Beautiful People: Evangeline

 Allow me to introduce one of my main character's older sisters: Evangeline.  She has her place in a small Texas town east of Houston and west of Louisiana during the Great Depression.

1) What is her full name and is there a story behind how she got it?

 Her full name is Evangeline Rose Dalton but most people just call her "Vangie". She was named after her father's mother.

2) How old is she, and when was she born?

 Vangie is nineteen. She was born in 1915.

3) Describe her physical appearance. (Bonus questions: 1. What is her race/nationality/ethnicity? Do you have a picture of her? If so, include it!)

 About 5' 5'', round face, slender, with dark brown hair that becomes wavy when it is humid and rich, dark brown eyes. She's American, but she has a small amount of Spanish and larger English and

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Scottish heritage on her father's side. On her mother's there is mostly English, with some Irish. The closest resemblance I have found to how I picture her is Selena Gomez in this photo.

4) Describe her personality first in one word, and then elaborate with a few sentences.

 A tomboy. She loves playing baseball with the neighborhood kids and unabashedly slides into home plate. Unlike her older sister Molly, she is less conscious of following the rules of etiquette. She's smart, quick-witted, and unafraid to stand-up to anyone. She defends her loved ones like a tigress. Not everything is rough edges, however, she faithfully cares for her crippled mother, even so far as concealing and not carrying out her own dreams in regards to studying art.

5) What theme song(s) fit her personality and story arc?

 Finding songs for my characters is one of the hardest things for me to do. I have to say the jazzy ease and breezy feeling of the song Ain't We Got Fun suits her personality but I have yet to find something that suits her lyrically.

6) Which one of the seven deadly sins describes her?

 It would probably have to be wrath or anger. When somebody hurts one of her loved ones her anger is easily aroused towards that person, and, if she didn't have self control, she'd probably march straight up to the person and begin spouting off.

7) If she was an element (fire, water, earth, air), which one would she be?

 Earth. She's deeply rooted and despite her easy-going attitude, it can be hard for her to adapt to change.

8) What is her favorite word?

 "Hey!" She makes no claims to being a literary genius.

9) Who's one person she really misses? (It could be someone who's passed away, or someone they're not close to anymore, or someone who's moved away.)

 Her older sister Molly, who has been off attending the University of Texas in Austin. She misses Molly not being around and misses the time when she wasn't so bent on adhering to all the rules of etiquette and being a lady in their Aunt Mae's eyes.

10) What sights, sounds, and smells remind her of that person?

 Molly's room, the sound of a piano being played, or the smell of lavender sachets.

A Renaissance

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 Life moves quickly.

 Life can be rip-roaringly fun.

 Life can be terrifying.

 Life as an adult is not what you imagined it would be at age ten.

 Life is good.

 Those five statements are truths that have been hitting home with me recently. With the advent of graduation from high school a couple of weeks ago, I have been groping about trying to find my new ground. I know roughly what I want to do and I have a rough idea of how I'm going to do it. It is taking that rough idea and fleshing it out into a clear and decided plan of action that is difficult for me.

 There are several things that am decided upon doing. First, keep studying. Second, keep writing as incessantly as I can. Third, try to post more frequently here. I would like to mainly focus my posts on writing, but I sometimes have a difficult time opening up publicly on the internet about my writing. Hopefully, I ease into a more comfortable zone with that by participating in Rachel Heffington's monthly Chatterbox, the monthly snippets that go around, and Beautiful People when that starts up again.

 I have a busy life and a great many things I want to accomplish. Lord willing, I would like to post at least once a week as a starter and try to grow from there.

 Here's to hoping this resolution comes to fruition.

Fly Away Home

 I am pleased to the announce the release of the wonderful Miss Rachel Heffinton's debut novel Fly Away Home. I am very excited that it is finally published. I have been following her progress on Fly Away Home on her blog, eagerly awaiting the day it might be published and I could read it. Well, that day has arrived and you can now purchase it via Rachel's blog and on Amazon.

 She also giving away a copy of the book over on her blog, if you are interested in entering that. The giveaway link.

~ Hanne-col

The Words and Pages of 2013

 I might be a bit late in the run for these types of books read in 2013 posts, but after being told by my sister that it was not at all too late in the month to do so I have done so. I did not read quite as many as last year and did not meet my seventy book reading goal. I had a mere sixty-three to my name.

Fiction -

 In the great realm of fiction I read a couple books that have reserved themselves a place amongst my favorites list. These are The Borrowed House by Hilda von Stockum, both Murder on the Orient Express and The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, the final three books in the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, San Domingo by Marguerite Henry, Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, and a few others.

 I was also pleasantly surprised by Pride and Prejudice and held in suspense and striving to solve crimes with numerous Agatha Christie novels (4:50 From Paddington, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, Death on the Nile, Lord Edgeware Dies, etc.).

Non-Fiction -

 With non-fiction there are five books that stuck out to me in particular this year: The Undercover Revolution by Iain Murray (which I actually read twice), Return to the Hiding Place by Hans Poley, City Notebook by McCandlish Phillips, The Last of the Doughboys by Richard Rubin, and Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland. Undercover Revolution details how certain English authors tore down Christianity in Britain during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. It is an excellent read, though I must confess to have been thoroughly devastated with my newfound knowledge of Robert Louis Stevenson. City Notebook was a collection of articles from the 1960s and 70s chronicling the ever changing landscape and culture that is New York City. The Last of the Doughboys was a non-fiction book on WWI compiled of interviews that the author conducted with the last remaining veterans of the war in the early 2000s. A bit of language and a brief paragraph or so that I could have done without in the later part of the book, but otherwise a very good and, if possible, much less depressing look on the war. Structuring Your Novel was an excellent book on just exactly what the title says. Most people have a sense of novel structure built into them, but it was splendid to have it all laid out and organized in the book. Highly recommend.

