Fantasy Mythology

One of the reasons I like writing fantasy is because I can create a completely new world, and then I can come up with how it was made, how the people in the world believe it was made, and how similar or different those two things are.

I like mythology in general. I mostly realized this because of The Lightning Thief which I am currently reading, which is all about Greek mythology. For Skies of Fire I knew what the people believed in, but I didn't really know what actually happened until recently in my writings when a plot twist surprised me and in order for that twist to make sense, I realized that I needed to know how this world was made, and by who, and a few minor events since then. This was fun. Even if most of it won't make it into the story, I still enjoyed thinking it up. It makes the world I made feel more real to me.

I'm also reading a book called "The Third Sign." In the first couple of chapters, a good deal of the worlds mythology is explained and revealed, and I loved it. It was interesting and unique and I liked learning about the world that I'm exploring through the pages.

Yes, I realize that I'm a nerd.

On a note about Fablehaven: I just read the chapter in it called "Inside the Barn." It was probably the weirdest chapter I've ever read in any book. I was like this while reading it O.o Not to say that its a bad book or that I'm giving up on it, its just weird is all. I'll talk more about it when I finish.

Guys don't read?

So I was catching up on all the blog posts that I missed during NaNo and the holidays when I read this post, which discusses the problem of too few guy readers and why perhaps that is.

I'll be honest, I didn't even realize this was an issue until just before Christmas. After all, I'm a guy, I read A LOT, my friends are guys who read, and the first book blog I ever read was by a guy. But then I found myself in Wal*Mart with $20 with which to buy things, so I headed to the book section. I, for one of the first times ever, had a hard time finding a book I wanted to read. It seemed like EVERY book in that section was aimed at females. D:

Now, I think the reason I never noticed this before is because I usually know what I want before I go to buy, and I tend to buy from Amazon or B&N and not so much at stores.

My younger brother was only interested in Video Games and was feeling very impatient with me as I struggled to find a book to get so I also felt rushed. Perhaps if I had had more time to browse the books I would have found that more of them would have interested me, but I didn't have time, I was judging almost entirely on book covers (a horrible sin, I know) and most of them looked full of flowers and fairies and other such things and so I passed over them because it was obvious who they were geared toward and it surely wasn't me!

Finally I found a little area that had fantasy and I cried tears of joy. More like I fell to the floor to get a better look as they were very low to the ground. And even then most of them looked girly. Thankfully one cover caught my eyes, it had a dragon on it, or four, or a four headed dragon. Either way, dragons, I was happy. But it was a book four :( So I looked for book one of the series and to my unspeakable horror, book one's cover was filled with fairies! How could fairies become dragons? Luckily I noticed the blurb, it was a blurb by Christopher Paolini (you know, the guy who writes those books about DRAGONS?). The blurb said that it was one of the most enjoyable fantasies that he had ever read. This sold it for me. He is one of my favorite authors (because he writes about dragons, seriously, that's all you have to do and you will likely have my undying devotion) so I picked up the book. What book was it? Fablehaven. I hear its pretty popular no?

I had money for more books, so I looked for more. I saw a cover with a guy on it holding a sword :D called The Lightning Thief so I snatched it up, and then I saw Inkheart which one of my friends (who is a guy) recommended, so I grabbed that one also. Yay for three new books, of which I am currently devouring, and they are tasty.

What that? What's my point? I dunno, perhaps that I just discovered that something is very wrong with publishing today (besides that it needs more dragons, but no matter how many it produces I shall not be satisfied). Perhaps to say that while it is a problem, it isn't exactly all that bad as I could still find books that interested me, even if two of them have girl MCs and one had fairies on the cover. Perhaps it's been to long since I just discussed something here and I wanted to. I dunno, what I do know is that I'mma go write more Skies of Fire, I've been neglecting the poor thing since November.

Letting My Mind Run Free

I wanted to post this in Everything Awesome, but I couldn't really see it having a title with the word awesome in it. I'm just going to let my mind wander as I write stuff down.

Time and I have never really gone at the same pace. Time is going at a constant jog and likes to sprint at the most unexpected times, while I like to walk at a slow and leisure pace. As such I often get left behind in a lot of things. Heavens! John is going to be a daddy in a few months! Its seems like it was only a few days ago that the two of us were in "A Fiddler on the Roof" together. Already people who graduated with me are married (I can actually only think of one, but that is still a O_O moment). And yet I haven't really done anything because I always assume I'll have time later. While I was in high school, I thought that I still had plently of time to do college stuff, yet here I sit, no closer to entering a college than the day I graduated. Actually, I was closer the day I graduated than I am now. ;_; It seems like six months is a long time before I turn 19 and subsequently go on a mission, but the way things go for me, I'm going to blink and miss it. There are tons of things that I want to do before then. More on that later.

I'm not a social person. Anyone who knows me is likely to say "Duh" at that. Its a wonder how I turned out to be such a recluse when both of my parests aren't. My dad can just talk to a person he meets for hours upon hours, and yet I am never one to even consider trying to start a conversation. This is why I like the internet so much. Its a lot easier to be myself when I don't actually have to look at the person I'm talking to or respond immediatly. I know a lot of people think that talking on the internet is destroying people's social skills, but that's okay for me, I didn't have any to destroy in the first place.

I didn't really have a problem so much with being unable to speak with other people face to face until recently. It's always kind of nagged at me in the back of my mind, but I usually ignore that. Remember how I said that there are things I wish to do before my mission? I have a certain friend that I usually talk to through the internet. I have her phone number (attained through email) and I wish to call her, but heavens I can't! How could picking up a phone and dialing a few numbers be so incredibly difficult!? I can face up to doctors who wish to cut into my insides and pull stuff out, a daunting 50,000 word undertaking, and I can even face leaving my home, state, and possibly even country for two years to preach the gospel, but I can't pick up the phone! The very idea terrifies me. How in the world have I become so pathetic? The only reason that I'm okay with writing this is that she doesn't really know how to use computers very well and there is a slim to none chance that she'll see this. The fact that she doesn't do well with computers makes it hard to communicate with her over the internet, so the best way to speak with her is to actually speak with her. This is most I've ever regretted being unable to effectivly commminucate with others! ;_;

...This post is kind of depressing. Lets end on a happy note.

Christmas is in only a few weeks! :D The town has pulled out all the stops with the Christmas decorations! I love looking at all the lights around town!