1- Year Anniversary

I know what you're thinking- WHAT anniversary is this? Well... it's been a year (haha).
Nah, just kidding! It's been a year since we got to Australia (to think- I've stayed on one continent for a whole year)! Also, on the 16th it was the blog's birthday. Should I say happy birthday (because it is WRITTEN on the blog)?
Alright, just some news.
I am preparing for graduation. I will be the only girl wearing a skirt (since everyone else is wearing a dress- haha, I'm special!), have already written my one- minute speech (and NO- gingersnap and I DO NOT know when our new movie is coming out, so don't ask!), and started working on my box (it is a box to show what I have done in school). Pretty cool stuff.
Anyways, I have incredibly good news:

 Preparing for launch...

And he is OFF!!!!
Oh yes! With the first glue I tried he kind of just stood there a second, then started sinking down. With the second try... well, I accidentally left him standing on my desk all day rather than lay him down. Which goes to show: buy Tarzan glue. Not UHU (oh, try saying the abbreviation, it's hilarious!) glue. So- I'm very happy on the respect.

Oh yes- Breyer FINALLY released Black Caviar. I don't know why I always look forward to these things, but I do (*Sigh*).
Oh, and by the way, that picture is terrible.

I have been meaning to draw Green Moon's (the Melbourne Cup winner's) face. Haven't got around to it.

This is "Le Dress". I just drew it really randomly (but I think I did a pretty good job with the coloring).

 Okay, so this is a page from a book about the medieval times (it's awesome). I was thinking (since I like the little ribbons they put on the horses' rumps): I don't necesarily need to do armor, just something medieval. So now instead of thinking of drawing BC (Black Caviar from now on) with armor, I was considering drawing her with this tack (or I could be productive and do both).

Anyways, this is the model I would use. I can see enough (but sadly I cannot look at the whole page anymore, because... well... it's in a box- will explain later).
Anyways, I will post a quick questions post on the armor/ hunting tack question, so tell me there!

This is the horses in armor from Snow White and the Huntsman (OMG, the queen is HILARIOUS). I had a fleeting glimpse in one of the battle scenes of what I thought was chainmail on the rump of the horse (which turns out to be fabric in this picture, but still). I immediately thought of cute little pink pony and now he's going to have chainmail on his rump.

This is a very excellent reference that I have for the armor as well. I especially love the bit (I have to enlarge it now...). The bit (the part the goes into the mouth) is amazing. I have to use it in the drawing now.

 One word: Phantom.
That's what I named it.
It looked SO much better in real life.
But cameras aren't eyes.

OMG! HILARIOUS FAT BIRD!!
I was looking in my bird guide and found this little ball of fluff. It will be a future drawing (once I get the book out of the box again).
I seriously had a fit when I saw this. It is the funniest bird ever!

I do seriously like pie. I just couldn't help myself. I HAD to make a screen that said "I Like PIE". The consequences are that whenever I turn on my ipod I HAVE to say "I Like PIE", and that I also spontaneously say "I Like PIE" a lot. It's hilarious.
Anyways, so you want to know why all my books are sitting in a box? We're moving! So now my bookshelf is empty, my posters are gone, and my room is a bit more organized (but not much).
I am also very excited about my new school, well... except for the uniforms. In the summer we wear those blue striped granny dresses. In the winter we have to tie our own tyes. Meh. Not exactly looking forward to that, but hey, I did get the school I wanted!

This is the random picture.
So, do you know how the myth of unicorns started? Goats. The ones with one horn, to be exact. Don't ask how goats got turned into horses. Just... a goat with one horn is pretty rare.
Last thing:

 Weirdest books in the world: Zombies v.s. Unicorns and Princesses.
And I haven't even READ Princesses. I've just looked at the pictures.
And also: trust me. You'd think I'd know.

Kiki the Unicorn Needs a Color!

So far blue roan is winning by 4 votes!
Hello guys!
This is a Quick Questions Corner post.
Kiki the unicorn needs a coat color! Please help me choose between a liver chestnut (which is a deeper, more vibrant color):

Or a blue roan (which is funner, but a bit more dull).
Just tell me which color you like best in the comments or directly!

This is my original drawing of Kiki (I referenced it a bit off CMM's unicorns, a very slender frame)- maybe it'll help!

Exciting News!

