Top Three Movies to Look Forward to in 2017

As much as I love writing about movies I have already seen, I am excited to look ahead to 2017. There are some great movies coming out that are sure to please fantasy-lovers everywhere.

3. The Lego Batman Movie: I have to confess, I loved The Lego Movie, and what could be better than Lego Batman?  "I only work in black. . . and very, very dark shades of gray."  In theaters in February, this will be a welcome foil to the ubiquitous Valentine's romance movies typically released. Find out more and watch the trailer here.







2. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword: Although this movie isn't rated yet, I am hoping it will be PG-13 (or lower), so we can see it. King Arthur is one of my favorite legends (as you can tell from my bookshelves), so I am looking forward to this May release. Check it out here.

 

1. Beauty and the Beast: Scheduled for release in March, and starring Emma Watson (Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films) and Ewan McGregor, the movie is sure to be gorgeous. Also, Belle is a favorite of many of us here at Lands Uncharted! You can find the trailer and more information at IMDb's site, here.



Which of these movies would you like to see? Are there any other movies you are looking forward to? 

Exciting Changes for Lands Uncharted in 2017!

Happy New Year everyone!!! A few days early :)

It's hard to believe that Lands Uncharted is already celebrating its first anniversary! We've had an amazing year, complete with 180 posts and tens of thousands of pageviews! Many, many thanks to all of you who have come along on this journey with us!

We have a few exciting changes to announce for the New Year. First, you may notice a new name under Author Bios over on the left-hand side. We are so thrilled that Jill (writing as J.M. Hackman), is joining the blog as one of our regular contributors! Jill did an interview with us back in June, and we can't wait to bring her aboard! We hope you'll help us make her feel welcome as she gets started - her first post will be Saturday, January 14th. Find out more about Jill by checking out her bio page or her website, www.jmhackman.com.






Hannah will be stepping down from our regular rotation to make room for Jill, but the fantastic news is that she's staying with us, just in a slightly different capacity. You've probably noticed that Hannah excels at in-depth posts about writing great fantasy, and she's going to start posting every other Friday under a new label: Storytelling Magic. She'll tell you more about her plans for Storytelling Magic in her post this coming Tuesday, January 3rd, and then her first Friday post will be January 13th. We'll continue to feature author news and interviews with guest authors on some of the Fridays Hannah isn't scheduled to post, so make sure to check in every week (or follow the blog by e-mail to get notifications of updates!).



Thank you again for joining us in our fledgling year at Lands Uncharted - we can't wait to continue to share with you in the coming year!


See you next time!
Laurie


P.S. We recently ordered our very first Lands Uncharted bookmarks! Aren't they lovely?? The blog feels so much more official now :)

New Year's Resolutions - 2017 (Laurie)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Last year, one of my very first posts on Lands Uncharted focused on New Year's resolutions, and I thought it would be fun to revisit the topic for 2017. Every New Year I'm shocked that another year is already over, but it's a perfect time to both reflect back and turn a new page for a fresh start.

Looking back at my goals for 2016, my performance was about 50/50. The good news is I did complete my manuscript in time for the contest and conference opportunities I was looking forward to. Yay! The bad news is, after a promising start in which I was jogging on our treadmill several times a week, my resolution to exercise more kind of bit the dust. Oops... :(

For 2017, my primary resolution is to continue to figure out the right balance of writing, author promotion-type activities, reading, family time, and keeping the house relatively in order. After typing that all out, it's no wonder I'm struggling to balance it all!

I also want to put more of a focus on my faith in the coming year. Writing a book with a spiritual theme has been an incredible experience, but I feel I can only continue to grow in my faith and deepen the spiritual threads of future stories by delving deeper. As part of that resolution, I want to incorporate some spiritual reading into my routine, starting with these lovely books I received as Christmas presents.

And maybe I'll try to exercise more again this year, too - you never know, one of these years it might actually happen!


Now it's your turn! How successful were your 2016 New Year's resolutions? What would you like to do differently in 2017?


Thanks for reading!
Laurie


P.S. Lands Uncharted has some exciting plans for the New Year as well...check back tomorrow to find out more!

Skyway to Narnia (Laura)

Photo by Stephen Burgdorf

In fifth grade, I went with my class to the Festival of Nations at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I don't remember much, except that I was dressed up and clinging to my mom. I don't even know why she was there. Maybe I just imagined her. I recall that I kept looking at the floor, so different from the elementary school's. It was a grownup's domain with boring carpeting, endless rooms and many, many feet in fancy shoes. It was a big world.

