Back to School...A Rambling of Sorts

Blog post inspired by Jodee for bugging me and Shaundee to get it together and write something, even if it's nonsense.

I've had four days of classes so far and it's been...interesting. I love school. I've been called a nerd. I've embraced that. It's cool. But this semester has started off a little rocky. First of all, I'm taking statistics. Anyone who knows me knows that math is not my thing. I would say that math and I really do not get along. We met and things were okay, then math turned on me and made my life horrible. I haven't taken a math class in three years. I'm hoping it will go better after having given it a little space, but I'm also aware that it could be a complete train wreck. I guess we'll see. I love all of my other classes so far, but found out that a lab I needed won't be offered next semester so I might need to add it this semester. Long story. Anyways, basically I had it all planned and now it's all completely different. But I guess that's life. This semester is going to be insane between possibly 17 units, college apps, and teaching a musical theater class, but one thing that will keep me somewhat sane is my group message with Taunya, Shaundee, and Jodee. In addition to writing encouragement we also offer each other funny pictures/memes, advice and the occasional coffee and coloring. Where would we be without memes? Probably much more focused and studious, but oh well. In addition to the scheduling confusion, I got to a part in the book I've been reading where one of the main characters is about to die so I've been avoiding finishing that all week. Just when you start to trust an author and think the story will have a happy ending they kill someone off. It's a murder mystery, so I probably should've seen it coming. In spite of the slightly rocky beginning, I am truly excited for this semester and the prospect of transferring next fall.

Camp NaNoWriMo Part Two/Word Count

July Camp NaNoWriMo has officially started! I'll be continuing to work on Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy and I set my word count goal at 20,000 this time which will (hopefully) be reasonable considering all of the stuff I have to do. So far I have 2,208 out of 20,000 words.

I have about 50,000 words in Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy right now, which is around 190ish pages. I'm aiming for 350 pages so I have a good bit to go still. Hopefully this month's Camp NaNoWriMo will help me get to 300 or 350. I have the rest of the book fairly plotted out so now it's just a matter of actually writing it.

This summer has been creatively a little all over the place for me, but I feel like overall I've made some good progress so far. I started to do this thing where I have three jars, one labeled genre, one labeled character, and one labeled random, and I choose a slip of paper from each one and I have to write something about whatever I get. For example, Mystery, Girl, 16, City. Then I have to write a short story or whatever it decides to be, about those things. The random factor can be places, formats, perspectives, etc. The genres are mystery, fiction, historical fiction, romance, fantasy, thriller, sci-fi, etc. I've found that it's a really nice way to remind myself that writing is fun when I get stuck in the depths of the novel I'm working on.

Here are the jars. Please ignore my terrible chalk handwriting.

Untitled Experimental Thing I Wrote

She let her eyes flutter open slowly, lazily even.  As her eyes blinked, she felt the sunlight on her toes.  She wiggled them, letting the sunlight creep into every crook of her skin.  It was peaceful. Then, she opened her eyes, and what she saw before her made her jump.  And just like that, all of the sunlight had gone from her toes, and with it, the warmth, and with the warmth, the peace.

She spoke, “Hello Jonathan.”

“Hello Penelope.” Finally, the silence was broken, but was the curse?

Since the great year of 1902, Penelope Elizabeth Summerton had been alone.  Not physically, but mentally, she was alone. Her father, brave though he was, had died trying to defend her and her sisters.  You see, family names were everything in Tottenheim, England and her father had died defending theirs. The curse? Well that’s another tale for another time. For now, we’ll start at the beginning.

“Penelope! Give that back!”  Jonathan chased her with a fury in his eyes. His heart was pounding, partly because she had stolen his favorite crimson handkerchief and partly because at the age of eleven, Jonathan Percival Marcello was already falling irreversibly, deeply in love with Penelope Elizabeth Summerton.

“Oh Jonny, when I was but six years of age you stole my pink satin bonnet and it landed in the mud.  Don’t you think I deserve a little justice?”

She jumped to the side, avoiding his swipe for the hankie.

