Fall Releases I'm Looking Forward To

I thought today I'd share the four new releases coming up I'm most looking foreword to. These next few months are going to be very exciting. :D

The Sword of Summer: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.

One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.

The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.

When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.

Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die . . . (Taken from Goodreads.)

While Riordan's last batch of books, the spin-off series of Percy Jackson, were less than cool, this looks like it's going to be really awesome.

The Forever Man: W.A.R.P. #3

Riley, an orphan boy living in Victorian London, has achieved his dream of becoming a renowned magician, the Great Savano. He owes much of his success to Chevie, a seventeen-year-old FBI agent who traveled from the future in a time pod and helped him defeat his murderous master, Albert Garrick. But it is difficult for Riley to enjoy his new life, for he has always believed in his heart of hearts that Garrick will someday, somehow, return to seek vengeance.

Chevie has assured Riley on numerous occasions that Garrick was sucked into a temporal wormhole, never to emerge. The full nature of the wormhole has never been understood, however, and just as a human body will reject an unsuitable transplant, the wormhole eventually spat him out. By the time Garrick makes it back to Victorian London, he has been planning his revenge on Riley for half a century. But even the best-laid plans can go awry, and when the assassin decides to include Chevie in his retaliation, the three are tossed once more into the wormhole with no idea where-or when-they will end up. (Taken from Goodreads.)

I have absolutely loved Colfer's books, especially his WARP series, and cannot wait to crack open the pages of book 3. Especially since it looks like he's bringing back one of the best villains ever.

The Speed of Darkness: Chronoptika #4

I haven't actually read the 2nd and 3rd book in this series (because my library doesn't have them), so I haven't even read the description of this one. The first book turned out to be breathtaking, and so I, in planning to read the next two, found out that the fourth was due to be released early 2016.

Mission Hurricane: The 39 Clues: Doublecrossed

Last book of the 39 Clues. Possibly the very last that will ever come out. I have really enjoyed these books and will be very sad to see them end. But I suppose you can only stretch a series so far...

What new releases are you looking forward to? Any suggestions for me?

Have a lovely afternoon,

~The Scribbler in the Attic

Infinity Dreams Award

Good morning, everyone! I've been awarded by Megan over at Montana Farm Girl for the Infinity Dreams award. Thanks, Megan!


Rules:

Thank and link to the blogger who tagged you

Answer the 11 questions

Nominate several bloggers and ask them 11 questions

Megan's questions:

- Favorite summer activity? 
Hm... I'd have to say soccer or Frisbee or swimming. Don't make me narrow it down more than that. ;)

- What is your favorite activity / sport for any time of the year?
Haha, soccer and Frisbee again. I love sports in general.

- How many animals do you own?
Our family owns two dogs, a cow and soon some puppies (one of our dogs is pregnant :D .)

- How many siblings do you have?
Five. Two brothers and three sisters.

- What is your favorite color?
Oh dear. I guess I'm not very decisive today, because I'd have to say blue, green or black. And I really love burgundy/coffee hues. I hate to just choose one.

- What is your favorite kind of animal?
Panda bear. Always has been. :) I love large cats like panthers and lynx's, too, though. 

- Favorite season?
Autumn.

- Favorite books?
That's a very hard question to answer! I'd have to say The Ascendance Trilogy (It. Was. Amazing.), Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Fablehaven books, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Swamp Rat, and Around the World in Eighty Days. 

- Favorite movies?
Another hard one! Let's see... The Return of the King, the Bourne movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, any Hitchcock film, The Proposal, and Tv shows like Psych, Merlin, Heroes and Monk.

- What do you do in your free time?
Read, write, make music videos, create disasters, play pranks, and go on ATV rides. I also watch a lot of movies. :)

- What is your dream career?
Dream career is being a published writer. It's probably been that since I was ten or so. ;D

Alright, I nominate:
Johanna at Writers Who Need To Talk To Other Writers
Elsie at Keep Calm and Beethoven On
Heather at Sometimes I'm a Story


And here are my questions:

-What is the busiest day of your life that you can remember?
-Where is the farthest you have ever been from home?
-Do you have a dream so big you might call it an "Infinity Dream"?
-Are you a polka-dots or stripes kind of person?
-If you could change your entire name, what name would you choose?
-What is the closest you have ever come to a near-death experience?
-What is your favorite song?
-What is your favorite food?
-How long can you hold your breath?
-If you could, would your rather be an Olympic swimmer or gymnast?
-What is your dream vacation?

Well, thank for reading, y'all! Alons-y!
~Willa

A Momentousness of Books

Something momentous has happened. Something amazing. Something so cool I just had to share it with you guys.

*drum roll please......* 

I own over 100 books!!!

