Between The Lines Of Life

Love. That strange magic everyone always talks about. The kind of magic people actually believe in, rather than magical... magic... Ahem... Anyway, I'm not sure if I've ever been in love. However, recently I was discussing my writing habits with a new friend. My mom and my aunt both write romance almost exclusively so I've grown up around romance books. I never thought I'd be any good at it, because I've never been in love. But I've always wanted to try my hand at it. I've always thought I had a romance or two in me, but I just didn't feel qualified to write it,  you know? Well, this friend told me to go for it, so I thought I'd kick myself off by writing about my first love/kiss. I wouldn't say it was love. We were really good friends. I really liked him. I think I could have grown to love him, given time. We met the summer following my first official year of college, my second if you count the first unofficial year: Summer 2012. The f...

Life. Life has been so crazy and awesome and wonderful! I don't remember all of what I have said in past posts recently so I'll just give you a quick rundown of all that has happened to me in the last six months. Mexico. Mexico was so amazing! I absolutely loved it! My group was great and our kids were so cute. I can't wait to go back and visit Guanajuato state and see all my friends and the kids we used to teach! Oregon. I got back from Mexico on August 20th. I had a job interview on August 22nd. I heard back that I got the job August 23rd. I also flew out to Oregon on August 23rd, to see my family and drive back to Utah with my cousin. While I was there I cut my hair, saw some old friends, and just hung out with my family for a few days. We drove back to Utah on August 27th-28th with her best friend. It was a good trip. Utah. I started working August 29th. I love my job, and Utah is amazing. I learned to use the trax and buses. Writing. Well, I think that...

By Claire Enos I will admit, I haven't been very regular with my blog posts. I tend to write whenever I think about it or feel like it. If I'm going to be a good blogger I need to make a regular schedule and stick to it. So, here is my New Year's Resolution (which I've made before, but this time I swear it's going to work): Write and post a blog post every week for Winter semester. Winter semester is January 5th-April 10th. So, that's 14 blog posts. I can totally do this.  Write at least 500 words a day for a whole month. This is more of short-term goal (okay, so is number 1, but this one is shorter). I am trying to get in the habit of writing every day. If I want to be a serious writer, I need to do this. So, in keeping with the writing theme and my quote above, this one is about reading. Stephen King says a writer needs to read a lot, so for this one my goal is to read at least one book a month while I'm in school, and one book a week while I'...

I was going through Pinterest posts and came across a 30 Day Challenge called: 30 Days of Inspiration. Since I hadn't posted on this blog in a while (I've been busy focusing on other blogs lately), I thought I'd do the challenge on this blog. So, the first challenge is: "Be the magic. In what ways can you be the magic in your life and the lives of others?" I think the best and easiest and hardest way (yes it can be all three) is just by being myself. I can be the magic by being myself and not changing who I am for anyone else but me. I think a lot of times we are scared to be ourselves because we're afraid we'll lose our friends, but if a friend is scared away by you being yourself they aren't really a true friend. So, be yourself, no matter what. Find out what being yourself means to you. And then just do it. <3Claire

By Claire Enos A year ago, I never would have imagined that I would be where I am today. Sitting here, blogging, making plans for my future, based on other events that happened to me within the last year which I definitely would not have imagined as well. In fact, I could write a whole post about everything that happened and I still wouldn't be able to cover the whole year. But, this isn't about reminiscing. It's about saying goodbye to my past. Shutting the lid on the 2013 box, and shoving it into the closet. Maybe I'll look back on it one day and laugh, or at the very least smile, remembering all that happened. But for now, it's over and it's time for me to move on. My friend JG and me a little over a year ago, before he left on his mission. I'm going to open a new box. I already have a few things to put into this new box, so I better make it a big one because I plan to put a lot more into that box. I'm going to write 2014 on it, and it's ...

By Claire Enos Pretty soon, I will be traveling to Mexico and Belize with some students and teachers from my school. This has been a dream of mine for years: to travel to places I've never been before! And I love learning about new cultures. Like many people, I have a list of things I want to do with my life, visiting Mexico is just one of the many things on that list. It feels so good knowing that soon it will be one I can cross off, and an experience I can add to my list of experiences. So, the other day I got to thinking, and decided that I needed a separate list of things to do in my life in case some of the things on the first list don't happen: like getting married and having kids, at least for now. So, my new list is as follows: Graduate with my Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing from BYU-Idaho Pay off my loans and save up money for a Master's Degree Graduate with a Master's Degree in Theological and Cultural Anthropology, preferably from Eastern...