I didn't know that twenty years later, after moving away from my mom and family to come back to Minnesota, I would be working in Minneapolis and returning to the Convention Center for a writers conference.


During the months leading up to the spring conference, I took walks with coworkers. Every Thursday, our small team had a scheduled meeting, and we started using the time to walk the Minneapolis skyways and talk professional development and opportunities for writers and editors around the Cities. We worked for an academic publication and all secretly (not so secretly) wanted to work with books.


Nearly every day, even now, I walk the skyways on my own. To get hot cocoa, doughnuts, to chat with friends. But mostly just to walk. I stay close and see the same hallways, shops, and escalators all the time. The hour-long team meetings were different. We ventured places I haven't been able to find again even though I've tried. Few others I have accidentally come across, and it felt like stumbling onto a magic time, a special world. Just as it did when I walked with my coworkers--my friends. Lost in our conversations about the pitch conference in town or the next Loft event or what we would do if we got the right break. What that break would look like. In a corporate city, above the busiest business streets, we got lost in the skyways. I got lost. Crossing through semi-hidden passageways that smelled like old buildings and reminded me of Chicago. Over the light rail, with a view of the Municipal Building clock tower and the torn-down stadium. Running through parking garages in subzero temperatures when a skyway abruptly ended. Staring at hotels with grand corridors, stairways, lobbies, restaurants. Bright lighting. And dim lighting over a fireplace the length of a bus.


I don't know where any of those places were, but we found them many times. The accidental background to the world we made when we stepped outside the business tower. Maybe I just imagined them. As we'd walk, I'd look down at the floors. The grownup carpeting. But it was just us in the business hours. Most people were working.


One day we found the Convention Center. I remembered it from my childhood and wanted to find it again on my own, and I tried a couple of times. I even thought I knew where the magic entrance was that opened up a set of paths I never came across in my daily walks. But I was lost from it. I went to what I thought was the right building. I went to the many hallways, but I knew them all. Then I learned about the conference coming to the Convention Center and knew I wanted to find it again. I tried and got further this time but still got lost--stuck halfway in--and could only turn back. Once again my team found it, together. Maybe I'm better at daydreaming than directions, or maybe I just needed my friends to help me find the way.

The day of the conference came, and I had the choice to take the bus a couple blocks from the Convention Center and walk in the rain. Or I could take the bus to my tower--and follow the skyways.


I got off at my usual stop, my heart beating in my throat because it was not a usual day. Instead of taking my normal hallways, I turned the other direction. I found the magic entrance that took me away from my world and into another one, at first fumbling through the rush hour foot traffic. I looked down at the grownup carpeting and the many grownup feet in fancy shoes. I was not with my fifth grade class this time. I was not with my mom. I took a wrong turn. It seemed right because I'd been there with my team. I changed direction and found the way--the one past the pizzeria, the scone shop, and the florist. Through the hotel with the swirled royal blue carpeting with red and gold diamonds on it and the brass conference room door handles. Then, yes, different people, with different shoes that were not so grownup. With book bags. Groups walking together, talking, acknowledging each other. Not with curt nods and handshakes and business voices, but with laughter and chatter and excitement. These were my people. I had found my way.

Later that spring, my team changed, and we never went back to the skyways. We have new adventures now, but I still miss our walks. Just like I miss my mom and sometimes wish she were here to hold my hand when I'm around the grownup shoes.


I will always be grateful to them for giving me the magic skyways.


Have you ever unexpectedly stumbled across a beautiful place and never seemed to be able to find it again?


Laura

Top 3 Christmas Movies (Elizabeth)

Well, it's Christmas Eve, and tomorrow's the big day! The next few hours will be busy with last-minute present shopping, church services, hanging out with family and friends, and maybe a Christmas movie or two! For your convenience on Christmas Eve, I'm posting my top 3 Christmas movie recommendations, from oldest to the latest.

