I'm now managing two blogs.

I've started up an officially spiritual blog, which you may visit by clicking here. The reason is because Universal Faith is launching in December, so I thought it'd be fitting to have a Wordpress as well as this. You'll probably see the same blog posts here as there, though this blog will be more writing and art focused. The layout is just too gorgeous for me to abandon it, I spent a long time working on it.
Unfortunately, I won't be writing for a while. After two surgeries for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I'll be taking a long-needed break, and instead focusing on reading and blogging. Maybe without so much writing I can develop a strong personality of my own. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning my projects. The Water Nymph Potion will be published, but it will be very different from how it was before. I've found lots of things that need changing, and ways to tighten the plot. Beautiful Dancing will be written someday as a Christian novel. The Wishing Well is probably going to be a thriller. The Shadow and all its sequels will be a fantasy series. My vampire books...well, I don't know about them. It depends on how my mind reinvents them when I start writing again...
...which won't be a while. My parents are watching me. My case of CT was really, extremely bad. So I'm finding some other hobbies to distract myself with in the meanwhile, including raising my voice about my religion. I'm learning what I believe and how to defend it. At this moment, I actually see myself more as an public figure inspiring people to become saints, than a bestselling author. We'll see what happens.
Both my blogs will be updated, so stick around. There's a lot going on in my head. It might not be a novel, but it'll be interesting.
P.S. I am praying for my bishop every Monday. If you're Catholic, you should pray for yours, too.

In Which Mariella Updates You On Her Progress Coming Out Of The Jar

This morning I had a lovely experience. Since I guess I'm an Insomniac at heart even without trying to be, I can't fall asleep too well. So I was up quite late--or early, if you want to put it that way--and decided that well, if I'm going to stay awake I may as well do something useful with my time. I decided to start reading my copy of the Youcat again. I'd gotten it a while back but only skimmed it, and not made it very far into the first chapter. This time I read the foreword written by the Pope and tried my hardest to pay attention to every little word, because they're all valuable in a book like this.

If you read the foreword, you'll see that the Youcat isn't just a book. It's a project several years in the making and its purpose was to clarify what Christians (or Catholics, if you want to see it in a narrow way) should believe. It's the result of the bishops of the Church working together. They came from all different parts of the world; their lifestyles varied and their languages did, too. But together they wrote for us a book that will clear up so much and after just a skim I have to say that any Catholic interested in learning about their faith, or any Christian wanting to learn about Catholicism, should give this book a try. It's interesting, easy to read, and written specifically for the youth of today's world.
Our youth need something to set us on fire with faith and this book is an attempt to do just that.
Anyway, in the foreword, the Pope wrote:

This Catechism will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life. (Youcat, page 10)

That sentence really spoke to me, so I closed the book right here and got out a notebook. I hadn't written in my journal yet, and all I had nearby was one of those cool yellow notepads, but it would have to do. I quoted this line from the Youcat...and then I just started writing.
I don't know if I want to share the things I write when I get into real deep Jesus mode. It makes me feel really raw and vulnerable. Being human, I don't want to be raw or vulnerable. I want to be strong and impressive, somebody that others can look up to. After reading an article today, though, I realized that there's no reason why people can't look up to me if I'm not strong and impressive--it might be just another reason for people to look up to me--but that's an issue for another blog post.
Without further ado, I'm going to swallow my pride and share what Jesus wanted me to share. I think I'll be sharing a lot more from now on.

This Catechism will not make life easy for you, because it demands of you a new life.   p. 10

Don't I kind of start a new life every single day? I am constantly going to sleep with the resolve that I am changed; that I'll pray more; that I will use my gifts to serve the LORD only. And every day I fail. And every night I start over again.

Does Jesus ever get angry or frustrated with me? Does He ever stop and think, "Well, maybe she'll always be a blunt tool; I can't do much with her; she makes one impact on the world and then needs sharpening again!"

If He does, and since He loves me anyway--well, I can truly do anything. I find all my hope in the fact that I'm such a hopeless case but He still loves me...and He somehow wants me so much. There is nowhere I can go to hide from this, either, even if I wanted to. He loves me and He wants me and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it--but the wise choice would be to respond and accept it.

Because the wise thing to do if someone loves you, the good and beautiful response, is to love back. But the beauty of love is another subject altogether, one that I feel like I'll be uncovering soon.