Hey guys! Just a quick announcement!
I have added some new things to my blog.
1. Check the title.
2. Take a look at how many sections there are.
Yeah! Just a quick announcement (I will post on the Quick Question Corner soon, so that you don't have to read all of my super- long posts)- hope you like!
Random picture:

Oh, yeah. Gangman style is awesome.
P.S. the link for the blog is still the same, that won't change.

Long Time no See!

Yeah, I didn't really think of making a new post for about a week, and then when I did I kind of got sidetracked... a lot of times...
Um, what do I say first (checks notes on ipod)?
Ooh, I know. The Melbourne Cup! Best horse race ever! And the best part: we got a whole day off for it! Seriously: Best country EVER! Anyways, the race was awesome. At school they let us bet candy on the horses, and I bet on the favorite, Americain, and Green Moon (the only reason being that I liked his name and he had OKAY odds). In the end, Green Moon won, and the only people that actually bet on him were me and a friend! Then we got to go up to this giant bowl of candy and got 17 pieces. It was pretty awesome.Yesterday I also saw a movie called "The Cup". It was about the 2002 Melbourne Cup, where the winning jockey had lost his brother one week before the race and was losing all the races before the Melbourne Cup. Then he got on a horse that didn't have very good odds, and voila: a win. This year he was on Americain, and they got 11th place. The other favorites got 8th (Red Cadeux) and 14th (name slips my mind). I got a pretty good stroke of luck there.
Alright, some other topic (checks ipod again)... alright, so you know I kind of went crazy at the mention of this thing?

Um, well since I have a really bad knack of picking show names of horses I get a little excited about, I came up with one: Washington B.C. Yeah. Washington B.C. 
Okay, so Washington D.C. is the national capital of the U.S. I guess I figured that Black Caviar (B.C., get it?) is basically the capital of horse racing (I think only Frankel beats her, and he's a stallion). Speaking of show names, I'm looking for a new for Dylan. Something to do with trouble. Mischief? Deception? Sneaking around? Hope that makes you think of something (something like Deceptive Looks, I would use that one except it doesn't very good- I would've used Snuggly Deception or Double Trouble, except he's more of the sinister kind of secret keeper- I was thinking of Solitary Confinement).
Alright, I'll talk about a field trip from last Friday. We went to GTAC (Gene Technology Access Center) and it was pretty darn awesome. The most memorable part: Two boys squirted too much water onto the slide for their microscope, and with a flood of water, a little bug tried running away down the table. They somehow managed to catch it and put it back on the slide, where they proceeded to put the top part of the slide on. The most unfortunate bug got completely sqaushed, and later looking through the microscope you could see  its brains seeping out of its head. It was AWESOME! And not to mention the (what seemed like giant) worm thing just like squirming around. It was HILARIOUSLY AWESOME!
Alright, now I'll move onto projects.
Let's start with this:

Those are the sticky notes that I write songs for my stories on (explained in some other post). Anyways, want  to quess which story is taking the lead (this should be like a whole tournament: now who is taking the lead with the most sticky notes??)? Katrina. And I daresay, the actual writing isn't doing too bad either (I guess... maybe...). In second place their is Catrin, then The Story of a Family, then No Normal Horses (okay, that is SO creepy- exactly in the order of my want to write them! No, seriously. It is). As you can see, I had to move them from their post under Black Caviar because they wouldn't fit (I listen to too much music, I'm getting too hyperactive from listening to it in my head, even right now my feet are going crazy).
I also want to add that I could never really make a career out of writing full time. I am way too unpredictable. Usually when I have nothing to do I don't want to write, but then when I do have something I do want to write. And also, I have a hunch that it is seasonal for me. Basically, I usually want to write when I usually don't have much time or something. Like right now: I gave the notebook to one of my teachers so they could read the beginning, and I don't have it. Maybe I should right on my blog more often, to see if it makes me want to write my stories too... hmm...
Okay, drawings: 

The one above I call "Stopped in his Tracks". Inspired by Kripton, of course (I put his picture here because I took reference from it- do they look alike?). Kripton could be made into that pose if his leg that is up is put down, and his mane and tail are re-made (I know it might sound complicated, but you should see some of the resculpts- completely awesome, those customizers are).
Speaking of Kripton, I bring bad tidings:

I went playing at the park on Sunday and all of a sudden  he just broke- just like that. One of these days we are going to have to find some Loctitite (some glue that's like unbreakable) and stick him back together. I finally decided on my favorite: Kripton is.
What else? More drawings.

