Purposeful Pages: October

Greetings foreign beings from distant planets. I come in peace. 

Heeeey guys. My font was doing weird things, so I just felt like writing that. Ignore me. I'm going slightly insane with life craziness and working off of less then seven hours of sleep each night. Six is average. Why? Honestly, I have no idea. Usually I sleep really well at night. But not recently. 

However, on to the introduction! It is time for the monthly purposeful pages post! :) Another round of delightful questions from ma friends Amanda and Hannah! I'm having so much fun with this link-up, and I hate to see you miss out! It's free to join. And free stuff is always awesome. So. Go and join. *shoves you toward blogs*

But now the questions and answers for your enjoyment. *bows*:

1: What is something (or who is someone) that has encouraged you to grow in your faith?

Well, my parents. (Duh) But there are also quite a few godly couples at my church who have been both an example and an encouragement to me as I try to follow God with my life. 

2: Has blogging showed a side of you that you normally don’t see? 

Not really. Except that I'm waaaay more outgoing with brand new people on here then in real life. And posts are a LITTLE more rehearsed then on the spot conversation. But otherwise, I write on here how I talk to friends. (I don't talk internet lingo out loud though...I use words. REAL words.)

3: What inspires your “creative genius?”

First of all, I'd like to thank you for saying I have creative genius...that was really sweet. Secondly, I'd like to mention that you didn't need to use quotation marks. Thirdly, let me answer your question in one word: everything. Really, everything in life inspires me whether I'm writing, playing one of my musical instruments, or creating a work of art. (Yes, I do draw sometimes. But don't ask me to show you any of my "art" THAT does require quotation marks.) 

4: Why do you write?

Because I love too. (Yes, FINALLY a simple question that I could answer easily!) 

5: Your house is on fire, and you only have time to save one thing. Do you grab your hand-written manuscripts or your cat? 

Assuming all my family was safely outside already, I would grab my briefcase. (It holds my Bible, a notebook, my laptop, my iPad, and my Kindle. I know, that's ALMOST like cheating on this question.)

6: If you could ban any book, which one would it be, and why?

BAN any book? Oh heavens, I have no idea. "The Origin of Species"? There's a lot of terrible books out there. Only one wouldn't make that much of a difference.

7: What is your Myers-Briggs personality type (if you know it), and what unique aspect of your personality makes you who you are?

I'm an ESFP (extroverted, sensing, feeling, perceiver). My strongest function is extroverted sensing, which is how I collect information. Forgive me if I'm getting to technical with you, but basically, extroverted sensers collect information from things going on around them, through trial and error, and from other people's mistakes. 

Also, I'm an introverted feeler. I don't express my deeper feelings out loud (which is why I don't usually cry during movies or while reading...so if I ever say I cried during a sad part of something you've written, that is a HUGE compliment coming from me.) However, I do feel things strongly, I just might not show it. You'll mostly see my chipper, everything-will-work-out-for-the-best side on here, but I can express my feelings better by writing them down, so you might come across that side of me at some point. Take this as a warning. ;) 

I'm also an extroverted thinker...so even if my "T" wasn't strong enough to make it into my personality, it's still there because there's a little bit of each function in us. It's just the strongest four that make up our type. So, because my thinking function is extroverted, and my feeling introverted, to most people I might seem like the "T" is actually a stronger function because I'll tell you my opinions and I love discussing things with other people whether I agree with them or not. But I'm more of a people person then most ESTPs and if you need a comforting shoulder to cry on, I'd be the better choice. 

Good grief, I should just write a book about my personality type! Sorry guys, I got carried away. I'm a talker, could you tell? Hopefully something in that long winded rant was an answer to the question.

8: Did you have any kind of “breakthrough” point in your life, whether it had to do with writing, blogging, art, or anything else? If so, would you like to share about it?

This is going to sound a little ridiculous, but at fourteen, I had NO IDEA that were other teen authors out there. When I first began my blog at that age, I felt very alone and completely at a loss as to how on earth I would get my stories out and available to the public eye. When I found other young authors, I was ecstatic! A lot of them had blogs and I joined the teen author community on here and have grown as a blogger and author since then. You all have been not only a huge encouragement to me, but you have posted tips about writing troubles you've had to overcome and countless other helpful stuff! I'm so grateful to you all and thrilled to call you my friends. ^_^

9: Are there any hobbies that you have that don’t fit the stereotypical you?

Absolutely: writing. I'm terrible at focusing on one thing at a time, and ESFPs rarely choose to write as something fun to do. BUT I AM GOING TO CHANGE THE HISTORY OF ALL ESFPS AND PROVE THE STEREOTYPE WRONG! Heh, heh. Yeah, well I'm going to TRY. ;) 

10: Even if you haven’t written an official life purpose statement, can you tell us in a few sentences what you feel called to do with your life right now?