“No.  I believe that justice is a privilege, not a right.” He jumped to the right, reaching his hand up high to capture it. Penelope ducked.

“Well Jonny that would make sense since you live quite the privileged life.  You’ve no need to worry about rights when you can simply buy them!”

“You’ve no idea what my life is like Penelope. Or me, for that matter.”

“Is that so?”

He paused. He stared at her so intensely, he thought he may go blind from facing such a beauty. And out of the blue, he leaned in quickly and kissed her on the cheek.

It was soft and warm. Her free hand moved as if by some unseen force of nature to her cheek where his lips had been. She blushed. Shock and the fluttering in her chest overcame her. In a moment of disbelief and intense distraction, Penelope lost the handkerchief to Jonathan’s grip.

“Got it!” He shouted and ran away. He ran and ran through the tall, overgrown summer grass.  The wind whipped at his cheeks as he ran faster and faster, his smile growing with each and every stride. He had kissed Penelope Elizabeth Summerton on the cheek! And she smiled.  He thought perhaps he had even seen her blush, but it could have been his imagination.

“Jonathan!” He could hear her calling in the distance. She sounded irritated, but in a pleased way. And although he had no idea, her smile was growing with every step she took, just as his was.

Penelope ignored the feeling of the wind whipping against her cheeks. She had never enjoyed wind. It was much too chaotic. She liked still, warm sunlight. She liked to feel it on her toes while the rest of her body remained in the shade of an old oak tree. Suddenly, the wind stopped.

“Penelope! Get up!”

She sat up quickly. Oh yes. Home. It had only been a dream, a reliving of the past. But it was just that, past. She and Jonathan hadn’t spoken for….how long was it? Five years now. It was April sixth, 1902 and Penelope’s life was nothing like she had expected it to be.

“Penny!” Her younger sister Alice was shaking her by the arm. “Penny, you promised to take me in to town today.”

“Yes, Alice I know. I’ll be up in a moment.”

Word Count Wednesday

What am I working on?

Fixing up my portfolio and writing a couple of experiments.

Word Count: 1,200 (new stuff)

How do I feel about the process?

I'm so busy I will be glad when the semester ends and I can work on writing more.

What am I reading?

History of American Women textbook. Fun stuff.

Word Count Wednesday

What am I working on?

Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy and my drama scene which will be more of a TV episode.

Overall Word Count for Mary: 37,446

Word Count for Screenplay: 1,146

How do I feel about the process?

I met my goal for Camp Nanowrimo with an hour to spare. I knew I would be really busy this month so I intentionally set the low goal of 15,000 words and I guess I was right to do so.  I'm happy that I met my goal though.  I'll be really glad when the semester's over so I'll have more time to write. Then again, I'm taking a summer class and teaching musical theater camps so we'll see how that goes.

What am I reading? 

Nothing at the moment.

I've been watching Lost and I thought it might be cool to do sort of a similar thing for a TV show, but on one of the habitable planets in space in the future. And maybe they go there intentionally as the first people to inhabit the planet and there could be a lot of things to go wrong or interesting or crazy like aliens or other species of humans that have evolved there.

Word Count Wednesday--twelve

What am I working on?

I'm working on choosing and editing the part of Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy I want to turn in for narrative 2.  I haven't really written anything new this week.

Word Count: I honestly don't know. I need to figure out a system to keep track of when I write what, but it definitely wasn't much this week.

How do I feel about the process?

I knew that at this point in the semester I would be doing ten million things at once, which is why I made my camp nanowrimo goal only 15,000.  I still don't like that I haven't written that much though. I've written 12,370 this month so I need to write 2,630 more words to meet my goal so hopefully I can do that soon.

What am I reading?

I just binge read (is that a phrase?) Fallen. It was good, but I thought the ending was a little forced. It was very obvious that it went from a contained story to a grand, epic, crazy series in about ten pages. I probably won't read the sequel, but I liked the first book for what it was.

Choose Your Own Adventure-fixed link(?)

Here's the link to my very much work in progress choose your own adventure story, The Mystery of Castle Solstice. Spring and Fall are the most developed so far. I'll be working on finishing it over the weekend.

