November Snippets First edition.

I have never, and thought I would never, do snippets of story.

But I am in the mood for adventure, and I thought, If I cant jump off a waterfall into the face of white foam below in Australia. I had to put that there. Or walk the roof tops in Belgium. If I can't stand n the edge of the white cliffs of Dover, and feel the wind whisper of far away places to me.
At least I can do snippets of writing.
The story is one I have spoken of before on this here little Blog of mine, ( I just developed a southern accent, don't ask why) If you wish to read more about it you can do so here  and here . I have been scribbling away fervently as of late, and its behaved like a good little child.
But that's only because it just a wee babe, and not a toddler with a mind of its own. Yes I'm thinking of a certain story now, with knights and chivalry, and epic battles, and dragons. Wow that sounds so stereotyped. Moving on.
So its sort of being an open book posting something my own hands wrote.
But I said adventurous didn't I ?  Squelching fear, calling it excitement.

Here Goes.

His features softened from frustration to kindness and she relaxed at seeing so.

As a person who knows a lot about being alone, I thought you might not want to be.

especially not now.

The clock seemed to tick like it had nowhere to be, 

Sophia turned from the desk where she reclined, and gave it a good long look. 

one that held a slight flavor of vehemence. 

She shivered and moved gracefully to the fireplace, where she leaned on the mantle as if she herself had no strength. If any were to see her she would have seemed a statue crafted by some artisans hands. 

Her skin so pail and white, not at all like in her youth. When there was scant a day her shoulders and blooming cheeks were not kissed by the sun. As it seemed were her dreams, blessed with a kiss by the same. 

The rain that feel was unrelenting. The sky had opened and dropped its contents without remorse. 

No here too he saw the symbolism of his life. and that picture did him no great justice he pulled his collar up around his chin and tried to do his very best to keep warm.

What people saw in his eyes, he wondered, it must be something awful. 

True most vagabonds that traverse the streets of london they called home were ruffians that meant no good. but Him ? 

The sweetness being lost, the memory turned sour and Jack couldn't stand it for another second. The face of Sophia white and ghostly evading him in an otherworldly manner more than he could stomach. 

Shaking off such a foreboding shadow she stepped across the threshold. 

I love how stories become something completely different than you would expect. 

They take a life all there own and grow like children, almost unnoticed. Until one steps away and looks. 

That wasn't so hard. 

Have a blessed day with creativity at every turn.

© 2012 Rachel Hope 
photo via pinterest 

Winter photography, and thankful heart

I opened my eyes on the morn to white flakes falling from the sky. My first reaction, as always is to admire the beauty.

Than my second is a desire to either capture that beauty in photographs, or to paint it into immortalized beauty. 

Unfortunately, the painting is out of the question, but I was able to snap a few photos. 

The creation our Heavenly father blessed us with never ceases to amaze me.

I am forever enthralled by he natural wonders that are there each and every season. 

If only we would open our busy eyes, and see them our days would be lighter, because out hearts would be thankful in a simple childlike way. 

I forgot to post a list of things I am thankful for. 

So I suppose theres nothing like the present, to do so. 

I am thankful for sweet family moments, the kind that seem hectic, and loud. 

For journals to scribble my tossed and sometimes turbulent 

Beauty that is unseen, unless one looks deeper than the outside

Snow I'm never going to be someone who dislikes snow

Writing time that seems to be opening more for me lately

The imagination that I am blessed with, it is a blessing even if sometimes it feels a curse

The word's of my Father 

My family of course, they make like un-boring 

Moments where he heart is just too full for words.

Theres so much more, but I will stop there. 

I hope your having a spectacular day dearest reader. 

Did you have snow today ? I would love to know. Also side note, are you a lover of snow or do you lament the white stuff. 

Cyber Monday Deals !

Its Cyber Monday !
And we at Bishops Artisan Goods would like to announce a 20% off all our shop goods.
Now good till January using the code Bag2012 
The code is good for all items so please take a look at the shop, there might be something that catches your eye.
We specialize in cozy winter hats, so if your planing on giving a hat or scarf for Christmas, you might just find one to fit the bill so to speak at our shop.
Also we have a huge Jewelry upload coming tomorrow so if you want to give a special handmade piece to someone in your life, check back at the shop tomorrow, we may have just what your looking for.
Here's just some of what you'll find.
     Bishops Artisan Goods
Have a happy monday !

