In Word

You are a brilliant writer.

Reading Black, Red, and White, I was (and am) astounded at your ability to weave a compelling plot, create a plethora of flesh and blood characters, and bring it all together in such a way that the reader never stops to realize it’s nothing more than words on paper.  You communicate clearly, beautifully, creatively.  That’s amazing, and I love it.

So I read Green.

Maybe I missed the memo.  Because I wasn’t aware that Green would be “Twilight meets the Circle Trilogy.”

I don’t appreciate an excess of blood and gore, when as much could be accomplished via other means.  I don’t appreciate sappy romances between a human and—oh, speaking of which, I also don’t appreciate your efforts to include the descendants of Alucard. I’m not a normal seventeen year old.  I don’t have a crush on Edward Cullen and I don’t want to read about his relatives.

It doesn’t really matter to me if Green is yet another literary masterpiece.  I was disappointed not with the writing, but with the slow closing of the gap between the Circle books and modern fiction junk.  Don’t cater to the Twilight crowd.  I’ve read plenty of good books that manage to get by without the inclusion of a vampire.

Sincerely,

Beth Maisano

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I’m impressed with y’all.  Somehow, I can ignore the existence of bethmaisano.com for more than a week, but y’all manage to keep the average unique visitors per day right around 24.  (Should I be worried?  Have you nothing better to do?)

News in the Life of Beth:

• Remember the photo contest from…three posts ago?  I ended up winning the junior division.  Happy day!
• Toni’s back from Colorado, where she was attending a photography workshop.  She knows more than I do about her camera now.
• My big brother is $500 richer after winning the film contest (below).
• I’m reading Green by Ted Dekker, also known as Book Zero in the Circle Trilogy.  Cool stuff.
• ARC is consuming my life.
• Actually, the above is an exaggeration.  ARC is only dominating my schedule and monopolizing my time and a bunch of other big cool words like that.
• I’ve written a little over the past few days—a page and a half into chapter two, draft 9.  (The number looks big, even though very few of those drafts were anywhere near completed.)
• It’s fall!  Words cannot express how much I love this time of year.  It’s just…perfection.

And now that you’re up to date on the goings on around here, you are dismissed.  Thanks for reading.

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Hello, all you faithful readers!  In return for all the fabulous content around here lately (hey, no comments on that, please), I’ve got a small favor to ask.  Due to the fact that I don’t like long explanations and there’s already one written up elsewhere, I’ll give you the Brief Overview:

I have a geeky and talented big brother.  He made a movie for a film contest, and is now in the top three finalists.  Your votes determine the winner, and I’m sure there’d be many happy people if you’d take a minute to rate the video five stars.

Vote by logging into your YouTube account and viewing this video. Rate the video five stars, and if you’d like, leave a comment informing the world how perfectly awesome it is.

Easy, no?  Check out more details here.  Many thanks!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnmJBYZfEUs]

(Double click the video to rate)

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Most of you probably didn’t know it, but on Saturday, the world was nearly annihilated by a ninja named Anwar with an evil plot to destroy the ozone layer.   Just thought I’d let you know.  But as you probably guessed, the disaster was prevented by none other than a handful of nerds and soon-to-be-nerds with a knack for arguing.

And that’s pretty much what we did on Saturday.

But aside from saving the world, we also had a fun, exhausting, and even educational experience, teachers and students alike.  Personally, this was the first debate workshop I’ve attended of my own free will.  Two years ago, I was dragged in kicking and screaming.  Last year, I managed to stay home, little knowing that somehow I’d end up debating all season long, anyway.

This year, I wound up teaching people who may or may not be in the same position I was in not so long ago.  Ironic, no?

I had a good time.  Who wouldn’t enjoy eating candy, throwing lego bricks, and talking about killer ninja monkeys?

Well…maybe you shouldn’t answer that question.

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Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.

- Ansel Adams

(Unedited, straight out of the camera.  Hence the crooked horizon lines…still, it bears mentioning that these are all copyrighted by myself.  Thanks!)

Words cannot describe how happy I am to have a big sister willing to invest in the camera that took the above photos.  I spent the evening of my birthday at the lake with my family, snapping pictures for a photography contest Toni and I were planning on entering.  We turned in our submissions on Tuesday, and I must say that the cash prize for 1st place is extremely tempting…

On that note, thanks so much to all of you who took the time to comment and leave happy birthday notes!  One of these days, I will overcome my bad habits of never returning said comments.  Really.

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