Christmas Special

Image Courtesy of Miss Kate Cuttables

Hi people. I know I haven't posted anything in a while, and I left you with a kinda big cliffhanger. Sorry, but you're gonna have to wait another week to know what happens with Anny and Shawn next. I'm not posting a part of their story this week because it's Christmas (yay for you people who celebrate this holiday) and I wanted to post a Christmas special, but I was too lazy to write one. So, no story this week. Just me talking.

I'm Jewish, so I don't celebrate Christmas. What do people do on Christmas? I've decorated a tree once (I helped my neighbors), I drank eggnog once (I didn't really like it), and I've never woken up ridiculously early to open presents. I usually sleep in super late, maybe go see a movie with my family, or just hang out at home doing nothing all day. Last year, I hung out with my younger cousins at my grandma's house, and we got Chinese food for dinner. That was fun. Today, me and my family are going to see The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies. I hope it's good. I can't wait to see it.

You know what really annoys me? When people forget that not everyone celebrates Christmas. I play violin in my school orchestra, and in the four years that I have been in an orchestra during the holiday season, I've played one or two Hanukkah/Jewish songs, and for one of them, I almost had to beg our teacher to let us play it, and then we didn't get the music until the day of the concert. This year, we played four Christmas songs and one classical song. Does anyone else think that this is unfair? I know Jews are a minority here, but that doesn't mean that everyone else can forget about us.

Well, that's it for today. All my thoughts about Christmas. I'll post the next part of my story next week. Merry Christmas and Happy (belated) Hanukkah (to any other Jews out there)!

Chapter 2 continued...

Image Courtesy of NaNoWriMo Winner Page

Hello, my peoples! Guess what? You know that writing contest I told you about? I did it! I managed to write 10,000 words in one month! It was hard. I wrote about 5,000 words over Thanksgiving Break, most of it in the last two days of the month. I spent the whole day Sunday writing 2,500 words. It was exhausting. 

If anyone out there is interested in following my footsteps, and writing your own novel, check out this site. It might help, cuz writing a good novel is not easy. 

Now, what you've all been waiting for, the summary of what happened: Anny meets Shawn again and sees how absolutely gorgeous he is (*smiles and sighs dreamily*). They have a moment of... flirting (awkward), and Anny threatens to hit Shawn with a flashlight. Shawn tells Anny why Dalen declared war on the fairy king. 

“That’s it?” Anny asked after a few seconds of silence. “I’m still waiting for the part that explains what this has to do with me.”

“Do you really want to know?” Shawn asked her, grinning again. He’s even cuter when he smiles, Anny thought. She mentally scolded herself and tried to focus on what he  was saying.  

“Just tell me.” She glared at him.

“Alright, fine. But don’t freak out on me.” he said, his grin widening. “When your great-grandmother Clara was a little girl, the fairies were more… friendly with humans.  They didn’t hide. Clara’s best friend was a fairy girl named Melanie. I’m sure you’ve heard of how your great-grandmother almost died when she was a child. Clara had caught  a fairy disease. Her parents took her to the fairy elders, who told them that Clara was dying, and the only way to save her was to bond her with a fairy.”

“What do you mean, bond with a fairy?” Anny asked nervously when Shawn stopped to take a breath.

“It means that the fairy would become part of her. It’s an ancient spell that only the oldest fairies can perform. It’s really rare.” He stopped talking when he saw her shocked, pale face. “You know what that means, don’t you?” He asked her gently. “You’re —”

“Don’t say it! That’s not possible. I can’t be part fairy,” Anny denied wildly.  

“I’m sorry, but it’s true,” Shawn said gently. “Melanie volunteered to bond with Clara to save her friend’s life. Clara became part fairy. That fairy blood has been passed on to all the women in your family. You have it. You got it from your mother, who got it from her mother, who got it from Clara, her mother.”

“What about my brother? Does he have it?” Anny asked him.

“No, just you. Only the girls get it.”

“Can I ask you something?” Anny asked.  

“Of course, you can ask me anything.”

“Who are you? You’ve come to my house, told me that fairies are real, and told me that I’m part fairy, but I don’t know anything about you except your name. Also, do you know my mother?”

“I’m Shawn Millock. I work for a secret organization called the International Fairy Protection Agency. IFPA works to protect fairies all over the world. Maggie works for IFPA too. We are trying to end the war.  ”

“What do I have to do with ending the war?” Anny asked, calmer now.

“Everything. As far as we know, you are the only person who can stop Dalen from destroying the whole kingdom.”