I think this link should work (maybe) you just have to copy and paste it.

http://writer.inklestudios.com/stories/98jx

Word Count Wednesday--eleven

What am I working on?

Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy and the choose your own adventure story, which I named The Mystery of Castle Solstice.  I'm going to continue it on inklewriter and post a link to it over the weekend.

Word Count: 673 on the choose your own adventure.
I haven't been keeping track of my word count for Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy very well because I just keep adding to the Camp NaNoWriMo word count and forgetting how much I've done since last Wednesday.  I think I wrote around 2,000 this week maybe.

Overall word count for Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy: 32,603 

How do I feel about the process?

I feel like I've made a lot of progress on the Mary book since I started Camp NaNo.  I just don't want to lose this momentum now that I have it.  I've also thought of a lot of ideas for later on in the plot and sub plots and plots that would take place in a sequel.  I don't know if I'll end up using all of those ideas, but it's nice that they're happening.

What am I reading? 

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Word Count Wednesday--ten

What am I working on?

I'm still working on the Mary, Queen of Scots book.

Word count: 4,932


How do I feel about the process?

I got a lot done this week thanks to Camp NaNoWriMo.  I set my goal for the month to be 15,000 words.  15,000 in a month really isn't that much, but considering the five classes I'm in and my job, life, etc, I thought it best to set a realistic goal.  Doing Camp NaNoWriMo has gotten me back on track with my book.  I think I was sort of stuck with where I was in the book because I wasn't sure where it was going next.  When Camp NaNoWriMo started I knew I needed to just keep writing it even if it wasn't what I thought it would be.  I wrote some pages that don't fit in to the chronological order of it, but they'll fit in later. It's nice to finally be making more progress on it.

What am I reading?

Bittersweet Within My Heart, The Love Poems of Mary, Queen of Scots.  I've been reading this off and on to help me with my book.

I also binge watched 13 Reasons Why on Netflix and it was amazing.

Camp NaNoWriMo

Guys! Jodee made a cabin on Camp NaNoWriMo that I am now a member of and everyone should join.  Camp NaNoWriMo is basically like doing the regular NaNoWriMo which I think stands for National Novel Writing Month? Maybe? Don't quote me on that. But in whatever month works for you instead of November.  You set a goal of how many words you want to write and you get a novel/writing project created in a month! Pretty cool! I didn't explain it that great so check out Jodee's blog for a more informative explaination if you're interested. Right now the name of the cabin is The Scrappy Scribblers, but we're still brainstorming name ideas. We are thinking of having some fun writing get togethers including a write off (which I just now realized is what it's called when you can write something off on your taxes, because clearly my brain works).  In the write off (or a better name) we will write as much as we can in a block of time like a couple of hours and the person who writes the most wins eternal glory. It'll be great.

All you have to do to join is create an account and let Jodee know your username and she will add you to the cabin!

Word Count Wednesday--nine

What am I working on?

You know when you're in the middle of writing something and you get an idea for something else and then you can't focus on the thing you should be focusing on? No? Yeah? Well, that lovely occurrence is happening to me. Luckily, I did get some work done on my Mary, Queen of Scots book for the first time in a while, so that's good.  However, I was unfortunately distracted by another idea. I guess it makes it a little better that my other idea is about Queen Elizabeth since she's a character in the Mary book.  The new idea is about Elizabeth the summer after all of the events of this book that I've plotted out have happened. It kind of makes sense that I would have an idea involving Elizabeth because her character is so outspoken and demanding.  The Queens are even feuding for reign of my brain. Makes sense.

Word Count: 1,345

How do I feel about the process?

I'm really excited that Elizabeth has become a formed enough character to be the main character of another novel, but it's also frustrating. I actually have a plot for a sequel to the first book, Mary, Queen of Scottsville Academy, as well as ideas for separate circles of reincarnated teens that are in a way connected to this one.  It just worries me to have so many ideas around the same book, because I don't want to plot out a whole series and then not have it go anywhere. I guess the thing to focus on would be to make sure I create the story for the love of writing it and not solely for the hope of it getting published.  I was worrying earlier this week about spending a bunch of time writing a novel that no one will ever read, but writing isn't a waste of time unless you're really hating doing it. I feel like if I'm enjoying creating something it shouldn't matter so much what the outcome of it is, because in a way that sometimes takes the joy out of it a little.

