November

A small peek into what my life has held the past couple weeks, specifically the first week of November. Most of the pictures have yet another picture to view if you simply click them!

Squealing with sophisticated but ecstatic delight as I pull out the scarves, sweaters, hats, and everything that only Autumn allows. 

The writing of a 50,000 word rough-draft of a book entitled Mastering the Unsaid Words for the annual event, NaNoWriMo. (Aka, write a book in a month) 1,600 words roughly per day. I'm a little behind (okayi'mabout7kbehindbutatleasti'mwritingk?), but its been amazing to have this forcing me to make time for writing. It is certainly something I needed!

(photo via pinterest, word concept and design by Evelyn Ashby)
(Click the cover to visit Pinterest Inspiration for the book!)

Taking pictures of my lovely friend's Knight costume. It was a learning experience full of giggles. Supposedly I'm next.. 

Enjoying the crisp cold weather of late. The wind rips apart the trees until they stand bare, and the leaves dance across the lawn.

The reading of poetry, specifically Whitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Keats, and Emily Dickinson.

Creating a wishlist of all the oxfords, backpacks, and cute random things I want for my birthday; which happens to be coming quickly upon me.

Reading has been going up and down in the chart of my daily life. I finished A Room With a View a while back and fell in love with its strange uniqueness. The book that was suppose to follow still hasn't come in from the library, so I'm not reading that.

And because I want a lighter read since I've recently been reading deep, thick books, I haven't picked one out yet. =)

I got Uncle Tom's Cabin from the library not to long ago and should be reading that.. Oh well, we shall see. Writing is taking up so much time now and days I hardly have time to read! But. I shall make time for it.

(This is pretty much my favorite 'Anne' book..)

Climbing the mountain not far from our house was a last minute decision last Saturday morning. Gorgeous view; but perhaps I would have gone to bed earlier the night before had I known..

A somewhat blurry of the view from the top, taken by yours truly.

And last, but most certainly not least, listening to amazing music. Such as the Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, The Honey Trees, Broken Bells, Band of Horses, Death Cab for Cutie, the list goes on. Regina Spektor has recently been making my regular listening time. Firewood is officially one of my favorite songs. =)

A small peek, indeed. =)

Love you my readers,
<3 Eva
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Books, Cider, and Autumn

As the weather grows colder, the house grows cozier.

Sweaters come out, mugs are filled with cider, the front porch is laden with pumpkins, and trees turn to radiant reds and orange; reflecting the autumn sun as they flutter to the ground.

An important key to enjoying your autumn to its fullest (because indeed, Autumn is the best season of the year) is a book.

But not just one.

Many, many, books.

That, my friend, is an important key.

Keep the books flowing constantly through your day.

When you finish a book, have another one waiting.

When you have a moment of rest, read, read, read.

Flood your minds with words and stories that will become as dear to you as flesh and blood.

You will feel secure in these stories, in those pages that smell of memories, in that book that becomes thicker and thicker each time you read it with your thoughts and emotions.

To fulfill this oh so lovely plan, I have compiled a small list of books I will be reading this Autumn. Its not long, nor complicated: it is simply a list of random books that have called me to rest in their pages. Nothing more.

I am at the moment reading:

A Room With A View; by J.M Forster. Written in 1908 it addresses the standing of the social circles; and follows Lucy Honeychurch as she visits Italy and meets a young man with emotional problems, but who is also of lower social standing than she. Though her older cousin, and other ladies and gents of her social circle, snub their noses at them, she finds George and his peculiar, but honest, Father strangely interesting.
   I cannot say much with out predicating for I am but in the fifth chapter. It is an interesting book to read; I feel that if I were to have lived back in the years before the 20's I might better understand the underlying sarcasm and satire. But I am enjoying it, nonetheless.

After I finish Forster's book I will be changing paces and jumping up to a book written in 2010:

Unbroken; by Laura Hillenbrand. A World War II story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Louis Zamperini grew up a cunning delinquent, a reckless youth that spent his time stealing. In his teens he found that sports, racing especially, distracted his rebellious spirit and gave him a goal in

life. But World War II interrupted that dream, and when his bomber crashed in the ocean he had to fight for his life: only to be brought ashore by Japanese. Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of a man who turns his life around and (its my understanding) becomes a Christian in the life changing events of World War II. I am very excited to read this, especially since it appears to be an amazing story of God's mercy and love. Let us hope I can get it soon; the library's books have a lot of requests. :)

The rest of the books in my list:

The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare; by G. K Chesterton. I know very little about this book. A friend recommended it to me and I suppose you could say I'm taking her word for it. I know a bit about Chesterton (enough for me to trust him) and I think this is a book I would enjoy. I love books that I know very little about before reading it; it gives off a sense of mystery...

