Sunflower Blog Tag

I was tagged by Ryebrynn with the Sunflower Blogger tag.  Here we go.

Rules -

1.  Share 11 facts about yourself

2. Answer the 11 questions set by your nomination blogger- Nominate 11 bloggers

3.  Set questions for the nominated bloggers. 

1.  My major writing projects since I began serious writing - my first writing project ended in 45,000 words, my second, 20,000, my third, 60,000, my third, 10,000, my fourth, 10,000, my fifth I'm still writing.

2.  I write incredibly slow. D:

3.  I have dirty blonde hair.

4.  I'm an anachronist.

5.  I have an invisible mustache (according to some people).

6.  I have grey-blue eyes.

7.  I'm not a "Grammar Nazi," and I believe it's impossible to be one.  Nazis were the guys who put people in showers and then gassed them.

8.  I'm a sucker for sad books.

9.  I can't think of another one.

10.  I don't watch Doctor Who.

1. What are you currently reading?

The Bronze Bow.

2. What book coming out soon are you most excited about?

Golden Daughter.

3. Do you like Mountain Dew(if you don't, I'll still forgive you... maybe :P)

Course! :D

4. Who is your favorite author?

Maybe C.S. Lewis.

5. What is your favorite series?

The Chronicles of Narnia?  The Lord of the Rings?

6. What is your favorite stand-alone novel?

The Hobbit.

7. Do you like cats?

Sure.

8. What is your opinion of dogs?

They're good boys.

9. What is your favorite state(In America)\

Washington D.C.? :)

10. Spicy food or sweet food?

Spicy, all the way!

11. What is your favorite movie?

You can't separate the Lord of the Rings.

And now I'll tag -

MagicandWriting

Bluebelle

CrazyAndyMan

Ellron Silvertree (even though he doesn't have a blog)

Raptor Elytra

Hyperlinkzer

T. Granger

CNGoodhue
Dmitri Pendragon

Questions -

1.  If the exact opposite of you (personality wise) showed up, what would you do?

2.  What are your current writing projects (if you write)?

3.  Most depressing thing you can think of in an instant?

4.  Do you know a second language?

5.  Have you read the Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged)?

6.  Have you done the Sunflower Tag before?

7.  Eye color?

8.  Hair color?

9.  Do you want a different hair color/eye color?

10.  How are you? (this is not a rhetorical question. :P)

11.  How's your writing going?

- Robert

February 11th - The Day The Internet Revolts?

Today, February 11th, is the day the internet rises up and revolts.

If you haven't heard about it by now though, I guess the revolt didn't quite work.

Today is the day we - the internet - fight back.  Virtual protests rise up from all around the blogosphere and elsewhere.  Will the NSA hear us and comply with our demands against Mass Surveillance?

They better.

But we'll see.

(I figured I better post this for my duties to America - and finding something to post.)

Robert

Crazy Idea?

As it is with anyone in their trade, writers can relate to other writers.  Each would have different levels of experience and knowledge on all kinds of subjects.  And even without ever having met each other before, we share a connection because we've all gone through the struggles of writing.

And so, it makes sense for writers to gather and share knowledge and experience, right?  Even just to relax and talk.

And writing together, in one place, is also inspiring.  You can feel the power of creation all around you (although it's more of a subconscious feeling than anything else).  Your environment can mean the difference between 10 words a day and 10,000.

And why not?

Why not a place for writers to gather, to share, to talk, but mostly just to write?  It's a crazy idea (although potentially not the first idea of its kind), for a group of writers just to come and write in one room.  But it's also kind of empowering.  Together is always better than alone, right?

So just imagine.  A large central room of sofas, cushions, desks, beanbag chairs, etc.  Pictures line the walls, something to lighten up the walls but nothing distracting like a movie.  A speaker in the center plays music.  At one end of the room a smaller round room coffeehouse for writers taking a break to talk with others and have refreshments.  At another end of the larger room are a few smaller separate rooms, for those who would rather write in silence - these we can call the Art Rooms, or Exploration Rooms, for us to create in or draw in or just to sit in silence in.

It would be for a collection of writers to just be, well, writers.

Whaddya think?  Would you approve of a place like this, theoretically?  What would you like to see in a place like this?

Robert

Reading? What's that?

A lot of young writers read a lot.

And the simple truth is - I don't.

I used to read though.  I used to read all the time.  Virtually all the time, that is.  I read the first three books of the Inheritance Cycle, I read the Lord of the Rings, I read all of the Chronicles of Narnia books.  And then I reread them.

I used to read a lot.  But I don't anymore.  Last year I might have read ten books - and I was shooting for twenty-five.  This year (or really last - still can hardly comprehend it's 2014), I've read five at most.  Let's see if I can count them on one hand.

Prisoner of Zenda
The Cross and the Switchblade
Beyond the Cross and the Switchblade

One hand.  And that's with two fingers missing.  Am I just that lazy?  And next year I have to read twenty-five books for school.  Well, that's it for me.  I'm doomed (to borrow the colloquialism).

But why?

For one thing, my environment changed in the past three years like it never had before.

I discovered the internet. O_O (And in the process the key to the future generation of socializing - emoticons)  Which has turned out not only to be the bane of my reading time, but also my writing time, my social time, my school time, and my existence in general.  But not my thinking time, which of course is always the prime of life as a teen still trying to figure out whether the Affordable Care Act is a token of the Devil or a gift from God (after months a year of contemplation, I've discovered it's somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the former - it's a pie in the face from our government).

But this is a bit sidetracked.  Three years ago I lived in a much different environment.  One in which there was a couch.  A bookshelf.  And a fireplace.  And a library about twenty minutes away.

At the time though you must understand - this was not a cool place (actually, considering we had neither gas nor electric heat and only a fireplace, it was a cool place).  At the time I hated libraries - and yet I loved reading books.

Sound confusing?

Don't look at me.  I was the victim to that delusional state of mind.

So I read on that little couch.  And I read.  And I read.  And then we moved and I stopped reading.  About that time was when I starting writing, however.

So obviously there's a big shift in ideals during this time of my life.  I went from feeding of others' work - a consumer - to (trying) to create - a producer.

I went from living a normal life, to wanting to help others live normal lives (through books - though I was at the time still quite disillusioned, as I believed writing was for the sake of it.  As if!)

And so I can firmly come to this conclusion.  My shifting ideals actually affected my behavior subconsciously.  I don't, however, believe that I should remain this way.  Therefore, maybe 2014 will be a better year for me in terms of reading.  Maybe I shall return to those frolicking meadows (the ones I believed I was in on the stormy days of childhood).  And once again return to being that fat happy consumer.

Although I don't think choosing Alice in Wonderland was quite the book to start off with in my return to preexistence . . .

Adios and vaya con dios
Robert