Outside

   Recently, two of my friends have blogged about other people. Specifically, they have blogged about how to help others and encourage them. (Those posts can be found here and here). It made me think. Stories aren't generally about one person. Few stories can be carried well with only one person. A good blog is not perfected by one person staring at a screen and typing. It is perfected through readers and through those who comment with feedback.

   In the same way, people need others. People need relationships. Ideals are not the main focus, relationships are. In my writing life, and personal life, this is especially true. I need others to help me perfect my writing, and my attitude. And others need me to help them be better people. In Genesis, the only thing that God said was not good was that humans were alone. Even though Adam walked with God, God said that wasn't enough. A story which will help people is not enough. The story will eventually fade. The best way to help people, and be helped by people, is to have relationships.

   Unfortunately, relationships are hard. They are messy. They hurt. And that's part of life. Life sucks. But life is also joyful. Life hurts, but it also soothes. Life bites, and life kisses. Which side do we, do I, focus on?

   So what got me thinking about this? (Other than the blog posts my friends wrote). Mostly it was me perusing my Goodreads profile and seeing how few reviews I have made. Now, that might not seem a big thing, but this is part of relationship. Reviews give the author feedback on how to better their book. Reviews give an opportunity for others to talk about the book. Reviews give others the opportunity to read this book (or avoid the book). And, sure, my review my be silly or lame, but practice makes perfect, right?

   I don't know. I guess these are just thoughts as I progress on a journey to think more outside of myself.

What do you think? Do you avoid relationships, or do you throw yourself in whole-heartedly? Do you think book reviews are a chance to foster relationships, or do you keep what you read to yourself? Comment below and tell me how wrong I am (or just what you think in general). 

Spoilers

   Last week was fun, and Rambo did a good job. But enough frivolity, it's time to get back into thinking mode. What am I going to blog about today?
   Spoilers.
   That's not to say that telling you what my topic is is spoiling. Rather, today's topic is spoilers.
   Personally, I don't have much spoiler-phobia. Spoilers aren't really all that scary for me. I have no problem looking up the ending to a TV series on the internet before I've finished it. Spoilers just don't bother me that much. Maybe that's because I'm impatient, or maybe it's just that I want to know if the story is worth my time before I invest in it for 7 seasons (or whatever the case may be). I listened to a podcast recently that talked about how a story should hold up on its own with or without the ending being known. I thought that was an interesting concept and thought it was quite good.
   There's just one problem with that: my mentality.
   See, if I know about a big twist that is coming, I tend to look forward to that and ignore the presence of the story in front of me. I've always been a bit of an idealist, looking for how things should or could be, and missing the thing that lies directly in front of me. It's the same way when a character is killed off. If I know a character is going to die, consciously or unconsciously, I will disconnect from that character and end up having the death not impact me (or impact me less).
   So, even though I haven't been much of a spoiler-phobe up until now, I've been trying to become more of one. Though, I guess that is just one of two options. I can either avoid the spoilers and allow the twist to impact me (or death, or what have you) or I can throw myself into the story regardless of whether I know how it will end or not.
   Still, the podcast was right: a big twist at the end should not be an excuse to allow weakness with the style of the storytelling. The twist just allows the author to make a bigger impact in the mind of the reader.

What are your thoughts on spoilers? Are you against spoilers, or are you able to enjoy a story regardless of whether you know the ending? Comment below with your thoughts!

One Year

   That's right, I've been blogging now for about a year! (I started June 24, 2013). Thus, without further ado, I'm going to bring out our host: Rambo the Magnificent!

   Hello Ladies and Gentleman. How are you all? I hope you have had a good day. Or a good night. Either way, I'm not picky. As long as you're here, I'm going to talk your ear off.
   They say it's best to start off with some preamble. So now I'd like to invite my friend Pre to come up here and amble.
   That's more of a visual joke.
   Anyway! When Jesse told me to come up here and walk you through the One Year Birthday, I was excited. I mean, it's basically me saying random stuff and getting paid for it! (What, you don't get paid for blogging?) But enough of all that, let's get on to the good stuff!
   Top 3 posts of the year!
   3. Reasons to Watch Popular Films. Posted May 9, 2014.
      This one makes the most sense to me. Jesse wrote about popular films in response to a challenge posed by a podcast. I think the podcast mentioned it, which is probably why a lot of people saw this. I read over it and thought the logic was a bit faulty. I think I'll stick to watching the sunset, thank you very much. That's not very popular these days.
   2. News. Posted July 8, 2013
      This one I can understand. This was when Jesse announced his first story had come out. I guess people were really excited and told all their friends. I know I told my friends, but they don't have internet to check blog posts. If they did, they'd probably just watch funny human videos on youtube.
   1. Everyone is Connected. Posted March 28, 2014
      This is kind of surprising to me. This was Jesse's review of God's Not Dead, the Christian film that came out early this year. I haven't seen it, but Jesse thought it was okay, and it seems people thought his review was grand. Or maybe he just got extra publicity since the movie was so popular.