Chapter 2...

Hello, my dear readers. How are you all today? News flash: it's almost my birthday! I'm turning 15 on Wednesday! I'm pretty excited. But I'm probably going to be writing all day. I'm doing this writing contest called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I have to write at least 10,000 words this whole month. The month is more than half over and I've only written about 5,000. I gotta get caught up this weekend. Now, for the summery of the end of chapter 1: Shawn leaves Anny's house and tells her to meet him at the same time the next night. Anny goes to sleep and wakes up in the morning super confused. She decides to meet him again to learn more information about Dalen and the fairies.

Chapter 2

The day seemed to go by in a blur. Before she knew it, the house was dark and it

was time for Anny to meet Shawn. She changed out of her pajamas, found a flashlight, loosely braided her long hair over her shoulder and looked at her clock. 1:15. Ten minutes until Shawn was supposed be there. Anny grabbed her flashlight and a book and went outside to wait.  

She carefully climbed down the ladder and sat down in the same chair as the

night before. She turned on her flashlight and began to read. Just when she was about

to go back inside, thinking she had imagined Shawn, she heard a noise coming out of the darkness. Anny looked up from her book and saw Shawn step out of the shadows.  She pointed the beam of her flashlight at him and got her first good look at his face.

He looked younger than she had thought he was, maybe 18 or 19. He had curly,

Lord Dalen
Drawn by Natalie Pellmann

light-colored hair, but Anny couldn’t tell the exact color in the dark. His eyes were a deep, bright green. He’s cute, Anny thought. Even by the poor light of the flashlight, she could see how good-looking he was.  

“You’re late,” she accused him.  

“You came.  You just couldn’t stay away from me, could you?” he teased.

“Oh, please. I came to hear the rest of the story, not to see you. I don’t even know what you look like,” Anny shot back.

“I see you brought a flashlight. Was it so you could see how good-looking I am?” Shawn grinned flirtatiously. He had a nice smile. It lit up his eye’s so they almost glowed in the dark of the night.

“No, I brought it so I could actually see who I’m talking to, but don’t be surprised if

I hit you with it, which I might do if you don’t stop flirting with me. I also wanted to read

while I was waiting for you to show up.” Anny said, trying to stifle a smile of her own, and

failing. Shawn really was cute when he was flirting.

“ I honestly didn’t think you would come.” Shawn admitted sheepishly, his smile disappearing.

“Well I did, so get on with the story. Who was Dalen?”

“Dalen was the ambitious young fairy lord who started the war. He wanted the

throne, so he made himself an army and declared war on King Oberon.”

The end of Chapter 1...

Hey, people. How is everyone? I'm fine, thank you for asking. Hey, does anyone wan to see something really cool? If you do, check out my friend William's blog. It's all about cool inventions and technology. He's written about some really interesting and useful inventions. Check it out. 

Are you all enjoying my story so far? If you're not, you're lame and should go away. Haha, just kidding. Don't leave. I love you guys. Here's a summary of the last part: Anny talks to Shawn and he tells her that fairies are real and they are in a war. He explains to her that the cause of the war is a young fairy lord named Dalen.

Shawn lit up the screen of a watch he was wearing and looked at it.  “It’s late.” He said.  “I should go, and you should get some sleep.”

“But what about the rest of the story?  Are you going to tell me more about Dalen and the war?” Anny asked him.  

“You’ve heard enough for one night.  If you want to hear more, come back out

tomorrow night at the same time.  I’ll be here.”  He looked at his watch again.  “I need to

go, I wasn’t supposed to stay this long.  They’ll be wondering where I am.  Goodnight, Anny.  I hope I’ll see you tomorrow.” Shawn stood up and walked down the porch stairs.  Before he disappeared into the darkness, he turned and looked back at her.  “You look just like Maggie.” he said with a small smile.  He kept walking and was gone before Anny could ask him what he meant.

She stood up.  She was so confused by what Shawn had told her.  Anny climbed the ladder back up to her room, quietly opened the sliding-glass door, and went inside.

She looked at her clock.  It was almost 3:00.  She had been outside for longer than she had thought.  Shawn was right, it was late.  She lay down in her bed, thinking about everything he had told her.   She was still wondering how it could be true when she finally fell asleep.  

The next morning, Anny woke up thinking it had all been a dream.  Meeting

Shawn, the story about fairies and a war, and everything else that had happened during

the night.  All day, she wondered if it had really happened.  She just couldn’t believe it.  