1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

This movie is a classic. If you haven't seen it before, I highly recommend checking it out. In It's a Wonderful Life, we see George grow up as a selfless young man. He loses his hearing in one ear from an illness after saving his little brother from drowning in a freezing lake. Then he's beaten while trying to stop a grieving pharmacist from accidentally giving someone poison. Then he sacrifices his honeymoon to help the townspeople of Bedford Falls. George has always dreamed of traveling outside of his little town, but his duties and sacrifices keep him stuck in the town he can't stand. Fast forward a few years, and George is contemplating suicide. He says he wishes he'd never been born, and his guardian angel grants him his wish, showing him an alternate reality where he doesn't exist.
I remember when I was younger, my siblings and I would often behave worse on Christmas. Little squabbles would become more frequent. It's so easy to focus on what you can get rather than what you already have, which is why this movie is a wonderful reminder to be grateful for what you've been given.

2. Jingle All the Way (1996)

While It's a Wonderful Life is a deeper movie about gratitude, Jingle All the Way is a light-hearted comedy about a man trying to get his son a Turbo Man action figure in time for Christmas. But there's one problem: it's Christmas Eve. Yeah, remember that last-minute shopping I mentioned earlier? Howard is a busy guy, and he's continually absent during his son's best moments. The only thing his son wants for Christmas is a Turbo Man. If he fails to get the toy, his son will be crushed, so he goes head-to-head with a crazy mailman and a gang of Santa Clauses who make counterfeit toys to find his son's Turbo Man.

3. Elf (2003)

Elf is a comedy about Buddy, a man who was raised as an elf. Now, he plunges into the heart of New York city to find his biological father. But there's a problem: humans are weird. They haven't even heard of the four main food groups: syrup, candy corn, candy canes, and candy. While Buddy's family tries to integrate him into their life, he tries to inject their holiday with some Christmas spirit.

Have you seen any of these movies? Of the ones I listed, which are your favorite? What are your favorite Christmas movies or stories?

Have yourself a merry little Christmas!
-Elizabeth Newsom

The Christmas Story (Hannah)

Christmas is just four days away.  It's almost surreal, isn't it?  It is for me.  But in all the excitement, it is so easy to get caught up in the decorations, carols, presents, and "Christmas spirit."  It can be difficult to keep our minds on the real reason we celebrate.

I'm sure you have all heard the Christmas story before.  In fact, this familiarity is often detrimental.  When I hear something I have heard many times before, I stop paying deep attention and forget to focus on what it actually means.  Christmas is often like that.  We know the nativity story so well that we are no longer affected by its power.

This Christmas season, I just want to remind myself and others what we are truly celebrating.  Christmas isn't about some vague "Christmas spirit" of joy and generosity.  It's about the God of the universe who sacrificed the perfection of Heaven to live for 33 years in this pain-filled world.  He was human, and therefore subject to all of the hardships and difficulties we face.  After a miserable life here, He then went even further and allowed Himself to be killed in the most brutal way known to man, all because He loved us so much that He wanted us to be with Him forever.  Then, after three days, he conquered death and rose again in glory.  That is the God we worship this Christmas.

This year, I encourage you to read the Christmas story for yourself.  If you want to go even deeper, there are many prophecies regarding Christ scattered throughout the Old Testament.  Some of these are as familiar as the Christmas story itself, but others aren't so well known.  Here are some passages to read in the next few days as Christmas approaches:

Isaiah 7:14 - "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel."

Isaiah 9:6 - "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Galatians 4:4-5 - "But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we may receive adoption to sonship."

Titus 3:4-7 - "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

And then of course, the Christmas story itself is told in Matthew 1:18-2:12 and Luke 1:5-2:20.  

John 1:1-18 speaks of the "Word" and the "Light," both of which refer to Jesus Christ.  This does not recount the actual events of the first Christmas night, but it covers more fully the true meaning of Christ's birth.  Even though this passage isn't always associated directly with Christmas, I love the perspective it gives.

This year as we celebrate Christmas, please take some time to consider what this holiday is truly about.  I'll leave you with one final verse from Isaiah 9:2 that I think captures the beauty of Christ's birth:

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,

Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined."

What are some of your favorite Christmas verses?  What do you do to help keep your focus on Christ during the craziness of the holiday season?

Thanks for reading!

~ Hannah

On Writing: Favorite Author Pages (Erin)

As many of you know, the writer's life is not limited to madly writing novels. In addition, authors in today's market are expected to have web pages, blogs, and all sorts of social media contacts. Whether you are at the point where you need inspiration to write an author web page, or you are just interested in authors' lives, I wanted to give you my go-to list for author pages.