   Top Interview of the Year!
   3. Interview with Jessica Verve. Posted August 9, 2013
      Interviews are obviously going to have a lot of views, because the interviewed will post about it on their respective social media. Therefore, more people are going to see it. In fact, these three interviews were all in the top ten posts of the year. About this specific interview? Jesse says it's the most fun interview he has done. It's probably because of the cool name of the person he interviewed.
   2. Interview with Jeremiah Lang. Posted Jan 23, 2014
      This was an interview with a brand new author celebrating the release of his first book. There was lots of talk about books and stories and all sorts of other stuff common to interviews.
   1. Interview with Faith Blum. Posted December 8, 2013
      This was the second most viewed post of the last year. This was part of a blog tour, which was probably why it got a lot of views. It was also celebrating the author's debut novel. Jesse says this is the only person he interviewed whose novel he hasn't read. About that, he is sad. But, not time to waste crying, time to move to the next topic!

   Looking forward to next year:
   Topics Jesse hopes to write on: Jesse says he hopes to write about spoilers, write more movie reviews, and write more book reviews. He also hopes to not take a huge break during the middle of the year like he did last year (shame, shame). He also hopes to have more conversations with us cats, like he did once around Easter. I think that would be quite enjoyable, because it will mean me being on more!
   People Jesse hopes to interview: He hasn't worked up much of a spine yet, so he'll probably stick to low-key authors and indie published authors or, possibly, even unpublished authors who are hoping to some day. Of those possibilities, he hopes to interview Juliet Lauser, Katie Lynn Daniels, and anyone else he can work up the nerve (and the time) to talk to. (Jesse's giving me a warning look, so I'd better wrap up).

   Well, I hope you've enjoyed the last of year of Jesse's blog. Comment below if you enjoyed it, and tell Jesse that I should be on here more. Have a good day, night, or otherwise! Farewell!

Book Release: Trapped!

   I have realized a horrible mistake. I have a schedule (not that I ever follow it) that says I am to do an author interview/ book review on the last Friday of every month. And last Friday I FORGOT! HORRORS!
   Yes. I forgot. So this week I am doing a book review of... My own book! And I have a celebrity to do it for me!
   That's right: Trapped just recently came out (it can be found on Amazon) and I have (drum roll please) Grumpy Cat to review it!

   Okay, not really. Grumpy Cat was way to busy to review a lowly book about cats for me, so I have Rambo here to fill in. Take it away, Rambo!

   I care about this book as much as I do about you. Not at all.

   ...Thanks, Rambo, for that glowing review. Well, who cares what the cat thinks. I'll let you make the decisions for yourself. Here's the synopsis:

   When rebellious kitten Seabert decides he no longer wants to live under his mother's rules, he flees the farm. His freedom ends suddenly when a skunk, claiming the same love for freedom as Seabert, imprisons him. Stunned by this unexpected twist, Seabert is horrified when he finds out the fate of an entire city hinges upon his actions. Will Seabert's friends rescue him, or will his 'freedom' turn into a trap of its own?

   How's that sound? Interesting I hope! This book has been in the works for a long time (I've been working on it since 2011). More to the point, it's been almost a year since the last book. I know that's a lot longer than I was planning, but I'm hoping to get the 3rd book out sooner (Title: The Kyge in the Mist). Look for that coming March 1st, 2015 (unless things get slowed down again, then it'll probably be out next summer).
   Oh, and if you are wondering about the Kindle version: don't worry, it's coming. I hope to have it out by next Friday. All I have to do is tweak a few things and upload it, so it shouldn't take me that long.
   I hope you come back next week, where I'll have my anniversary party and talk about all the stuff I've done over the last year. I hope you enjoy it, and I'll have Rambo here to help keep things interesting. For now, this is Jesse and Rambo signing off.
I still don't care.
Bye!

Words

   When one writes a blog for a year, it is inevitable to come to a point in which no ideas present themselves. Interestingly, I haven't had that problem recently. Maybe it's because I've actually been writing a lot more and thinking more. Whatever the reason, I recently came up with the idea to write a blog post on words.

   Last week I talked about how I went to a conference. It was an interesting experience, mostly because the only conferences I have been on before in my life have been retreats with my church's youth group. I have spent most of my life around Christians, and, being homeschooled, I've never encountered many other teenagers. This made the conference of high schoolers all the more of a shock to me. Why? Because not everyone talks like a grandmother.

   This is probably not a surprise to anyone that has had any experience out of the 'holy huddle' (church culture). It was not that I was ignorant of profanity (I've watched television), but having people the same age as me use culturally frowned upon language without a second thought was kind of equally horrifying and fascinating. It made me seriously consider how I use my words.