This isn't exactly a drawing, but still. I made it during the Italian Day we had (my favorite project of them all...). I made up the design myself. It reminds me of angels, or you know those winged sandals that Hermes (or Mercury) has? Yeah, maybe one of those.

This one you aren't going to see very well, but it's a cat. I named it Shadowstar, and no, I did not take the picture in the dark. I drew it on black paper. I hope you can see it okay, though. The eyes are green and there's a white outline... by the way, I did not think about warrior cats while I did this. I was actually inspired by a stuffed animal horse I have.

Woot! Ruffian poster: finished! Now I can see both my girlies (Ruffian and Black Caviar) every day! I think I did pretty well with it, despite the fact that there were two different pencils involved (can you tell that the bottom part of the horse is light than the top?).

Ooh, yes. These two.
One of my main projects that I look forward to doing someday (but probably will not). The idea started up when I saw this guy released:

This is Brookside Pink Magnum, one of the three ponies that are available in the Breyer line right now. Adorable, isn't he? Well, one day in the middle of the night I kind of had a vision of Pink Magnum in armor. Since then, I've kind of been pretty excited about it (please- nobody steal any of my ideas: especially this one!!). These sketches I made months ago. There aren't any more (but there soon will be... persistence is key... even if it isn't the best idea...).
Anyways, yeah. I guess cute pink ponies (it's not actually pink, just strawberry roan) in full battle armor pretty much show that I can SUCH weird ideas (like writing about how being a unicorn is very stressful, since everybody gets how they look wrong- I wrote that one in class... the unicorn was complaining about the tooth fairy! I couldn't help it!).
Anyways, no matter how much I might crave making full battle armor for some horse, I will not (battle armor wouldn't work on Kripton because of his mane and Dylan just isn't what I'm imagining... and no, I'm hoping not to get a cute pink pony, despite the fact it is very tempting! Cute pink ponies... now you've got me started...).
Anyways, moving on...

Miss Kitty is almost finished! Just need to get the couch behind her done (yeah, I changed the scene behind, I thought the couch was MUCH better).
"Hey, I just met you..."- current music I'm listening to right now. Pandora is awesome :)

Alright, since I can't seem to find any more drawings I will move on to this: my new War Horse posters! Thank you, grandma! They are awesome! If you've never heard of it, it's a book, the movie was in the theatre a few months back (I think) and there is also a whole theatre production (like live, not a movie). These posters are for the play, since they use puppets in it (they can't exactly use real horses on stage, and it isn't much of a totally equine show). Oh, I found out about this a few months ago (via CMM), but these posters are amazing! They explain the puppets in so much more depth than the videos, and it's also just nice being able to see them on my wall (actually, they aren't there because the sticky notes can't take the pressure, but I'll find the way!). Just as a random fact, I know they were made somewhere in Africa (I forget if it says that on the article, but it definitely is in some video).

Since there's nothing else, I present to you my newly completed arabian halter set! I made it in an all-time-record of three days (two really, because the second day I didn't touch it), and it is pretty cool! The sides of the halter have a double layer of tassels and the breast plate has a triple layer. Pretty cool, ey (I looked up references and stuff and made a relatively simple one, because there is no throat strap- or is it still latch on halters?)?
Alright, let me find a quick random picture...

I SO want to draw this. It's awesome. Especially the mane and tail (If only you could see more of the mane- I have strange favorite parts of horses: my favorite Kripton part is his Rump, Miranda's her back leg that is put down, and Idocus... either his face marking or tail) :)
That is the end, next post I will have a whole collection of seven pictures for you to judge which one is most like me (I would have done it today, except I'm on the wrong computer and I'm too lazy to go through the whole Traditional mold section again- that's a hint of what's to come)! And yes, I actually do want feedback!

Pictures for You!!

