National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

This month is National Novel Writing Month! I found out about it yesterday and decided that this would be a good chance to get to work on a story I'm writing. If you go to the website, you can sign up for the NaNoWriMo challenge. The goal for the month on the site is to have written a 50,000 word novel by November 30. My goal, however, is 10,000 words by the end of the month. Right now, I've got a good start. I'm at 2,856 words. I think I'll be able to reach my goal, especially considering I started yesterday. I'd already had about 1000 words of it done before November, but I've gotten almost 2000 words in the past two days, so I think I can make it. If you want to find out more about my story, go to My Page on the site

Pillage

Wow. I just finished reading Pillage, Obert Skye's new book. It was a really great story, (especially the dog piling salad) until I got to the end! That was one of the worst endings that I have ever read. I mean, the boy finds out that one of his best friends is a bad guy, and it's like he's not even surprised!!! The guy turns into an ogre thing, and all he says is "You?!?" How unemotional can you get? Then the rest was the whole Star Wars thing, where the crazy uncle is actually the dad. Then they win and they all go in for cookies. Yay (Brian says in a bored voice.

Luckily, the rest of the story was great, so it wasn't a waste of time. Also, the cover looks really cool!!!

City of Ember

Wow. The City of Ember was surprisingly better than the book. Then again, the book wasn't that great. The movie was much more exciting. It's a good thing that my little brother, Jordan, hadn't read the book, else he wouldn't have wanted to see it. The book was way more boring. I think they did really well with it. My favorite character was Doon. He was pretty cool. I liked how he liked to invent stuff and take care of his giant moth. Well, it wasn't that great, so I don't have much more to talk about.

Christopher Paolini Book Signing

Awesome.

I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Christopher Paolini, at Seattle Town Hall. He is the author of Eragon, so I got Eragon, 2 copies of Eldest, and Brisingr signed. I would have gotten just one copy of Eldest signed, but one of my copies was mangled, so we got a nice, neat paperback for $5. Not only was it a book signing, but it was a big party!

When my mom and I first got there, some guys from the Seattle Knights, a group of people who were taught to do theatrical sword fights, greeted us. Then, my mom and I went over to some of the stands, a picture thing, and a "fortuneteller." Luckily, it didn't cost anything. I hope it was right (which they rarely are) and I will do well in school. Then, we went and got some cookies.

For the next part of the party, we went upstairs to watch the Seattle Knights put on a show. It was silly, but the sword-fighting was pretty cool. Afterward, Christopher Paolini came up and talked about the books. Something that he said that his favorite line that he wrote was an Urgal saying, "Die, puny human!" Afterall, what's the point of writing a fantasy novel if you can't say things like that!

After his speech, he started signing books. It took hours for us to get a turn. On each ticket, there was a letter. First, they called A's to line up, then B's, and so on. We were D's. A's took an hour. B's took 45 minutes. C's also took 45 minutes. We had to wait in line for about half an hour. Throughout the wait, we got to talk with some of the Seattle Knights. One of them had 60 pound armor on. Another we talked with talked about the Seattle Knights, training, her armor, and what kind of things like that she did. When we finally got the books signed, my mom was really peed by the wait.

It was a really cool experience, and I hope he comes back someday.

Brisingr

Wow. Brisingr, Book 3 in the Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini, was terrific, awesome, amazing. Overall, it was one of the best books that I've ever read. Two of my favorite scenes in the book were surprisingly, not ones that are spoilers, so I can describe them here!

In the first one, Roran and some of the solidiers of the Varden are attacking an army of the Empire's men who are attacking Surda. During the battle, which takes place in a raided and small Surdan village, Roran is able to find a good place to fight. There is a wall of wagons blocking off most of the allyway, so that only a few solidiers a a time can get through. There are a couple of archers on the rooves of the surrounding buildings that are helping Roran. Roran is getting beat up anyway, but the mound of Empire bodies that he is fighting on is steadily getting higher. By the end of the battle, Roran is beat up, but Carn, the spellcaster with the group heals him and tells him that overall, Roran himself killed 193 solidiers. It was such an awesome scene.

In the second scene, Rorans leadership is challenged by an Urgal that is in the group Roran is leading. The only way for them to settle the disagreement without him offending the Urgals on behalf of the Varden, is for them to wrestle for leadership. Surprisingly, Roran was able to tire him out and he won. It was a great scene.