First of all, since I am always referencing Madeleine L'Engle, you can probably guess I adore her author website. Although L'Engle passed away several years ago, the site is run by her granddaughters.They often post inspiring quotes on Twitter, and their blog is currently keeping me in a heightened state of excitement, as they are continually posting updates regarding the upcoming movie version of A Wrinkle in Time, starring Oprah and Reese Witherspoon. 

In case those reasons aren't compelling enough for you, the lead quote on the web page says,

A book, too, can be a star, explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.                                                                       Madeleine L’Engle  

Need I say more?

Madeleine L'Engle

Another author site and blog I enjoy is Jamie Ford's. Author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, (one of the best non-fantasy books I have read in a long time), Ford shares his writing life, opinions on various topics, and accomplishments. Over time, I hope my author site will be as varied and easy to read as Ford's.

Bittersweet Blog 

I know this isn't a "Top Three" post, but the other blog I look to for inspiration is Adam Gidwitz's author page. The graphics on this page are colorful, interactive and appealing. Gidwitz's books are highlighted, but there is also a link to his "Essays and Articles," where he explains the motivations behind his writing, and gives parents tools for talking to their children about his books, among other topics.

Adam Gidwitz

Do you have an author blog or website yet? Do you follow any authors? Post the link in the comments so we can check them out! 

Attributions:

http://www.adamgidwitz.com/resources/

https://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Corner-Bitter-Sweet-Jamie/dp/0345505344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482205194&sr=8-1&keywords=hotel+on+the+corner+of+bitter+and+sweet

https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100/

Top 3 Lesser-Known Christmas Songs (Laurie)

Last week Hannah shared her Top 3 Christmas Carols. I thought it was a fun topic and wanted to do something along similar lines, but as I considered my favorite Christmas songs I kept circling back to songs that aren't typically played on the radio and may not be traditional hymns sung in most churches. So today, I present my Top 3 Lesser-Known Christmas Songs:

3. Joseph's Song

This song has become a tradition at my parents' church, where we typically go for a Christmas Eve service, and I just love it. It's a beautiful way to consider Joseph's perspective in the Christmas story, this ordinary carpenter who took on the role of Jesus' earthly father.

Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours.
How can a man be father to the Son of God?
Lord, for all my life I've been a simple carpenter.
How can I raise a king? How can I raise a king?

This song has become all the more meaningful to me now that I'm a parent. I've held my own babies in my arms, wondering how God could've entrusted me with this tiny life. How much more overwhelming must it have been for Joseph, entrusted with caring for the Son of God?

You can listen to Michael Card singing Joseph's Song here.


2. Mary, Did You Know?

This is probably the most familiar song of the three I've chosen, but I didn't hear it until I was at least a teenager, and it's always stopped me in my tracks. In a similar vein as Joseph's Song, it considers the perspective of Mary on that very first Christmas. What I love most about this song is how it highlights the incredible mystery of Jesus as both man and God. He was a helpless newborn, cradled in his mother's arms, yet his very birth was an event that changed the world - God coming to earth and taking on human form.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
The sleeping child you're holding is the great "I am."

I get chills just reading the lyrics, then pair it with the haunting melody and it creates one of the most powerful, moving Christmas songs ever written.

My favorite version of Mary, Did You Know? is by Pentatonix - I've watched their video over and over and tear up pretty much every time. See it here.


1. Night of Silence

I don't know if I've mentioned on this blog before that I love to sing. I was in church choirs starting in grade school up until my first son was born, when I suddenly had other, more pressing obligations during church services :) In my middle school / high school church choir, we sang Night of Silence every year on Christmas Eve, and it was always the song I most looked forward to. It was written to be sung along with Silent Night, another one of my favorite Christmas songs, but there was something about the lyrics and the ebbs and flows of the melody that made singing Night of Silence an especially memorable experience for me.

Voice in the distance, call in the night
On wind you enfold us, you speak of the light
Gentle on the ear, you whisper, softly
Rumors of a dawn so embracing
Breathless love awaits darkened souls
Soon will we know of the morning

 I love that the words aren't as directly about the child and animals in the manger but instead reflect the dark, restless state of mankind, in such need of a Savior.

I found a video of this song performed by the St. Olaf Choir, which is perfect since St. Olaf College happens to be my alma mater :) Watch it here.


Are you familiar with any of these songs? What Christmas songs would make your top 3? Are any of your favorites songs that aren't as well-known?


Thanks for reading!
Laurie

Quote Matching, Disney Style (Laura)

Back in June, Erin posted an exciting literary quote contest. Let's try another quote matching game.