What am I reading?

Not much right now.  I need to find a new book to be excited about if anyone has any suggestions.

Word Count Wednesday--eight

What am I working on?

I worked on a lot of random little projects over spring break.  I intended to get back to writing my Mary, Queen of Scots book over spring break, but life happened.  I wrote some poetry.  I also started a couple of short story type things.

How do I feel about the process?

I wrote some poetry that I feel is actually decent, so I might post it after some editing.  It was really nice to finally write some poetry that I don't feel is total crap.  My spring break was really busy, which was kind of a bummer.  I was hoping to get more writing done than I did.  I've found that I've been really busy lately, but I'm going to try to schedule in regular writing times instead of just blindly hoping I somehow find an hour to write.  It clearly hasn't been happening, so hopefully setting aside a specific time a few days a week will get me back on track.

Word count: 1,832

What am I reading?

Bittersweet Within my Heart, the Love Poems of Mary, Queen of Scots

Word Count Wednesday--seven

What am I working on?

Still the same book. I spent some time brainstorming some tv show ideas because I'm taking a screenwriting class online. I also had a random idea for a teen jukebox musical featuring early 2000s hits by Vanessa Carlton, Avril Lavigne, etc. So randmon, but it wouldn't get out of my head so I plotted it out.

How do I feel about the process?

I feel like I have a lot of really weird (and maybe a few decent) ideas flying through my mind. I've been thinking about trying screenwriting and I'm teaching a children's musical theatre class, so I think my mind is just following all of my thoughts. I actually really like the idea I came up with for the musical featuring early 2000s hits because I love that music, but I'm not expecting that to go anywhere. I think my thoughts just went in a fun direction because I've been trying to focus and work really hard at a lot of stuff and I subconsciously directed myself towards something weird and fun.

Word Count: 636

What am I reading?

Bittersweet Within my Heart, The Love Poems of Mary, Queen of Scotts

Word Count Wednesday--six

Oops better late than never?

What am I working on?

The same Mary, Queen of Scotts novel.  I tried to write some poetry.  It turned out mediocre as my poetry usually does.

How do I feel about the process?

I feel like I haven't been able to spend enough time on my writing lately, which is frustrating.  I'm hoping to get a lot done over spring break.  I still can't really write poetry, but I'm hoping that if I just keep trying to write it I might magically get a little less terrible.

Word count this week: 1,595

What am I reading?

On Writing

Narrative Submission

          The next day dragged on while a dark cloud hung over Mary.  She was overcome with dread.  She was already tired of this school, these people, especially Elizabeth, and the last thing Mary wanted to do was debate her.  But last period came before Mary could find an excuse to miss it and once again she found herself in Elizabeth’s verbal death grip.

            “At restaurants, they always give you bread to distract you from the fact that your food will take much longer than you would like to get to your table.  The bread placates the customer.  It draws their attention away from what is really important, the main course.  Mary is just giving you verbal bread to distract you from what she is really saying.  She has been telling you about police training, education, and while education and background is important, it does not address the real issue.  It does not address the area where the issue is prominent.” 

            They were discussing police brutality.  Mary was on the side of the people.  Elizabeth was on the side of the police. 

            Mary fired back, “No, Elizabeth, I am not feeding the audience verbal bread, I am enlightening them about the basis of this great nation’s police force.  Without understanding of the education the police go through, we cannot address the problem.  Education is the area where the issue is prominent.  Yes, the public sees the issue most when the police have completed training, when they are on the streets.  But think about where the problem begins.  It begins at the source.  It begins when seeds are planted.  It begins with training.”

            “Oh, so the experienced chiefs and justices are too incompetent to do their jobs, that’s what you’re saying?”

            “No.  I’m saying--.”