Nostalgia memories, Embroidery preview.

The sky today is a soft grey, I hope I'm not just imagining the hint of pink as the sun recedes to the other side of the earth. There are tiny white snowflakes flying in no prefect way here and there. Not enough to accumulate but more that enough to admire. Winter has a sort of nostalgic quality, And I'm not sure why. The tree tops are lightly tickled by the suns last rays. I long to feel those rays wash over me.      

Its so cold here today. A cold day is perfect for embroidery. And tea, and a blanket and a telly. But instead of plant myself in front of said telly I thought I would share with all of you the recent projects that will soon be in the shop. If you remember I promised ? Well so not to have all of you think I'm some fabulist, That would be horrible. I decided to post some pictures of the unfinished product. 

Since childhood embroidery has been a favorite way to pass the time.The grandmas attic series didn't help in taming two little girls fancy that we were the best  seamstresses in the world. I'm remembering a certain chapter about a contest and an embroidery disaster. I loved those books.  Any way, our wise mother, instead of discourage our energetic and messy fingers gave us little simple projects to complete. We didn't know it but she was, in reality teaching us all that we now know. But to our unaware minds we were the fancy ladies in the Jane Austen movies. At the settee, large hoop sitting in front of them silken fabrics stretched therein. dainty fingers busy creating beautiful creations. Our silken fabrics were really a simple paper that our mother drew a picture on. We would then select a color thread and sew away. Now we don't use paper, but what we didn't know back then was we were refining a skill that, even if we don't use for ages it comes back so easily.  

The embroidery you see in the pictures will be available for purchase soon so if you like what you see let me know and I will message you when there in the shop. I hope your having a lovely weekend.   

Announcing shop opening

     

   Okay well the title is a bit misleading, but I shall explain that in a moment.
   My family and I as you, may or may not know loves to create all sorts of things.
   So it seemed only logical that we should open an ETSY shop.
   Yes I know ETSY shops have been big for some time now. I also know that there is so many people
   doing it, that we wondered would anyone like what we have to offer.
   Any way all fears aside we decided it couldn't hurt. we really had nothing to lose, so away we went.
   Now to explain, we have been a official shop for at least three months now. So its not the official
   grand opening.  Why I haven't seen fit to post about it until now, shows a lack of something, I'm not sure what on my part.  All of that aside I would like to introduce to you my families new pet.                                  
      Bishops Artisan goods   Click the link to see.
     We are very proud of it so please be kind.
 
  I thought I would do a quick overview of what we have, and who makes what.
  My dear mother has a thing for fabric and so she is the head of the sewn goods department, she's
  always at the sewing machine with some new project. But that's not to say that my sisters and I don't
   make sewn goods too, we just are less proficient at making items of clothing.

Bohemian head bands my mother makes.     

 My sisters and I are all obsessed with crocheting and knitting, theres nary a moment on the weekend that we aren't working our fingers stiff, anyone who crochets knows what I'm talking about. My sister sarah is the best at knitting, and taught us girls. She's very smart and taught her self. And then got the rest of us hooked. Yes thats crocheting humor.

A scarf made by my sister hannah, oh thats my sister Sarah in the photo. 

My sister hannah, modeling a hat made by sarah, refer to above picture.  quite nicely. 

Me wearing a hat also made by sarah, I told you she's good. A pattern she created. 

My sister Hannah and I are quite excited about what we are doing with embroidery, I promise a peek
 post at some of the recent projects not yet on the site. From our youngest our mother taught all of us children, boys included to embroider. It passes the time nicely

I head the jewelry department, mainly because I have made most of what's in and not yet in the shop. What can I say I just love to make jewelry. And I'm known to make quite a mess whilst creating.
 Not that my sisters and even brothers don't make jewelry too, because they do.

My favorite queen of hearts earrings 

Infinity bracelets made by yours truly check out the listing because they come in different colors 

The brothers of mine will be making wooden things for our shop, There really good at what they do with there hands. I cant wait to display what they have in mind. But that will be when there home  improvement business permits them. Stay tuned on that one.
Christmas being a special holiday for my family means we are working like little elves to complete  projects with it in mind, I know Christmas is just around the corner, but... that wont stop us.
 I do hope you will give us a look, and check back because we are not in any way complete.
 Oh and until January we are doing a promotional sale 20% off all items.