In a recent Top 3 post, I shared some of my favorite Disney film lines. Because I love so many of them, here are a few more I didn't get to include. Can you match these quotes with the shows they came from?

A) "Our fate lives within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it." __________


B) "She warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within." __________


C) "Some people are worth melting for." __________


D) "You're braver then you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think." __________


E) "You don't lose hope, Love. If you do, you lose everything." __________


F) "Listen with your heart. You will understand." __________


G) "Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." __________


H) "Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more
than what you have become." __________                                                                     Pocahontas
                                                                                                                                             

I) "Oh, yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it,                                                       The Princess and the Frog
you can either run from it or learn from it." __________                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                          Brave
J) "Fairy tales can come true. You've got to make                                                       
them happen. It all depends on you."  __________                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                          Winnie the Pooh
K) "You think the only people who are people, are
the people who look and think like you. But if you                                                      
walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things                                                   The Lion King
you never knew you never knew." __________
                                                                                                                                           

L) "Even miracles take a little time." __________                                                    Aladdin

M) "Love is putting someone else's needs before yours."                                         Frozen
__________
                                                                                                                                                         Cinderella
N) "Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like                                       
so many things, it is not what is outside but what is inside                                   
that counts." __________                                                                                                  Beauty and the Beast




Attribution
Tiana: http://hero.wikia.com/wiki/Tiana

My Writing Journey (Elizabeth)

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a writer. While this is true, this isn’t where my story begins. My story starts a bit further back. In the 2^nd grade actually.

When I was in the 2^nd grade, being a writer had never crossed my mind. I simply devoured whatever chapter books I could get my hands on and wrote cute, little, terrible stories about bunnies and kites.

Then I began homeschooling. Our initial homeschooling curriculum left much to be desired. In other words, we did two hours of school a day. I spent most of my time reading. If I had a decent-sized chapter book, like Ramona and Beezus, I could finish it in a day. I began working my way through the Little House in the Big Woods series.

When I was 10, I got an itty, bitty laptop for Christmas. It didn’t have any virus protection, and I never figured out how to connect it to the internet, so I just used it to write a smattering of terrible, uncompleted stories that remind me of how far I’ve come. If I’d had any idea how terrible I was, I would’ve stopped. But I didn’t know, so I kept writing. I wrote about DS games, Legos, and evil babies trying to take over the world. The antagonist was a dentist. When I was younger, I’d gone to the dentist and had 13 cavities filled at once. Let’s just say I was a bit salty about that.

Then school slammed me like a pro wrestler. I went through a season where I devoted myself entirely to academics, and the flood of novel reading and writing slowed to a trickle. I had two short story assignments during that time, and they reminded me of how passionately I loved writing.

Once summer, when I was 15, I got hooked on reading again, particularly romance. I’d dabbled in fan fiction a little. I’d tried a Star Wars one, but the idea had fizzled with little results to show for the few chapters I’d written. Then I heard about a fan fiction called Jelsa, Jack Frost and Elsa. I thought that was weird. 

Really weird. 

Jack Frost is 14, and Elsa is 21, though Jack is always older in the fan fictions. I was right: they were quirky. After reading a few fan fictions, I stopped and thought, I can do better than that. A grand total of two Jelsa books, 191,625 words, 1,146 reviews, 217 followers, and 261 story favorites later, I had done better. With the external encouragement from the reviews, I summoned enough motivation to finish my first stories. Throughout fall, I wrote every single day, about two hours per day. When I missed one day, my readers would demand more, so I met those demands. I was thrilled. People actually liked what I’d written, and so did I. Maybe, just maybe, this passion could go somewhere. I decided to get serious about this.

After hours and hours of research over Christmas break on helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com, I’d outlined my first original story. January 2nd, 2015, I published my first chapter. My stomach was twisting in knots all day. I knew people would hate it. Two reviews trickled in. I kept writing.

Then my dad told us we were moving, with three months notice. Both my writing and school were crippled as I spent all day working on the house. During the summer, I finished my book, gaining 530 reviews, 113 favorites, and 141 follows. People liked this story, so I figured I might as well publish it and make some money on the side, right?

During the summer of 2015, I bought a book: Go Teen Writers: How to Turn Your First Draft into a Published Book. If I was going to publish this story myself, it was going to be top-notch. But then I read about traditional publishing, agents, and something entirely foreign and unheard of: writer’s conferences. I didn’t know they’d existed. The book mentioned ACFW, so I thought I’d check it out.