            Elizabeth cut her off, “What you’re saying is that you’re against the police.  You’re trying to discredit the police force and their education system.  You’re meddling in the issues of a country you’ve only been a part of for what, ten minutes?”

            “We are not discussing my background here, Elizabeth, we are discussing police brutality.  So if you could kindly keep my personal background out of this argu--.”

            “I can’t keep your personal background out of this, Mary.  Your background affects your judgment.  You’re basically a citizen of France.  Admit it.  So you can’t discuss this country’s policy and systems, because you are not loyal to it.”

            “I—.”  Mary started to answer, but she was overcome with the strangest feeling. It was as if all of the doubt and rage and exhaustion within her was suddenly washed away.  In its place was a fuzzy feeling.  It was as if the sun was inside of her, illuminating everything that had been hidden by the darkness.  She felt calm.  She felt at peace.  But at the same time, she felt like she was expecting something.  She was waiting for something.

And suddenly, she wasn’t at the Academy anymore. 

 Chapter Twelve

            All around her, Mary saw faces.  Faces with freckles, faces with dimples, faces with kind smiles, even faces with scowls. But none of the faces belonged to people she recognized.  She saw gowns.  Gowns of satin and gowns of cotton, tattered and torn, as if they had been worn until they were no longer gowns.  She saw men and women.  Cobblers, children playing, girls laughing together and pointing at boys they must have fancied. 

            Mary saw sight after sight of things that felt so familiar she could almost explain how she had seen them before, but she hadn’t.  It was all new.  And suddenly, someone called her name.

            “Mary!”  The voice was a woman’s, kind and sweet.  It was familiar.  She knew that kind, sweet voice, but it was different.  It had an accent.  It had a Scottish accent. Mary turned to see whom the voice belonged to, and as she turned something caught her eye.

            She herself was in a gown as well instead of her business casual school attire.  It glittered in the sunshine.  It was sapphire blue, and very elegant.  It must have cost a fortune.  She ran her fingers along the delicate beading on her skirt.  A shadow fell on her beautiful dress, and she looked up.

            It was Malorie.

            But it wasn’t Malorie.  This Malorie’s brown hair was long and braided in a more intricate way than Mary had ever seen.  This Malorie was dressed in a gown as well, but it was less grand.  It was a light green with a flower design winding through the satin fabric.  It was beautifully simple.  “Very Malorie,” Mary thought.

            “Your Grace?”  Said Malorie.  Why was she Scottish?  And why was she calling Mary Your Grace?

            Mary looked around again.  People were staring at her all throughout the square.  It must have been some small village.  The people, they looked to be peasants, bowed a little when they walked near her, and then couldn’t take their eyes off of her as they walked away. 

            Behind Malorie was a carriage.  It wasn’t a regular, run of the mill carriage, if carriages could be run of the mill.  It was clean and intricately decorated, with something very strange on the side of it.  Something that made Mary’s stomach turn.  Something that Mary would know anywhere.

            It was her family’s crest. 

            And all of the sudden, it made sense.  Well, it didn’t make logical, real life sense, but Mary understood.  This was it.  This was her flashback.

            This was Mary, Queen of Scotts.

            “Queen Mary, the carriage is waiting.  Should I tell them go around the village once more?  The people do seem to be enjoying your presence.”  Malorie beamed at her.  She seemed pleased to be standing at her side, attending to her.  Waiting on her. 

            “No thank you Lady Mary.  We should return to the castle.  Francis will be worried.”  The words came out of her mouth in an accent.  It was a little different from Malorie or as she had just called her, Lady Mary’s, but it was an accent. 

            They walked through the square and to the carriage.  Mary stood up on the step of it and looked down at the townspeople.  “Good people of France.”  They all turned to her and bowed.  “I, your Queen Consort, believe that while this may be a country divided by religion, divided by money and power, King Francis and I are anything but divided.  We wholeheartedly believe as one, that this great and powerful country will not be divided by anything.  It will not be weakened by a war between its own kind, gracious, and loyal people.  We hear you.  We understand your struggles and beliefs.  And we will fight for you with everything we possess.”

