Hooray! I have returned from my long absence from Magic Pens with many new posts. 😀 I have recently been in a very good mood basically all week, and I think that my return to Magic Pens may be part of the cause. Pretty much just Hannah knows all about it…

Well anyways, this week from March 25 to April 1, 2007, I am proud to declare that I have written 8,154 words on Magic Pens.

For reading, I read the first 18 pages of A Wrinkle in Time written by Madeleine L’engle and the first 36 pages of Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens. (Even though I have already read these, I felt like re-reading them because I haven’t read them in years.) I hope that I keep up with this frequent posting this upcoming week!

Unfortunately, there were not a lot of members at our last Magic Pens meeting that was held at 10:30 AM, (although it started quite a bit late,) on March 24, 2007 at the Bagel Stop/Book Nook. Due to the lack of members, and the somewhat short amount of time that was available for Mr. Gifford, we did not discuss a lot of new topics, however, a few good topics were brought up. At first, each person who attended the meeting shared what they have recently been reading and what they liked about it and then gave a short review on what they plan to write about recently. Afterwards, we discussed the following topics.

1. Goals – Now that the play is over, Mr. Gifford would like everybody to return to their goals and to keep up with their writing. He would like to remind everybody that it is all right to talk about items that you have thought about writing but haven’t yet to get help working some things out, early responses and feedback, or even thoughts on how people will like it.

2. Mr. Gifford’s New Story – After watching a television show that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, Mr. Gifford was inspired to write a new story and using his own advice, shared his plans for the unwritten piece at our meeting before he actually started writing it. The new story, The Club is to be about himself and our club of Magic Penians in Minot, North Dakota, however there are some twists. He has already posted the first chapter so check it out!

3. End of the Year Book – The end of the year is approaching fast and we need to start thinking about the collection of writings that we are going to “publish” at the end of the year. Mr. Gifford would like everybody to seriously try to attend our last few meetings before school ends so we can discuss in person what we will be doing for the book. So far, it looks that we will be doing a random assortment of short stories that will each be limited to about 500 words or so. Begin thinking about your best short story to fit this limitation. Another topic on this subject that was brought up at our meeting was who should be priveleged with a spot in the book. Should the book be for active members only or can a member who hasn’t posted for months have their share? Should we make a qualification such as attending a certain amount of meetings or posting a certain amount of writings? There is still a lot of discussion on this subject that needs to be discussed at our future meetings.

4. Hoodies – We have finally decided that the hoodies that we will be getting will be a navy blue color with silver on top for the drawings and writing. Matt’s Thermo Nuclear Warhead will be on the front of the hoodie in a small pocket-size with my Behind the Scroll on the back of the hoodie in a large size. As far as we know, we will be ordering hoodies rather than T-shirts unless there are enough votes for a different article of clothing. If we do happen to change to T-shirts, all who have already paid for the hoodie will be refunded as the T-shirt costs less than the hoodie does. If you are still interested in purchasing a custom Magic Pens hoodie, please see Mr. Gifford by the end of this month.

Although we may not have discussed a large variety of topics as in previous meetings, we still had fun and enjoyed ourselves. After Mr. Gifford left and the meeting at ended at 11:30 AM or so, six of us actually stayed and hung out until 1:00 PM. During this time, we decorated blogs, talked, listened to iPods and such. Too bad there weren’t a lot of members there…*nudge, nudge*

"The River" by Gary Paulsen

“The River” by Gary Paulsen

This week has honestly been my worst week on Magic Pens ever. I do, however, plan to return with a lot of posts if I can, it is just that I have had so much homework, babysitting, life problems, and such lately that I haven’t had any time to do anything that I enjoy. I have not written much, read much, drawn anything, or anything else that is fun for me. I have a long list of stuff that I need to do that I haven’t had time for recently that I hope to kill this upcoming week.

This week from March 18 to March 24, 2007 I have written a lame 544 words, (feel free to boo,) and have finished reading the last 48 pages of The River, written by Gary Paulsen.

I Hope to Post:

Please post and tell me what you are most looking forward to reading and such.

I have been feeling a lot better lately, (again, read the first, My Thoughts,) and I think that I may have some free time coming up. Yay!

I think that I will have time to write and I may get to do some other stuff too. I still have to work on Mr. Gifford’s blog and I would like to redo mine again. This time, it shall be forest themed! 😀

Does my background show up this time?

Well I just put it up along with Melissa’s and I don’t know if they are showing up for everybody or not. So, I have a lot of work to do…and homework.

"Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier

“Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier

Once again, I have experienced another unproductive week. I am not sure what is wrong with me, but I have not been on as often as I would like and as I had been before. I haven’t run out of things to write about, for I have a list of things I need to write, but I haven’t exactly had the time to come on. My world has been a bit messed up and confusing for me right now, (once again, read my first, My Thoughts,) and I haven’t been as motivated to write either. I still need to read some people’s posts too. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Well, this week from March 11 to March 17, 2007, I have written a total of 2,622 words on Magic Pens. Of course, not all of it is published. I have been working on Part 2/3 of the Prologue for The Horse in the Woods.

