30 March, 2011

Writing & Designing...

...do you know how hard both are, if circumstances are right?

Writing:
- I still - STILL - still - have not decided my book heroine's name yet. I like Sarah, Naomi, Hazel and Miranda (and why? They're pretty unique, and I want something that will stand out). The book would probably have begun if MY name weren't Hannah, because HER name would have been. I am kind of tired of Kathryn for her name, so I just don't think that's her name. I know what she looks like. I just don't know her name.

- Having searched again and again and again for girls' names from the 1800s, I couldn't find any that I really was drawn to and loved. Again, I love Sarah, Naomi, Hazel, Naomi...but I can't find one I like. I'm so particular. *sigh*

- I have some things to be grateful for, though: I have her siblings slowly being put together. Yet I still need to do her mother, father, friends from that one-room schoolhouse... *sigh* I just can imagine all the research that will go into a book that I may not publish for forever, possibly until before or after college.

- Sometimes I feel discouraged about writing a book. How many books have been written about a girl growing up in the wild, unsettled Texas prairie in the 1800s teens, when Texas wasn't even an independent country? How many people chose to write something like that? The answer is that quite a many DO write about something similiar to that. So that's why I'm discouraged.

And here's something funny about me and my writing: when I start writing, it's really good, and then it slowly starts to get worse and worse until it's dull and boring. I've gotten better about this and can make it for several pages without letting the majority of things down. But I still need to work on that a lot more in order to make my writing read-able (not like I'm scribbling all over paper when I write and never use spell check. I don't have to use spell check all the time, but I almost always do just to make sure).

- Britt Nicole, my favorite singer (I have, literally, every single song she's sung on my playlist), said this in her song "Say it" from 2005: "The clocks on my wall keep ticking; the moments that I keep missing..." And then later on in the song, "I've got so much to discover..." That's true! I have so much to discover. The clock on my desk does keep...changing...it's a digitial clock, but whatever! XD

And when that happens, what do I do? Well, I try to talk to God and ask Him to help me through this and try to let me NOT be discouraged, to give me inspiration so I can crank out a lot.

Then I sit down and work on what I can. Additions to what her lifestyle says about her and what it's like. Her siblings...her sister(s), brothers. How they annoy her and how they make her feel better.

But I never get major work done on her.

That's what I'd like to do today. I know I just really have to pick a name and go with it - I can always replace it with a name I like better later on. :-)

(Sorry for this long, long entry about writing...)


Designing:

- I FINALLY figured out how to make a background, and it looks horrendous (I had to draw in the middle instead of fill it), but it worked. It worked! :-D I made it with GIMP (actually I have GIMP 2, basically the same;) ), which is also known as "the Free Photoshop." It is MUCH like Photoshop, and I am utterly amazed at what I can do with it!!

A somewhat dark photo became absolutely gorgeous. Backgrounds were created.
(Honestly...I scanned in a bunch of textured, colorful fabrics and scanned them into our computer for the background contents. But they worked!!)


Aaah. Well, I suppose I should finish this post up now. Since it's been so long. ;-)

Have a lovely evening! :-)

In Christ,

~Hannah~

28 March, 2011

Last Day to Enter My Giveaway!!

(Sorry for the (kinda) horrible exposure on the photo!)

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway. So if you would like to enter, this is the last day. Two winners will recieve the handbag above each. (I'll send out two handbags, for clarification, to the two winners.) The winner will be either drawn from a bowl randomly or will be picked by "Random.com" or whatever it is. ;-)

So, if you would like to enter, you can HERE, and please read the rules. Thank you so much!

In Christ,
Hannah

21 March, 2011

ten tips on how to gain comments+followers

Have you ever visited a blog that just annoyed you? Every post is either too silly or too serious. The design is so ugly it hurts your eyes. The grammar is awful.

Here are ten tips for you guys. And by the way, I am no pro. This is just what I have learned in my experience. :)

{001} don't be too serious. I hate it when I go to a blog and I see all of these posts that imply that the writer is meditating, pondering, and walking around with a straight face 24/7. There isn't one exclamation point or a smile in the whole post. If you're posting too seriously, or with one funny thing every ten posts, do please start adding more humor.