I joined Scribes, where I met Laurie, and eventually migrated to a smaller critique group. While I was on ACFW, I saw that they had a conference coming up. I filled notebooks up with research and information. I rewrote my book before the conference: 90,000 words in twelve days, from beginning to end.

I attended the conference, made connections with agents and writers, learned about the craft, and met Francine Rivers. After leaving the conference, I knew I had to start building my platform: I needed a blog.

The first time the blog Lands Uncharted was ever mentioned was in an email with Laurie, where she said, “If you ever have any interest in doing a group blog in addition to your personal blog, let me know :)” That was in November 2015, and by January 2016, Lands Uncharted officially launched!

I won a free, professionally-designed personal blog from KikaDesign, and it launched officially in February 2016.

I posted the original story again online—this time on WattPad, where I now have 129,000 views, 8,200 likes, and 1,000 comments. During summer, I went to both the Realm Maker’s Conference, which I heard about from writers attending ACFW, and the 2016 ACFW conference.

After getting my editorial review back from Nadine Brandes earlier this year, I had a hunch my manuscript needed some serious overhaul. It was lacking a definitive character arc—the pinnacle of a good novel. I’m still in the process of that rewrite.

That covers my writing journey over the past 10 years. It’s amazing where God can take you in that amount of time. What journeys has God taken you on in the last 10 years?

Thanks for reading!

-Elizabeth Newsom

Top 3 Christmas Carols (Hannah)

Welcome back to Lands Uncharted!  It's Christmas time and my family has been listening to every Christmas song from our playlists, Pandora, Amazon Music, and of course the radio. While my siblings love many of the new songs and modern covers of old classics, I prefer to stick to the traditional carols. I had a difficult time narrowing it down to three choices, though, so I have several honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

- We Three Kings

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the mysterious, middle eastern sound of this piece.  It chronicles the journey of the wise men as they came to see Jesus and ties in very well to the spirit of the season: Just like them, we should be seeking our King to offer Him the best of what we have.

- Carol of the Bells

After dancing to this for one ballet performance, playing it on the piano, and singing it in a wonderful choir last year, I am very familiar with this song.  It's the only one on my list that is not specifically related to Christ's birth, but it is such a neat song.  I couldn't leave it off.

- Angels We Have Heard on High

This is another one of my songs from ballet, and it never fails to make me excited for Christmas.  Just imagining angels heralding the birth of the Messiah puts me in the mood for Christmas.  "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" is another closely related one that falls into the same category.

- Where's the Line to See Jesus?

Even though I don't usually like new Christmas songs, this one in particular is a fun one with a poignant message.

Where's the line to see Jesus?

Is He here at the store?

If Christmas time is His birthday, 

Why don't we see Him more?

Where's the line to see Jesus?

He was born for me

Santa Claus brought me presents

But Christ gave His life for me.

The thing I hate most about Christmas is how much it has come to focus on presents, Santa, and some vague, generic "Christmas spirit."  The God of the universe came to become a human, placed Himself under humanity's curse, doomed Himself to suffer and die, all so that we could be rescued from our own rebellion and sin.  That's the real reason we celebrate, and all too often we forget to remember the true magnitude of this message.

Top 3

3. What Child is This?

What Child is this, Who laid to rest,

On Mary's lap is sleeping?...

...The King of Kings salvation brings,

Let loving hearts enthrone Him

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing

Haste, haste to bring Him laud,

The Babe, the Son of Mary

You'll probably notice that all three of my favorite songs have a slow, majestic, worshipful mood to them.  I love the melody of this song.  It was originally written to accompany the old song "Greensleeves," which is decidedly less deep and meaningful.  (It was a love ballad.)  The words remind us that during the Christmas season and all year round, we must remember to worship Christ for who He is.

2. O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees

O hear the angel voices

O night divine!

"A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices..."  This line in essence sums up the message of Christmas.  Without Christ, the world was a dark, hopeless, cursed place.  When the Savior entered the world, suddenly there was hope for salvation and eternal life in a perfect place filled with God's glory.

1. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice!  Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

Originally written in Latin as "Veni, Veni, Emmanuel," this song combines the haunting style of "We Three Kings" with the beautiful theological meaning from classic hymns.  My favorite version is done by Enya in her album "And Winter Came," which covers both the Latin version and its English translation.  Whichever version you choose, just listen to the words as they soar through the music - I find it impossible not to listen to this song and marvel at my God.