This post... basically a random collection of pictures that I have either found in my sketchbook, the wardrobe, or the internet (A.K.A. the random picture).
I will start with the one that has to do with my stories (and that was taken on my wardrobe- check!):

Explanation: I am constantly thinking that my stories are going to be made into movies (and they haven't even been written! Don't worry, I know I probably won't even get them PUBLISHED *I roll eyes*), and of course movies have to have tons of music. So whenever I hear a song that I relate to one of my stories (or some other random story), I have to write it down. The urge is really annoying sometimes, because it happens everywhere (in school, at home, in the car), and often I don't have a pencil or paper to write it down. So anyways (yes, they're under my big special Black Caviar poster, which my dad actually got from the newspaper). Yes, I have one sticky not for Idhun's Memories (actually three, I don't remember why), and another for Percy Jackson (that one actually got started today...).
Alright... sketchbook stuff!

This one actually isn't in the sketchbook, but I'm showing it to you because I finished it like a month or two ago and never showed you. I really wasn't trying very hard (it's just a draft for the actual painting, I promise, it'll look SO MUCH BETTER when I've painted it), I've just got the basic colors done (although, I do need to try to do the hair again, I wanted it to be a very light brown, like tan, but right now it's a mixture of brown and yellow. Sigh). I wonder when I'll get to actually painting the canvas (NEVER, I say! Nope, probably just a few months)?

This is the first drawing of the what I came to call "Awkward Horses" series. There are only two in it, from last year. I might have to draw more...
This one is called "Windswept". Guess why (by the way, he isn't going up a hill, I just took the picture crooked to get the tail in).

This one is called "Pegasus Can't Fly". I was actually just looking at the dates on these drawings, and it said 2012, so I guess I did these very early 2012. I remember doing them on an airplane, though, so... hmm. Again, guess why it's called that (oh, you can't see this very well, but the pegasus actually does have its mouth tilted down... you can see it if you look closely).
I was just looking around, and I found this drawing too:
(look to next picture) This is Kiki, the Unicorn from No Normal Horses. In all my drafts her color varies. She is a black in the original, I think she was a grey at some point, and then most recently she's ended up as a shiny dark bay. In her character description I named her a liver chestnut, because she looked more liver chestnut than dark bay to me. But then, just now, I see this picture: Her as a unicorn, literally a blue roan. So why don't I make her a blue roan? I'll add a bit more color to her, and she was a grey once, right(blue roans are basically a grey coloring with mixed white hairs)? So why not make her a grey again? I don't know. All I do know is that I like both colors, but have no idea which to pick. So... I guess I'll give you color samples:

At the top is a liver chestnut, which, in my opinion, is more vibrant and colorful, but that isn't actually as interesting as a blue roan. So- imagine Kiki as a unicorn (AND a horse, mind you), and tell me which one you think is best. I'll probably end up making a decision myself, but feedback would be GREAT (since this is supposed to be a book I'm supposed to try to publish someday, maybe for the little kids, who knows, it's a bit cheesy)!

Last but not least, this is a drawing I drew on some airplane last year. I don't know if this happened last year too, or if I just made it up today, but I nicknamed him "Ares". He has no other name. I named him that because he strikes me as a bit evil... it's either the eye or the kind of lightning- ish marking right on it. A flight attendant actually saw it and showed it to another flight attendant (apparently they liked it, and so do I)! Anyways, I also love the detail in the background (notice the wind! I need to do that again sometime!). Okay, one quick random picture:

I picked it up at the beginning of the year, while randomly browsing pictures. I quite like it (the only reason I have it is because I like it).

An Update for my Followers (A.K.A. You)

Umm... school. Our integrated subject for this term is to study a country that is close to Australia (preferably somewhere in Asia). I don't know what country I want to do yet, but out of the countries I've seen so far, China looks the most interesting (communism, wrapping up their feet {yes, that's illegal now}, revolutions, etc.), but I'll probably be going for another country (no idea). We just finished our algebra unit in math, I finished reading Alice in Wonderland for reading. For writing I have written quite a few poems, of which I only really like one a lot: it is about the sun... basically it's about the sun talking about himself, talking about how he's "hot". Yeah. "Hot". One of my teachers liked it so much she made me share to the whole entire unit (but she still hasn't gotten to photocopying it after a week...). That's probably the only poem I've written in my whole entire life that I've really liked. A haiku:
I love horses lots
They come in different colors
My favorite's the spots
Yeah, that was made up on the spot (took one minute). Yeah, that kind of sucked. Anyways, we aren't even doing haikus (those are so short, you don't get to say anything!), we're doing free verse.
There's more stuff for school, but who cares? I'm sure you don't (that is meant for the general audience, there are a few exceptions).
I'll just get to other stuff. First:

