30 Days of Gratitude--Days 27-30

Today I'm grateful for . . . surprises. (Good surprises, just to be clear). There are few things I love better than doing something fun that's completely unexpected, like a surprise visit from a friend or a just-because gift from my bestie. When people ask what I want for Christmas or my birthday, I answer, "surprises." Because that's the truth. If they continue with follow-up questions, like, "Well, what kind of surprises?" I answer, "You know what I like." ;)

Today I'm grateful for . . . words. I'm a writer. Enough said.

Today I'm grateful for . . . laughter. With so much crap in the world, laughter is the best sound. Especially a baby's laugh. I love it when they laugh so hard they squint their eyes shut and their faces turn pink.

Today I'm grateful for . . . finishing. It felt so good to finish NaNoWriMo (even though it was a bittersweet kind of good--I'm still sad it's over) and now I've finally finished my 30 days of gratitude (a day late, but better late than never, right?).

What are you grateful for? Leave a comment! :D

30 Days of Gratitude--Days 20-26

Today I'm grateful for . . . Thanksgiving. A lot of people don't take enough time (myself included!) to think about what they're thankful for, but Thanksgiving helps us to do that.

Today I'm grateful for . . . John Green. That guy is a genius. The Fault In Our Stars is a work of art (and it was the runner up to the best YA novel of all time, according to Entertainment Weekly's poll--Harry Potter won) and his YouTube Channel (the Vlogbrothers) is not only nerdy and informative, but hilarious. He never ceases to amaze me.

Today I'm grateful for . . . Microsoft Word. Besides a notebook, that's basically all I write with. I think I'd go crazy without it.

Today I'm grateful for . . . sarcasm. It's the best kind of humor. Maybe that's why I like Chandler on "Friends" so much.

Today I'm grateful for . . . rainy days. Curling up on the couch with your laptop or a good book on a rainy day is the best. Especially when your dog comes to join you.

Today I'm grateful for . . . good book adaptations. "Catching Fire" was AMAZING, "The Help" was close to on-par with the book, "Harry Potter" was awesome, and "Divergent" looks promising. :) I can't wait to see the Fault In Our Stars trailer.

Today I'm grateful for . . . Katniss. Talk about an inspirational kick-butt heroine. But actually what I love about her isn't the fact that she's a kick-butt heroine, but that she's so much more than just a kick-butt heroine. She's diverse, she's empathetic, she's selfless (hello, she basically volunteered to die for her little sister), and most of all, she's human. A lot of dystopian female characters (with the exception of maybe Tris from the Divergent series) are just kick-butt. They're feisty, they're stubborn, they can wield a gun or bow like nobody's business, but they have no personality. They're a robotic soldier forced to choose between two "perfect" guys. Katniss is so much more than that.

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Updates From MV:

I have a guest post up over at "The Bookish Daydreamer". Check it out! :D

 

I just took Veronica Roth's faction quiz and found out that I am best suited for Amity, Abnegation, AND Candor. I'm Divergent! YES! ;)

While we're on the topic of Katniss, click HERE to read an awesome article about how Peeta helps Katniss to break stereotypes by breaking one on his own. (Confused yet)? ;)

(If you have something you'd like me to share in "Updates From MV" please send me an e-mail at themagicviolinist(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thank you! :D) 

30 Days of Gratitude--Days 18-19

Today I'm grateful for . . . late nights. Late nights are the best. Staying up until midnight and sleeping in the next morning. On Monday night, our family stayed up until 11:30 or so watching episodes of "The Voice" and writing our NaNo novels. Even Scout was happy to snuggle up next to us.

Today I'm grateful for . . . NaNoWordSprints. I've only done it twice, but both times I participated it helped me rid myself of terrible writer's block. I wrote 1,300 words in half an hour! I don't usually write that fast.

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Updates From MV:

I am very proud of this post. This was my all-time favorite book review to write. :)
 

I woke up in the middle of the night a couple days ago because I'd heard a loud THUMP. It was pitch black and I was obviously terrified. Once I'd gotten out of bed, though, I realized that it was just my towering TBR pile. It'd fallen over and spilled all over the floor. I think I may have a problem.

I got a Twitter account! :D So far it is awesome. I'm having so much fun with it! Click HERE to see my profile.

