Mythical creatures....aren't so mythical?

Don't forget to visit Jen, Colene, Laurel, Lisa and Renae for more Harry Potter themed magic! (Seriously, I'd like you to open their blogs in a separate window so you don't forget.)

If you are anything close to an avid fan like me, you've probably thought to yourself on more than one occassion, "I wish the Wizarding World was real." I have news for you guys, it is! (And no, I'm not talking about the theme park.) The mythical creatures that JK Rowling uses are around us everyday.

They are disguised as people in our everyday lives:

Dementors: The people who drain you until you're left with nothing. Sometimes, it can be so subtle and gradual you don't notice until after it's over. They leave you feeling cold and empty.

Thestrals: The people we don't see or acknowledge but they are their supporting life, helping us continue our way of existence. They generally provide valuable service that we take for granted. It usually takes a cataclysmic event in one's life for them to acknowledge these types of people.

Hippogriff: Seems reluctant to embark on new friendships, so much so that they may come off as arrogant. You wouldn't think of turning to them in a time of need yet surprisingly they are their to back you up, loyal and true until the end. 

Basilisk (snakes in general): Will blindly follow the only person who seems to understand them. Wherever that may take them.

Centaurs: The wise and knowledgeable people who are, unfortunately, rather unhelpful because they believe that we all must come to our own answers in our own time. 

Acromantula: Only focused on their own needs, selfish and uncaring until the end.

House elves: So ingrained in their ways and wanting to keep with the status quo that even when freedom is presented to them, they won't take it. They don't like change. At all. 

Unicorns: Are the innocents, they are pure and full of light. It takes a truly awful person to try and steal any of that away.

Werewolves: The people who are truly, unfortunately, and sadly misunderstood.  

Phoenix: It doesn't matter how horribly life affects them, their entire world could erupt in a flash of fire and they'd still get up. They gather the wreckage about them, acknowledge it and stand - stronger and wiser than ever before. (We should all strive to be like this.)

What sort of mythical creatures do you see around you? Anything else to add to my list? How do you see yourself?

Potions, the unused solution

This week five awesome bloggers teamed together to fill the next five days with magic to celebrate the anticipated release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. Yes, I am one of the awesome bloggers. (No, that isn't very humble but just look at the gals doing this with me.) Make sure to stop by and revel in the awesome with Jen, Renae, Colene and Lisa.

Harry Potter and potions class never got on very well (sixth book aside). Here are a few of the ways the Death Eaters and Voldemort (if they had been using their Slytherin cunning) could have ended the battles with little to no effort.

Amortentia: Because an utterly infatuated person is googly eyed, empty headed and thinks of little beside their own love. When your obsessed, you have little time to think of other things - like a Dark Lord set to kill you.

Beffudlement draught: Induces the effects of a severely intoxicated person. Your opponents become so reckless they run straight into your curses. 

Forgetfulness potion: A first year's potion that makes the drinker forgetful. Make your opponent forget you were opponents in the first place. See? It's first year logic too. 

Shrinking solution: Fairly straightforward - shrink your problems too.

Polyjuice Potion: Turn yourself into one of Harry Potter's friends, wait till he turns his back and say two little words with a flick of your wrist. He'd never see it coming.

 Felix Felicis: Hello? Succeed in your every endeavor? Harry Potter and the entire Order would be dead in less than an hour. 

Do you have any other ways you would have won the war sooner (from either side)? Do you have any cunning solutions to problems in your own life?

Be Jolly By Golly

Christmas cookies and happy hearts, this is how the holiday starts!

Jen and I teamed up to create an awesome, candy cane infused, blog fest because we think all of you are fantastic and want to spread the holiday cheer. 

We bring to you:

Be Jolly By Golly

We want to know how you celebrate. 

Before you get your tinsel in a tangle, here are the rules:

1. Post your blog sometime on December 20th.

2. We want pictures of your decorations, holiday lights and Christmas tree.

3. Share your favorite holiday treat (Feel free to share the recipe so we can all share in the yummy).

4. Share your favorite holiday drink (Either alcoholic or non, share your recipe if you please - you're all going to want to drink mine so I'd like some options to steal too).

5. Don't forget to visit everyone else, share in the holiday spirit and spread the cheer. 

Basically, this blogfest is Christmas dinner with your blogger family, you don't want to miss out on the fun. Also, our badge is AWESOME. You should join just so you can nab it.

Please note: If you don't celebrate Christmas, we want you anyways. Share your holiday traditions with us, whatever they may be.

To segue into an entirely different topic without any warning, I have another announcement to make. 

Two years ago, mid November I started writing my book. I wrote like crazy and was two chapters away from finishing when my computer crashed. I lost everything.

After a while, I started writing again. I got about halfway through when I decided I was writing in the wrong tense. I started again. I got halfway through (again) before one of my characters decided he didn't like the way the plot/storyline was working out for him and he dramatically changed the sequence of events in the first book. (It's a trilogy.)

I started over.

I had a third of it done by the end of summer but school started and excuses piled up. As you know, my goal with NaNo was to finish my book. I gave NaNo 122% (according to how many words I wrote) and finished my first draft yesterday at noon.

I am so overwhelmed and happy (especially because I have crazy amazing family members like Cousin K and Little Sister who changed their Facebook statuses to celebrate with me).

How's your writing? Any accomplishments lately? Are you stoked on this blog fest or what??

