I am Uncreative with Blog Names

Folks this is a terrible day. I have a dilemma that's been plagueing me and I'm trying to solve it as best as I can.

But I'm having a bit of a mini meltdown about it.





Here it is:

I want to change my blog name to something stupendous!

You know the kind of name, the ones where you think "Wow that is so brilliant I could have never come up with something that clever and beautiful I really am terrible and they rock." (Just me?)

I'm doing it so I can buy the domain name and have it just be .com instead of blogspot.com (cause it seems weird, you know?). But for the life of me I can't decide on one stupendous enough.

But here's the deal. 

When I try to come up with names, they end up like: "Nostalgia Love" and "Books are my Friends" and like. No.

I really need your help with this. I have some ideas for words that I want to be included and a feel for how I want it to sound and what thoughts it should evoke but I just can't get to the point where I get a REALLY good name.

So my plea is, how did you come up with your blog name? Any suggestions? Ideas that you think I should adopt? I would love to hear what you guys have to suggest! (I may even collect all your ideas and make a post! Who knows?)

The Return

Blogglings, I'm back!

I am so sad to have been away from you for so long. But to be honest, I haven't had much of a reason NOT to write.

I've been busy, sure. I just got a new job, I'm helping with some more ministry opportunities, I have to feed my book cravings, and I am newly addicted to Supernatural. (I'm in season two I believe. This show is epic! So scary though!)

Even though I've had loads of time to write, I never have. I'm not sure why. Maybe a slight rebelling against work is behind it. Anything I don't have to do, I don't do it. It's a disease. I'm stuck in a rut of not wanting to do anything.

Has this ever happened to you? An ever DEcreasing desire to do the things you once loved? It's happened to me before but I never usually go back to the project. I'm rather surprised to have come back to blogging actually.

Whatever the reason, I'm back! And I hope to be back for good. Coming up here on RaP (ha! My blog acronym is rap! Never noticed that before!) will be some posts on two of my all time favorite book authors: Shannon Hale and Rick Riordan!

There will be musings, lists, character analysis, pictures, and things to learn from these fabulous authors. I do hope you'll stick around!

If you haven't already, consider subscribing so you don't miss any of the amazing posts coming up!

A Sunday Quote and Fabulous News

Today's quote is from J.R.R. Tolkien. And there is a specific reason for that. I will explain in a moment.

“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places.
But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now
mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater." J.R.R. Tolkien

 Okay, let me explain...no. there is too much. I will sum up.

The reason I picked a quote from this particular man is that a week from today, next sunday, is Hobbit Day! And the week that follows, Tolkien Week! I'm pretty excited! (I have been a LOTR nerd for pretty much my whole life and so this is pretty much the best thing ever!!)

Here at Rainbows and Penguins, we're going to be having a hobbit worthy party!

To start off the week... well, I won't spoil it. ;) But suffice to say, it's going to be fabulous!

There's going to be posts about hobbits, food, movie vs. Books, and some more things I cannot spoil.

So prepare yourselves, it's coming!

Note: If you would like to be a guest poster here next week, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll see if I can fit you in! Anything about LOTR will do. My e-mail address is rainbowsandpenguinsblog(at)gmail (dot)com!

Informational Bits

Hello! I'm so sorry there was no informationy type post today about writing or books or anything. I got kind lost watching Doctor Who. Whovians will know how that goes. Actually, there will be one! Here it goes! 

Informational bit #1: That whole bit about GFC and Google reader going away? Seems the rumors were wrong. It's still there. I was surprised for sure! If you know why they stayed, please share! I'm quite curious. 

Informational bit #2: I miss Amy Pond. That should be self-explanatory if you are a fellow Whovian. *goes to sob in a corner* 

Informational bit #3: I'll be posting some book reviews and character...for lack of a better word; character analysis's, sometime soon! I've been reading a lot and rereading even more! It's inspired me for a lot of posts! Be on the look out! 

Informational bit #4: I wrote a guest post! It was posted on Wednesday but it completely slipped my mind to let you know! You can find it at http://katie-writingblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-beth.html?m=0 I'm so glad I got the oppurtunity to write it! Go check it out! 

Informational bit #5: I have nothing else to share. What a pity...actually! A reminder: If you would like to guest post here on Rainbows and Penguins, e-mail me at rainbowsandpenguinsblog(at)gmail(dot)com. Also, if you have any questions or requests, e-mail me! I will do my best to answer you! 

Have a fantastic evening! 