(If you have something you'd like me to share in "Updates From MV" please send me an e-mail at themagicviolinist(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thank you! :D) 

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 17

Today I'm grateful for . . . blog memes. It's a great way to get excited about blogging again if you're in a slump. I also love to warm up with a blog post before working on a book, and a blog meme is a great writing prompt. Some of my favorite blog memes are ones where somebody writes up a list of questions and tags a bunch of people. :)

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 16

Today I'm grateful for . . . writing blogs. My writing has been greatly affected by them and there is no way I'd be where I am now if it weren't for my first job at "The Write Practice". Here are some of my favorites (in no particular order):

"The Write Practice"
"Adventures In YA Publishing"
"Positive Writer"
"Go Teen Writers"
"Query Shark"
"The Bookshelf Muse"

"Write To Done" is collecting nominations for their TOP 10 Writing Blogs for 2013. Be sure to nominate your favorite writing blog and show your support! :D (I only wish I could've nominated more than one)!

30 Days of Gratitude--Days 11-15

Today I'm grateful for . . . variety. A variety in writing, books, movies, food, chocolate, friends, you name it! While I have favorites of all of these things (fantasy stories, Harry Potter, book adaptations, sushi, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, my BFF Kirsten) I don't think I ever fall into a rut. It'd be a very boring world if all we could eat or read or experience were our favorite things.

Today I'm grateful for . . . goofiness. My friends and I are always laughing. Of course we have "serious" times, or times where we have in-depth conversations, but we're always joking around and teasing each other (especially when Avery's around).

Today I'm grateful for . . . movies. Kirsten and I just had a movie marathon. We watched "The Hunger Games" (something we both decided we needed to watch again before the "Catching Fire" premiere next week), "The Host," and "Mean Girls." We also watched tons of "Friends" episodes. Movies that will have to wait until next week are "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Julie & Julia," and "Ocean's Eleven."

Today I'm grateful for . . . YouTube. I love to look up new trailers for movies that are coming out, or interviews with Jennifer Lawrence, or Taylor Swift music videos. Sometimes I reward myself with YouTube time if I've met my word count goal for the day. ;)

Today I'm grateful for . . . write-ins. I get most of my writing done at write-ins during NaNoWriMo. I wrote 3,700 words yesterday at the most recent write-in and now I'm back on track!

30 Days of Gratitude--Days 7-10

Today I'm grateful for . . . computers. I'm so glad that we live in a world where everything you'll ever need as a writer is at your fingertips. I don't know what I'd do without my computers.



Today I'm grateful for . . . chocolate. In any shape, size, or form (unless it's white chocolate) it's good. My favorite kinds of chocolate are Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and chocolate milkshakes. Chocolate makes me happy. :)



Today I'm grateful for . . . authors. Just yesterday my mom, dad, brother, and visiting friend (hi, Mary!) went to this day-long festival where we got to go to different presentations and workshops lead by children and YA authors. My favorite author to listen to was A.S. King. She's so normal. She's very down to earth, easy to talk to, and she's hilarious! Every presentation there was very inspiring. But the best part? Our family and A.S. King's family are going to "hang out" sometime. :D

A.S. King's newest book

Today I'm grateful for . . . music. I don't think I'd be able to write half the stuff I do without my iPod by my side. Music inspires me. I make playlists of songs for every single book I write. I like to imagine my books as movies (complete with actors and actresses that I've cast myself for each character). From there I pick songs that would play during specific parts in the movie. For example, here's the list of songs for the Flightless Birds soundtrack:

"Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons
"Burn" by Ellie Goulding
"Gone" by Ioanna Gika
"My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up)" by Fall Out Boy
"Girl On Fire" by Alicia Keys
"Atlas" by Coldplay
"We Remain" by Christina Aguilera
"Come & Get It" by Selena Gomez
"Not With Haste" by Mumford and Sons
"Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 6

Today I'm grateful for . . . the violin. It's so much fun to play (especially songs like the "Bach Double") and without it I wouldn't be The Magic Violinist, now would I? ;)

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 5

Today I'm grateful for . . . "The Voice". It is the best singing competition ever! :D Much better than "American Idol" or "X Factor" (which have gotten really old for me). Adam Levine is awesome (and hilarious) and all of the other judges have such great chemistry! I feel like they're really trying to help the contestants become better artists. They're not just trying to "beat" the other judges.