            The crowd erupted with cheers.  People smiled.  People cried.  And then something amazing happened.  People bowed, just as the group of her classmates had that night in the secret basement.  They bowed, and as one, they bellowed, “Long live Mary, Queen of Scotts.”

            She bowed her head in thanks and ducked into the carriage, Lady Mary, not far behind.  And in that moment, in that powerful and spectacular moment, Mary understood. She looked out the window as they drove out of the town.  As they passed trees, houses, and people waiting to see their queen, Mary knew what all of it was. 

            She knew she was Mary, Queen of Scotts.  And with the blink of her eyes, before she could try to hold on to her beautiful, spectacular moment, she was back at Scottsville Academy.

Word Count Wednesday--five

What am I working on?

I'm still working on the same novel about Mary, Queen of Scotts.  I started experimenting with a screenplay because I'm taking an online writing for television class from Shonda Rhimes (it's on masterclass).  I'm not sure screenwriting is really my thing, but Shonda Rhimes is teaching an online class so I had to sign up for it.

How do I feel about the process?

Good and bad.  I'm at this one part of my novel that I didn't fully plot out so I'm struggling to figure out what comes next.  I wrote a chapter I felt really good about this week though, so I'm making some progress. Trying to write a screenplay is really weird, partially because I have no idea how to do it, partially because it's a lot of dialogue.  I've also been sick all week, so my motivation has been low.

Words this week: 3,960
Total words in the novel: 17,173

What am I reading?

My lovely Women's History textbook and academic journals about dystopian societies in literature.

Word Count Wednesday--four

What am I working on?

This week I worked on a lot of random little projects that were not the one I should have been working on.  I started a couple of things that could be short stories or novels.  One was about a girl who's entire life has been planned for her by her parents and she goes through a series of slightly dangerous and out of character experiences to try to make her own life path.  The other one is based on the adventures my friend and I had in Europe and the trouble we got ourselves into.  I've also been editing my narrative piece that I will be turning in soon, but I haven't really added anything to it.

Word Count: 2,474 (new words)

How do I feel about the process?

I started writing the first one not in chronological order because I just thought of a scene from the middle first, but now I kind of like the idea of showing something and going back and explaining it.  If anyone watches Scandal or How to Get Away With Murder by Shonda Rhimes, that's kind of what she does with her shows.  I really admire her as a writer and I think seeing a scene where there's a lot of mayhem without really knowing what's going on and then going back in time to see how it happened is such an interesting way of writing.  The other thing I started was fun to write, but I'm not sure if I'll continue with it.  I feel like it might be a good project for me to work on improving my descriptive writing.  Honestly, I've been procrastinating editing my narrative piece a lot.  I think it's because I don't want to read it and hate it or something.  I've edited it a little, but I could be done with it by now and I'm not.  I will do it soon though!

What am I reading?

Still reading The Magicians.  I haven't been reading as much as I would like to lately, so maybe I'll work on trying to read more.

Word Count Wednesday--three

What am I working on?

This week I tried to write some poetry. Some of it was almost mediocre. Most of it was pretty bad, but at least I tried! Poetry has never been my thing, but I've been trying to write some because I think it will help me work on my descriptive language.  I also started to write a short story based on something that happened to me and my friend while we were in Paris.  I've also been editing the first chapter of the book I've been working on.

Total word count this week: 819 

How do I feel about the process?

I get really frustrated when I try to write poetry because I don't find it fun.  I think that if I find a subject that I'm more passionate about the poem about will be easier to write.  So maybe I just need to find the right subject and get over my hatred of poetry.  I really liked writing the beginning of the short story, but I was finding it difficult to create voices for the characters, which is weird because it's me and my friend. I was thinking of writing out a conversation that we really did have before I write a fictional conversation, and maybe our voices will come out better.

Overall, I found the process this week kind of frustrating. I think it's always difficult to start writing a different type of project than you're used to, so maybe once I get into writing more poetry and short stories it will be a little easier.

What am I reading?

