Blogging Hiatus

After giving this a lot of thought, I've decided to go on a blogging hiatus, until around the New Year. I'm sure you've noticed my posts dwindling lately... I'm afraid I've never been very good at blogging, and recently I haven't had the time to give it my fullest attention. So, until I do have the time to make that happen, I'm afraid I will have to say goodbye. You all have been wonderful readers, and I'm thankful for every one of you. I know when I start posting again in a few months, you'll be there to back me up. Thanks for all the support!

Until we meet again, 

~The Scribbler in the Attic

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 

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

Monday Musings \\ The Mad Scramble

And so it begins...

Confession time: I've never actually done NaNoWriMo before.

Definition time: To those of you who are not familiar with what NaNoWriMo is and are having a hard time pronouncing it, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. Every November, writers write a 50,000 word novel between Nov. 1st and the 30th. 

Introduction time: For my first attempt at NaNoWriMo, I've decided to begin a story I've been sitting on for a while now about treasure hunters. I am suuuuuupeeer excited--so excited, in fact, that I've decided to make it the theme of my blog post for the next month.

What I've got planned:

Monday Musings will now be lists of things that I've read/watched and listened to for research purposes, or random things that have been helping me cope with the fact that every day you have to write at least 1,667 words to get 50,000 in by the end of the month. 

Writers Wednesdays I will be sharing with you what I've learned so far about the treasure-hunting genre and what's helped me get into the swing of writing a treasure hunting story.

Photography Friday is probably what I'm most excited about. I'll be taking a break from my "Selfie Series" and doing more treasure-hunter-themed shoots. CANNOT WAIT! :D 

Anyways, just wanted to give you a heads-up for what's in store. I can't wait to get started!

So, grab your ice cream, Oreos, hot tea and bunny slippers and get writing!

Over and out,

~The Scribbler in the Attic

Monday Musings \\ Awkward & Awesome

I don't usually (never, actually) post Awkward&Awesomes, but apparently I had a very awkward week (okay, it was awesome too), and thought it might make a good post.

Yeah... I'm going to regret this. :P

Awkward:

• Running all the way down to your guest house in the your beat up truck to use the bathroom there, because at your own house your little brother is throwing up in the one and your sister is doing a health cleanse in the other.

• Going to a new gyro restaurant and not understanding the menu, so you just order soda. Then you see what your family got to eat and decide that's what you want, so you have to go and order again, and the employees there are literally hiding their smiles of amusement because you were stressing out so bad over it, and then you're mortified the rest of the meal.

• An entire lunch conversation centered around your dad guessing what obscure decoration your sister bought at Michaels, and him actually getting it right. (It was a giant Kelly-green clothespin.)

• Taking outfit pictures of your sister outside a cigar shop.

• Having to write an introductory speech for your speech class and realizing 70% of your life is spent reading books and watching movies and then geeking out about them.

• Writing an email chain back-and-forth in all caps and it feels like someone's been screaming in your ears for hours, so you walk around deaf the rest of the day for no good reason whatsoever.

• When your hair is so long that when you try to flip it over your shoulder at the dinner table, it falls in your food.

• Your family thinking you're goth when you wear a black T-shirts two days in a row.

• Your family buying a sauna and transporting it to your house via mattresses, quilts and a pig trailer behind your big white passenger van.

Awesome:

• This exchange at breakfast:

Emma: "Daniel (our neighbor) didn't get my pun yesterday about him spraying me with the bottle so often putting a damper on our friendship."
Daddy: "He totally mist that pun."
Emma: "Haha, yeah. And then I told him it was okay, it cooled things off.  And he said, 'Well, that's awkward.' And I'm like, 'Dude, I'm trying to make a pun here.'"
Me: "He should have just gone with the flow."
Daddy: "Stream of consciousness."
Me: "You were in too deep."
Emma (laughing hard): "This is why I love you guys."

• Getting a booth at a local fair to sell my jewelry.

• The first of the leaves turning red.

• Finishing writing the first half of your book... (!)

• Spotify. I did not know the extent of music streaming awesomeness until I got it.

• Starting school and not falling behind within in the first week. And not hating it. If it weren't for all the other stuff I have to get done in a very short amount of time, I would actually be enjoying it. My mom let me make my own schedule this year, and so now I get an hour of reading and an hour writing a day. :D :D :D

• Leather jackets. ATV's. Wide open fields. Good friends. And chicken-pot-pie.

What was awesome/awkward about your week? Seriously share, I love hearing from you guys! :)

Word,
~The Scribbler in the Attic

Photography Friday // Book Shop Hopping

For my sixteenth birthday my sister Emma, my friend Mariah and my mother and I went book shop hopping!
To say the least, it. was. totally. awesome. :D We went around all the small bookstores in our area and did nothing but eat and shop for books all day. I couldn't have asked for a better sweet sixteen.

We ate lunch at Chipotle and then headed over to a bookshop just across the street.

Mariah asked the employee if she could play the piano, and treated us all to the Pirates of the Carribean movie soundtrack. :D

Then we got ice cream... What's a book-shop-hopping-day without that?

Then we went to Books-a-Million and goofed off...

AND I FOUND TARDIS EARRINGS! COMMENT IF YOU'RE A WHOVIAN AND GIVE ME A e-HIGH FIVE!

Our last stop was at McKay's. A seriously awesome place. 

Emma and Mariah in the glass elevator... They were enjoying themselves. :)

"Life is like a book; it will only start to make sense the further you get into it." 

~ (A bookmark we saw at Books-a-Million)

Officially a sixteen-year-old,
~The Scribbler in the Attic