[Day 281] Housekeeping in Paris

I’m taking a quick writing break, because I have a feeling I’m going to be writing for a while today, and I decided to get some housekeeping done. In writing news, since Thursday, I’ve written 2749 words, which amounts to about eight pages. That doesn’t sound like much at first, but if you’re a writer, you know that it’s pretty good. Especially when the project this is being added to has been on pause for several weeks. Like I tweeted… I am NEVER leaving.

The other thing that I wanted to touch on (I guess I don’t have that much housekeeping) is a weekly newsletter. I used to do them, back in like 2006, but I was really bad about upkeeping them and they were really strange. Here’s an example:

Subscribers! Yay! I would like to say thanks once more for visiting the site and supporting it. I appreciate your interest andI hope I won’t fail you!

Ok, to start off this issue, I’ll tell you what I’ll be including. You’ll find chapter one of my short story “Stories in Fire”, new additions to the site, things coming soon, and my picks for the song, book, and movie of the month! As the newsletter evolves, I’ll be adding more, but that’s it for now!

SITE ADDITIONS:

• Horoscopes!!! Hillarious.
• Trip pics. I’m holding an alligator!!
• New poll- Would you support the cheese? (Say yes)

COMING SOON TO THE SITE:

• Keyboard creations
• Various Ramblings numba five
• More book reviews
• Music prefferences
• More poetry
• IM talk

BOOK OF THE MONTH

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

A must read!!!! 10 stars!!! Check out the review on the site.

SONG OF THE MONTH

Believe by Yellowcard

We think this is about 9/11…if yes tell me. If not…uhhh, correct me.

MOVIE OF THE MONTH

She’s the Man starring Amanda Bynes

Now playing at Carmike Cinemas! I laughed so hard I cried.

CONTESTS:

• Go to “Fantasy Stories” to read the prolouge of “Shadow of a Modern Knight”. Then, using the info I gave in the prolouge, finish the story. I’ll post the best ones and the runners up as I get entries. Include your first name and age.
• Name me! Webmaster Bri is kinda boring, and I already used DA BRISTERS, so help me come up with a better one! I’ll use my favorite one and thank whoever came up with it on the site. You’ll see what I mean if you win. ; )
• Ok, this isn’t really a contest but I am always acepting ideas for improvement on the site. Please be specific! And I would like to thank Rachel, Cody, and Annabelle for they’re input so far!
• Ok, this isn’t really a contest either, but I don’t know what else to call it. Go to “lists” and click on “When Pigs Fly”. I have some things I would do if pigs fly, and now I need yours! Please include your first name and age.

Remember to tell EVERYONE you know about Bri’s Own World! And now, *drum roll* The first chapter of Stories in Fire.

Jamina Gelfast kneeled in front of the hearth with her palms facing the blaze. She was on the hard wood flooring of her bedroom in her three-story manor house. Her surprisingly large room was an astonishing hue of radiant blue, like that of her eyes. The room over-looked the blooming outside courtyard in the center of her great home. Her eyes were closed for the moment, and she didn’t seem to notice that her copper-colored locks had become free of their pins and strayed into her pale face. She was of average height for a twelve-year-old girl and frightfully thin, though it was not as if she was starved, her over-protective mother saw to that. No, it wasn’t that she was famished; it was that she basically didn’t get any bigger. Her mother almost force-fed her three helpings at every meal, but Jami’s body refused to endeavor any larger. There was close to no muscle in her body, though her light peach skin was as soft as a dove. Pampered and guarded like royalty, Jami had never seen death, or despair. Her life was simple: go to school, get educated, mind your manners, get a husband, live happily ever after. It was a perfect storybook ending, the only thing she knew, other than mathematics, reading, and writing. Life was good, life was luxurious, but life was dull.

When she opened her eyes to the fire, at first all she saw was the dancing flames of luminous red, soft amber, and profound orange. But then they began to take shape, forming an un-ignorable vision. Then the colors of late fall faded into the colors of the picture, deeper, crimson red, gloomy jade green, and spots of dark navy blue, crusty brown, and other indescribable dyes.

Jamina saw a girl, wearing naught but a non- dyed cloth dress that was much to large for her. She was standing amid a battle well over, with corpses and severed limbs lying in every which direction. Jami even thought she could smell a hint of burned flesh, beginning to rot away.

Felling extremely uncomfortable, Jami tried to turn away from the fire and look at something innocent and soothing, like the fruit bowl on her bedside table. But she found herself unable to look elsewhere, her eyes fixated on the blaze. The apparition continued:

It closed in until only the girl and a dead man were left to be seen. The girl had hard and callused hands showing years of severe, and most likely unfair and strenuous, labor. There were tears trickling down her mud sodden face, framed with dirty dishwasher-blonde hair at shoulder length that was straighter than most. “Brother!” she sobbed, her words nearly unrecognizable. “No! Who would do this?” She lifted her apron to her eyes, and continued to cry. “No, no, this can’t happen!” Why couldn’t she be like a noble girl, with no problems and protection? She ran inside a battered lean-to and curled up in a corner as the clouds tucked in and thunder roared murderously. Just before her head disappeared into the folds of the dress, Jami realized who she was looking at. It was Tikimala Joharra, current goat-herder and kitchen worker in her home.

Comment me on the welcome page for how you liked it!

Thanks again for subscribing! Until nest week,

WEBMASTER BRI

This was the first newsletter I ever sent out. I think that there were maybe four or five people on the list of subscribers, and you can see why these little things didn’t last very long. I got to week 13 and then gave up. I think I was pretty upset that no one but my dad responded to the stupid little contests I had (eventually I started taking really close-up pictures of things for people to guess what they were). But I’m going to try and update this stuff.

For example, if you were to get the newsletter (which I would send out Sundays at a predetermined time), I would give you a quick overview of the week with a quote from each blog for the days of the week. Then I would have a little list of “works in progress” for an update on my writing and on blogs-coming-soon. There would also be other site updates, other websites or blogs that I found interesting, and a song of the week. There would also be exclusive content (maybe sections of one of my other books?) available only for the subscribers of my newsletter.

If you would be interested in this, leave me a comment. I need 15 people to subscribe before I do it. Once I get enough interest, I’ll have you all email me with the email you want the newsletter to be delivered to and I’ll start.