First Week of College

This was actually written two weeks ago, but I just now realized that it was never posted. It's still relevant, so here goes...

Hello again, everyone. I hope 2015 has started off well for all of you. Just bear with me a moment while I mention something important about Book Three of The Last Abecedarian Series. As you can tell by the title of this post, I'm now in college. This means that my time, which was heretofore devoted to writing novels, is going to be equally divided between writing and schoolwork. I've already been warned about the work load, and I know it's going to be hard, but even after the first week I have confidence in this choice. This means that I might not be able to finish the third book by this Christmas, but I will continue to work hard and post updates on my progress for those interested. Although I feel good about the quality of what I've published so far, it's my hope that my writing will continue to improve with instruction, so hopefully you'll find that the wait was worth it. I estimate it won't take longer than one and a half years to finish the next novel — more like a year and three months. If the book surprises me and wraps up faster, then great.

Anyway, back to the fun part, talking about school. This was a new experience for me, because I was homeschooled through high school. My grades have always been good, but my classroom was my computer. I'm not going to go into the pros and cons of this arrangement — I'm just saying it was different. I've been to college campuses before, but never as a student, and the very act of loading a backpack and slinging it over my shoulder felt surreal.

Determined to start the term strong, I arrived at my first classroom several minutes before I could go in and tried to greet the first few students to arrive after me. Beyond that I felt myself  struggling to combat introversion, but at least the first two people proved to be kind, helpful, caring acquaintances.

My first class this term is called Effective Learning, and it's basically about the brain and how it processes/retains information. The point is for us to identify our learning styles and how to monopolize on our studying strengths while developing our weaknesses. So far this is my favorite class, more so than writing, because I can already see so many ways to apply it in other college classroom situations. This is especially apparent to me during group projects. So far I've found myself able to understand the concepts and work in each class, but the other people in my group process information differently from me. My favorite part of class work isn't so much the fact that I can understand the information — it's learning how to apply the information I get from EL to other people so I can understand them. We all come up with the answer on our own, but we have to discuss how we got the answer so that we can respond to questions about our work as one cohesive unit. I enjoy teaching in one-on-one situations, so this is a good course for me.

The next class I take is Math. Namely, Math Literacy, which is the practical application of math in the real world. It focuses a lot on why math works, not just how to read graphs, charts, and fractions. During the first class I had so much math anxiety that I honestly don't remember much, but during the next session my professor made a few Star Trek references and I felt a lot better. Now I can almost say I like it...almost. Give me another week or two and I'll confirm that, ha ha.

Then, finally, there's writing. I don't think there's anything I can say about this besides I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT! This is something I definitely need, because I have serious problems with condensing ideas into shorter essays. My professor makes learning interesting, the work load is challenging but not overwhelming, and it's a fantastic warm up for the rest of my college career.

So...that is my first college experience in a nutshell. There's more I can say, but it would take a short book to express all my thoughts on the subject. Every now and then you might see me post a paper I'm especially proud of, or something a professor shared in class. The Last Abecedarian Series is still a priority with me, though it does have to share space now, and I'll continue to work hard on that this year.

Are any of you in college, or have you been in college? What was your favorite class? Do you have any advice for me?

The Legend of Holly Claus — Book Review

A very good friend of mine gave me this book for Christmas, and I loved it so much that I had to write a review.

Here's the basic conflict in my own words. One Christmas, a little boy named Christopher writes a letter to Santa Claus asking him what he wants for Christmas. The heartfelt love with which this letter is written causes a magical event to take place, granting Santa his one desire — to have a child of his own. Thus, Holly Claus becomes the first baby to be born in the Kingdom of Forever (where Santa is king).

There is also an evil Warlock named Herrikhan, who is confined to a place of suffering because of his evil deeds. The only way he can be released from the curse is if he possess a pure heart. So when little Holly is born, he freezes her heart and traps her in Forever where he can come fetch her when she is old enough to marry him and break the spell.

Let's face it...a lot of Christmas stories are cheesy, and that's okay because most of them are meant for small children. This is more a Polar Express kind of quality, though there are several parts of the book that remind me of the movie Anastasia.

The only thing I found myself growing frustrated with was the length of time I spent with Holly growing up before getting to the main adventure. But then I thought about it and realized that growing is part of the adventure. Holly didn't just appear in the story as a pure young  heroine. She has to grow into it, and watching her grow draws the reader close to her in a way this book couldn't have done otherwise, no matter how well written.  We know the conflict is coming, and we wait impatiently with Holly while she yearns to make her way in the world of mortals and somehow defeat Herrikhan. When the time finally comes for her to leave Forever, the reader is just as excited as she is, and the rest of the book is far more emotionally satisfying.

Overall, I  give it five stars. This is one of the best Christmas books I've ever read, and I can't wait to share it with my sisters. If you have small children (under nine or ten years old) who won't understand the plot yet, there is a condensed children's version as well (with stunning artwork on every page).