{002} beware of perfection! This sort of goes along with the above tip. Don't ever aim for a perfect post, perfect writing skills, perfect design...It will get you nowhere. I hate blogs that have nothing but "I want to be perfect" written all over them. It's rather sickening once you've thought about it a while...No one's life is perfect. No one's life is even close to perfect. And here some people are, blogging and pretending that they and their lives and everything else is perfect.

I don't mean to belabor this point, but look, if you're not going to post about all of the perfect moments in your life, it doesn't mean your posts have to be gloomy and depressing. It doesn't mean your blog has to contain garbage. Just be real and be yourself. Don't be afraid to express your thoughts, but at the same time, be nice...And remember, your blog should not be just like your journal. Some things going on in your life should be kept to yourself. Because once you post something, the whole world can see it! (Unless your blog is one the private setting.) Imagine your blog post being all over the news. Would you want people to see it then?


{003} avoid word verification. Readers hate trying to figure out what all those gnarled, strange letters mean and then typing them out. Stick to just moderation! Just go to your blogger dashboard >> settings >> comments >> and then select "no" for word verification and "yes" for comment moderation. If you're wondering what moderation does for you, you must view and approve of every comment before you decide if you want to publish it or not. No comment is published before you look at it.

{004} choose the right layout. STAY AWAY FROM THE TEMPLATE DESIGNER! I know that the designs are so tempting to switch to because 1) they're easy to manage and 2) everyone else has them. However, have you ever noticed how the scrolling is funny on blogs designed with the template designer? And all of the designs to pick from are very unnatractive. Plus, you get some things taken away from you with the Template Designer. So please, just use the Minima template, okay? And if you ever need help with something smaller, you could email me and I could try to help you out. (note the TRY)

Keep your design fresh and clean. Try to spruce it up every once in a while. I prefer no background on my design (usually), but it's alright if you add a background to your blog, of course! Just make sure it's not super cluttered, nor too dark or too light. You don't need to take your readers' attention away from your posts. Make your posting and sidebar background white, or some other very subtle color. And if anything is too dark, please don't use it!

One of my biggest pet peeves is coming to a blog and seeing nothing in the design matching. Please match everything in your design, okay?? Thank you!

One last thing...Be you when it comes to designing your blog. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is copying someone else's style while designing your blog. It's okay to get inspiration, but if you want your design to prosper, stick to your own style!

{005} don't be boring. If you want to gain comments and followers, don't be boring or drag on and on so all the person reading your post sees is words! Add pictures to break up the text. (Like, if you can, add something other than pictures of flowers. Come on, people! Think outside the box! ;))

So say everything you need to say, and don't add any useless junk or ramblings to your posts. Give your readers quality work! Your readers will thank you.

{006} please don't hurt my ears! I hate it when I go to a blog and music starts playing super loud. If you want to make people leave your blog immediately when they come visit...Putting automatically playing music on your blog is exactly the way to do it.

If you really want music on your blog, you can still add it! Just make sure only your readers can turn it on (not off) if they want to. Because your taste in music is probably going to differ from your readers' taste in music.

{007} catch people's attention in your posts. A few examples are text in different colors (not the whole post in color, but you know, just a little pop), strikethrough, bold, and italic settings. There are many more to use, though! Just remember to not take it over-the-top. ;)

{008} don't annoy us with your enthusiasm. Never, ever use more than two exclamation points in one sentence, and don't type in caps all the time, either. It really makes it feel like you're yelling. If you have three sentences in one paragraph, only one should have an exclamation point. Otherwise your sentences look very immature.

If one or more of your posts look something like this...

"AAAAAAAAAAH IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYYAYYAY! I CANT BELIEVE IT, PEEPERS"

...or this...

"Hey peepers! Scroll down to look at the pics taken with my camera Annie if you don't want to read all my ramblings! Okay, so I think I'd like to make a photography blog! It'd be fun to share my photos on it I was thinking... So let me know what you think on that! Actually the blog is up and you can see it by clicking here! But it hasn't been posted on yet!"...and so on.

...or this...

"hey guys,its me alisha.i just wantd to let u no im not postin alot here as u can c, so i wont be posting as much as b4.i will post 1nce a week tho. my old laptop broke and im gettin a new 1. anyway bye!!!!!!!!!!!"

...then, well, think before you write.