Writerly skills and Writerly chills.

Mom and I went to the liquor store (because where else do you go on the weekend (I don't care that I sound like an alcoholic, I know I'm not. I just appreciate a good drink after a long week of writing.)) and the grocery store.

We go back to the car only to realize we parked in a Reserved parking space for Rogers (a video store) customers only.

Mom was all, it's a good thing no one noticed we didn't go in the store.

And I immediately replied, "It doesn't matter, I'm a Rogers customer twenty four seven. If they try and say otherwise, I'll show them my phone bill." (Rogers is also a phone company.)

Mom laughs, clearly amazed by my unstoppable wit and genius (and modesty).

"Don't even worry mom, I build worlds, I think I can find my way out of anything now."

Now, normally I'd segue into some helpful writing advice like: the tools we learn and use in our writing can be beneficially applied to our lives. Through journeying with our characters, we learn their lessons and in turn, become stronger characters ourselves.

But, I don't want to elaborate on that.

You see, I've been writing some pretty horrific stuff. It was brief but the taint of it lingers on my MC, saturates her as she goes into the final three chapters of my book. It's all a jumbled mess in her head.

Which means, unfortunately, it (I wish I could explain but it would ruin my book!) is haunting me as well. I feel sick and unsteady and like my world could crumble if I take one misstep.

I can't sleep because horrific events and scenes loop in my mind, unforgiving and terrifying.

And I need to know,

Do you ever write something that horrifies you? Something so terrible you can't believe you thought of it? Do you ever make yourself sick because of events in your book?

Maybe, when people read it, they won't react like I have. I don't expect them too. My characters are a part of me, they mean more to me then I can possibly express, and they gave me hope when I had none (that's another blog post entirely) and I have a hard time knowing that my subconscious is so cruel to them in return.

I'd like to think I'm not alone.

Hope NaNo (or your other endeavors) is going well for you guys. I'm done! Except not because November was less about winning NaNo and more about finishing my book. But I'm close to that too.

Support systems are crucial

I was telling Ramona about my characters (if you think I can think about anything besides my book when I'm writing this much a day, you are sorely mistaken).

I was speaking and I didn't think she was getting the point so I said, "They're real people, you know."

She replies, "I know."

I squeeze her knee, "Awe, I love you."

"Yeah, I don't even think your crazy for that." (Hearing voices in my head.) "Your crazy for other things."

Best friend status? Reaffirmed.

Writers need people who accept our psychotic tendencies. I am lucky enough to have an amazing family who support me in this crazy endeavor - going so far as to offer themselves as the crash test dummies for my novel. I have friends who care - both offline and on. And I have you, the people who stop by and read my drivel.

So when your slaving over your novel, when you feel like dying cause the pressure is too much turn to your support system. They won't let you down and they may surprise you by cheering you in the most unexpected ways. (I mean, who enjoys being called crazy?)

Who do you turn to?

Thursdays Tomfoolery #4

If a picture is worth a thousand words and I gave you two, I guess that means I lied to you two thousand times. I feel awful and guilty. 

The truth is, my room is only this neat for about a week and a half every three months. I cleaned my room early because 1. November is going to be hellish enough already and 2. I agreed to let over a hundred people see it by signing up for a blogfest. Normally my room looks like this:

Okay, so that is a lie as well. But I figured if I gave you two extremes you could come to your own conclusions and you wouldn't know how bad/good my room really is ninety percent of the time. 

Now that I have alleviated my conscious, on to today's tomfoolery. 

Today, we are playing the alliteration game. We're going to be a little strange and talk about ourselves in third person and make up a phrase (as serious or ridiculous as you please) about ourselves using only the first letter of your name. 

Me first:

Melissa's mellifluous monkeying mistakenly mapped mother's mediocre mansion.

(I just want to point out that I tried to say this out loud to Mom and tripped over the sentence several times to get it right. There's no way I could say that sentence three times fast.)

Okay friends, your turn! Please, alliterate in the comments. (Make my day!)

NaNo is going well, am almost at 15K. How are you guys doing?

Show Your Space

Summer is hosting a Show Your Space blogfest to launch off NaNoWriMo so we can all creep on each other and know exactly where we are as we kill ourselves in order to pound out 50,000 in 30 days.

So here's my writing space!

And, because I know everyone secretly wants a close up:

When I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter I totally bought a Marauders Map and then, I framed it - like any good Harry Potter fan would - this is just the section I chose to immortalize behind glass. There's way more to this magical map. 

Oh? You guys wanted my real writing space, didn't you? I'll be honest, I almost never sit at my desk. I do most of my writing here:

That's right. I do most of my writing in bed because I like my pyjamas, fluffy blankets and being comfortable. I know your jealous of my polka dot bedspread. It's a party every night down here (in the basement which moonlights as my room). 

You may notice the little dots on the wall and ceiling. Those are glow in the dark stars. (And yeah, I'm such a nerd I arranged them like real constellations.) If you look carefully you'll see Leo (for me), Draco (because) and Aries, Libra and Cancer (for my three best friends).

Today is the first day of NaNo so Good Luck to all you other insane people out there and for those of you not participating, enjoy your sanity. 

My blogging is going to be sketchy this month, but I promise to make at least one stop to each of your blogs every week. 

Go HERE for more entries in this blogfest. (Look in the sidebar!)