Me, myself and I, personally own over 100 titles--obviously my favorites, plus a few random ones I happened to pick up on the way. :)

I never set a goal or anything like that for myself. I've tried to buy as many as I can, rather than get them from library, since I may end up wanting re-read or flip through them again. (And it's especially hard to do that with library books if the library you happen to go to is an hour and a half away. Heh.) Confession time, though... I haven't actually read all of them. Out of 100, I've maybe read 87. Which isn't bad, and I am working on it. :)

But anyways, I was just so excited I thought I'd write up a post about it. I'm completely out of shelf space, which is quite an awesome feeling... While I've got you, though, I apologize for my rather sudden hiatus there for a few months. It's been a really crazy time around here. A lot of traveling and a lot of bruises from a lot of soccer games. Also watermelon. A lot of watermelon. (But that's always a good thing. :D )

Do you guys have a book collection? How big has it gotten? Any suggestions for me? Which books are your favorites? Which do you wish you had bought instead of getting them from the library?

Ecstatically,
~The Scribbler in the Attic 

Death For A Single Soul || Passion Week

So, with this being Passion Week and Easter Sunday coming up, I've been thinking a lot about Christ's death, and along with that, all of the allegories in literature that have depicted this. Almost all stories have this element, and in fact, I can't think of many books I've read that don't.

But Aslan's death from the Chronicles of Narnia has been on my mind the most. I had an interesting train of thought about it this evening, and thought I would share, as I am currently plum out of blog post ideas.

We read in the Bible how Jesus came to earth, lived a painful and sorrowful life as a man, that one day he would be given up to be sacrificed for our sins. We hear all the time how Christ died to save "all sinners". But something I observed about Aslan's death in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: He didn't die to save all the creatures of Narnia. At the time they didn't need saving. The only one who had sinned, the only one who had betrayed Aslan, was Edmund. And yet, Aslan died. We all know how the story ends: Aslan comes back to life. But when he traded his life for Edmund's, it gave the appearance of defeat, of surrender, of basically handing the victory over to the White Witch, all for the sake of one boy. One traitor.

And it reminded me all over again, that it would have been exactly like that with Jesus had I been the only one He needed to save. Jesus would have lived, suffered, been crucified and gone through hell even if it was only for single soul. And I think that fact, that knowledge, is one of the most beautiful things about the saving grace of God and His sacrifice for us. He loves us so much, he was willing not to just die for all of us, but for each and every one of us individually.

So, yes. Those are just some thoughts that have been floating around my head lately. Thanks for reading. :)

How has your Passion Week been? 

Sincerely,

~The Scribbler in the Attic

Valentine Pictures From Me To You

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! Hope you had a wonderful holiday. :) I had chocolate and raspberry covered homemade donuts and heart-shaped bacon for breakfast, ice cream for lunch, and chocolate covered strawberries for desert after dinner. So, yeah, my Valentine's Day was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. :D

I'd been meaning to take some holiday-themed pictures to post today, but couldn't really decide what to do, until the inspiration hit me this afternoon. Forgoing the (extremely inconvenient) self-timer on my Nikon, I got my little brother, Seth, to take these pictures. 

#teenagetroubles

Scorching sophistication.

NERD ALERT!

Can you smell the sarcasm?

I was in a super goofy mood today, if you couldn't tell. ;)

Our family has this crazy tradition of sending Valentine cards to all our neighbors, so, after our incredible breakfast this morning, we sat around and made Pooh and Captain America Valentine's for our friends. We always have a great time deciding who should get the "Ishy Squishy Hugs and Stuff" or the "I Want YOU To Have a Happy Valentine's Day" cards.

How did you celebrate? Do you have any Valentine traditions?

Love,

~The Scribbler in the Attic

Snow Fall || It Almost Feels Like Winter

I woke up Saturday to find our hollow covered in snow. It may look like just a dusting to those of you who get snow all the time, but for us, anything more than an 1/8 an inch is the closest thing we get to a blizzard. So, naturally, I jumped out of bed and ran outside to take pictures. :)

I once met the woman known as Winter

With eyes of frost and turquoise splinter.

And once I asked how it could be

That she was never sad.

She looked at me, with eyes of sleet

As though I were the one half-mad.

She said, "How could I ever, though,

When I'm lord of winds and one with snow?"

~W.N.H.

Have you guys gotten any good snow falls? Anyone ready for Spring yet?

~The Scribbler in the Attic

First Hellos and Final Goals

Here is my first hello to all of you in 2015!

It's a new year, and like every new year it comes with changes and decisions. I've made some choices I hope you all will like for this blog. There are some things I wish I had done better with my life in 2014, and there are some things that I know I will fail at in 2015. But, thankfully, the beauty of failure is you learn from it.

Starting now, I've decided to do away with "Monday Musings" and "Writer's Wednesday" and "Photography Friday". The rigid schedule and cheesy alliterations just weren't working for me.