That is the face of a lady named "Sersi". She's from the Marvel comic books. My friend (Gingersnap) and I were just randomly looking in her character book, and this face pops up... we crack up. A lot. I mean, seriously! She's about to throw a ball of who knows what at someone and she makes that face? Okay, I admit it, I'd be pretty scared. I guess I wouldn't crack up.
As for my art, I haven't done any this week. Miss Kitty needs finishing. So does my dear Ruffian poster (this is taking literally MONTHS). It really sucks because I want to draw so much stuff... Luke from my story, two horse faces in an epic picture, some artist resins, some rodeo pictures, a kitten, and who knows what else (I do, but I don't want to list it all)! Okay, I lied. I drew this girl:

That's Katrina, from my story. She's pretty good... except for the fact her shoulder's too high, her hair is a bit weird, and she's a bit too old. Oh well. Her sword says "Mars Est Scriptor Eligitur Unum" which means "Mars's Chosen One" in Latin (that gives away a bit... meh). I'm not going to tell you why it's in Latin. It'll just give away more (hihi, I'm evil!)
That's the only drawing. And it isn't even finished. So I haven't been very artsy this week...
What I HAVE been is writey? Authory? My point is, I've been working on my stories. So far I have completely planned out Katrina (problems, solutions, settings, and characters, and on a separate note I have actually like written down every single even that's going to happen in the story... a lot), answered some very important questions about Olympus and Camp Half- Blood (I seriously have to come up with a new name, since it's kind of Copyright), planned out Catrin (new name to be chosen as well, why do they have to sound the same? Yes, I could change the name, but I like it!), planned out The Story of a Family (just to make it totally clear, I re- read the thing and it needs SO MUCH MORE DETAIL. I can't believe how bad I was just a year ago!), planned out No Normal Horses (the different versions have different names, and even some different events! I had to put every detail together right, although I'm still going to have trouble making it sound not cheesy... that's what happens when you try to keep writing a story you made up when you were 8), and started coming up with questions for the characters (very important part of the story, nope, not telling). I still need to come up with four more!! It is so hard trying to come up with questions that the audience won't know the answer to... GROAN.
That's the writing stuff. I'm still kind of annoyed at the fact that this is going to happen all over again next year, though. It is SO frustrating having to re- write whole stories (or just writing them in the first place). Anyways, my ranking of my priorities:
1. Katrina
2.No Normal Horses
3. Catrin
4. The Story of a Family
I honestly don't know why No Normal Horses is so important to me. It just IS. So I just have to keep working on it. I honestly think that part of the reason I've started up again is that I've read the Percy Jackson series (OMG, read it RIGHT NOW!!) and I'm reading The Heroes of Olympus (the series after Percy Jackson, really annoyed that there are still two more books that won't be released until 2013 and 2014!). Another reason could be that I've found my two favorite authors' websites and read them through. Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson) said that when he wrote the first book he published the book actually like forced him to write it- like he couldn't stop! I also saw that Laura Gallego Garcia is working on several books at a time, so... I might be on the right track! And by the way, I have finally found my favorite books of all time. I've always said to people that I don't know what books are my favorites, but now I do! The best books of all time: Idhun's Memories! They are three huge books that took me like a whole month to read- but they were SO worth it! They are by Laura Gallego Garcia, and I read them in the original Spanish (but since most of you can't do that, just read them in English!). Read them. Seriously. READ THEM. Even if that means that you don't read Percy Jackson. Yeah, seriously.
And then I guess you guessed that the second best books of all time are the Percy Jackson ones. Seriously. Read those too.
Other updates... Halloween costumes.
I'll tell you about mine. First I was going to be Voldemort (or, as some might call me {and I made this up}: Voldemorta), then I was going to be a random medieval person (like last year), and then I was going to be a bird woman. I finally settled on being a reporter from medieval times, which means I wear a cape and carry around a magic wand as a microphone. How did I come up with this idea? Well, one of my friends and I have gotten into the habit of running around at playtime, screaming "OH MY GOD!! IT'S A PURPLE PLATYPUS!!" (or something of the sort) in heavy english accents. Basically, we are imitating those shows where the guys like go searching for wild animals, or like Survivor. Anyways, it's hilarious, we like, and we're going to be it for Halloween! She's going to be a modern day reporter, and when we go trick- or- treating we're going to scream "OH MY GOD!! IT'S A _______" and then say trick or treat. Then we're going to run away, screaming "OH MY GOD!! IT TRIED TO KILL US!! (because every single creature on our show is poisonous, including the pink and yellow striped zebras), leaving the poor candy- giver standing on their doorstep, completely confused as to what has happened. I love the idea.
I am also going to make a little costume for Dylan (his name was almost "My Little Ghost", so guess!). I seriously need to get a move on, though. Oh well. I think I'll get it done.
I have also re- named some horses (like their show names, not their stable names- those never change). Dylan is now Chasing the Sun (after the song, because it has vampires in the music video, he is a palomino, and I've had it stuck in my head for more than 24 hours. Seriously.), and Idocus is Here Comes the Sun. No, I didn't mean for them to both have "sun" in them. I named Idocus after the song. I figured that since he brings me so much happiness he needs a name worthy of it- I just hadn't found the right one till yesterday. So. Last thing (basically the random picture multiplied by 5):