As for reading, I finished the last 179 pages of Rebecca written by Daphne DuMaurier.

Lately, I have been reflecting upon many things in my life and I have realized a few things within my writings:

I found that a comment I heard a while back may in fact be true; my writing is dry. It seems to me that I write the same each time and that my voice is monotone and has no emotion or unique flair to it. I sometimes grow bored reading my work, and I feel that this shouldn’t happen. I have also noticed that I have not been writing as often as I used to, and this may be part of the reason. (For other reasons, you will have to read My Thoughts, specifically my first one.)

I am asking for some serious help from my fellow readers and writers. I need some encouragement, guidelines, criticisms, etc.

  • What can I do better?
  • What should I be doing that I am not currently?
  • How can I add interest to my work?

Please comment with some real suggestions and tips that I can use to improve…

"Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier

“Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier

I am so ashamed of myself right now for I have disappeared from Magic Pens this week from March 4 to March 10, 2007 and have only written 2,027 words.

As for reading, I read 46 pages of Rebecca written by Daphne DuMaurier.

Each word count I keep promising to write more that following week, but I still have not! What is wrong with me? I truly do feel as if I am a failure. There is still hope, however, for I have started writing The Horse from the Woods: Prologue Part 2/3!

As for your dragons, Mr. Gifford, I am still working on the quill pen one, and have finished the tattoo-styled one. I posted it a few days ago in a comment under your “I Need a New Site” post, but you haven’t seemed to have responded to it yet. I hope to be finished with the second by the end of this week.

"Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier

“Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier

I truly feel that I have failed my “duties” to Magic Pens for this is the first time I have failed to meet a set goal. I did not post my non-fiction piece, but I did however write it. Look out for Never Listen to a Daredevil – A True Story later this week, (hopefully today.)

Well when it comes to the word count, this week from February 25 to March 3, I have written 6,017 words on Magic Pens and have read 73 pages of Rebecca written by Daphne DuMaurier.

This week for some reason, I have not been in a good writing mood. I was determined to post Snowfiss’s story and once I did, it sat there without comments for a very long time. This did not help my encouragement along with the fact that I had to post something that was non-fiction. Whenever I felt like writing and came on Magic Pens, I suddenly remembered I had to write non-fiction before anything else, and this took me away from what I really wanted to write, thus I left without writing anything. This severely upsets me and I do not like this new goal, but since I have started a non-fiction piece, this week will be no problem, I hope. It bugs me that I have already written about the most traumatic thing that has happened to me, The Fear for a Friend – A True Story, along with a few other non-fiction posts when we did not have a goal, and am out of ideas now when we do have this goal. As some of you may have noticed, I do not write well when I am told what to write about. After I get this non-fiction piece posted, I hope that I will want to write this week and post some things. Wish me luck!

"Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier

“Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier

"A Practical Guide to Dragaons" by Lisa Trumbauer

“A Practical Guide to Dragaons” by Lisa Trumbauer

I wrote this week, although it wasn’t exactly all good quality. I hope once again that I will do much better next week. This week, from February 18 to February 24, 2007, I wrote 6,677 words on Magic Pens and 581 elsewhere coming to be a total of 7,258 words.

For reading, I read 62 pages of Rebecca written by Daphne DuMaurier and (if it counts,) A Practical Guide to Dragons by Lisa Trumbauer.

We had a meager crowd at our Magic Pens meeting, Monday, February 19, 2007 at Main Street Books at 1:00 PM, but we did get a few good points across. Here is a thorough overview in case you missed the meeting or need a little refresher.

Read more

"Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier

“Rebecca” by Daphne DuMaurier

Alright, due to the immense amount of babysitting and homework that I had along with my temporary suspension from my computer, I have once again had a low week.

On Magic Pens this week from February 11 to February 17, 2007, I wrote 4,539 and 404 words on paper. This comes to be 4,943 words. I promise that this upcoming week will be a better one.

For reading, I once again failed. I read the first 20 pages of Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier.

Once again, I promise that my next week will be much better than this one for I have deeply disappointed myself. My lack of writing has been disturbing me. *twitch*

"The River" by Gary Paulsen

“The River” by Gary Paulsen

"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare

“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare

Word counts for me seem to change just as the tides in the ocean do. There are highs and there are lows that come in gradual and sometimes sudden waves.

This week from February 4 to February 10, 2007, is one of my “low tides” with 1,946 words on Magic Pens and 111 words on paper to equal a total of 2,057 words. This week I have had a lot of homework every day and I had to babysit. When I did have time to write, I used it to think of an idea for Matt’s contest, but unfortunately, couldn’t think of anything. I hope that next week will be a much better week for me!

For reading, I once again replaced reading-time to think of idea’s for Matt’s contest and have only read 69 pages of The River by Gary Paulsen and finished up Romeo and Juliet.