Stories and book ideas

Really, this is for my own benefit, but ya'll are welcome to read it if you're interested

Well first I have Faery Faery which is the book that I'm almost ready to publish, that book is going to be so good. :) It is basically a story of a young girl who wishes that her father can see the world as she sees it, all the beauty that is hidden from the wise grown up people but its plain to a child's eye, it is the story of her father's journey as that wish is granted. It is such a beautiful story, I love the world that is shown there and how much it opens our eyes to different ways to find beauty in even the smallest things around us. I also particularly like how much I can enjoy that story. God gave it to me just as much as I am writing it down and giving it to others. It is my story in that God gave it to me, I am so glad that I get to write it down, and I am so glad that it God's story, as well as my own.


Next I suppose would be the two or three book set that I have been working on just about as long as I've been working on Faery Faery. I am so excited for when I'll get to sit down and write these stories. They are sort of Redwall-esque in flavor being about mice, otters, squirrels and the like. I don't know how to sum up the story in brief, it is not a brief story, but perhaps I can sum it up in the characters that the story revolves around.
Book one - Hedge
-Hedge is a mouse who was born in Haven and lived there through most of his childhood up until the point when he was almost ready to find himself an apprenticeship. Overall he had difficulty fitting in with the mice of Haven, he was always reading the books in the library which were about battles and warriors and other such myths of the lands, and he always struggle following the many rules of the city. He would constantly be in trouble for breaking some rule or other, but the rules never made sense to him, so he always had such a hard time remembering them. finally he broke one rule too many, and too gravely and was banished from the city forever.
-Daisy is a mouse on whose behalf Hedge was banished from Haven, she takes Hedge home with her to stay with her family since he doesn't have anywhere else to go and sense it was because he helped her that he was banished. Daisy learns that Hedge has never seen any other sort of animal besides the mice that live in Haven, so she takes Hedge out to see the shrews who the village mice in the area (not the Haven mice) often trade with. Hedge travels with her and is amazed by all the things he'd never seen before.
-She'el is a squirrel who prefers to think of herself as a Shrew. She meets Hedge when he comes to visit the Shrew camp where she generally lives. she is astonished to learn that Hedge is a mouse of Haven (the mice of Haven do not generally engage with the rest of the world) and she isn't really surprised that he's never seen much of the world. She proposes to extend his trip and to take him to see the otters and a few other notable places in the area. She, Daisy, and a couple other characters I won't take the time to introduce take Hedge on a tour of the world, everything new is a delight to him and food for a starving soul that had been cramped in a tiny sightless city.
-Scrats are a mixture of mostly rats and cats who invade from across the mountain. Hedge runs into a small contingency of their scouting parties before the full scale invasions happens. He and She'el are kidnapped.
-Link is a small golden field mouse who is a slave in the Scrats temporary base this side of the mountains where Hedge and She'el are taken. He helps Hedge and She'el escape.
By the time you meet Link you are somewhere towards the middle of the first book. While Hedge was captured he saw some prisoners of war who were being taken across the mountain for slaves. one of the prisoners, a young mouse was particularly defiant and protective of the other animals who were being mistreated. watching that mouse gave Hedge the inspiration to plot his and She'el's escape as well as to start organizing forces to defend against the Scrats. without anyone really noticing the change Hedge goes from inexperienced youngster to general. given his extensive reading from the old books of war (which turn out to be history books instead of the myths and stories Hedge had been brought up to believe) and a natural knack for strategy and leadership Hedge is able to unite the forces and stand a chance against the Scrats. The book ends with a final battle where the Scrats besiege Haven, Hedges forces are able to rescue the city and finally drive the Scrats back across the mountains. Hedge knows that the battle is not over yet, many creatures, including the young mouse who had first inspired Hedge were still slaves on the other side of the mountain, Hedge is determined to get them back.
Book two has to do with Hedge rescuing and whatnot from across the mountains, but I haven't gotten that far yet. :)