I would love for you all to give me suggestions for ways I could improve my blog and my posts! Please comment with any ideas you may have.

Last year, about this time, I told you all that my new year's resolution was to not use any emoticons on this blog.

As you probably can all see, I failed miserably. :P

I have nothing at all against emoticons. In fact, I think they are super cute and funny. But my reason for trying to not use them was because I wanted my writing to be such that I didn't need to use smiley-faces to maybe bring some serious subject I was talking about back into a happy mood, or a sad-face to convey disappointment, when I could very easily just take a few more minutes to be more thoughtful with my words and how they are put together. 

This year, I have no such restrictions. Hah, I'm probably going to use a hundred emoticons a sentence now that I have free range.  But I will also be trying just as hard, if not more, to be more thoughtful in my rhetoric.

Anyways, here's a sketchy outline for the way I'm hoping to do things on Scribblings this next year:

In terms of photography…

In case you were worried, I'm not giving up photography. Just because Photography Friday is defenestrated, doesn't mean my camera has been chucked out with it. There will definitely be photo shoots and more "selfie series" pictures. I love photography and am not planning on quitting any time soon.

Speaking of scribblings…

I have not yet made a plan for what I'm doing with This Name and Moment. What I had planned on being just a short, short book spliced into small chapters to give to you guys, has turned into an explosion of new plots and characters in my head. I would really love to take it to a new height, but at the same time I need to be focusing on several of my other writing goals. So, in other words, I've haven't got a concrete plan. If you're still interested in reading This Name and Moment please comment and tell me! I would really appreciate it. :-)

But, now that I'm not concentrating all of my fuel on This Name and Moment, I can be posting more poems and short stories and stuff. Which I'm super excited about. :D :D :D

Did somebody mention books??

Instead of doing an individual review for one or two books, I got the idea to just post a list of all of the  books I read that month, with short descriptions and my ratings. Also, if you guys can think of any books you would highly recommend, I would love to hear about them! One of my unofficial goals this year is to read a lot more, and for that, I need lots of suggestions! :-)

Well, there you have it. All my incredibly sloppy plans for this incredibly sloppy blog who does not deserve all of you amazing people. :-)

Haaaaaappppyyy 200000000001555555555!!!!!!!!!

~The Scribbler in the Attic

Photography Friday // 2014 Favorites

As a final ado to this incredible year, 2014, I've put together my favorite pictures. Hope you guys enjoy! And Happy New Year!

"Hope smiles form the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'" 

~Alfred Lord Tennyson

This is the last time I'll be posting in 2014. A very fond goodbye to all of you until the New Year. :)
~The Scribbler in the Attic

Monday Musings \\ Conclusions&Christmas&Coming Agains

Hello, everyone!

Well, my "treasure hunting" month is officially over for this blog. I had a lot of fun doing the various posts. Even though I didn't have the time to do all the ones I wanted, I still had a great time sharing my NaNoWriMo aspirations with you all.

Thank you for all your support! Stay tuned this next month for Christmas photography shoots. :) I don't believe I'll be able to get together This Name and Moment's next segment until the new year. (Anyone else get a shiver when they say 'new year'? ;D)

Hope you all have a great Monday!

~The Scribbler in the Attic

(P.s. I think I'll keep my map header up for a while. I like it a lot. :D :D :D )

Verbal Victory Dance!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Nun-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuuuuuuuuuuuuh!!!!!!!!!

Just thought I'd tell y'all that I FINISHED MY NANOWRIMO BOOK AND I'M NOT EXCITED AT ALL.

(I suffer from an extreme case of being sarcastic when I am really excited. Just fyi.)

Thank you all so much for your support! To those of you doing National Novel Writing Month, how is it going? I really hope you've enjoyed this month as much as I have!

Love,
~The Scribbler in the Attic

Snapshot Sunday // Treasure Hunting Child Wonders

I have to go with "Snapshot Sunday" in place of Photography Friday due to the fact that I was too sick Friday to post. And just when you thought I'd run out of cheesy alliterations for my post titles, right? ;D
Tired of taking selfies, I decided to ask my little siblings Elsie and Josiah if I could set up a treasure hunt for them and take pictures while they solved it. They were so excited to get to do this. I picked out a few (...relatively speaking...) of my favorites to share with you guys. Enjoy!

Opening the first clue...

Setting off together to follow the map... 

Tackling the very quickly put together obstacle course.

Josiah finding the second piece of the map.

Breaking the seal.

Finding the second clue.

Josiah got burrs stuck in his hair. So I acted quickly--and took a picture.

Josiah finding the final piece of the map...

Hurrying towards their final destination.

The treasure at last!

Triumphantly returning home with their treasure.

"If love is the treasure, laughter is the key." ~Yakov Smirnoff 

If you think my siblings are as adorable as I do, leave a comment. :)
~The Scribbler in the Attic