Bleak House; by Charles Dickens. I started this about year or so ago, but when my birthday rolled around in November I ditched it to read Lord of the Rings. (We have to be a certain age to read it) So I've read about 200 pages of Bleak House, but should really read the last 700. :) 

Night; by Elie Wiesel. A book mentioned by Abby in her most recent Blog Post, It looks to be something I would enjoy. Someone's experience of WWII? Yes please. 

These last few are books that have been in the back of my mind the past couple months. I do realize that they all (except Mere Christianity) are on the darker side, and I promise it is not on purpose.

Mere Christianity; C. S Lewis 

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; by Robert Louis Stevenson

Dracula; by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein; by Mary Shelly

Rain and wind and wind been my companions these past several days, and my heart fills with joy as I watch the autumn burned leaves fall to the ground..  
 
What books are your Autumn Book List? 

I've been playing around with layout, as I'm sure you've noticed, and have settled on this one. The Raven and the Writer is sort of a new title to my blog; I think it better befits the mood and flow of my blog. 

I finally have an answer for the Alice in Wonderland riddle:

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Because The Raven, my dear computer, is my writing desk.

<3 Eva

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Carnival of Emotions

August 12th, 2014.

Wow, summer has flown. And yet.. it hasn't.

This summer has been filled with emotions ranging from discontentment and boredom, to anger and frustration. While everyone else's summer has been packed with business, things to do and places to go, mine has been extremely slow. For the most part I have been reading, drawing, and pinteresting. (yes that's a thing) But lets face it.. that gets pretty boring after awhile.

My personality is such that when I'm bored and have nothing to do I get really depressed. So most of July was really hard for me. I was depressed and I had emotions suffocating me that confused me as well. As I realized that I was depressed I got upset at myself for being that way, and as a result I got even more depressed. I tried to pull myself out of it but failed because I was trying to do it on my own. The current of my flesh just pulled me under and the more I flailed the faster I sunk. I was drowning and I knew it.


Near the end of July we went out of town for three days up to my grandparents house. On one of
those three days we were able to visit my Uncle's cabin he owned up along a river. Relaxing out my home town and seeing God's creation and the beauty of it all worked wonders for me. God showed me that I was being selfish, I was upset that everyone was having a good time and I was jealous. I wasn't content with the beauty in my own life and longed for the beauty in others. I was focusing on myself - flesh had taken top priority and I simply turned to it for help with I was struggling. Once God showed me that I confessed the sin that was right in front of me, I turned and asked God for help knowing that without him I would continue drowning.

The week after we returned was a slow recovering for me. I often lapsed back into depression, but looking to God and realizing my flesh was taking priority would pull me out of the dark.

I'm enjoy the last couple weeks of summer - this past weekend was busy and this coming week is surprisingly filled with visits with friends. The local fair is in a couple weeks and with excitement my friends and I are planning the all day trip we will be making to visit it. Instead of wallowing in self-pity I'm striving to strengthen relationships with the people around me, enjoy the beauty of the world and love every minute that I have to be alive.

Then September comes: I'm starting my Senior year of High School, since I'm graduating a year early, and will be busy with studying and practicing piano. Come June I will be having a Senior Piano Recital so I will be very busy preparing for that. In my free time I will be checking books off my book list, practicing drawing, hopefully blogging and writing, learning to cook better, and getting to know better the people God has placed in my life.

Also in the next coming school year I will be taking a couple Computer Programing classes, in hopes to confirm that the desire I have for becoming a Computer Programer is real. If it is I will possibly be starting college next fall. Don't tell that's crazy because I already know that.

I'm excited to have a purpose, something I have been lacking this summer. I now know that depression is something that I will always have to work on, and emotions are my life. But right now I have fought the fight and though I'm slightly broken I have victory over my flesh. And through Jesus Christ I will win again and again.

And like Earnest Hemmingway said: We are all broken. That's how the light gets in.

-Eva

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