VBS and Writing Ideas

Hi readers!!

I've been at my little country church's Vacation Bible School (VBS for short) this past week!!! In the past ten or eleven or twelve years that I've been going, I've always been in the programs, from a student's perspective... but this year... the grade eights were taken from the program to look after little, annoying, funny, children as group leaders.

I was leading a group with my friend Amanda and we were the GREEN GROUP!!!! We had grades 3, 4, 5 and the names of the kids were Makayla, Michaela, Duane, Logan, Olivia, Sarah, Jonathan, Leelind and Matthew. And weren't they fun? We were learning to Listen Up! for God's messages!! We were the Slowpoke Messengers (our own group name, that we made ourselves, due to our stuffed tortoise mascot Slowpoke) and our mascots were the aforesaid Slowpoke and Big Eyes the stuffed frog!! And we ALMOST had a live mascot, but Amanda was carrying it (a live frog) and she dropped it and squished it by accident. Within about five minutes, the entire bible school knew that the Green Group had killed their live mascot!!!

It was a very spiritually enriching week, even for me, the old teenager...

I've had so much fun with friends from EVERYWHERE that I think I've talked myself out!!

Well, I'd better sign out now,

Love, and Blessings,

emma eldon

P.S. I don't know if you're like this or not, but writing ideas keep popping up EVERYWHERE for me! I started a whole new story because of random ideas!!!

Summer!

So...

WHAT TIME IS IT? Oh, don't worry. I won't go on a tirade of high school musical numbers just to annoy you! I get enough of that from my annoying little sister.

But it IS summer. I have been reading all these magazines talking about finding summer love! For me, finding ANY love would be great! Never mind summer. Well, I'll be busy.

First of all, my graduation went quite well; I didn't faint or barf or cry or even pee my pants during my speech. And you know what? I was SO SO SO nervous right up until I stood up to go up there and speak with Andy, and then I was fine! And I grinned and laughed and I said the first line! And many lines after that, but still, I didn't choke up! And then the dinner was delicious and my slide show went awesomely and we danced right until 10:30 and my feet were KILLING me and I could barely even smirk after smiling for fifteen straight minutes while getting my pictures taken. Eeeepp!

And the last day of school was so short! Oh, I could have died at the shortness of it all! I didn't have enough time to spend with the people I had come to love over the past year. All of a sudden, we had fifteen mintues left of the day and I just couldn't stop CRYING!

And I start my new job in August, working at a local farm market until the season closes in October. And then there's VBS (Vacation Bible School) and I am one of the group leaders this year! One of my best friends volunteered me!

And then there's every sort of get-together and sleepover and movie night and party that I could want and then HIGH SCHOOL comes up and just knocks my socks off. I am SO excited except just a teensie, tiny bit afraid. Well, maybe ALOT! I'm sure to get lost!!!

Anyway, enough of me burdening my business on you, why don't YOU tell me a bit about yourself. Please leave comments in my comment section, I like hearing from you all!

Next time I'll be inventive and come up with some writing tip for you! I have quite a good little handbook on writing!

Love, Cheers,
emma eldon

Grad!

Tomorrow night is Graduation and I am PSHYCED!!! I get to dress up in a pretty dress and get my hair done and wear heels and everything. We're having a dinner and a dance and we're going to have a BLAST!!!

I know I will be ALOT better once I get my speech over with, though. I have to say a speech, as I'm valedictorian. AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Tie me down, I may run out of the building. Or barf. Or, worst of all, cry. At least I get to share this misery with my co-valedictorian, Andy. Hopefully he will catch me if I faint, before I hit my head on the baptismal font.

I have to go out there in front of almost 200 people! And speak. Something that I wrote. It's weird, I don't really love sharing my writing with people, but then again, I'm writing a blog. Stupid, I guess.

But, I hope I'll have a good time, and that there isn't too much grinding at the dance! I don't want to go through THAT with my pure virgin eyes.

They might not like it that much. My eyes, I mean.

But on the other hand, I'm terribly sad, because next year, more than half the class isn't going to my high school! I love them all so much, and now they're going to be gone. We're so close-knit, too. We're all going to cry! I know I'll be bawling.

Well, on that spirited and firey note, I will leave you.

Hasta La Vista,

emma eldon

Well... Long Time No See!

I guess it HAS been quite a while since I posted. Sorry to maybe just the few of you who actually LIKE my blog, although I cannot see how you can.

Well, now my lovely corally-flourescent-pinky-orangeish nails are clacking across the keyboard, and I have nothing to writed about (except of course my corally-flourescent-pinky-orangeish nails).

Maybe I should write about WHY I have corally-flourescent-pinky-orangeish nails. How about that? Today was what we call Mission Day at my primitive elementary school (which is now officially going to stay open, after a tough and critical review!). The object of the whole day is to buy Gator Money (our school mascot is the Gator) for 10 cents a ticket and then you go around and enter yourself in raffles and visit Mrs. T's famous White Elephant Sale, and get your nails painted (hence the corally-flourescent-pinky-orangeish nails) and eat lots of goodies and get as FAT as you POSSIBLY can!