{009} pretend there are no such things as comments or followers. Well, it's okay to acknowledge your comments+followers and thank them (aka "thanks so much for forty followers, guys! it means a lot!"), but don't stress about how little you have. Try to, sort of...forget about them. If you do that, followers will start to come, thinking, "Hey! She isn't even worried that she has only forty followers! She's not even whining about it or anything. I think I'll follow her." You'll go from twenty followers to two hundred followers before you know it. I promise.


{010} have fun. Be open to visiting others' blogs, following other blogs, and making new friends through the blogging world. Just enjoy yourself! If you want to make it the best blogging experience ever, it will be the best blogging experience ever. :)

14 March, 2011

New Signature Preview

Haha, I just got a new siggie and am trying it out. ;) Ya like? I'll be giving my not-extremely-rad blog a makeover this summer, so stay tuned; this is a sample of what it'll probably look like. ;D






{ps. I finally figured out to load the image itself into the automatic box! Yipee.} :D

12 March, 2011

Just Ask Me...

If you don't know what I'm talking about - I don't know how long this will last. I'll have to think about it and come back and edit the post (so keep checking my blog and this post after you read it, please!). But anyway, um...

Well, I've been seeing a lot of bloggers doing this lately. It's, obviously, when people ask them questions and they do a post answering lots of questions. Once some of them have lots of questions built up, they set up an FAQ page and post all of those questions and their answers there. That is all what I am going to to. :)

So, here's a few example questions to encourage you.

How long has your blog been in existence? Well, I don't know exactly, but almost a year. In about a month it will have been a year. :)
How old are you? Well, due to a personal reason, I am no longer giving out my age online. I'm sorry, but I can assure you that I'm in between the ages 8-15. And my bday is coming up soon. On the 12th of May. :D
How many dolls do you have? Fifteen, I'm almost certain, including an American Girl Bitty Baby doll. I've been collecting since I was pretty young, and for years now, and so my collection has just built up.

So, I hope those questions help! If you have ANY questions (that are not personal, please), oh please, feel free to leave a comment or email me at dolldreaming@aol.com. Thanks! :)

~ Love,
Hannah

ps. Sorry this is my second post of the day. Just wanted to make a fun post since I am bored and wanted to get this over with before I forgot in the morning. ;)

pps. I know this is super random...but lately I've been listening to Owl City a lot, and I love that music. Wow, I never listened to it that much because I was busy trying out Britt Nicole and Barlowgirl, etc. XD (Not **major** celebrities, but hey, who cares? They're still great!)

EDIT: All of your questions will NOT be answered in comment form. Go to the new FAQ page next to my followers widget to see the first two questions answered! Thank you. ;)
Also, the deadline for this is April 20th. I know that may be a long time, but I'd like to keep this going for a while. ;) Thanks for reading!

Extended Deadline for my Giveaway

Just a quick update - since I don't have many entries on my giveaway, yesterday I extended its deadline to the 28th. PLEASE try to enter before the 28th, stating, if you're under 18, that you have a parent's permission, and your email address (or your parent's email - whatever you are allowed to use). If you comment anonymously, please sign off your comment with a nickname (example: hotdogs25), as well. Thank you. ;)

