The Blog of Hillary

Well, here I am, for the scarce few that pay attention to my little niche in cyberspace. And what have I been up to, you wonder?

I have...
*Started the seventh grade (it's not as exciting as I thought -_-)
*Read the first half of 'Crystal Cave,' the first in a four-part series by Mary Stewart about Merlin (Yayyyy Merlin!)
*Went on the awesomest camping trip ever, which was awesome (did I mention how awesome it was?)
*Wrote....uh...a litte *shifty eyes*
*Was repeatedly tortured by Isha (pixie_and_effie)...something about excellent-to-moderate somethings...a headband...and the song 'Over the Rainbow,' if she remembers as much...but that's a different story. You'll have to ask her.
*Will be pestered by Voldy trying to figure out what the hell I was talking about when referring to Isha
*Befriended a cat named Lila
And quite a bit else. That's a basic overview, anyway.

Uh oh, Mocha just ran next door, she'll be in such trouble...to quote, roughly, the Weasley twins, it's nice to see Mum yell at someone else for a change...

Dear, dear, I can't say the Weasley 'twins' anymore, now can I? So unnecessary...pointless in the last one, really was...*deep sigh* Yeah, Deathly Hallows was a bit of a disappointment. Please don't torch my house.

Isn't autumn pretty...did anyone catch that beautiful harvest moon a few nights ago? Gorgeous, just gorgeous...

Well, that's all for now, folks. Pleasant dreams.

Hello, all.

Well, Independence day is in three days. We'll be doing the usual--going to my grandma's with Aunt Judi, Uncle Tom, Mom, Dad, Sara and Michael (4-year-old twins--the little monsters) and the infamous Lindsay. We'll go to the Medinah Country Club to which she belongs and they have a big festival on the grounds, with a moon-walk and blow-up obstacle-course and old-style vendor carts selling popcorn and hot dogs and cotton candy and Sno Cones, and they'll have tennis competitions and a three-legged race and a regular race, plus they'll have a coin dive in the pool. I usually get a good 5 bucks from that particular activity. And the fireworks--how I love the fireworks!

Everyone sits on the green of the gold course and sometimes me and Lindsay, just to be adventurous, wander away from th adults and stake out our own little area in the sandy part, I forget what it's called, and we'll have glow necklaces around our necks and glow earrings through our ears, and we'll have them around our wrists and ankles and waving them around in the air until we look like someone spilled something radioactive on the both of us. The fireworks are shot out over the most beautiful lake, surrounded by weeping willows and yellow poplars. They have the regular ones, the rockets and the banshees and the Black Cats and kitty-chasers and whatnot, and they'll have the state-of-the-art ones, too, ones that draw red hearts or yellow smiley faces up in the air. And we'll go back to Grandma's in seperate cars, and all the way there they'll be fireworks going off every which way, exploding and snapping and popping until the whole sky is a spiderweb of smoke and dazzling colors. We'll pull in the driveway to her house and the rambunctious teenagers next door will be setting off boxes upon boxes of the stuff, same as the rich snobby ones up the street in the mansion, and we'll watch their fireworks for a while on the front porch. But then it'll be late, and the twins with be whining and Lindsay's eyes will be drooping fast, and we'll say our goodbyes and they'll clamber into their navy-blue mini-van and be off, and pretty soon we'll do the same and Grandma will wave us off and then go watch fireworks from her backyard. I'll go to bed once we're home, it had been a long, full day, and when I wake up in the morning I'll run downstairs and look in the freezer for those glowsticks I put there to make them last long, and I'll just have to make sure they'll still their to be certain that yesterday wasn't just one long, delightful dream.

...though admittedly, I haven't seen it yet. It's dusk now, I won't see it for another couple minutes, I'm afraid.

I'm working on a new story, haven't thought of a good title for it yet, though. Maybe "Forest of the Wolf" but that's sounds cheesy, like a 40's horror movie. "Wolf Forest" doesn't sound very good either. Ugh! OH. I know, and I know just how the cover would look. "Alpha, Beta, & Omega" Yes!