How could there be fairies flying around looking like butterflies?  It just wasn’t possible.

But even as she thought it, she knew that wasn’t true.  She couldn’t explain how, but she somehow knew that everything Shawn had told her was true.  Fairies did exist, and they were in a war that had been going on for ten long years.

Image Courtesy of  Visual Photos

  And then there was the thing Shawn had said about Anny looking like someone named Maggie.  Who was she?  Maggie was Anny’s mothers name.  Could Shawn somehow know her?

All these questions and more raced through Anny’s mind all day.  I’ll have to meet Shawn tonight, she thought.  If it was real.  She knew it was probably a bad idea to meet someone she knew nothing about in the middle of the night, but she had to know more.  Who was Dalen, what did he have to do with a fairy war, and what did the war have to do with her?

Chapter 1 continued...

Fairy Courtesy of The Interpretation of Dreams

Hi people. Happy November! So, I know it's been a while since I posted the first part of this story, so here's a quick summary: A girl named Anny Farrow went outside onto her balcony in the middle of the night and met a man named Shawn. Shawn says that he has been waiting for her and wants to talk.

“Now, what are you doing here and why were you waiting for me?”

Shawn starting talking.  “First you need to understand something. This might be hard to believe, but there are fairies hidden in the world among us.” He stopped talking when he saw Anny’s disbelieving expression. “It’s true. They’re there, and you can see them if you know what to look for.”

Anny stopped him. “Are you drunk? Fairies aren’t real. If that’s all you wanted to

talk to me about, I’m going back to bed.” She started to stand up, but the man

stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

“No, please listen to me. It’s important that you know what’s going on.” He let go of Anny’s wrist and she sat back down, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Have you ever seen a butterfly or dragonfly that seems to be looking at it’s reflection in a window or a pond?  Fairies disguise themselves as butterflies or dragonflies or even bumble bees to protect themselves from humans.” Anny opened her mouth to say something but Shawn kept talking. “They are real and you’re going to have to realize that. The sooner you do that, the better for everyone.  

“The Fairy Kingdom is currently in a war. Up until about ten years ago, the fairies lived peacefully in small communities like towns.”

“A fairy war? Wouldn’t people notice if fairies were flying around fighting each

other?” Anny interrupted Shawn.  

“No. The fairies are fighting in the World of Fairies. It’s a world parallel to ours. Only fairies can go there. It’s where the king rules from. And, even if they were fighting in our world, no one would notice. Like I said, they disguise themselves as insects. Very few people know they even exist.”

“So why are you telling me about them?” Anny asked.  

“Just listen to what I’m saying,” he started again, sounding exasperated. He ran his fingers through his light hair as he spoke. “Each community is run by one fairy, usually a male. This fairy is the lord, or if it’s a female, the lady, of the community. The lord is basically in charge of everything that happens in the community.

“About ten years ago, the young Lord Dalen came to power. He was a very

ambitious young fairy, so you can imagine that this was not good for his community.”

Shawn stopped to take a breath. “Do you have any questions so far?” he asked Anny.

“Just one. Why are you telling me all this? What does a fairy war have to do with anything? What do I have to do with it?”

“That’s three questions.” Shawn grinned. Anny glared at him in the dark and he

laughed before becoming serious again. “Fine. The war is the reason I’m here, and you need to know what’s happening. You have everything to do with it.”

Fairy Wars, Chapter 1...

So, now that you've met the two most important characters, it's time for you to read the actual story. This is a story about a girl named Anny who goes outside onto her balcony one night and meet a gorgeous boy named Shawn, who knows her name and says he has been waiting for her.  It is also about fairies.  The story is too long to put all in one post, so I'm gonna split it into two or three or as many as I have to.  I hope you like it and if you have any questions or comments, please tell me or write a comment. Enjoy the first part of my first successful story.

Image Courtesy of Idea Home Decor

The Fairy War
Chapter 1

It was a warm summer night late in July.  The moon was full and bright.  Anny was lying in her comfortable bed in her stiflingly hot bedroom.  She couldn’t sleep; the heat was keeping her up.  She tossed and turned in the dark, trying to ignore it.

After what felt like hours, Anny gave up on trying to sleep.  She looked at her clock.  It read 1:23.  Anny got out of bed and opened the door to her balcony.  She decided to go outside and get some fresh air.

She stood on her balcony and looked out over her backyard.  She breathed in the warm night air and looked up at the sky.  It was a cloudless night, and the moon and stars shone brightly.  