   For example: is saying a bad word after I smash my finger with a hammer really that much different than saying a word like "Rats!" in an identical situation? Isn't the heart issue the same? If I speak a 'clean' word profanely, is it not the same as if I had swore? Surely to say God's name is not evil, but to say God's name in vain is an abuse of that word. If I substitute 'sugar' in for a swear word, is that not taking 'sugar' out of context as much as the swear word?

   There lies the truly interesting conclusion: if a word is only to be frowned upon when used in a profane or harmful way, can 'swear' words be used in a nonprofane way? Is it profane to use a culturally frowned upon word for poop? If that is profane, then why is poop not viewed in the same light? And if I call someone a poophead, is that not the same as swearing at someone? If I mean the same thing, does the term I use really make that much difference?

   Regardless of the logical issues or how it should be, it must be admitted that some words are looked at differently than others. Some people will view something differently depending on the word used. And people make judgments based on the words we use. Therefore, how can we use our words to build others up? How can we use words to tell about beauty, even if there is darkness surrounding it? How can our words affect those around us?

What do you think? Can words be used well? Does the heart behind the words cause words to be good or evil? Or are some words inherently profane? 

Book update! I received the proof for Trapped and have finished the final edits! The second book in the Kitten Mysteries series should be published by July 1st at the latest!

Politics

   Recently, I had the privilege of traveling to a conference hosted by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. The goal of the conference was to teach us (the attendees) how the Farm Bureau worked and how it interacted with the state government. All the kids were split into different groups based on interests (dairy, beef, swine, or equine) and then those groups sent several members into the conference 'House of Representatives'. This house was supposed to act as the embodiment of the PA House of Representatives and I was chosen to be one of those representatives. It was a fascinating experience simply by being able to experience how government worked and how bills are passed. It also showed me how government can help or harm its people. However, neither of those thing were at the front of my mind; instead, I was most focusing on how and if my faith should be involved with my choices.

   Some people might read that last sentence and be confused. "Of course your faith should affect how you live," they might say, "otherwise you don't really believe it." On that point I would agree. However, I come from a denomination that believes strongly in separation of church and state, because whenever the state mixes with the church things tend to get ugly. On that point I also strongly agree. Thirdly, when writing bills that affect those of different faiths, it is crucial from a political viewpoint to keep religion out of the mindset so that all can have free rights to practice their religion (unless it harms another person).

   Thus, I was faced with a dilemma: Do I allow my faith to dictate the ethics I use to write the bills? or Do I set my faith's ethics aside in order to make a choice which is best for the state?

   Something that I found most fascinating was what happened at the beginning of every session: there was the Pledge of Allegiance and an Invocation. Because of aforementioned separation of church and state beliefs, this prayer at the beginning of every session made me slightly uncomfortable. Prayer that God will direct our leaders is all well and good, but should the leader's be asking God's blessing if they are not willing to follow his will? And should a country follow God's will, would that country still be able to survive? And should following God be the wrong choice for a nation, would it be sound for the nation's leaders to follow the ethics of God?

   The other thing done at the start of the session, as stated above, was the Pledge of Allegiance. This action also has theological implications. Christians are called to serve God above the state. We are to respect the state and honor its leaders, but not to be loyal to it above all others. As such, is it blasphemy to pledge allegiance to the state? Are not Christians born into the Kingdom of God, which is a kingdom separate from the kingdoms of this world?

   I could go on, but I'm pretty sure you either understand my dilemma or are bored of my asking questions which you find pointless. Thus, I shall end by stating how I solved my dilemma: I performed my duties as a member of the House. I did that which was best for the state, and left my theological ethics for personal matters, embracing a different set of ethics for the bills I proposed. How did I reconcile this? Well, it's all basically a big game and I wasn't truly enacting any laws. Had this been real politics, my decisions would have been majorly different or, at least, I would have spent a lot more time deliberating over the decision.

What do you think of my dilemma? Can you see my struggle or do you think I was over complicating the situation? Leave a comment below and thank you very much for reading.

Cover Reveal

   I was going to come up with something clever and original for the title, but I figured a direct and to the point title was probably just as profitable. Though, technically, I'm not gaining any profit from this release, so I suppose a different description would be more apt. Relevant or not, I figure I should stop talking about nothing and reveal that which I speak of in the title.

   Voila! The cover for Trapped:

   Isn't it beautiful? Much thanks to Anthony Rice for crafting the amazing cover. I'm actually starting to get excited about publishing this book (other than the feeling of get-this-over-with I've had for a while). I'm hoping to have it published by the end of June, July 1st at the latest.

   What do you think of the cover? How's it look? Leave a comment below!