Let 
the 
Giveaway 
BEGIN!!

Review: Radical

Aye, my first nonfiction review.  And believe me...it is a worthy book.


This book makes me uncomfortable.  And that is precisely why I loved it.

Radical is about taking your faith back from the American dream.  Every day, we live in America, some of the wealthiest people on earth...while children perish, and the lost die without hearing the name of Jesus.

This book was life-changing.  Perhaps you've heard that of other books...but this book changes things in my life to radical living, not because of the book itself, but for the Gospel it unveils.  The Gospel hidden behind fancy churches, expensive cars...the American Dream; it reveals a Gospel where we cannot get comfortable.  A Gospel of urgency.

One of the things about this book that impacted me was a sentence several pages into the cover.  It was hidden amongst the copyright, in very small print.  It said, "The author's royalties for this book will go to promoting the glory of Christ in all nations."

This was a New York Times bestseller.

This guy isn't one of those people who sits back and writes a theology book.  He believes what he writes.  Truth and conviction rings out of every word--he writes with an urgency, for the need is urgent.

Radical made me see past the American dream that I'd like to believe and challenged me to the core.  It ended with a challenge to become a radical for Christ--one I hope to accept.

Read this book.  But be warned--it is dangerously life-changing.  It tears away the veil of the American Dream and reveals the hard truths of the Gospel.  And the Word cuts like a knife.

Please take time to rate my review. :)

Buy it on Amazon.com here.

Below is a book trailer for Radical.  Watch it at your risk.

I rate this book 9.8 out of ten.  Highly recommended for any Christian.

(Note: I recieved this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah's Blogging for Books program.  I was not required to write a positive review.)

Take a Turn on Rewriting Street....

Well, my writing seems to have taken a turn again--this time, it's heading down Rewriting Street.

After much contemplation and some prayer, I have finally decided to try the method called rewriting. (special thanks to Star-Dreamer and Millard!)  If ye want to find out just what that is, check out the post before this and its comments. :)

Now, ideas are running awry around my head, so I think I'll go and write--however, I wish to correct a statement I made earlier.

Remember when I said I was addicted to writing?  It's only partially true.  What I've discovered in the past day is this:

I'm addicted to writing....for God.

It just doesn't work any other way.

The Book of Shaldu...Part One??

(I apologize in advance to any who are offended by graphic content such as extreme randomness and the use of the word Flow'st etc.  I am not liable for any mental injuries originating or beginning from this blog or blog post.  Don't judge me by the brand of my cheese crackers.)

There comes a time, when one has to choose--do I give in and eat the Cheez-Its?  Or do I abstain?

...Pardon, O Readers.  That was completely uncalled for and spontaneously random.  I went back to my roots...

Anyway, let's get down to business.

Recently I have been pondering much as to the outcome of this novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo: the Book of Shaldu.  Revision has teamed up with Procrastination, and alas--they are winning!  I have not written or revised in over a week--perhaps approaching two weeks.

But I have been wondering...what if the Book of Shaldu isn't really finished yet?  What if this 50k chunk of words I have is not yet done...what if it is Part One?

Yeah.  I rhymed there.  Not on purpose, mind you--I like to think of myself as a poetic writer. >_>

Now, there are several reasons I came to this conclusion.  What's that?  The conclusion that my story might not be done, of course.  Weren't you listening?  Stay on track--I do.  Flow'st and other such delightful personifications. :)

Heh, aye.  There's a list coming up, folks.  Brace yourselves!

1) The Word Count

When I finished the Book of Shaldu, it was hanging around a proud count of around 50,000 words.  In print length, that tallies up to around 200 pages.

Now, when I take a look at some publishers (not all, mind you), they require higher word counts than the one I have.  Marcher Lord Press is asking 65K or higher.  Flaming Pen Press refuses anything below 60,000 words.  The process of revision will heighten the word count, yes, but I doubt it will increase it more than 5,000 words.  Of course, I could surprise myself--but the Book of Shaldu will never be a 'long' book.  And I rather want to publish a 'long' book.  Short books always seem so...short.  Disappointingly short.

So if I wish to make some of the requirements in word counts for some publishers, I must make the Book of Shaldu longer.

2) The Ending

I ended the Book of Shaldu on a very, very unsatisfying note.  For the reader. ;)  It was the extreme mother of all cliffhangers.  So, to please the reader, I might have to extend the ending.

But that's not the only thing about the ending.  Overall, the ending didn't seem like an ending.  It left you at the lowest of lows with a nod to despair.  There was not any resolution to the ending.

The ending was also very...dark.  I reminded the readers of the Light that still shone in a dark place, but at the end I made all of the reader's worst fears come true...and then pulled the curtain on them.  THE END!  *Bwahaha* They would probably think that I was sitting on my computer chuckling in evil delight at the thought of their torture...Oh wait...uh...forget I said anything.

So the ending was dark--and it was unsatisfying, without resolution.  I've read reviews of certain books before where the author did that very thing.  The readers all complained about it.  And gave it bad ratings...

3) The Tale

Overall, the tale was short.  Unsatisfyingly so.  The tale didn't seem like a tale.  It was a story--but for all of the epicness I tried to integrate into the novel, it had not the size for it.  It didn't have the expansion I wanted.  And some of the characters didn't get enough screen time to fully develop them.  The remedy?  A longer novel.  More plot.  More screen time, more expansion--more delving into the ancient history of Arowdae I hope to unveil.

4) The Problem

But there is cons to this plan.  The problem is this: am I making this up just so I can get writing again?  I love the actual writing process.  I do everything in my power to get back to the writing process, the writing of a tale.  I'm addicted to it.  So...would I persuade myself to make the Book of Shaldu longer just so I can put off revision for a while longer?  *cough* You know what that is called?  Procrastination.

So what say you, readers?  I'm asking you.  What do all of you experienced writers out there think?  To expand or not to expand?  To write or not to write?  To revise or not to revise?

The floor is yours.  Don't get eaten.

Upcoming stuffs:
-Reviews.  Lots of 'em.
-Do I hear an echo?  Hmmm...could it be saying give a day?  No, wait, that's not what it says...stay away?  No...Can you guess?
-A Post. ;)

Procrastination Strikes Again!

Whenever someone mentions the word Procrastination, I flinch.  And then I say, "Procrastination is my arch enemy."

In the past week Procrastination has returned and sat upon my novel.  Remember that revision post?  I have it, more or less, worked out.  The plot can go on with a large tweak...but I haven't gotten around to actually revising.

Gah!  Procrastination has won this battle, but he has not won the war.

So now you know why I haven't been posting.  When my writing falters, so does my posting.

But there are a few bright things shining through Procrastination's fog.  For instance, resolution three on my list (see my post on New Years' Resolutions) has gotten a jump-start. Yes!  I have gotten a phenomenal idea in starting the story.  I won't actually write it until (at least) finishing the revision of the Book of Shaldu, but the idea is good and I hope the writing will be better than my previous novels.  I'm going to take this one at a slower pace and pour all of the skills I have into extremely good writing, character, plot, etc.

But mostly I'm tired.  I've been doing a lot of stuff, and I'm flying to Phoenix this weekend, so don't expect another blog post from Thursday on until Monday or something. :P

But here's a mug of egg nog (tis not just a holidays drink!) to getting some writing done in the next week.  And a rootbeer toast to the blessed snow that fell last night. :)