Anny looked down again and saw something moving in the shadows.  At first, she thought it was just her family’s dog, Aspen.  But when the figure stepped out of the shadows, Anny saw it was a person.  The full moon was bright enough that she could see it was a man.  

She reached for the balcony door to go back into her bedroom, but before she could open it and go inside, the man looked up and saw her.  He smiled and said two words.

“Anny Farrow?”

His voice was deep, yet soft.  Anny froze with her hand on the door handle when he spoke.  She slowly turned around and looked down at him.  He was still bathed in shadows, so she couldn’t see his face.  

“How do you know my name?” She asked the man.  “Who are you?”

“My name is Shawn.  I’ve been waiting for you to come out here for weeks.” he told her.  

“Waiting for me? Why? What do you want me for?” Anny asked, now sounding a bit scared.  

“I just want to talk.” Shawn reassured her.  “Can you please come down here so it’s easier to talk without waking your parents up?”

Anny didn’t trust this strange man who knew her name, but she was curious.  She quietly climbed down the fire escape ladder to the back deck.  She cautiously walked over to where Shawn was standing by a group of chairs.  

“Sit,” she commanded him.  He obeyed, sitting quietly in one of the chairs and leaning back.  Anny moved a chair so it was facing Shawn, and she sat down as well.  “Now, what are you doing here and why were you waiting for me?”

Meet Shawn

So, you know that story I told you about?  I wrote about another character.  His name is Shawn (yes, I know it is spelled weird), and he is one of the most important characters in the story.  He is the first character you meet in the story, after Anny, the main girl.  Shawn is a pretty awesome character.  He is kind of a mix between me, Four from Divergent (an amazing series of books by Veronica Roth)  (complete accident, I promise), and my imagination.  Because he is like me, he has quite a few similarities to Anny, who basically is me.  Enjoy learning about the most interesting character I have ever written about.

Image Courtesy of Pretty Little Liars

Shawn Millock is 19 years old.  He is tall, strong, and very good-looking, with curly blond hair and deep green eyes.  His hobbies include studying fairies and practicing knife throwing, which he is quite good at.  He also is quite good at attracting girls with his good looks and his flirty personality. He loves any music by the band Imagine Dragons, and his favorite movies are the original three Star Wars.  In his free time, he can be found watching Doctor Who on his computer or curled up on his bed with one of his favorite books, either reading or sleeping.  He likes food and will eat almost anything, but his all-time favorite is lemon poppyseed muffins.  He is very athletic and plays soccer, basketball, and football.  His pet peeve is when people make typos and don’t fix them.  

Shawn’s parents died in an accident when Shawn was 2 years old.  He doesn’t remember them.  He was raised by friends of his parents, a couple named Sarah and Trystan Millock.  They share an apartment in Park City, Utah.  Shawn could not imagine living anywhere else.  Their apartment is small.  It has a kitchen, bathroom, family room, and two bedrooms, one for Shawn and one for Sarah and Trystan.  Shawn’s bedroom is very small, just big enough for his bed, a dresser, and a desk. The desk is usually covered in books.  He wants to put a small bookshelf in his room.  He tries to keep his room clean and organised, but he usually fails with the organization.

Shawn has a few interesting habits.  When he is nervous, he fidgets with a piece of paper or the edge of his shirt.  He runs his fingers through his hair a lot, especially when he is around a girl he is trying to flirt with.  Shawn doesn’t talk very much.  His voice is deep but soft.  His biggest insecurity is not being appreciated.  His deepest secret is that he has never had a girlfriend.  He has never told anyone this because he is embarrassed because he acts like a flirt.  Things that make him happy are his family, friends, reading his favorite books, eating his favorite foods, and hanging out with his favorite people.  Most people who meet him think he is nice and sweet, even if he can be kind of annoying at times.  Shawn’s dream vacation location is Venice, Italy, because it is a really beautiful city.  Three words that describe him are smart, fun, and hot.

Meet Anny

I'm writing a story.  I've been working on it for a few months and it is coming along very nicely. The story is a fictional story about fairies.  The main character is a girl named Anny, who as it turns out, is based on me.  Yes, I'm pretty much writing a story about myself, except is completely made up.  I wrote a few paragraphs about my character to make her seem more real.