I'm currently in what I like to call "the waiting room" years. I've finished high school, I'm not starting college until at least January, I'm not in a relationship with anyone...really, I'm just hanging out at home, helping my mom with homeschooling, editing my book and books by friends, reading, blogging, and cool stuf...like sleeping. I have no idea what God wants me to do with my life, but I will be ready to do it when He gives me the green light. 

Hopefully that answers your question. :) 

Purposeful Pages: September

The time has come for another Purposeful Pages post. (I know, lovely alliteration right? Comes of having one of the hosts being a PK...alliteration is sort of ingrained in us...since our dads use it so often in sermons. ;P)

This link-up is something I look forward to doing each month, as I hope you look forward to reading it. Each set of questions makes me dig deeper into my faith (why I believe what I believe) and some of them are just for your entertainment (*bows* Yes, thank you, thank you) and others have to do with the crazy awesome world of authors and book dragons (yes that's totally a thing. Don't you dare question my judgment).

So dive right in and try to survive my somewhat longwinded answers to what you MAY think are simple questions. ;)

1: How have you been growing spiritually this month? What has God been teaching you?

Ooo...this question is hard to answer. I've experienced most of my spiritual growth developing over longer periods of time. However, I would definitely say that I have been growing closer to God throughout my teen years especially. Does that count as an answer? Not really? Well, OK. Let me try again. 

I've been growing spiritually this month, but in small ways. No blinding lights on the way to Tacoma. ;) 

God has been teaching me that no matter how bad this world is, He is still in control. He holds us all in the palm of His hand. I need to trust in His sovereignty. 

2: When you’re under stress, what actions do you take that help calm you and keep you sane?

There's a couple things I do to stay calm. Some of them are a little quirky, but then, so am I. So.
>Pray

>Write a scene in my story where the heroine takes out pent up frustration on a handy sibling (then, after reading it later, I delete the scene because I feel sorry for the sibling ;)

>Go outside, nice and far away from the house so I don't freak out 

my family, (one of the pluses of living on ten acres) and give a nice, long scream

>Bury myself beneath my blankets and listen to music on my iPod until I fall asleep

>Banish myself to my room and read until my eyes cross

>Pretend nothing is the matter and talk like an idiot to anyone within hearing range (I'm sorry ma friends)
>Sit at my mom's feet until she feels obligated to massage my shoulders

Uh...not sure how much those things HELP, but it's what I do when stressed. 

3: Who are some people that inspire you, and in what ways do they do that?

Corrie Ten Boom has been a heroine of mine ever since reading her story in "The Hiding Place" when I was ten. (I know how old was because the whole reason I read the book was because it had the word 'ten' on the cover XD) Her steadfast faith, and honesty when her faith wasn't as strong as it should have been, have been a huge example to me throughout the years.

Then of course, there's Ester from the Bible, and Ruth...and Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

This is going to sound really cliche, but I've always found my mom to be a source of inspiration. After all, not only does she have to put up with ten crazy kids and a husband who is a pastor, but as a pastor's wife, she has to be kind and understanding to everyone in our church and people in the homeschooling circles we run in. And, on top of all that, she manages to educate her own kids and help us grow into a future generation of godly leaders. People have called her "Super Mom" and have asked her too many times to count "HOW DO YOU DO IT?" You know what she says? "I don't, God does. Only by His grace am I the mother I am." 

I mean it with my whole heart when I say that I want to be a mom just like her. Seriously.

4: Have you learned any tricks this past month that have helped you in your blogging journey?

I CAN CHANGE THE HTML ON MY BLOG'S TEMPLATE! How did I not know how to do this?

5: What is it about a book that makes you keep on reading? If you’re a writer, how can you  incorporate that into your own books?

 Action and emotion. Trust me, I'm working on it. Also, good characters and their development is always important to me when I'm reading a book for the first time. Don't ask my betas how the action and emotion are coming. Just don't. 

6: What’s a book cover (or album, movie, etc.) that describes your life right now, and why?

Are there any book covers about weddings and editing? What about the crazy hectic life of a pastor's daughter who writes on the side? No? Ok, obviously the media has a huge hole in it somewhere. Somebody fix that please.

7: Do you have a song in mind that you’d consider your current theme song? (Or a book, movie, TV show, etc.)

"At Your Feet" by Casting Crowns and "Lead Me, Lord" by Yours Truly. 

8: If you’re a writer, how do you see yourself incorporated (most of the time unknowingly) inside your stories?

Usually as the main character. *sheepish smile* Yep, even the guy main characters. Don't laugh. Every character I make have at least two things in common with me. Even the villains. 

9: How have you seen aspects of God’s character through other people recently?
 