 This girl: amazing photographer. These are her best images. Their names (in order): Wanderers, Slowly Fading Away, Hidden Beauty, Speed of Sound, and Free to Run at Last. Her best ones are probably Speed of Sound and Hidden Beauty.  I'll probably be using Speed of Sound for a drawing (if I ever get to it...)
Oh, and by the way, I say Free to Run at Last is amazing because she made the trees look like they were normal size, and the horse is in amazing focus.

Random Stuff that has Happened Lately

Umm... not much to say. School started Monday, we've started doing school stuff again... the usual.
I was just watching Prank Patrol a few minutes ago... Prank Patrol is a TV show where they find a some kids who want to prank their friends or family or something. Every single time I watch that show, I always think "Hm, it would be awesome if one of MY friends pranked me." Then I proceed to think about how. "It would be awesome if she like pranked me by like having people dress up as characters from the book I'm reading and scare me while I annoy her by reading my book instead of playing with her." Now THAT would be awesome. I wish I could prank myself, but frankly, I can't. So too bad.
I really only have to talk about some projects. First, old ones (that I've finished):

 I always think, whenever I see this, that it is the cutest thing. And look at my reference picture:

I think my version is so much better (so much CUTER). Just keep in mind, this was drawn like when I was eight. Still pretty good, though :)

 This one I drew in the summer of 2011. I was 10, and I think it was RIGHT before I discovered CMM.
(Look down) This one, same thing. It looks like it's like staring at you. Both of them (BTW, these were drawn when I was 10).

 Para mis seguidores Espanoles (for my spanish followers).
(look down) This was most likely my reference picture (it was summer 2011, too, so I don't know).

And everyone will recognize this guy (I hope)!
Anyways, I will show you another photo that I might us for a drawing someday:

(yes, I had to make it bigger- better quality!!) Yes, I never get the drawings done. It is always a constant stream of thinking, not doing. Most of the time.
To prove that point:
Remember these girls?