In which I try and be intellectual.

Today I'm going to indulge my literary fancies. And pretend that I am some great writer dictating to my self, in a indulgent intellectual sort of way. I my mind I'm pedagogical, I sit in my high backed time worn leather chair, the kind that has eventually memorized my favourite way of reclining, and cub my chin whilst I think and twiddle my thumbs. Here I will attempt to set my erudite intellect in motion. Do be so good as to remember I said attempt.
Lately I've been thinking about characters.
Most of the time characters are so coped, yes a lot of things have been done, almost all plots have been done in some way or another. But how to keep the person that drives the story intriguing enough to peak the interest of the reader and keep them from first to last page without boring them. What makes a memorable story ? What will you remember after the last word is read.
Why the characters of course ! Don't tell me you haven't ever read a really wonderful tale that transported you to another time another world, that captivated your heart by some special character, one you cried with one you marvelled with. One you felt the crushing pain of emotions and the glory of victory. One you fought inner dragons with, one you watched fall in love, one you gave your heart to in order to understand that said character. yes I know a bit dramatic and a bit too epic for all stories.
but all stories do have some element of something that makes you fall in love with the story, and I will guarantee that even if the plot is something told a thousand times before, if you add a beautifully complex character, you've got something. If you think about it that's whats so special about the tales told from the dawn of time, from the dark ages with there myth and lore to the romantic Victorian era with there stories of mystery and intrigue. the ones that are remembered are the ones with a really relatable character, someone that you feel you could be best friends with.
But how to go about it.
 When I write a character, I don't worry about the norm for such people.

I think, who would this person be if I met then on the street, would I like him/her ? would they annoy, fascinate, intrigue me ? Characters are people too, though merely in ones head. But imagine if that person were real. Imagine they had a life a family and all the wonderfully hard and lovely things about life followed them. I suppose I  might say that when I write my characters, I try and think who I would want to be, if I were in the situation that face the said protagonist. I do this because I am excessively afraid of writing flat characters, who wants to read rubbish with no one to relate to ?

Every person in the world has a story of who they are , and why they are the way they are.
Evil in not born its made, and so when discovering the antagonist I try and think completely opposite of who I would be, completely the night to the day something so far from who I should like to be that it creates a good villain. In short I suppose I try and decide to write about who I would like to be, or who I would not like to be. And all the baggage that goes with that. The best characters are real, or seem to be.

 As if they could take form and climb from the pages, and live in the visible world. They must    
have heart, and all the deep emotions that the heart holds, even sometimes the two polars that some have. Then you find a plot, most of the time my characters come to me with there own idea of there lives, its just my job to write them down. Sure I can improvise when they become especially difficult and they do depending on the weather. There so temperamental. There lives seem to just play out, most of the time anyway. I'm a person that is obsessed with the psychological side of people, there whys, what drives them, there stories and how that effects them for good or bad. every one has there reasons, there insecurities there hurts all differentiating of course but there their just the same.
So I feel that if one is to write a really good character, and that's something that all good stories need, they must include this.
I do hope this wasn't too pedantic. And it did a end a bit abruptly, but what can I say. my scholarly mind ran away from me much too expeditious than I would have liked.

Sudden contemplation's

I thought it would be fun to write random thoughts that seem to puff into my head and then disappear like a ghostly memory. Oftentimes never to be thought again. Perhaps this will give you an idea of my varied thought life. I know its strange.
  Remember I said random.

Its brilliant and maddening and pleasing that people who have lived a wee amount of years can be so brilliant and inspiring and smart.

What a wonderful thing Blogs are, where I have met so many like minded peoples, who love writing and reading and who brighten my day.

The backdrop of the bluest sky mingling with the seemingly sharp wintered trees, is calling to my creativity. Draw me ! there calls keep wafting here and there as they sway in the bitter wind.

My typewriter seems lonesome, not having companionship for at least three days. There's  a story floating around in my mind crowding up the spaces that do not need anymore inhabitant's at the moment. But refusing to be pushed back into the corners where there are vacancies they demand my attention and I cant help but love that about them.