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What are your favorite Christmas carols?  Do any have special meanings for you?

~ Hannah

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: What We're Reading--or Watching, in this case (Erin)

You have probably already noticed J.K. Rowling's new movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out last month. We see very few first-run movies, instead opting to wait until they come to the "cheap" theater, but we were too excited to wait that long to see Fantastic Beasts. So, last week, on a snowy evening, we headed out to the theater to meet family and immerse ourselves in an evening of fantasy.

Rowling wrote the screenplay, partially based on her 2001 book, of the same name. I enjoyed seeing the movie setting switch to America in the 1920s, which is several decades earlier than the Harry Potter movies. The magical suitcase that Newt Scamandar carries is full of "fantastic beasts" and opens into alternate, magical settings. The alternately adorable, funny, and majestic beasts were definitely my favorite part of the film.

Since the main characters are adults, instead of children, the movie has a more serious tone than the first few Harry Potter movies.  Also, there is a relatively dark backstory, which gives the movie its PG-13 rating. I am a huge fan of happy endings and escapism in movies, and I'm not sure this fit the bill. However, as a whole, the movie was well worth the time and money, and I am excited to see how the next movies in the series turn out.

Have you seen Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? yet? Are you planning on it? 

The Waiting Game (Laurie)

Laura and I didn't plan this, but her post on Query Survival a few weeks ago came at a perfect time. She walked us through the preparation for sending queries and dealing with rejection, and today my focus is on the time in between - the days, weeks, or months after you send your query before you hear anything back.

Patience is not my strong point. Whether it's dealing with my young boys, making a purchase, or holding off to tell someone good news, waiting is really a challenge for me.

But I have found submitting my manuscript to be the hardest waiting of all.

I'm sure my fellow writers can commiserate. You work so hard, writing that first draft and then editing and polishing every sentence, paragraph, and chapter until you hope your story shines. You fret over the query letter, proposal, or synopsis - how much detail should I include, how do I boil my story down to a page or even a few paragraphs? You research contests, agents, or publishers until you think you've found a perfect fit. Then, at last, you double-check the submission requirements, review the e-mail or form one last time, and hit "Send."

You did it! You were brave enough to submit your manuscript, and this could be the beginning of all your publishing dreams coming true. But now what? Will they read it tonight? Or in six months? If you're anything like me, you start to check your e-mail religiously, at times resorting to pressing the "refresh" button every few minutes. Some days you spend extra time on social media to see if you can glean a clue to whether anyone has taken a look at your manuscript yet. But in the end, nothing will speed the process. Checking your e-mail a million times won't make them respond any faster. You just have to WAIT.

As I'm writing this, I am in the midst of the waiting game. It feels a little like that scene in Tangled where Rapunzel vacillates between exhilaration and uncertainty a dozen times. What if they love it? What if they hate it? What if they can't wait to publish it? What if they think no one will ever want to read it? What if they didn't even get my submission?!

Now, I can't profess to be an expert at this waiting game, because if anything I'm probably more neurotically impatient than the average writer. But, in the past weeks I've found a few strategies that can at least make the wait slightly less painful:

1. Get away from your computer / phone

This can be hard when you're waiting for that all-important e-mail, but it's so worth it. Get out and enjoy nature, see your friends, do some shopping, etc. If you have to take your smartphone with you, silence it. Engaging with the outside world provides a great distraction and important perspective. It can be so easy for writers to get caught up in their own minds - that's where the story creation starts, after all! - but getting out of that bubble helps reinforce that there is so much life beyond your story and your potential publishing contract. So many opportunities, so many projects worthy of your attention, so many other people trying to accomplish their dreams.

2. Indulge in engaging entertainment

Along similar lines to the suggestion above, letting yourself get swept away in your favorite form of entertainment can be an effective way to spend hours at a time not thinking about your submission. It can be movies, TV, a video game, a sport, whatever will engage your mind so fully you won't be tempted to check your e-mail. For me, it's reading (shocker, right?). I've been reading some intense speculative fiction lately, but a few days ago I scanned my bookshelves and chose a lighthearted romance. And it's been such fun! I've spent the past two evenings blissfully losing myself in these delightful characters, smiling at their sweet interactions, and pondering the mystery of an abandoned house. Meanwhile, my computer and phone sit in another room. Out of sight, out of mind.