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Experiment #5

I based this experiment on my last experiment. After I wrote my In Media Res page, I started thinking about the characters and the concept and I thought of a way to shape it into a novel.  I'm not sure if I will end up writing it, but I feel like it's a fun idea.  I'll explain it a little more at the end of this post. 

How to Time Travel

Step One:

Chosen

     You must be chosen to work in Middle with the Advisor.  Middle is how it sounds.  It is in the center of Open Land, our country.  Middle is where the government is located.  Every year, when the age fourteens are sent to their workplaces, one from each small land is sent to Middle.  The age fourteen that is chosen is the most intelligent in that small land.  This year, two were sent from my small land, Green West, a girl named Joan, and me, Lydia.  Joan was sent to train with a Leader.  I was sent to the Advisor.  The Advisor is supposed to train Logan, Peter, Charlotte (the other chosens), and me to give council to government officials, but he’s been teaching us much more. He is the only one who knows all that has happened in the past and what may happen in the future.

Step Two:

Training

     Begin training with the Advisor.  Training normally consists of analyzing history and events and learning to think logically.

Our training consists of:

• Understanding the past and where it went wrong.  We need to understand these things so we can travel back in time to fix them.  If we can’t understand what went wrong, we can’t fix the right things.
• Learning to travel, I’ll get into that in a minute.
• Learning to make the right decisions.  When you’re running from guards or scaling a cliffside, you have to know how to make good decisions.  Not thinking can result in pain, torture, captivity, and, most likely, death.
• Our training also includes learning to fight.  We train to fist fight, fight with swords, and use our wit to get out of hairy situations. Usually our wit is enough to get us out of a fight, but on occasion, we will need to use our actual fighting skills.

Step Three:

Traveling

• In order to travel, you need to have a certain mental characteristic.  The Advisor describes it as the perfect balance of creativity, logic, and intelligence. Logan, Peter, Charlotte, and I have it.  If you do not, you can forget about traveling altogether.
• Concentration and the right materials are absolutely necessary for time travel.  If you are not focused, it can go horribly wrong.  Most often, you will end up somewhere (or some time) you did not intend to be in.  For example, if you are angry and that is all you can focus on, you may end up in a fire or a volcano.
• The advisor has four crystals, one for each of us.  Logan’s in green, Peter’s is red, Charlotte’s is blue, and mine is purple.  The crystals have a mix of magnetic and magical powers that the Advisor cannot fully explain, but they transport us to wherever we need to go.
• First, place your hand on the crystal.  Next, close your eyes.  Say the place and time that you would like to land in out loud once, and then repeat it in your mind over and over. For example, “London, England, 1921.”

Step Four:

Right Place, Right Time

• If you do not land in the right place and time, you can mess things up in the future even more.
• You must travel at sunrise.  You will land in a certain, secluded place.  You must return there in order to travel back to where you were before.  If you do not leave by sunset, you will be stuck there for another day.  If you do not leave after a week, you will be stuck there forever.

Warning!

If you do not have traveller qualities, you should not attempt to travel.  The crystals will turn you to dust faster than you can say, “Paris, France, 1529.”

     Lydia Green West is fourteen years old and little does she know, her life is about to be turned upside down.  Green West is one of the nicer small lands in Open Land.  The people are kind and hard working, but that isn't much different from the other small lands.  Most people are the same.  People are kind, moderately capable minded, hard working, and obediant.  Lydia has always been a bit different.  She asks too many questions, has too many thoughts, and is more than moderately capable minded.  Lydia, Peter, Logan, and Charlotte are sent to train with the Advisor in Middle.  He sends them throughout time to fix the events that led to the world becoming how it is now.  People used to think, paint, create, sing, laugh, and be anything but obediant, and somehow, the world went wrong.  Lydia, Peter, Logan, and Charlotte are only fourteen, but their wit and creativity will help them do what is necessary to save the world. 

     I would probably write this for a middle grade audience.  They would have to fix things throughout time, but it would also show their adventures in different places and times.  It would also be about how Lydia grows up and changes as she experiences new things and begins to understand all of the possibilities the world holds.