I don't know when I started to refer to my novels as them but as you just read it happens.

Why does waiting have to seem so long, isn't the promise of something wonderful after that wait enough to carry one through ? Perhaps its because there's something whispering in the back of ones head that says after the wait and the desired thing acquired there is a lull in the exciting expectation.
Almost like its better to never get what yo are waiting for because having it be done with is just as sad as it never coming.

Staring into the embers of a fire, its to carry on the custom begun my our most early ancestors, from whom all society stems. To light a fire is to continue a primordial tradition, the ancients needed fire, the kings and knights needed fire, the wayward traveller lost and far from home needed fire.
 and we still do today. How interesting it is that with all our modern advancements we still carry on this ancient institution.

Coffee Dreams

       

 There seems to be no point in coffee, unless drunk hot. The flavors are more full rich and who doesn't like a steaming mug as opposed to a cup sweating with icy condensation. Well maybe unless in summer that's the exception. But in an eastern cold autumn, hot coffee in the only thing that makes sense, to cold hands and noses nipped by jack frost. To the insides its that something that can melt away the layers of ice and make warmth rapidly spread throughout the body. I don't know why I'm daydreaming about coffee but that's what the onset of winter will do to a girl. Now my mind is thinking about those coffee houses the ones with the wide mugs that steaming coffee is poured into and frothy milk placed just right to make some design that will marvel and amaze your frozen mind. The kind that with one sip you will want to personally hug whom ever was responsible for making such a cup of perfection. A place where I can find some corner to recede into oblivion where the only thing that matters is the returning warmth to the tips of my fingers. A place where I can remove that massive scarf that only moments ago I was blessing. And watch the snow flurries fall silently, without feeling a shiver down the back of my mind. Well I could that is if I'm no too lost in that beautiful cup.
© Rachel Hope 2012. 
I just posted this on my Tumblr page, As I said I don't know why I'm day dreaming about coffee but I am. Its a strange thing... I hope your having a lovely week !

 Pictures via The Victorian tea

Words to be read words to be written

I just need to read ! I have lamented to my self at least twice today. Its been sometime since I have cracked a page of anything. And I have started to notice. My mind craves the food for the soul, more than my body craves sustenance. Dramatic yes an overstatement no. Its unfortunate that I don't have a library, I do so want a library. And I think I know of at least two girls who share everything with me and I with them, that would be happy to wile away hours with me within those hallowed walls.
Pictures help, but there's something about stories that just stay with you, there was one such that I read in may that I still haven't forgotten. A certain Ted Dekker book that my sister and I have mutually become an ultimate fan of. Even my younger brother read it, or more I should say devoured in a day, something I have never seen, Respectively.
Books have that power, that's why I love them so much.
There movies without the theatrics there ancient and modern and I would be so bored without them.
Which reminds me of my quest to re read every book I have at my disposal. A certain Charles Dickens novel about two cities siting alone and without a companion comes to mind. I need to find some time to finish that one. And now I find my self rambling.

But with November here, and every young writer getting ready for the national novel writing month, starting today, I feel a bit lonesome. You see I'm not joining, and probably will never join.
 I can hear the appalled sighs from all you young dreamers who shan't have scarce enough time to lift your heads from your writing and shoot me a shocked glare.
For two reasons I will probably never join, I say probably because, well,  never say never. I have no idea why I heard that in a french accent.  
My life is hectic as can be, I know who's isn't.
 I seem to have some issues with "getting to it" the it being  certain story that has been collecting dust this past summer.So you'd think that something that would force me would be beneficial, but that's not how I'm wired, when I'm pressured I give up. But I will say that I have pledged to not be a snobbish smug writer, and join in my own way. I see my need to finish some story, and I hope that will be my yet to be titled, medieval novel. So my future of book reading will have to wait, its a small sacrifice, not reading to finish a goal. I will try and write as much as I can this month, and I cant wait to read who wins this years National Novel Writing Month.
Pens at the ready, See you all in December.
Oh and that doesn't mean that I won't be here typing away on this Blog when I can.
I haven't the foggiest idea if this post made an ounce of sense.

Photos via pinterest