[Fun] Anti-Gravity Pillow Fight

[Dan]

First topic message reminder :

Welcome to our new home! Since a lot of you don't know each other, I thought I'd take this chance to let you all introduce yourselves and then we can get the ball rolling. I can't wait to meet all of you although frankly you scare me a little bit. Just kidding! You guys are adorable, that's why you're here.
But yeah. I'll give you over the weekend to get to know each other in this thread and then we can start an official brainstorming/spilling/squeezing/cleaning/squashing thread.

By the way, no one touches the pirate smiley. He's mine.

Edit: Caveat: This forum is public for the time being so don't post anything you wouldn't want creepers to know. Oy; I probably could have made that sound a little better.

[Corinne]

Ahh one of my NaNo novels has a ton of potential. Even though it is in the unedited state that it's in, it's still not that bad. You all just gave me a little spark that can turn into me actually opening the document again, but I think I need a little more incentive. Maybe an editing thread could work.

[Dan]

How would we work the editing thread? Do we just post about our progress and discuss the trials of editing?

[Ruthie]

How would we work the editing thread? Do we just post about our progress and discuss the trials of editing?

exactly... what could be more fun than complaining about how slow our story is going to friends?

[eLIZabeth]

How would we work the editing thread? Do we just post about our progress and discuss the trials of editing?

exactly... what could be more fun than complaining about how slow our story is going to friends?

That would be fine with me... we could exchange tips, ask questions, post our plot ideas if we want, whatever.

[Angie]

Yeah, this would be a good idea! Input is always good...
Hey, whoever's doing NaNo this year, are you rewriting your last year's novel, or starting a new one? I can't decide.... my last year's one was eighty-four pages, but now I'm giving it a complete overhaul almost, so it's back to the drawing board.

[Ruthie]

Mine ended up being 88 pages... or 87, the last page was blank lol
but most of that was filled with random derails... I was having writer's block as I was writing, so most o the time, the detectives are just waiting or cracking crummy jokes hehe... but yeah, a LOT of waiting and what they were feeling while they were waiting

[Angie]

HA! MADE YOU LOOK! :p:p:)

I just thought I'd revive this thread a little, so...hmmmm, news?.... okay, everybody tell us what book(s) you're reading right now! And if you're not reading, post a really good riddle! (But not the answer!)

Okay, I am reading "Green", this book about a girl kidnapped by leprechauns or something (my sister wants me to read it), Airman, a really good book, BUT
I put them all down because I got the new Artemis Fowl book! The Atlantis Complex! Opal lives, and she'll be BACK! Bwahahahahaha!

Okay, sorry about that. It's late, and it's gonna be a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day tomorrow.

[Sarah]

I'm reading the Ranger's Apprentice Series and I LOVE it. It's about a boy named Will, 15 who was taken into the Redmont Castle as an infant orphan. When you turn 15 in the land of Araluen you pick what career you want to do and choose that Master to study under. For instance, there are Masters for a battle school, scholar school, cooking school, etc., but you have to be accepted. It's all really neat how Will gets chosen to work for Halt, the Ranger. Anywho, if you like adventure, some romance, suspense, and a good cry, read this series. I'm hooked. I even got my idea for Rita through reading these books in the first place. She's kind of like Will's twin.

@ Angie: how long is the Atlantis Complex series?? Sounds good.

[Angie]

It's actually the Artemis Fowl series. I love them and at least two of them are in my top ten books, but they're not for everyone. Right now there are.... wow, seven books. And two short stories. But they're not that long.
Be warned, ther IS crude humor, because you see, in these books, there are dwarfs who have.... unique talents. They tunnel, like a worm tunnels. In one end and.... yeah, so I just ignore it. The books are written by a guy, after all. They are some of the only books that make me laugh (not the crude parts, I just roll my eyes and keep going).
But all the characters are awesome, and funny, and Artemis is just SO darn SMART! I'm never getting over that one.
So, yeah.

p.s. The quotes in my signature are all from the Artemis Fowl books.

[eLIZabeth]

@Sarah - I just started the Ranger's Apprentice Series, too! I heard they were really good so I decided to try them.

@Angie - and I'll have to try Artemis Fowl...

[Angie]

@eLIZabeth- Just so you know, in the first one, they tend to swear a bit, but through the others it is significantly less and/or nonexistent.

