Voted Most Likely Tag!

HAPPY THURSDAY!

I've been so excited for this post. I was tagged by the lovely Victoria @ Wanderer's Pen for the Voted Most Likely tag. (Thank you, Victoria!) These questions were so great and I'm so excited to share my answers with you!

NOTE: I haven't talked about all these stories on the blog (in fact, I'm pretty sure I've only talked about Roots to Claim), so you're not going to know anything about most of these people. Hopefully someday I'll share more about each of these stories and characters, and you can get to know them a little deeper! For now, though, a quick description of each of the stories I mention:

Children of Matorelli// Narnia-esque fantasy
The Unchosen Ones// sci-fi trilogy
Fall Into Time// sci fi/fantasy with time travel
I need you guys to note and appreciate the fact that while I was writing about Fall Into Time, "Clock Don't Stop" by Carrie Underwood started playing and WHOA how fitting.
Roots to Claim// literally just read this and this and this

OKAY now that's done. Onto the tag!

THE RULES

Rule One: Thank the lovely blogger who tagged you. You know you want to.
Rule Two: Include this lovely link in your post.
Rule Three: Use your own lovely Original Characters (OC’s); don’t use a friend’s characters or characters from your favorite fandom. They can be from any project, so long as you created them. For more fun, try to use as many different characters as possible.
Rule Four: Tag at least five lovely blogger friends to play along.

1.) Most Likely to Be a Poet

Oh, this is definitely, definitely Quinard from Roots to Claim. He writes dark, depressing songs, so I think he'd slide into the role of poet real well.

2.) Most Likely to Dance in the Rain

Hmm... I have several that could fit this, but I'll say Adrian from The Unchosen Ones. She's a really positive, happy person and sees beauty in everything so I think dancing in the rain would be really fitting to her character.

3.) Most Likely to Look Good in a Kilt
Wow, what a thing to think about. Well, I have a Scottish villain in The Unchosen Ones, so I guess it would be him. xD He doesn't have a name at the moment, though...

4.) Most Likely to Get Punched in the Face

Ha. Well, more than one of my characters, probably. But for now I'll go with Ray from Children of Matorelli. He throws himself into whatever fights he and his friends get into, so he'd be probably be pretty likely to get punched in the face first by the enemy.

5.) Most Likely to Drop Everything and Become a Sheep Herder

Wow, that is an... interesting question. The first person I thought of was Rashid from The Unchosen Ones because he's Middle Eastern. xD I'm going to have to leave it at that because I really can't see any of my other characters herding sheep??

6.) Most Likely to Be Found in the Library

Ooh, this is a tough one. I actually don't have many characters who are big readers (shocker, I know!), at least that I've thought about. I'm going to say Sophie from Fall Into Time because she's just trying to graduate college, so she's probably doing a lot of studying. xD

7.) Most Likely to Sleep Through an Earthquake
I'll have to say Archlan from Roots to Claim on this one, because half the time he's causing extreme weather conditions and it's usually in the middle of the night, so he's used to it.

8.) Most Likely to Steal Food from Other Peoples’ Plates

Georgie from Children of Matorelli would probably do this, but only with her friends.

9.) Most Likely to Cheat on a Test
This would have to be Greg from Children of Matorelli. He's not the most responsible guy around.

10.) Most Likely to Say “Oops” After Setting Something on Fire

Oh, Asher from Fall Into Time, for sure. He's charmingly clumsy and awkward and... yeah, I can toootally see him doing this. xD

Asher doesn't wear leather, though...

11.) Most Likely to Open an Orphanage
Alyson from Children of Matorelli is very compassionate and motherly, so she would probably do fantastic in an orphanage.

12.) Most Likely to Run off with the Circus
Arin from Children of Matorelli. Not because he's a good juggler or anything. But his rich, important family expects him to adhere to a certain set of standards, and almost as an act of defiance, he sort of lives on the road half the time with his oddball-looking horse and dog. He might fit in with the misfits pretty well. He'd probably be the animal handler or something.

