I'm Baaaack... (Poems, Pictures, and Stressing Out)

Hi everyone! Here I am, back from a week of dirt, daddy longlegs, really cold feet, and blisters. It. Was. Awesome =D I love the opportunity to just escape from my life every now and then--I find that my writing flourishes when I step back and take a deep (really, really deep) breath. And now that I'm back, life goes on. And it goes on oh so quickly.

First things first: Writer's Conference. I know you're getting totally sick of hearing about it (I sort of am, too) but it must be heard. It is now officially one week away. If you want to laugh, go back and glance my rather sporadic post posted quite a few weeks ago and entitled "Three Weeks?!" I always knew I couldn't count, but I didn't know that I couldn't even guesstimate accurately. This time, I'm pretty sure I'm right.

So, I submitted the dialogue that I was telling you about a couple of posts ago. It's a scene that I've always liked, and right now I'm trying not to think about it because that will only lead to tears, sweat, and a few "WHAT WAS I THINKING WHEN I SUBMITTED THAT?!" moments (I think I've had one or two already). I'm pretty nervous about it, but the teacher who's going to be using it promised absolute anonymity and was quite nice. I still think I'm going to hide when he reads it. Would you like to read it?! I won't let you answer that question. Here. *hides*

Nightstrider reached the knoll and scented Skarzen; he turned his sharp eyes on him. “Do you come to mock me, Barsz?” Nightstrider’s low, guttural voice was clogged with blood. “Do you come to lead me back to Vanisa in humiliation?”

            Skarzen prodded his horse forward. The animal approached Nightstrider reluctantly; once it shied away from the hulking, bleeding monster. When Skarzen was close enough, he spoke. “You have humiliated me, Nightstrider. What good would it do me to return it on you?”

            Nightstrider coughed loudly, foam fringing his lips. “Stop the riddles, Barsz.”

            “There are no more riddles.” Skarzen drew his sword, watching as the faint hiss of steel against leather ignited a spark of horror in Nightstrider’s eyes. “You offered me power, once, if I would help you overthrow Vanisa Sorian, and I turned you down. But only because I don’t need you. Power was not meant to be shared.”

            Nightstrider began to back away, tripping constantly over his mutilated leg. “Barsz, have you lost your mind? What are you doing?”

            Skarzen spurred his horse forward, raising his blade.

            “Vanisa will know!” Nightstrider fell to his knees, floundered to rise. Blood rushed from his mouth with his frantic words. “She will find out!”

            “By then, it will be too late.” Skarzen looked down on the Nargal with a mixture of satisfaction and disgust. “It is too late.” Two quick, solid strikes, and Nightstrider’s body crumpled. Skarzen paused, observing the fallen leader. Then he wiped the dark blood on the Nargal’s tangled mane and sheathed his sword.

That was painful =P The saddest thing is that Skarzen isn't even my original villian--he's Fozzymillow's, but he appears in my book. How wrong is that.

Now, to a happier note. I got an email today from the leader of the conference calling for teens to schedule appointments with the publisher of a fairly new Christian teens magazine who will only be at the conference for one day. The magazine is named Aletheia Writing Magazine and their website is here:
http://www.aletheiawritingmagazine.com/. I strongly encourage you to look at it and even consider submitting something, since I know all of you are crazy artistic people. I also found the blog of one of the teen authors who's been published by aletheia here: http://www.katieoostman.blogspot.com/. If you read about her experience with Aletheia, I think you'll be very encouraged. I still haven't found the story she published, but she seems like a very good author.

All that said, I scheduled an appointment with the magazine owner and I'm practically dying of happiness since they accept submissions of everything from short stories to poems to artwork to photographs to book reviews and I plan to show him just about everything I have that falls into those categories. I shall keep you updated.

And finally, here's some stuff (a poem and pictures) I came up with while on my camping trip =) Enjoy!

On My Encounter with a Good Friend, the Red Squirrel, Who Was Quite Incensed When I Startled Him

A squirrel, he stopped and looked at me

As if I had surprised him

And as we sat a'staring there

As calmly I surmised him

He crept along his gnarly bough

With squirrel toes all a twitter

And only when he'd made his leap

Did he scold and sorely chitter.

The sky on the day we arrived.

My VERY FIRST roasted hotdog. In my own personal and completely unbiased opinion, I think it is roasted to perfection.

The falls which we hike down to see every year. Very inspiring place, that =)

An oddly shaped tree I found while hiking.

LAKE. Favorite. Place. EVER.

Indian Pipes

This huge boulder field. I mean, it was literally ALL boulders. I walked across half of it and almost killed myself because I was wearing flip-flops. That's me--always prepared XD

A NEWT. So cute. I rhyme without even trying ^_^

A rental car we got after ours decided to tour the local shop. I want it now, and have decided that this will be my first car. My dad is not convinced, since I can't even drive yet =)

The lake on the day we left =(

The TINIEST frog I've ever seen. It could literally fit on my fingernail. What a grand creation!

Signing out!

Elisabeth