[Dan]

I started to read (audiobook) the first Artemis Fowl and I thought it was pretty good. I ended up getting interrupted, though. I think I found some other book I had been wanting to read like Narnia or something.

So, in case you're all wondering why I haven't really been posting, here's a brief explanation of what's been keeping me a way from anticking with ma peeps: I work in the education system. Do you know what it's like to work in the education system in August? It's not a pretty sight. Besides that I have two neighbors who want Denis and I do be doing landscaping for them. Plus we had company on the weekend for Mike's 21st birthday and on our free days we're helping my dad renovate one of our rental properties. So in a way this is a great time for me because I'm learning and working hard and getting money, but by the time I get on the computer I'm too tired to even think about thinking creatively. Needless to say I miss all you guys and the RPG, so Ima gonna head over there and see what kind of havoc I can cause.

[Sarah]

Isn't it crazy how booked life can get??

[Ruthie]

@Sarah - I just started the Ranger's Apprentice Series, too! I heard they were really good so I decided to try them.

@Angie - and I'll have to try Artemis Fowl...

I've seen those books at Barnes and Noble and thought about reading them... they look so cool!!!
Artemis Fowl... my siblings love the books, I have yet to read them it's funny, whatever series they are hooked on and insist I read them, I don't get into them, like Percy Jackson... They re OBSESSED. I want to read them, but not with People looking over my shoulder and peppering me w/ questions: how do you like it so far? What part are you on? Ruthie! Don't read ahead!!! <-- hehe, one of my habits... if a sections is slow, I skip ahead... lol

[eLIZabeth]

@Ruthie - I learned my lesson on skipping to the end! Once I skipped to the end of a book (Inkdeath, if you're wondering) and something I read totally ruined what I hoped the ending would be. I was so depressed I didn't finish reading the book until three weeks later.

By the way, have any of you read Inkheart, Inkspell, or Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke? Those are my favorite books at the moment. Though Ranger's Apprentice is fantastic! I stayed up all night reading the first book, and I am dying to get the second.

Has anyone here read Percy Jackson? I heard that those are great too, but I don't know... when too many people say it's great there's got to be something wrong with it, right?

[Angie]

@eLIZabeth- Oh, Inkdeath. It was good, just not really how I wanted it to be.

HAVE I READ THEM?! You bet! I love those books! Inkheart is definetly the best, though, definetly in my top 5- I love Inkheart. Inkspell is good, with plenty of interesting stuff happening, and I like the way that Inkdeath wraps everything up so neatly and stuff, but like I said above...

I haven't read Percy Jackson- I'm not really into the whole "modern Greek myth" thing. My sister loves them though. I saw the movie- it was alright. I know exactly what you mean. The more people push something on me, the less I want to read it.

Hey, I don't know about you guys, but I rarely have 1 favorite anything. Who wants to list their top 5+ books? Just for kicks....
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception (or maybe the Arctic Incident)
3. Inkheart
4. Pearls of Lutra/ Mattimeo/ Mossflower/ Martin the Warrior
5. The Lives of Christopher Chant

There should be more on that list... oh well...

[eLIZabeth]

@Angie - Inkdeath was definitely the best of the three... but I loved Inkspell too. and I wasn't totally thrilled about Inkdeath's ending either. Ok, so I hated it at first. Which is why I stopped reading it and had to come back to it.

My top 15 books: (because 5 just doesn't work. )
These aren't necessarily in order of best to worst.

1. Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath - I put them together to save room for more.
2. Breathe - A Ghost Story
3. Ranger's Apprentice books- Actually, this might be #2 on my list.
4. The Crossroads
5. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit - The Silmarillion was good too
6. Pride and Prejudice
7. Boston Jane (trilogy)
8. War Horse
9. Dragonfly Pool
10. De Granville Trilogy
11. Captain of the Dance
12. A Series of Unfortunate Events ()
13. East
14. The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme
15. And Then There Were None

I'll basically read anything... the only book I ever stopped reading because I didn't like it was "Dragon Rider".

[Angie]

@ eLIZabeth- OH HOLY COW! How could I have forgotten the Hobbit?! I should really make that list longer. I like Ven Polypheme too (can't wait for the next one!) and I also liked East. Have you read "Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow"? It's the same fairy tale as East, but a different telling. I liked it just as well.