Changes And Oppurtunities

Good day! I interrupt the usual program to tell you about some fantastical things!

First and foremost; The lovely Notebook Sisters are holding a Crit&Ed party over at their blog! It's all about editing and there's a giveaway! There will be posts about editing, posts with 250 words of someones work plus Cait and Mime's thoughts on the piece, and the giveaway is a 10,000 word critique by the sisters! I'm really excited for it if you can't tell! :D

Second; I love guest posts. I love writing them, and I know I would love to spotlight a few of yours! If you would like to be a guest poster on Rainbows and Penguins, raise your hand! 

For those of you who raised your hands, here are some guidelines. 

1. I'm not looking for anything specific but it should be along the lines of books or writing. Anything that falls under that catagory is welcome! If you already have an idea, great! E-mail me and tell me about it! If you don't, not a biggie! Pick a general topic and I'll try to help you figure it out! 

2. Write with passion! As long as you do that, your word will come alive. (Living books anyone?) 

3. Edit relentlessly. There's nothing like writing a fantastic post that should enthrall your readers and leave them spellbound! But it's so full of spelling and grammatical errors, few are likely to pay attention. I'll be proof reading because I know sometimes the author's eyes tend to see what they meant to write instead of what they actually did write. (And spell-check thinks if you mean "write" but type "right" that it's still correct. Sill spell-check!) I won't judge you if there are errors, don't worry. ;) 

My e-mail address is rainbowsandpenguinsblog(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm excited to hear from you! :) 

Thirdly, I have been scheming a little bit on some exciting things we could do as far as "special events". I've got a couple ideas that I hope will come to light sometime in late August. If you have any ideas or bloggy type things that you love, e-mail me or comment here! 

For now, if you have any questions you would like answered or topics you wish I would cover, shoot me an e-mail or comment on this post! I am by no means an expert but I will do my best to provide a satisfactory response! 

I absolutely love the community the Internet provides and I'm excited to hear from you all! 

Have a wonderful day!

Update on Bloglovin

Okay, I figured it out!

As of tomorrow, Google Reader will be closing down. As an alternative, a LOT of bloggers are turning to Bloglovin. I went to the website last night and found out how easy it was. It took me five minutes to set up my account and claim this blog. It took a little longer to add the button but that's only because I was using my iPod and it's hard to do stuff on it.

Also on Bloglovin it was ridiculously easy to import all my blog subscriptions and see them there. It took less than a minute to do that! I loved how easy it was! The site is very user friendly. I had no trouble understanding it.

So if you use Google Reader, now is the time to change over! I added a button in the sidebar that you can use to follow me on Bloglovin. If you already follow me with GFC, please take a second to follow me using Bloglovin instead. And if you're new, welcome! I would love it if you followed me! (Bloglovin has a feature where if you follow me, they send me an e-mail! With that, I'll be able to see your blog and profile and I might even follow you back!)

In short, I love Bloglovin!

That's all! Thank you all for your time!

There And Back Again: A Girl's Tale

Hello my dear blogglings! I hope none of you have wandered too far away in my absence. I have been at training and have been teaching summer 5 Day Clubs! (Sorta like a VBS) I have been learning a lot and had a wonderful time! 

I did miss you though. There are precious few writers among my non Internet friends. I missed the writing and the community so I thought coming back to blogging would be easy. Turns out I was very very wrong. I have not had the motivation to write seriously in a long time. But here I am! I finally forced myself to come back to you! 

I tried to write while at training but that flopped miserably and what I did do was pathetic compared to my usual endeavors. I'm not quite sure why I can't write when I'm away. Maybe I'll study it sometime and tell you about it! 

At any rate, I thought it would be a good idea to come back and let you know that I am very much alive! 

Also, I have a few random summer tips for you. 

1) Don't get sunburned. It's disgusting and painful and a nuisance. 

2) I believe friendships can be lost over Mario Kart. Tread carefully. 

3) Goosebumps can hurt if you're sunburnt. Don't get sunburnt. 

4) Monster the energy drink is highly terrifying in the hands of ADHD people...

 5) I adore pizza and ice cream.They're  awesome. Eat some. You'll feel better. 

6) Don't get sunburn. Did I mention this? DON'T DO IT! 

Anyway. I hope you all are having fantastic summer's! I will try to post a little more often but I don't know how I will do. Next week I should do better as it's the Fourth of July week and I'm not very busy. 

Have a fabulous day! 