13.) Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
Oh man, this would be Childin from Children of Matorelli. She's been on her own since she was a young teenager, and she knows how to fight and defend herself. She could definitely hold her own against a zombie mob.

14.) Most Likely to Fake Their Own Death

Probably Daiyu from The Unchosen Ones. She doesn't have a very bright outlook on life (because her life's been kind of awful) and lives pretty secluded anyway, so she might be inclined to pretend she was dead just so that nobody would bother her.

15.) Most Likely to Die and Haunt Their Friends
Oh man, this is a tough one. (Also kind of hysterical.) Maybe Kennet from Roots to Claim. He's a prophet who basically just sits around basking in magic all the time, so most people think he's crazy. Therefore, he would be the perfect person to haunt people.


Yay , that was so much fun! Answering random questions like that about your characters really makes you think about each of them as a person. (And makes you realize how little you know them, in some cases!)

All right, time for the tagging... (If any of you have already been tagged for this [and I'm sure some of you have], well, you've now been double-tagged. xD)

Nicole @ Legend of a Writer
Kara @ Scribbles of an Aspiring Writer
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer
Faith @ The Writer's Song
Rakayle @ A Story Detective

Here are the questions:

1.) Most Likely to Be a Poet
2.) Most Likely to Dance in the Rain
3.) Most Likely to Look Good in a Kilt
4.) Most Likely to Get Punched in the Face
5.) Most Likely to Drop Everything and Become a Sheep Herder
6.) Most Likely to Be Found in the Library
7.) Most Likely to Sleep Through an Earthquake
8.) Most Likely to Steal Food from Other Peoples’ Plates
9.) Most Likely to Cheat on a Test
10.) Most Likely to Say “Oops” After Setting Something on Fire
11.) Most Likely to Open an Orphanage
12.) Most Likely to Run off with the Circus
13.) Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
14.) Most Likely to Fake Their Own Death
15.) Most Likely to Die and Haunt Their Friends

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed learning a little about my characters. Hopefully you didn't get the wrong first impression of those you've just met. xD

Have you done this tag? What's your favorite way of getting to know your characters? Which one of these characters would you most enjoy learning more about? 

Why I Love Bullet Journaling (+ A Peek Inside MY Bullet Journal!)

IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR MY BULLET JOURNAL POST. I've been planning this for months and actually meant to post it last week but it wasn't quite ready, so now HERE IT IS!

I first started hearing about bullet journaling from various bloggers three years ago or so, and it intrigued me but I wasn't sure exactly how to get started. It seemed kind of complicated, so I wasn't really sure how to make an "official" bullet journal.

But HEY. It was super easy. I think I first tried it after reading Katie's post (can we just admire her bullet journal for a minute?? it's so pretty), and I fell in love!

So basically, a bullet journal is a daily planner to keep track of all your goals, chores, appointments, whatever you want! I use it to organize my daily, weekly, and monthly goals, and to write down my plans, appointments, and work schedule. I also like to make a note of little things that happened in a day, whether it be something fun I did, or a new song I discovered.

The great thing about bullet journaling is that you can make it whatever you want it to be! I was hesitant about starting my own because I wasn't sure I really understand the actual definition of bullet journaling, so I doubted I would be able to do it "right". But once I got started, it was so easy and versatile. You can make it organized, artistic, both, or neither. Mine is a little of both; right now it leans more toward the organized side (which is shocking), but I'd like to find ways to be a little more creative and make it pretty, too. Check out Savannah's amazing bullet journal; how gorgeous are those drawings??

Now, allow me to introduce you to my bullet journal!

The inside cover, where I recorded the day I started this journal.

It's a super simple little book, which I love. I tried a couple different notebooks before I got super serious about it and they were okay, but I love the clean, classy look of a solid cover. And I found that I much prefer dotted pages to lined pages.