The plot: Two sisters, Anna and Gabrielle, have the ability to transform into wolves. By night, they are with a wolf pack and do all manner of wolf-like things. By day, the live in an uninhabited forest, reminscing of days past and dreaming of days to come. But things get sticky quickly for the sisters, and the pack is on the verge of an every-wolf-for-herself rebellion. And one unfortunate mistep forces Anna, quite literally, over the edge...

The characters:
Anna--twelve years old, adventurous, agile. Has a real knack for landing in sitatuations that usuaully end with her being injured, and her sister then has to patch her up. (This is how the books starts.)

Gabi--Anna's older sister. Basically a more mature and level-headed version of Anna, though she wouldn't say no to a little adventure herself.

Their mother, Evelyn--died when Anna was 9. Their father was never in the picture, I don't want to complicate things.

The pack--the alpha, Gabi's mate. A regular plain old wolf. There's also the beta, four unranked wolves (yes, that's how it really is in nature), and an omega. They all appear as real wolves--yet there's no real way to tell, is there?

The setting: A lush forest somewhere far far away. It's late spring, the weathr is gorgeous as it should be in any novella.

Things your probably wondering about: When Gabi and Anna are in wolf form, they have neither the mindframe of a human nor an average wolf. It's some where between unnaturally genius wolf to a human with strong, irrestible wolf instincts. This depends on what they're doing--if they are just resting with the rest of the pack, they will be in a more human state of mind. If they are being pursued or are hunting, instinct takes over, making their thoughts less human and more lupine.

Excerpt: "Each girl whispered a quiet wish under their breath, softly casting their desire to the night. Their voices were inaudible to all but the sycamores towering above them and the crescent moon hovering overhead.
A gentle, caressing breeze blew, isolated to the figures in the moonlight, sending the sisters’ hair to form a halo above their heads.
Their wish was repeated back to them on the lips of the wind, and the sycamores and the stars and moon and the very earth beneath their feet whispered back to them, I grant you your wish."

I'm off to look at the full moon now.

Yes, it is true. I'm auditioning tomorrow at seven. It's a shame walk-ins aren't allowed, I would've invite my friend Isha (whom, along with Voldy, I have made many a scheme to be among the rich and famous). So, look out, Hollywood, you may just have Hillary Marie on your doorstep in the near future.
But, back to the things that are happening here and now.
Voldy moved on Saturday, just up and left for the 5-day car trip to Arizona. It isn't that I didn't say goodbye, I just feel like it was so sudden, so unexpected. I would never be sufficiently prepared for one of my best friends to move so that I wouldn't feel the move, but it was especially hard because Desiree and Sammy are moving to. Desiree's going to Michigan, Sammy, Hawaii. Still, at least Isha isn't moving. I'd probably beg to move to my house in Chandler then.
I'm writing a new novella about two sisters that are skinwalkers. Skinwalkers are a Native American myth about people that can transform into any animal they want by draping the hide of that animal over them. In the more recent walker myths, they can transform even without the hide of the animal, though generally to only one form as opposed to any. Please tell me if you think I should post the first few pages, I don't want to bore you if you don't want to hear it. I must put my faithful fans first and foremost, of course.

Hillary Marie

Go to www.writingcorner.blog.co.uk to read th first chapter of Emily's (my friend) story...I created the account for us and then she kinda stole it...0_o That's okay 'cause the story's good, so off you go.

And: Roy G. Biv.

Richard of York gave the battle in vain...RAINBOW.

Anybody else read Artemis Fowl? 0_o

I fear I will go insane with boredom lest I do something NOW.

OHHH! My favorite game.

Lindsay says: Hi! Ohhh, we're doing this again? *giggles* Ohthis is funny when we do this...oh graeat...oh I think we are doing this again....hold on...*mumbles senselessly while reading* *giggles* *snorklaughter* *more senseless mumbling* Uhm...mumbling...oh that's funny...I had a feeling you wre going to type that....*groansigh* *giggles* *plays with jump rope around arm chair* Playsl...with...jumprope...around armchair... *gigggles* *high voice* Be right back! *shuffles away*

Another daily dose of Lindsay, delivered to the general public free of charge, by the lovely, generous and kind HILLARY MARIE!