Hero Gram
Hero gram is another idea of mine, hopefully it will have a different name by the time I'm done writing it, it is more of a proper fairy tale sort of story. The princess of the land gets kidnapped no one is quite sure who has kidnapped her or where she might be. The king asks the advice of his prophets and seers who tell him that the hero who will rise up to save the princess lives in a small village on the edge of the kingdom. The king immediately sends messengers to the village looking for the hero. when the messangers reach the village and deliver the message there is great excitement, to think a hero will come from there village! Everyone immediately knows who the hero will be and they bring a handsome young man before the messengers. the messengers are extraordinarily pleased and feel that they are sure this young man must be the hero. They give him a horse and supplies including weapons to aid him in his rescuing the princess. they are unable however, to give him any direction, but since everyone knows heroes are born with their own sort of luck (especially the prophesied heroes) no one really worried about this minor detail. the young mans father is very proud of his oldest son, he also sends off his other son to help the oldest and in hopes that the boy might learn to make a man out of himself instead of constantly living with his nose in a book.
on their way out of town, looking all fancy and shiny, especially the older brother who has all new tack horse and weapons, the two boys pass an old grandma on her donkey riding along. the younger brother is curious as to why old Granny would be headed out of town, but the older brother is not interested enough to stop so they pass her by without even stopping to great her, though the younger brother turns and waves.
old Granny had also heard the news that the messengers had brought about the princess being kidnapped, she also knew who the villagers would pick as the hero and she was about to have none of it. To think leaving the fate of that poor princess to that hands of that young man who hadn't yet learned to respect his elders, now his younger brother had a solid head on his shoulders, but never took his head far enough out of his books to do much good with it either. nope if someone was to rescue the princess it looked like it was going to be her. besides, she doubted anyone else in the village was old enough to remember the words of the old seer who had prophesied that one day a princess would be kidnapped and held in the black tower to the east. besides she was tired of growing old sitting at home doing nothing, she might as well grow old while traveling the world, though it wasn't nearly as comfortable now as it used to be. so thinking old Granny set off with her donkey and a few supplies along with her life savings to find the black tower and the princess.
the two young men have limited success, they are herald where ever they go as the kings heroes set off to rescue the princess, but they never make much headway, the younger brother doesn't really approve of the whole venture at first, he would rather be at home with his books, but he soon finds that talking with people outside of the village is just as good if not better for learning new things. his growing knowledge of the area that he acquires by talking with people where ever he goes soon starts to become increasingly useful, and his older brother after a while begins to grudgingly admit that his younger brother seems to have a better understanding of what is going on than he does. finally it is the younger brother who unearths the black tower legend. the two of them go galavanting off to find the black tower in hopes they will find the princess there.
meantime Granny has found the black tower, snuck in rescued the princess and is teaching the princess how to cook and clean and keep camp so that Granny herself can have a little well earned rest. About a week after rescuing the princess the two young men ride into camp. they had seen their camp fire from a distance and the younger brother thought it would be a good idea to see who was there and get information from them if they could. the older brother had agreed, he'd learned to trust his younger brothers intuition on such matters. all things considered it turned out to be a really good idea.
the two brothers were really surprised to see old Granny so far from home, and even more surprised to see the young lady sitting with a sour expression carefully stirring the pot of food and managing to look down her nose at the whole situation (though while still using the same nose to enjoy the wonderful aromas coming from the pot). Granny and the princess were no longer concerned about trying to hide themselves anymore, no one had stopped long to question the old lady and her "rebellious granddaughter" nothing in the situation of the loudly arguing pair seemed to fit the situation of rescued princess, so they had often been passed by without question entirely. "It will be harder now though, if you guys plan to stay in tow."
The young men rather sheepishly join the pair for dinner, feeling a little bit foolish at being out maneuvered by the old Granny. Though the younger brother thought the situation rather hilarious and was overall very proud of Granny. in the end the decision was that the older brother would ride more directly toward the capital where the king lived and spread rumors that he had rescued the princess and hopefully draw off any threats towards him while the younger brother would stay with Granny and the princess and offer help as he could. it took Granny quite a bit of work to make sure he didn't offer too much help, it was her opinion that the princess should work off her rescue since it was her own fault she was captured in the first place.
they meet up with the older brother a while later at a predefined meeting place near the capital city. the older brother is ecstatic to see that they are all well and safe, he has had a lot of time to think things over while he was traveling alone and is now very much humbled. He changes back into farmer clothes and only goes before the king so that he can return the stuff he'd borrowed when everyone thought he was the hero. Granny refuses a heroes party and insists that the story of how the princess was rescued remain a mystery. since very few people weren't willing to believe an old Granny rescued the princess when a young man who was good looking and strong couldn't, it was easy enough to make happen.
the older brother went back to his father in the village and settled down as a farmer, which turned out to be something he was very good at. the younger boy and the princess had of course fallen in love, so Granny and the young boy stay in the capital city where they use the reward money to buy a house and let the boy attend the university where he can have all the books he could ever want to read. after a few years when the princess and the younger brother are both older and still even more in love they decide to get married and the younger brother lives to become king of the realm. Granny lives to be very old and very happy and very proud of both the younger brother and the princess.