So, to wrap up this post - please, please try to get your entries in by the 28th of this month (March, of course). It would really mean a lot to me!

~~~~
Thanks,
Hannah

07 March, 2011

Tagged...

I was tagged by Leanna from Loop-De-Loop! ;) Thanks so much for tagging me, Leanna. This is actually the first time I have purposely been tagged, so thank you! :)

It looks like I must produce seven random facts about me, and then I must list seven other folks who I'd like to tag. :D Sounds fun... ;)

1. I used to dance. {And loved it! I'd love to do it again, but I'm starting violin soon.} :)
2. I absolutely HATE spiders. I know, that's babyish, but ever since I touched a tree full of harvestmen spiders {daddy longlegs}, I have hated them even more. *shudder*
3. I love the Series of Unfortunate Events book series! <3 :)
4. I'm a quarter Slovakian, and 3/8 Swedish, but I look pretty Swedish. ;)
5. I never watch TV, unless it's something good, but for some odd reason I am not one to plop down on the couch and surf channels. ;) I didn't mean it if that caused offense. ;D
6. I love music; any soft rock, rock, pop, classical, gospel, etc. {Sometimes I'll listen to country, but it's not every day...}
7. I play Super Mario Bros on the Wii with my brother almost every day. :D I know, it sounds wacky, but that game is pretty addicting. ;)

Well, that's 'bout it! I tag:

1. Carolyn @ Snow Globes in my Wardrobe
2. Quinlyn @ Quinny & Co.
3. Hannie @ Irishgirl
4. Jasmine @ Dancing on Clouds
5. Hannah at American Girl Fun (aka AG Fun)
6. Gabrielle at Swiss Miss Lotti
7. Sammy at Saved by Grace

So that's all for now... :) Thanks again for for the tag, Leanna!

Have a great night, girls. ;)

05 March, 2011

Deadline for my Giveaway...

I'm so sorry that I forgot to post the deadline for my giveaway! :/ You have until March 10th to enter; I will be giving away two handbags to two lucky winners! :)
I really, really hope that y'all will enter (sorry if that sounded hick-ish, but, well, I am southern *insert grin and wink*)! And believe me; I do not talk like a hick. Okay? Thanks. ;)

Last time I had a giveaway, I had four entrants, so more entrants are appreciated greatly. Thank you so much!

In Christ,
Hannah

EDIT: You can enter my giveaway HERE. Please read all the details. Thanks:)

04 March, 2011

Lots of Miscellanious...

 Spring break is almost here. Next Friday, we will be free of homeschooling for a week! I can't wait. :)
 Bokeh...I love out-of-focus shots.
 Anyway, I thought I'd show you a few books I'm reading (most of them from the library).

Number one is "Elsie's Tender Mercies". I still need to read (or get my hands on, since I only half of the beginning of book number five) book numbers five and six, but I knew who Elsie married in the fifth book and decided to read the seventh. I also knew what children she had, having read the first Violet Travilla book in this series, so this one basically was not a spoiler. I was just tired of waiting for the fifth and sixth books to come...
 Back view.
For all of you Elsie lovers, did you know she had a website?! ;) I'm really excited about it, since I'm a major Elsie Dinsmore fan/lover.
Check out the A Life of Faith website here and the Elsie website here. ;)
Then I got "Millie's Faithful Heart." I've read it before, but just like with Elsie's case, I still haven't found Millie's fifth book yet. And this book is a major cliffhanger, sadly. I'm really wanting to know what happens next!
 Then I got "Life in a Log Cabin: the Texas Frontier" by Helen Moss. It's a bit basic, but still helpful for my writing about Texas in the early 1800's.
(I also found out something neat yesterday (or took pictures of it; I knew it was there for a while) and posted about it on my Picasa here. Please check it out; I'd love it if you could!)
Also, a few days ago I went for a walk just about ten minutes before the sunset. It was a little cold, but still very beautiful, and I got some shots of the sunset, which was all oranges and yellows. ;) I love sunsets...

I included a photo of the sunset in this post, by the way. Just so you'd know. ;)
 
 I also recently just got a book published in '91, "How to Write a Children's Book and Get it Published." I found out a LOT about what exactly a children's book IS. (Not that I didn't know what one was, but I just got lots of information about what children, young or old, appreciate in a children's book!)

The author explained what a children's book can vary to and from - it can be a bright, colorful picture book or a fat mystery (one of my favorite kinds of books; hehe, I love the fat ones!).

Anyway, the book itself is very good so far and I'm very pleased with it.
As for the last photo of this relatively (or really) long post...it's that promised photo of the sunset. It looks a lot brighter than it actually was - it was actually pretty dark outside - but it still kept things almost exactly as they were.

Have a great weekend, readers! ;)

02 March, 2011

picasa 3.8 and some paint (?!)

This is something I made about ten minutes ago (on Picasa 3.8) for a new doll story, in case I get a new American Girl/other brand doll soon. ;) I really love it...

I love Picasa. It's kinda amateur, but it's not at all hard to figure out, which I love.

Also, I just downloaded a new program onto our laptop called Paint.net. I was trying to make a background, but just couldn't. It's tough. Well, when you're a beginner, of course.

In fact, the next time we all go to a bookstore I'll take a look at a book on HTML or two. I understand the very basic HTML, but nothing really amazing. You get the idea.

I'd better wrap this post up by now...it was all pretty boring, wasn't it? Sorry. =P