Alas, I must keep typing, because I sense boredom just 'round the corner.

I think I shall give my blog a make over...as I had the most wonderful idea for a blog, but unforntunately, only one blog can be registered to an email. I shall have to create a new email.

*goes off to create new email*

Yes, I, Hillary Marie, have changed my cursor from a howling wolf head...to a mermaid. 0_o

But.

Anyway, my world seems to have been knocked slightly off its hinges lately. Voldy's moving, Desiree's moving, and a whole host of other problems, such as my current hatred for ~some~ members of my family. I know I love 'em deep down, yadda yadda, all that. *smoke comes out of ears* But far down has obviously been deemed unsafe for hotheaded restless girls like yours truly. *sigh*

Who else wishes (though probably not as much as me) that you had, not a different life, but a different life style?

*sees hands raise in front of computer screens across America*

Yeah, well, me too. I HATE where I come from. I feel no particular loyalty or affection for the sad little suburb that is the town I grew up in.

But my hometown is Chandler, Arizona, some 40 miles outside Phoenix and one heckuva lotta hours in the car from Chicago.

*sigh* I wanna go home.

I am exchanging Harry Potter trivia questions with the aforementioned Voldy. An old epsisode of Star Trek is playing on te TV, and the sun is shining bright as can be. The lake, only 10 feet from my back door, is sparkling like spun sugar, calm and glistening, reflecting the greenery of trees and bushes around its banks. Wildflowers are blooming in an array of purples and blues, and every so gently the branches of the weeping willow across the lake sway in the breeze. All is right with the world.

Be amazed....by the fabulous, beautiful and intelligent LINDSAY!

Lindsay says: Hi! I'm visiting my grandma's house. My cousin has a bouncing orange-and-white hamster for my cursor. *giggles* How do you change your cursors? 'Cause I don't have that. Okay, uhm, *giggles* giggle giggle giggle...that's funny... *actually giggles* Okay, uhm...*giggles* *massive sigh* *mumbles while laughing hysterically* Massive....sigh...This is just so funny...oh that's even more funny...uhm, uhmmmmmm, oh, my gosh...*gasps whie laughing* *is thumped on back by me to clear airway* *more hysterical laughter from both parties* *clears throat* Oh my gawsh you're hilarious...Oh hi grandma! Oh HI Mocha! They're both out in the yard. Ohhhh! A big bouncy ball! Oh, HI Michael! Oh don't even think about it! Don't even...*hysterical laughter* Okay, I'm gonna read it right now...not again..actually that's pretty funny...*silence while reading* Okay now I actually am gonna read it. Oh, my. OHHHHHH my. Oh my gawsh. Anything I say you type! I have a feeling you're going to type that. I had a feeling about that. AND THAT. I'm gonna count to three and then read it. Okay...okay...okay...oh this is HILARIOUS! *groan* Hilarious story...*sigh* OH! *laughter* *lips move without talking* *makes funny noises in throat* *more laughter* OH MY GAWSH I'm mumbling. Oh dear...*mumbles senselessly while laughing hysterically* *huge gasp* Oh, this is hilarious, oh this is FUNNY, oh Hillary, you're really funny. Ohhhkay, what was I gonna say again? Okay...oh, you're jsut hilarious!

I say: And there's your daily dose of Lindsay, everybody! Have a great day! *disappears in a puff of purple smoke*

The air was sweet and humid. There was a distinctly unsettled hush about the town, the quiet, suspenseful hush of a place waiting the arrival of a storm of deadly potential. As I stepped outside to retrieve groceries from my mother's car, the tense atmosphere made my skin crawl. There were no laughing voices, no calls of chastisement from parents to children. Silence, except for the gentle whisper of trees that lined the road, speculating among themselves of the damage that could soon be afflicted to their home. I returned inside and turned my attention to television screen.
"Winds will reach 90+ miles an hour. Seek shelter immediately. Stay away from windows." The grim mesage was repeated, channel after channel, the nerve-rattling prognosis of a community that waited in silence for the storm to be upon them.
They didn't have to wait long.