Ft. my fingers

Above you'll see my monthly layout. Just a simple calendar of the month. I don't really do a lot with this page (I tried writing my work schedule on each day but that got old), so it's basically just there for looks. :P

Lately I realized that I was leaving a lot of space blank on some pages; for example, I used to occupy a whole page for my monthly goals and I don't have that many goals. xD So, I decided to use the bottom half of that page to write down my blogging schedule. I'm not always prepared and sometimes decide on a blog post last minute so I might end up filling this one in as the month goes along, but it's nice to have there to look at later, and see what I blogged about in a month.

You guys will notice that some of the boxes in these pictures are not checked off. That's because I'm not perfect. xD Part of the reason I kept putting this post off was that I wanted to wait until I had a month of bullet journaling that was flawless, with all the goals checked off and everything looking nice. Well, that's not realistic, because the fact is sometimes you just don't get some things done. And that's okay! I'm still trying to accept that just because I might not get everything done that I write down in my bullet journal, doesn't mean that I'm failing at it. (And I'm still more productive than before, so it's already a win!)

Anyway, above are my goals and Bible reading schedule for one week. My weekly goals page was also using up a lot of blank space; and since I'm reading the Bible chronologically this year with this website as a guide, I decided to keep track of my week-by-week reading in this space. It may not be something I stick with, but for now I like it.

Also, I have a space to recap the past week, what goals I accomplished and what I didn't. I'm honestly not crazy about this space, just because it doesn't have much order and looks kind of sloppy. We'll see what happens there.

Here's my favorite part! There are so many ways you can draw out these pages, where I keep track of my daily goals and such. I had a hard time when I first got into bullet journaling figuring out how I wanted these pages to look, but when I got my dotted notebook I found a design I like. Simple and easy!

I really like drawing a box around each day; it separates the days from one another and makes the whole design look really clean and organized. In the top part of my boxes I write what I work that day, and a checkbox for my devotions and workout. The bottom half of the box is all my individual goals for each day.

These are the parts of my bullet journal that help me the most. Here I can make goals for each day and keep track of whether I complete them or not. My productivity level has gone up so, so much since I started bullet journaling! For one, it's a lot more likely that you'll get things done if you have a list to check those things off of. And, if you're genuinely enjoying making those lists, you're going to actually look forward to getting those things done and checking them off. There's something so satisfying about sitting down in the evening and preparing the next day's layout, and seeing your
pretty pages as you complete them.

Over to the side, I make a short note of things I did that day that were memorable or special, or things I've learned or enjoyed recently. I like this spot because I can write down little things that maybe I wouldn't write about in my regular journal, but are totally worth mentioning in a day-by-day thing.

I'm always trying something new with my bullet journal, testing little things out to see if they'll stick. I'd like to find a good way to keep track of how much I read a day, in hopes that it will motivate me to read more, because I've been having a little trouble squeezing a lot of reading time in. I'm not sure what I'll do with that, if anything. Sometimes it's trial and error to figure out a "system" that works for me. My bullet journal is always changing!

And that's about it! But before I end this (overly long) post, I want to share my three biggest tips for bullet journaling:

BE CONSISTENT.

It doesn't take a lot of time to draw out my daily pages, but sometimes I get lazy and wait until the next day to do it. Then I forget to do it in the morning and by the end of the day all I end up doing is writing down a bunch of fluff just so I can say I journaled that day. I encourage you to not let yourself get behind like I do on the daily (crossed out) have!

DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH OF YOURSELF.
Seriously. And I'm talking to myself here, too, because I tend to be overzealous about goals. Bullet journaling is a huge help to me for making and accomplishing goals, but it's not magical! So if you make an unrealistic set of goals, it's still probably not going to get done.

HAVE FUN!
Take it seriously, or don't take it seriously. Be neat, or be messy. Do whatever you want with your bullet journal, because it's yours! Don't try to adhere to someone else's ideas or designs; feel free to be inspired by others (I definitely was), but make it your own! That's what's so great about it.

WHO HERE LOVES BULLET JOURNALING? What's your favorite thing about it? Tell me about your favorite page in YOUR bullet journal! Did you actually make it to the end of this ridiculously long post? HAVE A CUPCAKE! 

MARCH 2019

Okay, did March go by really fast for anyone else? Of course, I say that every month, but yeesh. Time does fly.