A lot of people have been gracious to me last month. Those at church who have volunteered to help with wedding stuff, my crew of awesome editors who not only give me advice on stuff to change, but aren't afraid to give me a thumbs up and encouragement on the parts they like. 

Having an older sister in love, (an older sister who rarely shows any affection whatsoever that now hugs her guy) is a little weird, although a lot of the relationship has been long-distance, so it hasn't been TOO awkward. Thank goodness Christ isn't awkward about His love for us. ;) 

There's been a few friends who have been very forgiving about all  my crazy, sleep deprived behavior for the last couple weeks as the wedding gets closer, but that kind of goes with gracious, so.

10: How long, on average, does it take you to put together a blog post? Are you the morning person working at 5 am, the afternoon blogger, or the night owl up until midnight trying to throw things together?

It really all depends on what my blog post is about. Tags usually take the longest, because not only am I answering a ton of questions which can be a task all in itself, but I also have to find pictures to sprinkle throughout and other blogs to tag and links to copy and paste. Those posts usually take over half an hour. 

If it's just a rant, or copying and pasting story chapters or poemsI have already written in my documents, posts can take as little as five minutes. 

DEFINITELY NOT A MORNING BLOGGER. 

Usually, I write posts in the afternoon or evening, but schedule them for nine in the morning. So if you see a post of mine  *cough*likethisone*cough* published at nine in the morning... it was scheduled. :) 

Did you make it all the way through? Congratulations!! *applauds loudly* You ought to get a prize or something. *shoves cookies, donuts, and cups of coffee/tea/lemonade at you all* There, that should cover everybody. Oh, hold on *adds sour patch and waffles* THAT should cover every one. ;) You're welcome. Have a great day!

Purposeful Pages: August

 

Hello all! How are you doing on this fine... *checks calendar* Wednesday afternoon? I'm doing exceptionally well, actually I'm bouncing off walls while doing an insane amount of editing, thank you for asking! ;)

 

I'm here with a fun, educational, and inspiring link-up hosted by Amanda and Hannah! Be sure to check out their wonderful blogs! Especially if you want to get the details in how YOU can join along with the rest of us semi-crazy who am I kidding? We're crazy...but crazy AWESOME people. ;)

 

Here's the link-up questions for this month:

1:What book of the Bible has taught you the most this month?

I would have to say Romans. I've been reading it recently, and it's always brought certain aspects of Christianity to my mind that I've never thought of before. Every time I read it. Without fail. It's an amazing book. :)  

2: How would you react if you were in the positions of either Esther, if you’re a girl, or Daniel, if you’re a guy?

I feel like I should say the same thing she does...but I really don't know if I could be that brave. I certainly HOPE I would trust God like Ester did. But I honestly don't know how I would react.

3: If you could have a book character for a sibling, who would it be, and what makes you two alike?

Oo...that's a really tough question. How can I choose ONE book character? There's a lot of good ones! Probably Anne (from Anne of Green Gables) although we would get into SO MUCH TROUBLE TOGETHER IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY. Or Beth (from Little Women) because she'd be such a calming influence on my crazy personality. ;) (She'd probably be my parents/siblings choice :P) I'm going to stop now before my answer gets out of hand and you end up with an entire blog post just on different characters I'd want as siblings. ;) 

4: If you’re a novelist, answer: How would your main character most likely spend his or her Friday night? If you’re not a novelist, answer: How would you most likely spend your Friday night?

Hmm...I'm working on a couple books right now, so I chose the main character of the book I'm currently editing: "The Princess & I".
How would Megan spend her Friday night? Probably either reading to her nephews, practicing with her sword, or visiting with friends.

5: What are the top three books you’re just dying to read?

Oh my. THREE? Only THREE? Umm...
Deliver by Tricia Mingerink
All the books my friends have been working on recently. (Yes that counts as only one of the three)
Les Misrables by Victor Hugo
I could name many more...but I will refrain.

6: Can you briefly share the story behind your blog’s name?

So originally, I had NO IDEA what I was going to write about on this blog. I knew I would write...but what I was going to write was still undecided. We had a family pow-wow in the living room and my older sisters and Dad helped me come up with a title. At first we were going to have it be "Rebekah's Random Remarks", but that was a little long-winded...not that I have anything against longwinded...but for the sake of snappiness I shortened it to just "Rebekah's Remarks". Because, my name is Rebekah (and no, I didn't misspell it this time...inside joke with those of you who were in my Camp NaNo cabin. B-)  and because I knew that whatever I wrote could easily be put under the "Remarks" category.

Not sure how brief that was...but whatever.

7: What do you consider to be your blog’s “branding,” or signature? What sets your blog or social media platform apart from others?