By Claire Enos Past the hurtful words and the insincere remarks is someone hurting, deep inside. The hurtful words and insincere remarks just a barrier. A brick wall if you will, built to protect a broken heart, as it is repaired, painstakingly, over weeks, months, possibly years. And while the heart waits to be completely healed, by the loving touch of one who cares, it can only be taped up waiting for the repairman to show up and take charge. There are still cracks, but maybe-- just maybe-- the heart that has been broken can be repaired, with the hard work of the owner, and a lot of tape. Still, the cracks will show. Some of the heart crumbling from further blows, until it is fortified, not with a wall, but with a glue gun and magic. Slow, calculated magic, here and there, where needed. Until eventually, miraculously, all has been healed. Meanwhile, through the whole process, life has continued on. And the owner, not able to spend every moment working on the heart, must conti...

What is maturity? From what I've seen, the world thinks of anyone who is mature as being boring. Well, who WANTS to be called boring. After all, we all like to think we are interesting and fun to be around, generally. I certainly don't like being called boring. So, I decided to look up the word in the dictionary: Mature:  Complete   in   natural   growth   or   development,   as   plant   and   animal   forms:   a   mature   rose   bush. Ripe, as frut, or fully aged, as chees or wine. Fully developed in body or mind, as a person: a mature woman. Pertaining to or characteristic of full development: a mature appearance; fruit with a mature softness. Completed, perfected, or elaborated in full by the mind: mature plans. Hey, wait a minute! I'm not a fruit! And I'm not fully developed. Last I checked, I have a couple more years until my brain has fully matured, and even then I'm still adding more and mo...

I started this blog a few years ago to write up my feelings and thoughts on life. Lately I haven't really used it for my feelings or my thoughts or anything. I'm going to try starting that up again, so here goes: I'm a normal girl. I don't know who I am, or where I'm going, except what I've been told. I do know that 2+2=4 (don't ask me why, I don't understand that much) and I do know that the stars we see at night most likely have already died, so essentially we are seeing into the past when we look up into the universe. But that's not much, I know that. And it is our duty to learn as much as possible in this life down here on Earth. Life is hard. Everyone knows that. There are some people who seem to have mastered the art of living ("seem" being the operative term here), and there are others (like me) who barely know how to take one step at a time and somehow seem to mess everything up without thinking (because they aren't thinking...

Some say Chick Flicks are overrated, and that they are the supidest things ever. They hold no value in the world, and are nothing but the romantic imaginings of singles who have nothing better to do but to live through the lives of characters in movies. Then of course, there are the girls who enjoy a good chick flick for exactly that same reason. They want to get away from their relationships which are going no where, or from their non-existent relationships. Chick Flicks help them feel better about themselves. I don't agree with either side. They aren't stupid movies, and they aren't just there to escape reality. Because honestly? There's no way you're ever going to forget you're single or your relationship is going nowhere if you are sitting around watching romantic movies all the time. That's like trying to ignore a box of cereal by eating it. So then, what's the value of a chick flick? What's the use? Does it have a purpose? Well, obviously...

For an amazingly epic summer! Ever since last November, when I realized my best (and only) friend in Las Vegas would not be home for most of the summer, I have been dreading a boring summer. I mean, if you have no friends, what are you supposed to do? Sit around the house watching shows on netflix, reading, writing, singing (badly) to music, and texting and emailing friends who are there to hang out with you in person? That's exactly what I saw myself doing. It's what I did most of last summer, despite my best friend being in town, but at least we got out once a month and did something fun, like hit the mall and window shop or eat out, maybe even catch a movie in the theater! Since I won't be having that kind of fun this summer (unless I make new friends, as unlikely as that is) I decided to do something with my summer. No, that does not mean I went and got a job, though that does sound like a good idea. It means I made a list of things to do this summer to keep myself ...

I just noticed I haven't posted in a while. I thought I should write a post, and make up for it. Oh wait... I hope I didn't miss posting on ANWA Founder and Friends... *shrug* oh well, I'll check that one in a second. So, what I thought I'd write about today is.... Drum roll please! *drum roll* *Absolute Silence* Blogging! I noticed recently that a lot of my friends and family members have been asking me about it. They've been thinking about starting ones of their own. Well, I thought I'd write something up about it. However, I won't post it quite yet. I want to perfect a few things and... *ahem* write it... So! If you are wondering about blogging, I will be posting something about it pretty soon! Maybe I'll do a series on it... I haven't quite decided yet. So keep an eye out for that. But just so you know, it might not show up for a few weeks. Finals are in less than a month, so I'm really busy. Maybe once I'm home! Good luck! ...