I had a pretty good March! We finally seem to have left winter behind (but shhh, I didn't say anything-- don't want to jinx it!), and spring weather is starting to settle in. Which means long walks at the park with my dog. (I love my dog a little.)

Well, before I just start rambling up here, let's get right into the monthly highlights!

READING

I only read two books this month, both volumes in the Golden Filly series by Lauraine Snelling. (Technically, though each volume has five books in it, so hey, I actually read ten books! *nods*) This was a reread, and I really enjoyed it. That first volume... man, it really hit me this time. I've read it twice before, but that ending just tore me up. The second volume was good, but I didn't like it quite as much as the first one. I think I liked the first half of volume two better than the second half.

In other book news, I bought the first book in the Out of Time trilogy by Nadine Brandes!

I haven't started it yet because I want to wait until I can get the other two, but I'm SO excited to read these!

WRITING

Unfortunately, I didn't write much this month either. (Although, more than last month, which is pathetic when you see my word count for this month. xD)

Words written this month: 891 (I had to update it because I forgot I wrote part of a short story this month, too)

HOWEVER! While I didn't do much writing in March, I did make an important decision: TO DO CAMP NANOWRIMO. I had literally no plans to do this until, like, three days before it started. But I've been dragging along in the last part of Roots to Claim ever since December, and I just couldn't motivate myself to finish it. (Hence the lousy word counts the past two months.) So, I decided to participate in Camp to give myself a boost.

I went into this thing 100% unprepared, but it's fine.

TV

This month, Power Rangers Beast Morphers premiered. I was really excited about this because last season, Ninja Steel, was, ahem... not amazing, and now that Hasbro has the franchise, I had high hopes that they would turn the show back around to the level it used to be. And so far, I haven't been disappointed! Already this season has so much more depth and is much more interesting than some previous seasons.

Also this month, I started watching Walker, Texas Ranger with my siblings. I've never seen it before (just bits and pieces), and they've been wanting to watch it with me for years.

LIFE

Earlier in the month I went to a coffee shop with my best friend. I've been wanting to go to this coffee shop for quite a while, and it was so lovely! When I walked in one of the first things I noticed was a group of ladies having Bible study together, and the whole place just had such a pleasant atmosphere.

They had a piano! How cool is that? And to be honest, I think this was the first coffee shop I've ever been to! I had a chai tea latte, which was spicy and delicious.

This month was my 21st birthday! (why do I keep getting so old) I didn't do anything huge, just had a homemade Mexican meal with my family and played a game with my siblings. But it was a good day.

On a completely random note, my mom and I made homemade Pop Tarts and they turned out super pretty, so here's a picture of that. xD

My favorite thing I did this month would have to be going to the spring musical at my local high school, where they put on Seussical.

Sorry for the awful photos, but I enjoyed this so much, guys. I've never been to a high school play before (#homeschooled), but after this I definitely want to try to go to more. Those kids just did such a great job. I had no idea there was such talent in my town. From the moment they started the first number, I was just captivated by their performance. Movies are great, but to be sitting there, watching real, live people put on a real, live show, playing a story out and singing right before your eyes... there's just nothing like it. And of course the message was fantastic too. I was sad when it was over and would have gone to see it again the next day in a heartbeat.

Also, have a new picture of my puppy.

You're welcome.

BLOG

Here's what happened on The Ones That Really Matter this month:

The Fantasy Favorites Tag!
Books I Really Really (Really) Want to Read in 2019
twenty-one.
April Fool's Pranks for the Reader/Writer in Your Life
Fairy Tale Central Blog Tour!

I wasn't really sure which section to put this in, but I also joined Pinterest this month! It's dangerously addicting but so fun to build boards around my stories, interests, and pretty much anything I want.
You can follow me here: https://www.pinterest.com/fantasemily/

So, this month was pretty good! I did a lot of fun things and now I'm ready to get on with April. I hope you all had a great month!

How was your March? Who's doing Camp NaNoWriMo? Any other big plans for April?