3. Find a sympathetic listener

While it may be tempting to vent about the trials of the waiting game on your Facebook or Twitter account, I wouldn't recommend burning any bridges in that way. But, if you have a friend or family member who is particularly interested in your writing or just a good listener, opening up to them can really help. Just last evening, a friend who has been thoughtful enough to ask about my writing many times inquired if I had any updates. I took the plunge and told her I had submitted my manuscript to several publishers and shared the expected wait times, and although she's not a writer herself, she listened eagerly and completely sympathized with how hard it must be to wait to hear back on a project that's so dear to your heart. Following that conversation, I felt better.

4. Start a new project

I've heard this advice so many times I felt I had to include it, but I'll admit, thus far it's never worked for me. The concept makes perfect sense - if you start writing something new, you'll get excited about that and have something waiting in the wings if the manuscript you've submitted doesn't get the results you'd like. But my problem is that it takes me a while to distance myself enough from one project to embrace another. As the querying process goes on, I may need to tweak my query letter or create a synopsis of a different length to fit someone's submission requirements, which brings me back to the heart of my story. Or I may receive feedback in a rejection that I want to incorporate and thus delve into another round of edits. I ended up doing at least two major revisions during the process of querying my first manuscript. For me, that possibility makes it hard to put my heart and soul into a new project until I've set the old one aside. But if you can balance multiple writing projects better than I can, diverting your energies to a new story may be the most productive way to handle the wait.

5. Help fellow writers

I'm going to be brutally honest here. Pursuing publication can sometimes bring out the worst in me, beyond just impatience. Competition, jealousy - my mind can be a very ugly place at times. Suddenly the writer friends I've been cheering on become enemies who might snatch up the opportunity I was hoping for. I scrutinize other writers' work, trying to calculate whether they have a better shot than I do. It's not pretty, and I'm not proud of it. But recently when I was feeling in competition with a writer friend, I made myself write her an e-mail wishing her luck. In the process, I realized I really did wish her the best on her queries, and those negative feelings lost their hold. It happened again when I helped a friend polish up her submission materials. At first I felt awkward, knowing she was sending them to a publisher I had also submitted to that presumably had limited slots to fill with new authors. But as I began to type my comments and suggestions, I got engaged in truly helping my friend make her work the best it could be, because that's what I want for her. By overcoming my reluctance and helping the fellow writers I felt in competition with, it's like my true self fought past those petty emotions to shine through and remind me that I can rise above those ugly moments to be the thoughtful, caring person I want to be.

6. Pray

This sounds so obvious, but at least for me, it can be easily overlooked. I tend to let my problems bubble inside for far too long before I take them to my Creator. But so much peace can flow from those still moments of prayer, where I finally let myself go and recognize that the control isn't in my hands. But it doesn't always happen right away. Lately I've been praying for patience every day, but feeling just as impatient as ever. Then as I was driving last night, thinking through aspects of my story, my eyes were drawn to the brightest shooting star I've ever seen. While logically I know thousands of people probably saw that same shooting star, this sense of peace and contentment settled deep within, as though it had been intended just for me. In some strange way it felt like a promise - that my publishing dreams may not come true this week, this month, or even with this manuscript, but God has a beautiful plan for me, if I can just persevere long enough to see it through.




So there you have it! I hope at least something in this post has resonated with you and that sharing about my time of waiting can help make your current or future waiting game a bit more tolerable.

Do you struggle with patience? Can you think of any waiting tips I missed?


Thanks for reading!
Laurie

Top 3 (ahem...5) Disney Movie Quotes (Laura)

In my home, I have a tablet of Disney film quotes and sentiments that I like to switch out every few days or weeks. Of course, I don't need to say anything to add to these lines; they do it all themselves. So I will just leave some of my favorites here for you.


Also, I know this is cheating, but I think this topic calls for more than three. ;)

                                                    -1-

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of them all. -MULAN (The Emperor)

-2-

Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. -LILO AND STITCH (Lilo)

-3-

I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day. -HERCULES (Megara)

-4-

If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead. Now go up and look around! -RATATOUILLE (Gusteau)

-5-

Never forget who you are. -THE LION KING (Mufasa)

What are some of your favorite Disney lines?

Laura

Attributions
Mulan: http://hero.wikia.com/wiki/Fa_Mulan
Megara: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Megara