I loved it. By the way, tonight, I get to go to the Christopher Paolini book signing. I am beyond excited.

More Bar-Mitzvah Gifts

Wow. And I thought that the gifts were done. Today, my neighbor Kathryn got me three awesome gifts. She got me this really cool bendy lamp, an awesome and really soft chair, and a book that I already had. The bendy lamp was silver and you could bend the little stems at the top. There are five stems, each with a light and a really cool light cover. I need to get the right light bulbs before I can use it though. The chair is kinda like a fold up chair, only one where you need to use a duffel bag to carry. Instead of the kind of cover a fold up chair has, it has a circular blue cover that is corduroy and very, very soft. I'm sitting in it right now!!! The book I got was a copy of "The Alchemyst" by Michael Scott. I'm probably the only person who would choose not to take it back and get a different one because its paper back and I only have hardback. That's me, the bibliophile and book collector.

Other than those gifts I got from Kathryn today, I also got $100 from my Aunt Holly and Uncle Mike!

Thank you, Holly, Mike, and Kathryn!!!

Bar-Mitzvah

Hi guys. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been busy with my Bar-Mitzvah and school. The Bar-Mitzvah was on Saturday, and I got a load of gifts. I got about $1800 , some gear for my bike, an awesome new Star Wars video game, a 14 karat gold Jewish star necklace, and a Seattle Sonics bobble head. I got lucky and more is coming. I especially love the necklace. The kind of necklace has been given to all members of my dad's family at their bar-mitzvah. I've wanted one for a long time.

I'm really glad that the whole thing is over. I've been practicing for months.

Over the Fence Library-Upcoming Fantasies

Hi guys. I just wanted to tell you that I've finally decided to get rid of Over the Fence Library (I never posted there anyway) and make a new site, Upcoming Fantasies. There, I'll talk about upcoming YA or MG fantasy books that I'm excited about. I'll also say when their released, and any other news I can find about them. However, after I read it, I'll post more on it here, at Bookworm.

Occasions

Wow. So much has happened in so little time. I'll go through them one by one in time order. I'm to tired to organize it in any other way.

1. We went school shopping last week, so that means that school is just around the corner. School starts for me on Tuesday, the day after I get back from here in Savannah. I'll be three hours earlier. Ugggggghhhh. Why has summer gone so fast.

2. Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Biirrtthhdaaaaayyyy to Brian, Happy Birthday to me. I'm the only one here to sing it to me, so that will have to do. My Birthday was actually a few days ago. I just didn't have time (or the attention span) to post. So far, I haven't gotten many gifts, although the ones I have gotten are pretty good. I got a savings account, 100 dollars, 50 dollars, a cake, a book called Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander, and a promise for a gift that I don't know of yet. No party this year.

3. Well, the reason I am in Savannah is that my best friend, Jeremy, is having his bar-mitzvah this weekend. Plus, I get to see some of my family too. Good luck, Jeremy!

4. Last, my bar-mitzvah is coming up soon. Just 2 or 3 more weeks to go. Its a good thing I brought my torah stuff to practice with. I just hope I remember to . Else I'll end up sick, like my Uncle did on his bar-mitzvah.

Well, thats really all that I have to talk about.

Catching Up

Sorry I haven't posted in the last few days. I have just been too lazy. I have a lot to talk about though. I'll save the best for last though, so don't skip ahead.

1. The Olympics are so great to watch. I love them, and this is the first year I've paid attention to them. My favorite event to watch is fencing. The other day, the coolest thing happened in fencing. In the Woman's Individual Sabre, the three USA fencers, Mariel Zaguinis, Sada Jacobson, and Becca Ward, all one the medals, in that order. They had won the first 3 medals for the US this year.

2. Today, I went to the only amusement park in the Seattle area, Wild Waves. It was okay. There were two roller coasters that were okay. They weren't that great. Then, on one of the tube rides, I kicked a wall and made my foot bleed pretty badly.

3. This is the most important thing that's happened to me lately was getting tickets to go to a book signing from a very famous author.

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Christopher Paolini!
I saw that there were tickets or sale online. We called right away and the person that answered said that if we ordered Brisngr then, we'd get 2 free tickets. The signing is on Monday, October 1st. I am beyond excited. The signing is also a big party. There will be jousting! I cant wait.