I have value in Him...so much value. But only in Him can I ever do anything with it!

I wrote this at about 5am so any grammar mistakes or the likes cannot be blamed on me. I wrote it by hand in the little notepad. Now I don't know if what I wrote is right, but to me it feels right--at least, applying it to my situation specifically. This is something He said to Me. Maybe He's saying it to you, too--just ask and listen!
What I really want to point you to is the part in bold-face typing: But the beauty of love is another subject altogether, one that I feel like I'll be uncovering soon.
After I finished writing this in my notebook, I opened the Youcat again, finished the foreword, and started on the first chapter. I found this: (Since it's a lot to type up I'm just going to take a picture of the page I want to quote.)

It was like a direct response to what I wrote in my journal entry before that. So, I wrote another journal entry:

We were made out of love. It's in our fiber. It's our purpose. We don't need an explanation beyond that, really, as to why humans love and why it's so hard to describe different types of love and it doesn't even really have to make sense, either. We were made out of 'leftover love'; therefore, we love.

It's one of those instances in which we can't explain why we do something; we just do.

I put away my journal and decided to go outside to watch the sun rise, since I was awake anyway. I stood there and gazed at the sky and contemplated it.

Jesus is love...He loves me so much...I'm made out of love...love is my instinct...

It felt like I finally knew my purpose, what I was here for, and I got an idea of just how valuable I really am.

I felt so much joy at that moment. I was in pajamas but I danced around the back yard for five minutes.I feel like Jesus was there dancing with me.
Then I finally went to bed...But I still didn't fall asleep for an hour. (Needless to say, I slept very little and am a bit groggy right now.)
I'm being called back to love, called back to Christ, and told what my purpose is. Gradually, I'm learning what I've got to do with my life. It's like a summer romance but way above that. This summer is being great for me, not because I have some earthly love story that'll probably end in a break-up when the winter comes. I stopped worrying about that kind of romance, since I don't think those are in His plans for me anytime soon to begin with.
No, this summer is a love story to me because I'm learning who I am in GOD's eyes.Jesus is helping me out of my jar.And I know I can truly do anything.
Thanks for following me on my journey so far :) ♥

Escape.

I'm rescuing this post from my old blog because I like it and it's going to help with The Escapism Project:

It had been so long since I read any stories which really sucked me in. I am so used to creating worlds of my own that I try to become a part of, that I’m impressed when someone else does it. When I read a book that contains more than empty romances and super characters. What I love most are books that leave enough space to allow their readers inside, so they can become a part of it in their imagination. A story so big that it welcomes us in. we become new protagonists and can help save the world.

http://weheartit.com/entry/9308466

Lately, there aren’t many stories that do this. I really think it should be a goal in writing a book. As important as grammar, plot, characters…it is all a dry effort if the readers can’t come in.

And by that, I mean more than just ‘come in’—the kind where you sort of get in but can only stand there, because there’s no room for you to walk about and help solve the mystery, have talks with the characters, and feel like you’re in danger. Sure there are a lot of stories around where you feel as if you were ‘standing there watching everything before your very eyes.’ But to me, that’s not as fun as being a part of the story. How many authors care to make room for their readers among the cast of their stories? How many realize that this does the story so much good?

We all know the close friendship that develops between a story and its author. It’s so amazing, an adventure that we wish could go on forever. How great would it be if we could offer the same escape to our readers—one of more depth than can be achieved by just reading?

What if, instead of just writing stories, we could create dedicate ourselves to writing entire worlds?

It would require more care in our craft. We would have to layer every book element so delicately. It would take so long before we would be satisfied with our worlds. This will not be easy—but it would be so worth it. Readers love stories like that most of all. I sure know it’s worth a try.

I want to try and create a world like that, using Living Breathing Words Escapism. By this I do not mean the blog, but the words I use to write my novels. Are your words dead, or are they Living and Breathing?

I’m not saying that my words are wonderful and I have some superhuman talent that works just like a portal and drops people off in different worlds. I am saying that I plan to work harder so that they eventually do. I dream of someday being able to ask my readers, “What were you doing during the story? Did you have a happy ending? Are you going to do it again?”

Not only will the readers have the satisfaction of having felt like this world was their home, but I as the writer will be proud to know that my story really got somewhere. It came alive, and there’s still people whose hearts reside within the pages of my book.

I really think we should all try it. Don’t we all want our stories to come alive?