(look to side) Well, take a look at THIS girl:
Yeah. Same reference. Same person. Just a different age (I think I drew the older one when I was 8 or 9, maybe even 10).
Miss Kitty is not finished. I've still got her whole lower body to do (not to mention the sofa background)! Sometimes when I'm just working on her I stop for a moment and feel really sad. We had to leave her in America when we moved, and then she was put down a few months ago when they had to start force- feeding her. It was for the best, but I do miss her. I've always loved cats. I think cats seem to like me, too (maybe because I try so hard to find them). I'll have to finish her soon (the drawing).
On another note, activity on my stories that I have been writing for the past (4-5 years?) has picked up again. I think my wanting to do things has to do with like warmer weather, because last summer I went crazy at drawing and writing. Now I'm starting to pick it up again (especially the drawing, the writing, not- so- much).
Since I have given the drawing report, I will give the writing report.
I made up a new story like a week ago or something called "Catrin". It might change, and she isn't QUITE the main character, but the story kind of revolves around her (that doesn't make sense, does it? Never mind). Anyways, I won't say anymore than that it is about Mongolian Horses, Pegasi, and something in between.
Next, I FINALLY made up a plan for "Katrina" (that is why I am trying to figure out a new name for the other story, you know, "Catrin", and "Katrina"). I got stuck in the middle of writing it last year because I had no idea what to do at the end, and how that would affect the rest of the story. I finally decided. It doesn't really affect the beginning of the book, but the end part is caused by her... well, death. Luke solves the rest (you have no idea what I'm talking about, but I'm not going to explain). Poor guy. It is pretty tragic (not just because of that, but because of the way WAY end. Nope. No explanation).
Extra info on Katrina: it is basically based on the Percy Jackson series (read it right now), except I have some different ideas on gods and how many there are and about monsters. I also named Katrina after hurricane Katrina. No, I don't know how I came up with that. But I think it's a good idea (and also because the name Katrina means "pure"... I don't really know how it fits her, but anyways, I just have the feeling it does). Katrina's probably my most complicated story of them all (although Catrin might be a rival for that award).
And then of course I have "No Normal Horses". That one started way back in '08. I was 7. Since then, I have developed five different copies (one of them is unfinished- and it won't get finished- but still), and I'm still aiming for more. I have always wondered, how do writers know when their stories are ready to go to the editor? I mean, my case is that every single time I have finished this story I have thought, oh, this is it! But then the next year I say "Oh, this sounds so childish and cheesy, I have to fix it!" So I'm going to try to re- write it (for the fifth time) and see how I do. Next year I'll probably come back to it. Anyways, what I have been working on for this story is the questions that are asked of the magical horses (three for each, this story used to be called "The Three Steps"). So far I have come up with three, one for each. I think they're okay (the thinking behind them might sway the crowd to a different answer than the one they think), but I can't think of anything else (and believe me, I tried for like a whole half hour today). I am also thinking of writing a plan, getting it all straight. You want  to know how this story was inspired?
I remember reading this book called something "Monkey" something, "Monkey Do". The main character was named Ruby, and somehow that name immediately got me started on a story about magical horses. Don't ask. But anyways, in one of my versions it was dedicated to Peggy Rathman, the author of this book. One of my theories of how it was inspired is this:
(look down) This is Starlight. She is a little pony I got as a gift for something in preschool (I remember taking her out of my little cubby- she was in a purple bag, and from some boy with dark hair). I don't know if she actually inspired part of the story (remember, this is a theory), but one of the magical horses in the story is a sparkly one. Originally I called them "Fireworks", but then I settled with "Magic Horses". Anyways, a few days ago I just randomly picked her up and took her little blanket off, and then I have the sudden realization that she could have shaped part of my story! Then I shall go to the next phase of inspiration:

This is Googie. He is a Webkinz grey arabian.
There is also the Magic Horse in my story. His name is Googie. He is a sparkly grey.
Yeah. I don't know if I had his color settled before I got this boy, but after I got him it was official: Googie is the grey sparkly magic horse, a dapple grey in normal horse form. Over the years the other characters' names have changed (from Starburst to Royce, from something to Kik, etc.), but this guy's has stayed firm. Even Ruby's slipped a bit (I don't know how, but when I read that today I was not very happy with my ten- year- old self). Anyways, this story has a pretty crazy history. I literally forgot it for two years and then wrote it again without realizing that I had an original copy. When I finally did, a year had already passed. I seriously have no clue how it survived (and no, it wasn't Googie, I got him when I started writing again, and no, it wasn't Starlight because I only realized her possible role in this story a few days ago). It's pretty awesome, though. It's like it was meant to be.
I'll get on to the last story: The Story of a Family. This one I wrote last year, and don't have much to change. Just a few touch ups here and there. Definitely more detail in the fighting scene. My friends and I actually tried to make a series out of it (for Youtube after CMM). Sadly we only got to finish the first episode, but it wasn't TOO bad (okay, maybe it was. I sounded TERRIBLE). So that's about it for that story.
List of Inspirations (in order of story appearance in my life):
No Normal Horses (first named "The Lost Magical Horses"): Peggy Rathman's book, possibly Starlight, and Googie.
Katrina: The Percy Jackson series, and possibly hurricane Katrina.
The Story of a Family: My first, original four model horses.
Catrin: Two Schleichs and a Papo (more horses).
So yeah. Sorry about the long ramble on my stories (I would like to be a published author someday, and even if I'm not, just have some really good stories with some really good illustrations- I'm SO looking forward to drawing Katrina soon)!