My favorite contestant of all time is Melanie Martinez, who made it pretty far last season but (sadly) didn't win. :( Here's her audition song, "Toxic", which was amazing! :D

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 4

Today I'm grateful for . . . my blogging friends. :) Some of my best writing buddies have come from blogging, including two of my critique partners. *Waves to nevillegirl and storytellergirlgrace* While I read several blogs (I believe I'm upwards of 50 subscriptions in my Feedly), a few of them really stand out to me and I'd like to give them a little shout-out now (in no particular order). :) (NOTE: Writing blogs will come later--for now this is just a list of my favorite blogs that aren't necessarily writing-focused).

Sushi and Pizza (My mom and dad's blog--they're both hilarious).

I Don't Eat My Drumsticks (My brother's blog--he's also hilarious, and a total goofball).

The Book Chewers (A blog all about books--yes, I contribute to this blog, but I'm not talking about my
own posts. I'm talking all of the other posts. You should seriously check it out!)

As a Teen Writer (The lovely Karoline Kingley's blog--her posts are very in depth and are usually good conversation starters. Her writing is amazing, and I wouldn't be surprised if she gets published very soon!)

Musings From Neville's Navel (nevillegirl's blog--I don't think I've met anyone nerdier on the online world. nevillegirl is extremely funny and her blog has a great variety of posts, from books, to movies, to writing, to school, you can find it all there!)

Notebook Sisters (Cait and Mime's blog--I love these two. They're extremely random, quirky, and funny. Cait and Mime are sisters, and their chemistry online is awesome. They make for an interesting read.)

Rainbows and Penguins (Beth's blog--always up for a good discussion about writing and usually has awesome prompts and/or writing tips!)

(and finally) StorytellerGirl (storytellergirlgrace's blog--I love her blog! Her posts are also very in depth and I find myself constantly starring them on my Feedly. She's also a great critique partner! I'm always excited when I get my work back from her because I know she'll have great advice for me.)

What are your favorite blogs? I'm always up for suggestions! :D

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 3

Today I'm grateful for . . . Saturday night dates. Every Saturday night, my mom and I watch anywhere from 4-6 episodes of "Gilmore Girls," my new favorite TV show. (No spoilers, please! I haven't finished it yet!) While I love all of the characters (except for maybe Taylor) my favorite side characters are Luke and Kirk.

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 2

Today I'm grateful for . . . Imagine Dragons. This is a band I recently discovered (thanks to "The Host," the radio, and my pen pal McKenzie). My favorite song by them is "Radioactive." It's actually in my book soundtrack for my NaNoWriMo novel, Flightless Birds. ;) The video is below.

30 Days of Gratitude--Day 1

I did this last year (click HERE to read the first one, or just search "30 Days of Gratitude" in the search box) so I'm going to do something a little different this year. I'm going to write about something I'm grateful for every day for 30 days, but I can't repeat anything I said the last year. :) Shouldn't be too hard.

Today I'm grateful for . . . Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. It’s such a simple, sweet, heartbreaking book that’s very character-driven (my favorite kind). You feel so much for these characters that you’re almost surprised to find that they’re fictional. You get so attached to them that they’re almost like your best friends, no, family. I finished it wishing I hadn’t, because I couldn’t ever read that book again for the first time.

30 Days of Gratitude- Day 30

The last day! :D

Today I'm grateful for . . . homeschooling. Homeschooling is fun and gives us the flexibility to do what we want. For example, today we are going to a book signing where we are going to meet Harry Connick Junior! :D If I were in school, we wouldn't be able to do that. On some days, even, we get done with school before lunch. Mommy and Daddy really try to make homeschooling fun and it works!

Photo by pursuitoftitus2.com

30 Days of Gratitude- Day 29

The last day of gratitude is tomorrow! :D Make sure you check it out!

Today I'm grateful for . . . The Hunger Games. It's my second favorite books series. My favorite book in the series was the first book. It was the most exciting and had my favorite character (Rue). I also loved the movie, which I got to see at midnight with my dad in the theater! :D The Hunger Games (along with a dream I had one time) gave me an idea for a book I'm writing, The Maze of Doom.

30 Days of Gratitude- Day 28

Today I'm grateful for . . . colors. Without colors, life would be so much more boring and depressing. I can't imagine looking up at the sky and seeing gray instead of blue. Some colors depress me, like black, but others I really like and make me happy! :D Here is a list of my favorite colors:

1. YELLOW!!!!! :D Yellow is so happy and bright. If I had to choose a color to describe my personality, it would be yellow.