Image Courtesy of Getty Images

Anny Farrow is 15 years old.  She is small and pretty, with long wavy brown hair and hazel eyes.  Her interests include music, books, food, and writing stories. Her favorite bands are Imagine Dragons, One Republic, and Maroon 5.  She also likes music by Phillip Phillips, Owl City, and Lindsey Stirling.  She listens to their music on Pandora Radio.  She doesn’t have a favorite movie, as she thinks there are too many good ones to choose, but her favorite books are Fablehaven, Warriors, and Bloodlines.  In her free time, she can be found watching Doctor Who, reading in her bedroom, or listening to loud music and writing stories on her computer.  She is in love with food, but she is a very picky eater, except when it comes to dessert.  Her all-time favorite dessert is any kind of pie.  Anny does karate, and she has since she was six years old.  Before that, she did gymnastics.  She also likes playing soccer, and wishes she had time to be on a team.  Her pet peeve is when there are typo’s in published documents like books.  They annoy the hell out of her.

Anny lives in Park City, Utah, which she thinks is the best place in the world to live, with her mother, Maggie, her father, Peter, her older brother, Kyle, and their two crazy Golden Retrievers.  There house is biggish.  It has three stories and a loft.  The ground floor is the basement, where the TV is.  The kitchen and living room are on the middle floor, along with a bathroom and dining room.  The bedrooms are on the top floor.  Anny’s room is the smallest.  It is always a mess.  There is stuff all over the floor.  There is a bed, dresser, bookshelf, and closet.  She hates cleaning it, and never wants to spend time cleaning it.  

On a normal day, Anny can be seen wearing jeans, a tee-shirt, and an oversized hoodie.   She has a habit of fidgeting with anything she can get her hands on, usually paper or the strings of her hoodie.  Anny doesn’t talk very much, and when she does, she is very quiet.  Even though she is quiet and shy, she makes friends really easily.  She has a very fiery temper and gets mad really easily, but she also calms down pretty easily.  Her ways of calming her temper are reading, listening to loud music, and solving puzzles.  Other things that make her happy are her friends and food.  Anny’s worst fear is being completely alone in the world and not having anyone who cares about her.  She is also scared of growing up, spiders, and cliffs.

Falling

Hey peoples.  So, in the next few weeks, my blog might be changing a little.  I don't think writing book reviews is gonna work for me, but I still want to do something with books.  So, what I am going to do is this: since I love to write, every week I'll post something I've written.  Some weeks I'll post an installment of a story I'm currently working on.  Other weeks I'll post different short stories.  I might still throw some food reviews in there sometimes, if I make something I just have to post about, but it will be mostly stories from now on.  I hope you all like my writing.  Most of it is fantasy or sci-fi, my two favorite genres.

This is gonna be the first short story I post.  I wrote it a few weeks ago.  It's told from the point of view of a dying leaf.  I got the idea of writing about a leaf from my mom.  She wanted to see what I would come up with.  At first, I thought writing about a leaf would be really weird and kinda hard, but one day, I couldn't think of anything to write about, so I decided to give the leaf story a try.  It worked out quite well.  Enjoy the story.  If you have any questions or comments, please write them in the comment box.

Hey, random trivia question: who knows why leaves change color in the fall?  If you know the answer, there is a magical thing called the comments where you can post your answer.  If you don't know, check out this link.

Leaf Courtesy of Wikimedia

Falling

It’s getting colder every day.  The daylight hours are getting shorter, the nights longer. All around me, the colors are changing. The lucky ones become red or orange. Some turn yellow.  The unlucky ones just turn brown.  Then they fall.  My friends and neighbors have started changing already. A few have fallen.  Soon I will follow them.  

The thought of falling scares me, but I have accepted that my death must happen for new life to be born.  I can feel my color changing over the days.  I hope it’s red.  If I do turn red, I will be beautiful when I fall.  

The world could do with some beauty.  I look down at the earth beneath me.  It is beautiful, with all the colors of Autumn.  The green grass, brown soil, with red, orange and yellow scattered over it.  I will be there soon, and I will add to the beauty of the colors.  

Wind blows around me.  I almost fall, but I manage to hold on.  I know I will fall soon.  I can’t hold on much longer.  The days are short now, and the nights are cold.  My color has changed completely.  I don’t know what it is now.  It is almost time.  Wind blows again.  My grip breaks and I am falling, falling, falling.

Welcome

Hello everyone.  Welcome to my blog.  I'm going to be posting book summaries and reviews, and food recipes and reviews.  Since this is my first post, no books or food yet.  I'll start that later sometime, after I read a good book or make something yummy.  I will probably post a book review every other week and food on the weeks I don't do books.  If you want to try out one of my recipes, please do and tell me what you think.  The some goes for the books.  Have fun reading and cooking. ;)