The Post of Nine Posts (Intriguing, no?)

Hello my dear blogglings! For those of you who follow my blog, I must bring you grievous news...I won't be able to post here for two weeks... I really wish I could but my summer job as a missionary is taking me away for training. :( (By the way, if you could pray for me that would be such a blessing!) However! I have a surprise! I have put together a list of 9 blog posts from around the world wide web for you to read! One a day. (Plus a couple I will set Blogger to post so sometimes there we be brand new content. Hopefully it works.)  So if you feel the need for some extreme inspiration, or if you just miss me, stop by this post and pick a link to read! (Sorry for the weird formatting. I'm doing this on my ipod so I'm not sure how to fix it...) 

I shall categorize them for you as well. No need to thank me.*bows*

Writing Pep Talks:

Just Write (by the lovely Magic Violinist!)

Three Questions Every Writer Should Ask Themselves

Never have Writers Block Again

Description:

How To Paint Tangerine Dream and Marmalade Sky Word Pictures

Inspiration:

How To Inspire Your Writing...Now!

How To Unlock Your Creativity And Stop Feeling Like A Failure

Charries:

Three Tips For Naming Your Characters

Why you Need To Find Your Character's Tipping Point

Antagonists: A Closer Look At Their Goals

A Better Idea Than The Last! (Maybe)

I've come up with a new idea! I've been brainstorming a lot recently. My blog is still kindof in it's early stages so I'm constantly coming up with new things I could do! If this idea is dumb, go ahead and tell me. I can probably take it. ;) 

I thought it would be fun to have a writing prompt once a week and post what we write in the comments for each other to comment on! (For those of you who read the Write Practice, can you tell I read them too? Except this would only be once a week. And it's differentish because it's not accompanied by a lesson and the time limits may change.)  

For instance, "Write for twenty minutes and describe your favorite teenage memory." (Not a very good one perhaps but you get the idea.) Then I would post the piece I had written in the comments and you could tell me how you think I did (In a nice way!). Then you could post yours and I'd do the same for you and so on. 

The purpose would really just be to get us writing and maybe spark an idea for a short story or maybe even your WIP! Also to receive constructive criticism on how to improve our writing. I know I need this desperately. :) Sometimes the prompts will be vagueish like; "When was the first time you ride a Rollercoaster? Describe the event and feelings you had in detail." Or it could be something like, "He was an idiot. I don't know why I bring him anywhere." Then you would use that sentence to either put in your WIP (to get you started for the day.) or just to start a new short story or maybe a piece that will never get farther than what you write during the time limit. But we'll be writing and that's the goal! 

If we don't practice, how will we ever become good at our craft? 

I'm not sure I'll do this because if no one participates it'll be sad for me to be the only one. So! If you would participate in a weekly writing prompt and help critique other's writing; raise your hand! 

If you think it's a pretty lame idea, give a thumbs down and the reason you think it's lame. (Please be gentle. My skin is about as thick as a balloon.) 

Side note: This summer I'm going to be gone a lot. Starting June 3rd, I'm not going to be able to use the Internet for at least two weeks, if not more. I will try to get on after that but I can't make any promises until Fourth of July week. Thankfully I'll be free then. I'm going to try to get Blogger to still post pre-written posts during that time but I don't know how it'll work. If there's problems, just know that I will come back sometime to fix them. In light of that, if I do the writing prompts, I will only be able to participate in 3 before summer hits full force. (I plan on having them on Thursdays if I do them.) Would you still want to do them or should I wait till late August when I'll really be able to fully come back to blogging?

Inkheart, The Book Chewers, and an Idea

Inkheart is one of my most favorite books. Ever. Ever. My copy is pretty worn out as you can see!

The Book Chewers, a blog written by 4 girls who adore books, have a "book of the month" and this month are featuring Inkheart! 

And guess what? Today's Inkheart post was written by moi! I had a ton of fun writing it and would love it if you went over to check it out! Their website is The Book Chewers!

Also, I've been toying with the idea of writing a bit of story and posting it every Sunday. I'm not sure if it would work or not. Thoughts? (After all, you would be the ones reading it!) 

The Final Background

I'm ever so sorry for any confusion I may have caused you.

If anyone has been following my blog, you may have noticed I have changed the background too many times.

Not to worry, I have finally decided on this one so there should hopefully be no more changes to it! (At least in the near future)

I wasn't sure if it really fit the theme I was going for but I really fell in love with how pretty and sort of whimsical it is. :)

What do you think?