In case you're wondering what I'm heading for with this blog, my main objective is to give you things to write ABOUT. Maybe it will inspire you as that little picture in my History textbook inspired me. Or the Metis sash that I bought at Old Fort William last summer. Or the Sound of Music (which I think is a movie that surpasses ALL others). Or maybe the thing that inspires you is a picture of Taylor Swift's long, golden hair. Or maybe just a picture of Orlando Bloom.... awwww... dreamy!

And his jaw, don't you like it? I've never seen such a beautiful jaw!

toodle-oo,
emma eldon

Some Hard Things

Hello, all!

(Was that a geeky opening?)

I have had some things this past week that I found quite hard to put in perspective. And also, very maddening and complicated and stupid and annoying and terrible.

I have to ask you a question, though, first.

Has any of you ever lost someone close to you? I mean, really close? I haven't.

But my friend Michael has.

Michael's father, Joe, passed away peacefully surrounded by his large family in the wee hours of Thursday morning, of cancer. When my class found out, from the pastor, Father Charlie, on Thursday morning, alot of us were crying and we were all VERY serious, for once.

Father's Day is in one week.

Can you imagine your father passing away ONE WEEK before Father's Day? Can you imagine your father passing away ONE MONTH before your graduation from grade school, and your brother's from high school? Can you imagine your daddy dying TWO MONTHS before your big brother's wedding? Can you imagine your daddy dying ONE YEAR before his first grandchild comes into this world?

Can you imagine?

I can't comprehend any of it.

What do you think we should say to Michael when he comes back to school? How are we going to joke around him? How are we going to talk about stupid movies, or gossip, or laugh around him EVER AGAIN????

I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

Help us, here in our humble class and our humble group of friends, please!!!!

Luv,

Emma Eldon

Apologies!!!!

First of all, I would love to take this oppurntunity to thank you all for being patient with me while I had company from Germany for the past two weeks. It was a blast, I can tell you! We hit all the high spots around Ontario; we even sprinted through down town Toronto in order to catch our GOtrain back out of the city.

We had to stop at the lights, though. That was a bit of a hold-up. (We did catch the train, by the way, in case you're wondering.

And I played Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the FIRST time a few weeks ago. Man, did I ever SUCK! I love the songs though! XBOX 360 was the gaming console of my choice.

And Canada's Wonderland was AWESOME! Although, I cannot see how some lunatics would go on Behemoth, I just can't comprehend it!

I've been contemplating doing a contest (other than my polls) but i don't have any ideas for one. Could you guys please leave some suggestions on the comment pages? Thanks, you're all dolls.

I love this one blog about writing. It is informative, beautifully written and helpful. It really makes me revise and edit my writing alot better. It's http://www.eileenastels.blogspot.com/ . Don't be intimidated by the fact that Eileen deals with a certain denomination and a certain genre. Most of her tips can be converted over to use in any form that you write in. Enjoy!

I have decided to have a mixxture of posts. They will all hopefully be a bit of writing help and a bit of nothing, like what I'm writing about now. That's my favourite kind of posts!

Well, I'd best be signing off now. If you're wondering what this chart over here is, it's a writing chart, that my teacher actually gave me. But it really helps me think my editing through, to make sure that my writing is the best that it can be.

Guten tag!

emma eldon

Believable Characters: What Makes Characters Believable?

I have decided to begin my study on Believable Characters. I had to take notes and everything and organise what I was going to say before I just slapped it down in writing on my blog! I have been taking these notes from Writing the Christian Romance by Gail Gaymer Martin, which is an exceedingly helpful book, disregarding the genre or denomination you write in/about.

Okay, so now I begin.

Believable characters must be solid, 3-D individuals with depth, goals, needs, motivation and complex emotions. Your characters- to be believable characters- have to change and grow, a little or alot, along the course of your story. Your characters are naturally impacted by the events and situations that you place them in in your story.

The reader's greatest wish is to be able to connect and relate to your amazing, 3-D characters. If your characters are "real" to them, then they will be able to do just that, because your character's plights in themselves or those around them.

The past is what formulates your character's present and future; it's what makes up their goals, weaknesses and present needs. Characters need to have flaws. Flaws are what connects you to other people and will be what connects readers to your hopefully fabulous characters. An unflawed character is like an unflawed, 2-D cartoon character, not a compelling, believable character that readers can relate to.

When you are forming a character's backstory (which will discuss on a later date) give them situations they want to forget and hide from others- secrets that smother their growth until somehting or someone else in your story uncovers it to learn the truth. In stories, and in real life, people can't hide from the past. They may try to cover it up if it is particularly ugly, but it still affects their relationships, values, actions, and behaviours. Some people construct their pasts on a foundation of lies or twisted truths, and try to make sure their flimsy "lie structures" don't collapse around them.

Okay, so not EVERY SINGLE one of your characters needs a deep, dark sin, but still, there must be SOMETHING there that they wish to hide.

Although flaws are major in the creation of your compelling characters, you must keep the character's positive attributes foremost in the reader's minds. Characters with a strong desire to change (for the better) are the type of characters readers love.

The best thing that you could ever give to ALL major characters is a passion and determination to succeed (even the villain). Blending weaknesses and strengths will help you create compelling, beautifully put-together, believable characters that will make your story the belle of the ball.

Which is what you want, of course!

That concludes my study on What Makes Characters Believable. Next post we will be looking at some techniques and Characters, Story and Theme.

Merci pour votre attention!

Much Love,

emma eldon