So, this semester I decided to take 4 English classes, which isn't all that amazing considering I'm an English Major. Every single last one of my classes requires writing, and I'm required to spend at least 2 hours on each class doing homework for every 1 hour spent in class. Obviously homework isn't going to take up all that time for the classes, so we're required to spend the rest of the time writing. This includes my Family History Research class, but at least for that one I can work on my final project instead. Since I'll be spending so much time writing, I probably won't be able to put as much thought into my blog posts as usual, but I will try. Some days I might decide to get off topic for that day, but for the most part I'll stick with my schedule. Hopefully you will all stick with me through that! I shall keep you updated. Love you all, <3Claire

Something about me few people know... is that English/Reading (other than spelling) was my worst subject in Elementary school. My best subjects were Math and Science. See how well that went? Science and Math got hard, and English/Reading got easier. I was average for my age in Reading until 2nd grade when my Reading Level shot up to a 6th grade level when I started reading Novels for the first time. Ever since, my  grades have just gotten better. So, you see? Our strengths do change a lot as kids, which is important to remember! <3Claire

After all these years, I've learned a lot about writing, but not nearly as much as I want to learn. I'm an English major, and I've taken classes that taught me a lot, but until I reached College and started taking college level courses I didn't learn anything that was useful to me. This last semester I took Creative Writing. It was very useful to my writing, and I continue working on my writing. So, what I really want to say is never give up, keep learning, the more you learn the better you get, and the better you get the better your chances. So write on friends! Write on... <3Claire

This year, I'm doing things a little differently. I'm not going to measure myself on how well I do each individual thing on my list, I'll measure myself based on how much improvement I'm making. Mom talked me through making my resolutions more effective, so here goes: Healthier Lifestyle Physical Exercise Go to at least one dance (Swing or Latin) each week Try a yoga class Healthy Eating Plan meals ahead of time Cut out most of my sugar and soda Better Spirituality Study my scriptures for at least 5 minutes a day Pray morning and night Pray over meals Pray and Fast about a mission Attend all church meetings unless I can't get out of bed, and spend more time magnifying my calling Focus on Me Self-Esteem Don't worry about what others think Grades No C's or D's Grades are important, focus on school work and get it all done Grades come first, the rest comes after Writing Get a full manuscript written down Spend half...

I just realized I hadn't posted in a while, and thought I'd post something. Since I couldn't think of anything to write about off the top of my head, here is a recycled post from facebook. I was just looking, and I found a poem I wrote. I know I posted the Courage one, but I don't believe I posted the Success one. So here goes: Success. Not necessarily winning. Sometimes success is losing. Success is all in your mind. Sometimes success is the journey. Success is relative. I feel success is conquering your fears, Or winning your dreams. Success is following your dream in the first place. Success is deciding on a path and sticking to it. Success is reaching a decision. Success is finding your path in life. Success is happiness. Success.  I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it! <3Cade

So, I met a girl the other day and showed her this blog. She saw my writing samples on here and asked to read more so I sent her a lot of what I had for the Brynn story and she actually gave me some good ideas for some of the characters you guys haven't met yet. So I thought I'd share something about one of the characters which you haven't met yet. Hence the "Werewolf" part of this posts title ;) His name is Samuel, and here's just a quick scene from his backstory: Samuel felt the rush of the wind flowing through his fur. He loved the feel! It was one reason he'd chosen to run alone in the forbidden forest in his wolf shape. He'd been running for an hour or more, and he'd just decided to run back to the village where he and his fellow wolfen kin were staying for a time, when he heard the war cry of his brothers and sisters. He ran faster, but a voice halted him: "Samuel, stay where you are! Run for help! Your help alone won't help us...

What do you do when you are mad at someone? I hope it doesn't involve hurting the person. I've come to realize that we writers have it easy. All we have to do to blow off steam, is write about hurting a character similar to the person we're mad at and we're good to go. Recently, one of my friends has been a bit annoying, but I don't want to strain the relations with her to be strained, by holding a grudge. I was talking to my roommate about her last night and I decided I'd write about my friend instead, and figure things out that way. For those who aren't sure, just remember: The person is never going to know your character is actually them, and they aren't going to know you're mad at them if your anger is pointed toward a character. Besides, you need those characters that have bad things happen to them, or even those victims! It's up to you, but this is my personal preference to taking my anger out on an actual person ;) Love ya! <3C...

Thought I'd just post about it ;) Here is the link: http://www.sarahmeden.com/2012/02/i-need-friends-friday-cade-wolfeclaire.html It was a lot of fun being interviewed! (Maybe it's because I enjoy talking about myself, but I think it's mostly because Sarah is so amazing!) Sarah is a great lady, and everyone should be following her blog ;) Anyway, I should get to work on some homework that's sitting in the open document on my desktop while I write this blog, so I'll get to work on that, while anyone who hasn't yet, goes and looks at  Sarah's  blog and checks it out! (Don't forget to look at the interview as well!) Love y'all! <3Cade