I guess I might as well add (besides the Hobbit and East):
6) The Goose Girl
7) Ingo (AWEsome books)
Airborn
9) The Thief/ The Queen of Attolia/ The King of Attolia
10) Beauty (by Robin McKinley)
11) Shadow Spinner
12) Jacob Have I Loved

[Ruthie]

I'll basically read anything... the only book I ever stopped reading because I didn't like it was "Dragon Rider".

I didn't finish that either, but I LOVED what I did read I love those rare books where dragons aren't described as man-eaters
@Angie: I read Jacob have I loved as well, and bridge to Terabithia... didn't cry at the end... :l which says something about MEEE...

@Dan: THANX FOR THE LOTR CD'S!!!!

[eLIZabeth]

@Ruthie - Dragon Rider wasn't really bad, it's just that I was going through a phase where I was reading much, and what I did read had to be just what I was looking for. I'll bet I would like Dragon Rider if I tried it again... All I did yesterday was read and go outside for an hour. I finished three books.

@Angie - Yeah, East was cool... it was so original. So, is "Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow" the same story, but told by a different person? I don't quite get it...

Has anyone ever read the "Septimus Heap" series? I read them a while ago and thought they were pretty good.

[Angie]

@Angie - Yeah, East was cool... it was so original. So, is "Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow" the same story, but told by a different person? I don't quite get it...

Has anyone ever read the "Septimus Heap" series? I read them a while ago and thought they were pretty good.

Well, see, East is based on the fairy tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." So someone else took the fairy tale and rewrote it a different way.
I did read the first Septimus Heap, and I really liked it. But I've never been able to get into the second one for some reason.

[Dan]

Woah! I didn't even know there were that many books out there! I feel so out of the loop. And I'm disappointed in you all that LOTR is not at the top of every one of those lists. Now that you all have used up the #1 slot I will forgive you if you add: "∞ The Lord of the Rings." To the top of each of your lists.
And, in saying that, I'm sure you all know what my favorite books list will think of. Now on to more interesting stuff. What are the Ranger's Apprentice books about (@Liz)?

I've just been noticing that I feel so much better when I read and so I'm endeavoring to do it more. Of course I choose the dorky books-- right now I'm reading How to Win Friends and Influence People.

[eLIZabeth]

@ Dan - Ranger's Apprentice is about a 15 year old boy named Will, who is apprenticed to a really awesome Ranger named Halt. While Will grows in knowledge and skill, he befriends Horace, an amazingly talented natural warrior-in-training. They, and of a lot of other brave people (including the daughter of the King) defeat Morgaroth, the worst enemy of the country. To do this, Will, Horace, and Princess Cassandra, (she poses as a maid and uses the name Evanlyn so they don't know who she really is) must burn the bridge Morgaroth is using to convey weapons/soldiers. They manage to do this, the battle is won, and Morgaroth slain in an epic duel. However, in the process, Will and Evanlyn get captured by pirates/allies of Morgaroth and are taken to the cold lands of Scandia as slaves. The captain of the pirates is really a pretty honorable, good man. He recognizes something special in the two. When he sees what has happened to them from slavery, he helps them escape. Meanwhile Halt purposely got himself banished for a year so he could look for Will. Horace accompanies him and time after time proves his skill with a sword. Right now, Will, with Evanlyn's aid, has just recovered from slavery tortures. Meanwhile, Halt and Horace are well on their way to rescuing them after delays and mishaps.
*big breath*
So that's basically what the first three books are about.

And I'm very ashamed of myself of not putting LOTR at the top of my list, me being such a big fan and all... but I made the mistake of watching the movies before reading the books, so aside from a few really interesting things, I already knew what was coming. So I guess the books weren't as enjoyable as the could have been, though I still love them.

[Ruthie]

Well, see, East is based on the fairy tale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." So someone else took the fairy tale and rewrote it a different way.

LOVE THAT STORY!! Mercer Mayer (author/illustrator or Little Critter books ) did a picture book of that. I LOVE his drawing style!!! Yeah, I'm big into story books, would much rather look at pictures which I then try to copy and usually fail... and then cry lol, well, the cycle is something like that minus the drama...

[eLIZabeth]

Yeah, I'm big into story books, would much rather look at pictures which I then try to copy and usually fail... and then cry lol, well, the cycle is something like that minus the drama...

Sometimes I try to copy pictures, too... and my cycle basically goes like that. Except plus the drama.
The only picture I ever copied well was Mittens because he was in black and white so the shading wasn't so bad. That's my biggest problem, but I'm getting better!

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