Photo by earlystories.wordpress.com

Photo by paulbates.com

Photo by zazzle.com

 (I couldn't resist choosing a few pictures for this one).







2. Blue. Blue is calm and pretty and is a good opposite for yellow. Blue also happens to be my best friend's favorite color which is why it's perfect that my third favorite color is . . .

Photo by allaboutbirds.org

3. Green. Green is also a calm and pretty color. It reminds me of nature and flowers. Green is yellow and blue mixed together, so my BFF and I call it our 'Friendship Color.' Whenever we make cards or gifts for each other, we color it green.

Photo by public-domain-image.com

4. Purple. The name is fun and odd and so is the color. Purple reminds me of bubbles for some reason and is just a fun color.

Photo by ashtarcommandcrew.net

Hey, look! Purple bubbles! Photo by shutterstock.com

5. Pink. Not hot pink, but a softer pink that's very delicate and pretty. One that's so light, it's almost clear.

Photo by fanpop.com

30 Days of Gratitude- Days 23-27

Sorry for not posting in a while. November has been a crazy month for us so I haven't had much time to write up a post. Thanks for waiting so patiently! :D

Today I'm grateful for . . . Grandparents. I love it when Vavó or Grandma and Papa come to visit. It's always fun. I love spending time with them, cooking, playing games, and doing pretty much anything with them!

Papa, Grandma, Me, and Maxim

Vavô, Me, and Maxim

Vavó, Me, and Maxim

Today I'm grateful for . . . The Wii. Some of my favorite games to play on there are, Order Up! (a game where you have to cook in a restaurant and please your customers), Mario Kart (one of the best racing games I've ever played with interesting courses), Horse Life Adventures (a game where you create your own horse and train it to race and do different competitions), and Harry Potter Legos (another lego game where you play as a Harry Potter character and defeat evil with different spells).

Today I'm grateful for . . . Fantasya. Fantasya is my favorite book series that I have written. Well, I've written the first two books in the trilogy. It is a series about unicorns who live in a magical land called Fantasya. They live amongst elves, giants, trolls, pegasi, and other creatures. Some of the creatures are evil and some are good, and it's up to the main characters to defeat the evil creatures so Fantasya can be at peace again.

The cover of Fantasya. I had the idea for the cover and my best friend drew it beautifully! :D

Today I'm grateful for . . . creativity. Creativity creates ideas, and ideas create stories, so creativity is important for writers. ;) Creativity is good for anyone, though, because it allows you to be imaginative and have fun.

Photo by foxforag.com

Today I'm grateful for . . . the Civil Wars. No, not the actual wars, the band! It's my favorite band that I discovered through The Hunger Games movie soundtrack and Taylor Swift's song "Safe and Sound," which featured them. My favorite song by them is, "Kingdom Come." They have a really cool, unique sound and have awesome harmony!

 

30 Days of Gratitude- Day 22

Today I am grateful for . . . the movies. Today for Thanksgiving, our family was going to watch the parade, go out to eat for sushi, and then go and see "Wreck-It Ralph" at the movies. It turns out that no restaurants around here are open, so we are getting enchiladas and a couple pies from the grocery store. We are still doing the parade and the movies though. ;) Some of my favorite movies are:
1. ALL of the "Harry Potter" movies.
2. "The Hunger Games."
3. "The King's Speech."
4. All of the "Back to the Future" movies.
5. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Photo by shockya.com

30 Days of Gratitude- Day 21

Today I am grateful for . . . Butterbeer. The best drink in the universe (and the universe goes on for infinity). Butterbeer was originally invented in the Harry Potter series, so the people at Universal Studios who invented Harry Potter World (the best theme park EVER) decided to make up their own recipe for it. And it was a hit! It's a sweet, butterscotchy, fizzy drink. If you ever go there, be sure to get some!

Photo by jaunted.com

30 Days of Gratitude- Day 20

Today I'm grateful for . . . Art. I love to draw, even if I'm not very good at it. I love to be creative and use lots of color. I also love taking art classes with our home school group and seeing my friends' art. I've realized I'm pretty good at drawing things in nature and the heads of anime characters. Legs, arms, hands, and feet? Not so much.

A Picture I Drew Of My Wizard101 Character

Some Random Anime Doodles I Drew (With Flash)

The Same Random Anime Doodles I Drew (Without Flash)