Approaching the Rockies

Hello my bloggie friends! I've finally gotten a few precious minutes to write this post, so I'll try to be brief.

First of all, we're almost in the Rocky Mountains! I can see the outline of them from where I'm writing this and it's really cool! It's so weird how much flat land there is between Ohio and Washington... We're in Wyoming right now and might be visiting Yellowstone National Park in a day or two (I'll be keeping my fingers crossed). We went to go see Mt. Rushmore yesterday while we were still over in South Dakota. Here are a few pics:

(George, Thomas, Teddy and Abe)

Me and my new friends ;)

If you haven't seen them, you really missing out. I think it's so amazing how people actually carved these faces out of the side of that huge rock wall. I can hardly make a face out of a tiny ball of clay! These guys must have been really special to do something this big. Anyway, that was just for yesterday. Today we went to go see the Devil's Tower which was absolutely fantastic. Another 'must see' if you haven't seen it already. Here are a few pics of that.

This gigantic tower that formed from magma pressing up on the ground eventually creating this amazing formation is breathtaking. The coolest part is that you can see it from quite a few miles away since the land around it is pretty flat.

Seeing that was just about the most exciting thing that happened today. I'm still so surprised about how much progress we've made across the country! We'll be in Seattle in a few days!

Anyway, that's what's going on in the physical world. As far as my novel goes, well, I'm a little disappointed. I've had time to edit in the car but I don't feel like I'm making as much progress. Even worse, I haven't kept up with all of your blogs (even though I said I would...). In fact, I've hardly checked at all. So, sorry about that, guys :(


But. Here's the good news. When we get to Seattle, I'm buying myself my very own computer! It's going to be a small one, but who cares! My own baby laptop is better than no laptop at all! Hopefully then I'll be able to keep up with everything going on in the blogosphere! And you won't believe how excited I am for that!


What's up for you guys this week? How's you're W.I.P. coming along?


--Jess


P.S.

We saw this little guy on the way to the Devil's Tower and I think he really wanted say 'hi' to everyone!

Goodbye and Hello

Well, the day has finally come and the adventure begins! We're finally moving to Seattle. And we're driving all the way there. The plan is to take eight days and explore the countryside on the way out which will be so much fun because I get lots of good writing ideas in long car rides!


Now, a lot of people wouldn't really be as 'okay' as I am with moving, so here's a quick back-story/explanation.


I was born in Rochester, Michigan, but I can't call it in any way home because we moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when I was four. We lived there for two years and I loved it. After that, we moved to Vermont, then to New Hampshire. We lived in Vermont for such a short time that I don't remember the difference between the two states. Then we moved back to Pennsylvania, (this time it was to York, which is right around Harrisburg). We lived there for about two years then decided to move to Connecticut! Finally, after about six months to a year, we moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. And here I am, sitting at my computer, just about to move to Seattle, Washington.


This is really the longest we've ever lived anywhere. When you're moving at least once every two years, living someplace five years feels so... weird. But then of course, there's friends, and the people we will be leaving behind.


Saying 'goodbye' is always the hardest part. Even though we're coming back in November for a few days, any 'goodbye' is hard. I'm not a person who cries in front of people (no, really, my mom thinks I'm a robot or something) but I came really close in the past few days as we gave people hugs and exchanged emails to keep in touch.


So why am I 'okay' with this? Well, an old Jedi (Yoda) once said "Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose." And even though it's sad to end this amazing adventure we've had here in Ohio, I know that a new one is just about to begin.


--Jess
P.S.
I'll be visiting blogs over the weekend (hopefully more than I've been recently!) but probably not posting because we're driving all the way there, so HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!! It's nice I don't have to say 'goodbye' to all of you guys!

Running Out of Time

Does anyone ever feel like there should be six more hours in a day? Does anyone ever feel like there's too much you've got to do but too little time to do everything? Well then you know exactly how I've been feeling!


When I was little, my mom would remark that she had no time to do anything at all. I would laugh and wonder what the heck she was talking about! Half of the day she didn't look like she was doing anything except staring at the computer screen or helping me with school work (I should have known better!). Only now I have finally discovered what she meant by that.


First of all, I've been trying to read more. During my drafting stage over the summer, I had no time at all to read (it's not like I have more time now...). So every night before bed, I try to squeeze in a chapter or two of my current book, which of course takes away time from everything else I want to be doing.

Second, I've got school. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I'm home-schooled, so what do I have to worry about? Well, I'm not 'home-schooled' in the traditional sense. The school I'm enrolled in is more of a Online Public School where we've got real teachers and due dates and homework... yeah not so fun. I've got classes running throughout the day and you can't believe how hard it is to stay away from writing!

Third, I've been trying so very hard to get my editing done! But my precious editing time at 5:30am has been taken over by skating now! (Yes, where I live there are freestyles super duper early!) So I'm behind on my editing! (And it didn't help that the previous chapter that I worked on today was terrible!)

And finally, there's those new ideas sloshing around in my head that refuse to leave me alone! Despite how exciting they can be, they are also quite distracting.

The funny thing is, time never used to run so fast. (Maybe I scared it away with how much I'm trying to fit into it...) Anyway, I'm so sorry if I haven't visited you're blog in a while! I'm going to try to catch up with everyone I'm following (sooner or later) but I'll probably only be posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday now (maybe poetry on Saturday).

Maybe I'm wrong but time seems to be short for most people these days! What are some things YOU try to cram into your day?


--Jess


P.S.
I changed my blogger template so if things seem different to you don't be alarmed! And also, my birthday is tomorrow so I've got to change all of my ages to 15! Yay!

Star Trek: A New Expirence

As I explained in a previous post, I am a crazy Star Wars fan. The movie and books have inspired me to write many Sci-Fi based stories (of course I only finished one of them so far) and it has definitely had an effect my entire life.
My parents, being good Star Wars fans as well decided it was time to show me another of their personal favorites. Star Trek.
So on Saturday evening, me and my family took up our seats on the couch and started at the very beginning movie of the TV series. The first scene (that I remember anyway) is the starship The Enterprise flying in the backdrop of stars. Now, for having that scene appear on a 1960's TV that must have been the coolest scene ever! But. This is 2011. I was born in the digital age, the era of computers that brings forth movies that are completely computer animated!
So, I have to admit that the technology was... disappointing. But to tell you the truth, I really did enjoy it! The story line was really good and it might have given rise to brand new ideas for me which is always exciting. (I still liked the newer Star Trek better).


Do you have new and possibly inspiring experiences that you would like to share? And if not completely new then what was something that really inspired you recently?


--Jess
P.S.
Speaking of new experiences, I just made myself a Twitter account which I am finding quite confusing since I'm used to Facebook. I'm also having fun over at the WriteOnCon site getting wonderful feedback on my novel!