Oh goodness. I have no idea! However, I'm the only me...(which is good because I don't think the world could handle another one). I like to use "Cutest blog on the block" templates...but I may change that eventually. That's a really unsatisfactory answer...but there you have it.
Hey all you who are reading this: help me out! What makes my blog different??

8: Who are a few of your favorite bloggers?

All the ones I follow. :)

9: If you could go on a road trip of your dreams, where would you go and who would you spend time with?

First, I would go around and meet all my blogging friends across the United States...then I would drive across the Atlantic ocean to the British Isles and tour Ireland, Scotland and England. I'd bring anyone who wanted to come! The more the merrier in my opinion! :D

10: Using five words or less, tell a story.

Strange things happened to me.


There you have it! Hope you all have a fantastic day, week, month, year etc. :) Pardon me while I return to editing! ;)

Purposeful Pages Link-Up

 

Super excited to join the throng of awesome people doing this link-up. ;) It looked like so much fun, I just couldn't pass it up! So glad Hannah and Amanda decided to take the initiative to start it!! (You should totally check out their AMAZING blogs!!)

What verse and chapter of the Bible inspired you the most this past month, and why?

Ooo...good question. :) I'm going to go with Psalm 25: 4-5. Especially since I graduated last month, these two verses (^^^) have sort of become my life prayer. I also really like Job 39:19-25...but that's for an entirely different reason. ;)

What’s a book (fiction or nonfiction) that you read or continued reading this past month that reminded you of an important truth?

I've been reading the Blades of Acktar series by Tricia Mingerink, and so far they have taught me a lot and had me thinking deeply about some questions that every Christian deals with at some point in their life. Is God really worth dying for? Can we be strong enough to obey Him when faced with persecution? Is He faithful to His promises? She does a wonderful job answering each of those questions in her books, and I love them all! (So go read them people!! ;)

Do you have any goals for yourself this month? If so, what are they?

Well, since I joined Camp NaNo (EEP!!) I set myself a goal of writing 20,000 words this month, and currently I'm at 15k...so I may up that number. My book is at a point right now where I'm not having a ton of difficulty writing at least 2k each day...sometimes more on weekends. ;) I hope to finish writing "The Princess & I" this month...but we'll have to see. B-)

Have you discovered anything new or changed your blog around this past month?

Not really. I'll probably up it to something a little more professional looking come end of August...but for now, I like it just the way it is. I may have changed my profile picture...but I can't remember if that was this month or last month. The days are running together. ;)

What is your favorite blog post that you wrote in June?

Millions That Will Never, a poem about all the evils of Abortion. One of the few times a poem I've written actually made me cry while writing it.

Can you share one quotable thing from your novel/book (if applicable) that you recently wrote?

Oh boy. *goes to book and tries to find something quotable*

"Well," I smiled... "I'm not like anyone." (Megan)

"What are we waiting for?... Let's go put our lives in danger. It will be so fun!" (Steven)

I realized I almost felt safe hanging over a pit, a few feet from death, and the only thing keeping me there was a thin rope. But God was in control. And I felt peace. (Megan)

"Kidnapping is an ugly term. I prefer 'borrowing for political reasons'." ("the villain's sidekick"...I can't give you his name or I'd give you a MAJOR plot spoiler)

What biblical character would you get along with the most, and why?

Goodness. Hard question! I act too much like Peter to get along with him, and Paul is kind of the same problem. Luke is pretty awesome...and I would love to help him with his physician jobs. Andrew is always underrated, but if he had to get along with Peter all his life, we'd probably get along just fine. :) I also like Martha (sister of Mary-who-sat-at-Jesus'-feet-instead-of-helping) and Ruth (even though she really shouldn't have listened to EVERYTHING Naomi told her) and Ester (wish I could be that brave, don't you?) and Deborah. I can't wait to meet them all in heaven! :D

Favorite new word unearthed from the dictionary?

In the blogging world, what’s one thing you have learned about yourself?

I'm WAY more extraverted online then I am in real life. Just trust me on that one.

Also, I have a scary fascination for lots of emoticons, selfies, and CAPS.

What fictional character would you spend the day with, and what would you do?

ONE?!?!!? Are you crazy? How could I choose ONE???

*sigh*

*another sigh*

Maybe Brandi (from Dare, Deny, and Defy) would be willing to come hang out with me and some horses.

Or Breandan Mornelly (from 1-6 The Mornelly's) could come and rescue me from something...or just talk and explore and drink coffee.

Or Eira (from The Silent Blade) could teach me the art of swordsmanship...THAT WOULD BE EPICALLY AWESOME!

The list could go on. And on, and on, and on.

But I'll stop here.


Now you all go and join the link up! :) And while you're at it, drop by Amanda and Hannah's blogs and say hello for me! ;)