Sorting

So I've been doing a lot of sorting in my head, I am trying to get my brain back in order so that I can write more. I have a book that I am so excited to finish and get published. It's all written out I just need to finish editing it and fill in a few connecting points. It is an amazing feeling to have a book written from beginning to end, I can't wait to see what it will be like when its finished and published (w00t!) :) It is taking me a long time to get there though. I've had to get back into the practice of writing, and the practice of listening. My book is about a young girl who sees and hears the beauty of the world differently, more distinctly than the people around her, I can't finish the story until I relearn to see and hear the world like the little girl in the book. That has been a fun journey in rediscovering myself, somehow I'd forgotten how peaceful the world can be when we allow ourselves the time to sit and listen. I had a fantastic conversation with God the other day, I went for a walk with him and we were sitting on a fallen tree in this little green belt area of trees near my house. I was looking out at the trees around me and listening to the relative silence. God sort of tapped me on the shoulder and drew my attention to a tree down the way a bit.
"Look at that tree! Isn't it an amazing tree, I really like that tree. I made it. It's a really nice tree."
Normally looking at that tree I wouldn't have seen anything particularly awesome about it, it was a pretty ordinary looking tree. But with God sitting there with me taking pride in his creation, the tree became one of the most uniquely beautiful things I had ever seen. As was the next tree God pointed out, and the next. I laughed in agreement with God, his trees were all so beautiful. It is days like those that remind me what it means to be wrapped in the presence of our Lord, and to be on holy ground. :) I love listening to God delight in his children and his creation. I love the way he talks about his creation, the way he talks about me. I love the warmth of his love.

I've been reading and catching up on the blog of one of my dear friends Ruth Ann and it has given me quite the inspiration. God has been teaching us both about how to get our life in order which has been fantastic to watch take shape in both of our lives. God gave Ruth Ann a list of 10 things (guidelines more than actual rules) that if she follows she will have order and productivity. God has held true to his word and it has been a blessing to watch her life and house come ever more into order. It has also been encouraging, God has given me a similar sort of list, though mine is smaller but it's growing little by little.

It's been interesting, the thing that I want most right now is to finish my book, but that is the one thing I have not been able to sit down and do. My life and my brain have to be in order before I will be able to finish my book, so I have been doing my best to let myself rest and heal and follow God's leading on this whole order thing. The growth I have seen in myself has been fantastic, the healing has been phenomenal :) I am very comfortable in my own skin, which is something that I haven't always been the last few years. I am so excited to see where God will take me next! It is going to be so cool!! :)

One of the things God has been teaching me lately, has been about speaking his promises out loud when you get them. When God gives you a promise, when he gives you a victory or blessing, anything awesome and praiseworthy, don't keep it to yourself, speak it out loud, talk about it, praise God with it, share the awesome power of its goodness, even if it is something that God has promised and it hasn't happened yet it is still good to speak it out loud. Saying the things that are not as though they are, it releases an amazing sort of power and for me personally it helps be remember and believe that God is faithful and he will fulfill his promise no matter how crazy it might sound at the time. It is important to be aware that there are some people out there who have a hard time dreaming and will go out of their way to crush other peoples dreams, these aren't the sort of people to go to in excitement about something that God has given you, some promise of a thing yet to come, a vision or dream. There are other, safer people to bring your dreams to, it is not necessary to tell everyone, it isn't even wise. But it is also not wise to keep your dreams to yourself. they are awesome! And the awesomeness is better when it is shared!

That being said I have things to share :)

I mentioned earlier that God has given me a list of things to do every day. It is a very short list and there are things that I would love to add to it but haven't been given permission yet. At first it consisted of two things:

Go for a walk in the morning.
Exercise.

I tell you what, just having those two things to start my day with, has been amazing. I've recently had another thing added to my list, which seems redundant considering how much of this I've been doing anyways, but God knows what he is doing :) so I've added it to the list.

Rest.

That seems like a good idea, the one thing that hasn't been added to my list yet is write. I really want to get to a place where I am writing more regularly, and I have been writing more regularly which has been awesome, but so far God hasn't officially added it to my list *sigh*, at least not yet. :) But today he did give me a writing assignment, which I am super excited about. :) My assignment was to write this blog, specifically about the struggles I have had in sorting out my brain and organizing my life and how those struggles have hindered my ability to write, and then now the best part :) I'm suppose to write about all the things that I will be writing all the books I have planned out in my head. This is a really exciting thought for me, I don't usually talk much about the stories I have in my head. It is so hard to explain them to people until they are stories and not just ideas. But here I go :) I have God's blessing on this so I know its going to be good :)

(lol, not even sure I know where to start it is going to be long enough though, that I think I shall give it its own blog)