New Authors -

 As for new authors, I delve further into Agatha Christie's works, was introduced to the books of Grace Livingston Hill by my writing class teacher, read my first Rosemary Sutcliff novel (The Silver Branch) and have since gotten my hands on a copy of The Eagle of the Ninth and can hardly wait to read it.

 While 2013 did not seem to hold quite so many stand outs as 2012, it did contain some more quieter additions to the favorites shelf.

~ Hanne-col

Chatterbox: Coffee

 The school semester is keeping me busy with things to get done, but at the beginning of this month Rachel Heffington of The Inkpen Authoress announced a new monthly blog event for writers. I had to attempt to participate. It is called Chatterbox. It is intended to help you get to know your characters better by writing dialogue. Every month Rachel will put up the conversation topic for the month and you can write a conversation between some of your characters concerning this topic. After you have posted the months entry on your blog, you head over to The Inkpen Authoress and link-up your post with the entry.

 This month's conversation topic was coffee. I chose two characters from a western of mine and it is highly probable that this conversation is going to make it into the official draft.

   “Along with his horse and gun, coffee is a cowboy’s best friend.” Joe poured coffee into two mugs.

   “That’s under debate,” Jackson said, taking one of the tin mugs. He watched Joe.

   Joe shrugged. and stared into the campfire. “When you’re tracing outlaws for days on end it is.”

 The fire lighted up Joe’s face, unmasking it from the darkness and forbidding it to hide. 

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 Also going on over at Rachel's blog is her Utterly Baffled blog party. A blog party completely devoted to mysteries. She is giving away a Sherlock Holmes Inspiration Door-Hanger which some of you might be interested in. But, you had better be quick about entering because it ends later today.

The giveaway prize over at The Inkpen Authoress

~ Hanne-col

In Which I Discuss My Impression of Pride and Prejudice

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 Apologies for my lack of post of any sort, but this one has been in the works since I was about halfway through the book. Busyness with life has been a prevalent force in my lack of posts, but this one is finally done and ready. Enjoy, and hopefully you will hear more frequently from me in the near future.

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 Several months ago Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice celebrated its two hundredth anniversary. Fans reread their worn copies, had P&P adaption marathons, did their blogs posts, and paid homage to the classic. I, meanwhile, chuckled a little, enjoyed some posts, and let the date go by relatively unnoticed.

 About four years ago I watched the 1995 adaption of Pride and Prejudice for the first time. I was interested at first, but after a couple of hours I felt like things were being dragged out and the miniseries was too long. Several months later I saw the 2005 adaption and felt like that adaption seemed rushed. I saw the dreaded 1940 adaption and liked it better. I do love old black and white movies, you know. Besides, Greer Garson was Lizzy in that adaption. Ahem.

 So, three movie adaptions later I was not a fan of Pride and Prejudice. Several other Jane Austen movies later and an introduction to Elizabeth Gaskell movies, made me not a huge fan of Jane Austen and a lover of Elizabeth Gaskell. Elizabeth Gaskell's works seemed more realistic. Before you JA fans give up on me, I did watch BBC's 2009 adaption of Emma and loved it. It is still my favorite Jane Austen film.

 In February my writing class teacher gave me a clipping from magazine about an essay contest about Pride and Prejudice. "Okay," I thought, "I'll read Pride and Prejudice and see if I like it in book form enough to write an essay about it." Dubiously I downloaded an ebook of P&P onto my iTouch and began reading it while my sisters and I were driving to get ice cream about a month later. I read a couple of chapters on the way to the store and then several more on the return trip. By the time we returned home I was surprised to find myself enjoying it- I mean enjoying it a lot.

 About two weeks later I was able finish the book. I enjoyed it a lot. The novel carries a charm that does not carry over onto the screen, or it is something that I missed. From the now famous opening line to the closing lines, the book is engaging and enjoyable story, but it still offers some good lessons.

 Lesson number one, and probably most obvious, is that you should not judge people by their appearance. Lizzy takes the appearance of Mr. Darcy and judges him by it, concluding him to be very proud, snobbish, and unsociable. This first conclusion leads her to quickly take the side against him in regards to Wickham's story, without even stopping or being willing to hear the other side. After seeing Darcy in his home territory, Pemberly and surrounding area, she saw a different, much more friendly and comfortable man who was generous and kind, but just and still proud.

 There are other lessons, but I want to talk about the two main characters, Lizzy and Darcy. Lizzy is proud, vain of her "ability" to judge people's character, and looks for the best in people she is determined to like and looks for the worst in people she is determined to dislike. She is humbled when she reads Darcy's letter and then looks back, acknowledging her vanity and prejudice. Darcy, meanwhile, is uncomfortable and distant in unfamiliar settings, he is proud, and acknowledges that he finds it nearly impossible to forgive people who have done wrong, once his good opinion is lost, it cannot be regained. He can be too proud on many occasions and interferes sometimes too much with his best friend's life, though with the very best of intentions, but he does own up to this last bit and is genuinely sorry.

 Yes, so, I am much more fond of P&P than I was at the beginning of the year. The book has a hard to describe charm that the film adaptions lack. I will never be one of those die-hard, continually rereading the novel and watching the film P&P fans, but I did greatly enjoy the novel and will probably reread it again in the future. And for all those who have not read the book but saw the films and did not quite find them to your liking, perhaps you should give the novel a try. You might never love the film adaptions like some, but the novel's charm is at least worth one read.

- Hanne-col