These College Days – Elusive

Hello Readers,

As my weeks in London progress I feel a mixture of delight and frustration in this great city. There is so much going on in London and so many people all trying to make a good life for themselves. Yet sometimes, mainly when commuting on the bus, I feel a sense of people wanting something more. It’s an odd sensation, but there are moments of pure beauty in this city.

When I travel back from my internship I have to cross the river and today the sun was setting just as the bus was cross. The sun was resting behind big ben and a beautiful glow was cast across the city. That moment made my day and as day turned into night I saw a glimpse of the moon for maybe a few minutes. Which was perfect since for my romantic poets class we had to write a poem about the moon! So for your entertainment (it’s not the best poem in the world ;p) here’s a little poem. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Elusive

I caught a glimpse of your luminosity tonight

But alas your presence is more fleeting than a lover’s whim

Your roaming yellow light slants across the rigid rooftops

Lingering for a breath and then another moment gone

I thought you would be with me, no matter the longtitude or latitude

Yet you hid behind the Chimney’s wrapped within the city like a young maid turning from an over eager suitor.

Hiding your glory in depravity.

The shadows of the city engulf you, capturing you in their eternal vice.

Let me know what you think and if you’re a better poet, which you may very well be, please share links to your poems in the comments box below. Thank you so much for your support and belief (And as always the poem is my original work so no stealing)

Until next time, be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Author

www.gracehatton.com

These College Days – The London Haze

It’s another day here in London and a romantic poets class has given me a task, write a poem.

 

Poetry although a beautiful form is not my favorite thing to write but since my arrival in London a few weeks ago I have been finding inspiration all over this town. Although I have to admit it’s not a sunshine and rainbows kind of inspiration. It’s winter and a cold snap is making its way across Europe.

I find myself standing at bus stops with my fingers turning red and my toes curling in my shoes. I pile on my layers but the cold still seeps through. Yet despite this constant chill I’ve found beauty and inspiration here. So here is the poem I’ve written for my romantic poets class and I hope you enjoy it. (Oh and as always with my original work, its my property and all copyright etc goes to me :D)

Haze

Too much of a city

A beast with an insatiable appetite

Thick coats cover the checkered flesh

Heads stay down

Tourists twirl and swirl

Wandering souls ahead

Each one straining against the unspoken whisper

One foot, two foot

Go, go, go

 

Rushing through the city

An overeager viper

Waiting for another to declare

The battle is over

And the nothingness has won

 

Grey skies and darken fog creep further and further until the slick ground and oppressed sky become one

 

No buildings, no spires, no understated emotions

Just the grey haze

This impenetrable daze where all of London secretly soaks in the imagined sun.

 

Let me know what you think, especially if you’ve been to London or live in London. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts. I do have a whole series of photos I have been taking in London but my camera for some reason will not upload. If you have any suggestions for that I’d greatly appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed this little poem and that 2012 has been treating you well. Oh and what do you think of the new theme? I kind of like it ;p

I look forward to seeing your comments. Until next time,

Be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton

http://www.gracehatton.com

 

Thoughts on Breaking Dawn Trailer and I’m a Finalist!

Hello My Wonderful Munchkins!

Did you like that? I’ve decided to randomly call people munchkins, what do we think? Okay, so I’m sorry I haven’t been posting much on this blog, but I hope you are liking my snippets of my novel, The Truth Unknown! Look for more snippets soon and please let me know what you think.

That being said let’s move onto something terribly fun, judging the new Breaking Dawn Trailer!

Here is the new longer trailer incase you haven’t seen it yet.

 

 

Whoa! So, let’s start off with the things I liked,

Bella: For the first time I actually liked the look of the character Bella and and the acting ability of Kristen Stewart. My faith may be totally misplaced,but from the look of the trailer it looks like the character of Bella is coming into her own and Kristen Stewart may have actually taken some acting lessons.

Jacob/Wolves: As always I’m in love with Jacob and the wolves animation. Taylor Launter seemed to be doing a good job putting forward heart break and the determination to protect Bella no matter what.

The Wedding: The entire wedding scene looks so beautiful! That’s all I have to say is that is gorgeous and Bella/Edward look absolutely in love. Additionally the chemistry Bella/Edward, Robert/Kristen have is crazy good and the trailer and looks as though it will come through in the film.

 

Now the things I don’t like

Edward: I have never really been pro Edward, but I haven’t hated him either. However, in this trailer I just didn’t like him. The character seemed forced and unnatural especially in the scenes when he was expressing anger. Perhaps it will be better in the overall movie, but in the trailer I’m not a fan.

Pregnancy: I’m just not a fan of the way the pregnancy is being portrayed and I’m not sure how the birthing scene is going to be shown on the film. It’s very graphic and gory in the books and I’m not sure how well that can be communicated on screen. I’m on the fence, but the trailer makes me hate the whole projection of the birth.

So those are my thoughts, let me know what you think! Agree or disagree? I want to know.

Now for my news. I’m a finalist in the 50 Authors You Should Be Reading contest hosted by the Author Show

It’s great news and I’m very honored to be included in the finalists! However, I need your help! In order to get into the book and win a book trailer I need votes! Anyone can vote and voting opens up on October 1st!

The 50 authors with the most votes will be included in the 2011 edition of “50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading”.  These 50 winners will be listed on our contest page, and they will receive a digital seal recognizing them as winners in the 2011 edition of “50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading”.

You can vote at

http://www.theauthorsshow.com/

Look out for more updates on that soon! Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing all of your wonderful comments,

Until next time be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton

It’s Kind of Like Harry Potter Meets Twilight

Hey Guys!

I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to write another post. It appears the responsibilities of being a full-time college student and business owner has taken over my committment to blogging. I sincerely apologize. That being said I wanted to share with you an expert from my Novel The Truth Unknown. It’s a fantasy type novel.

In my mind it’s kind of like Harry Potter meets Twilight. When I say that I mean there is a magical side sort of like Harry Potter and there is a love triangle like in the Twilight series. I’m super excited about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 coming out so it’s only fitting that I should share this with you now 😀 That being said, I want to stress that this is my original work and as such belongs to me. All copyrights, licenses, and permissions are reserved by me, Grace Hatton.

Please don’t steal or adapt because like I said its my work and an expression of my soul. If you are a fellow writer you know how important our writing is to you and I’m sure you wouldn’t want someone stealing your work. If you’re not a writer just appreciate how hard it is to write a novel :). If you steal trust me bad karma is coming your way. That being said below is the expert, it’s the first part of the novel. So let me know what you think and I want to see lots of comments.

I’ve never really known exactly what was wrong with me, granted I did have a rather sordid childhood so maybe that was the source of my craziness. My mother was kidnapped by a psychotic murderer when I was five and even though they never found her body everyone knew she had died in the most brutal way. After that my father shipped me to my first boarding school. My brothers said it was hard for him to look at me because I looked too much like my mother.

The only problem with my dad’s plan was the fact I got kicked out of every single boarding school he sent me to. By my fifteenth birthday I had been kicked out of eight boarding schools. Most teachers agreed that was some kind of record.  According to all the counselors the only place left for me was Heath Hill. Tucked away in the English countryside the 12^th century castle was supposed to frighten even the most ill-mannered child.

It was September 15^th when my Dad dropped me off at Heath Hill. As always in England the sky was grey and wet. My dad’s green ford focus pulled into the schools grand driveway and I had to admit if nothing else the building scared me. It was far too big, grey and old. The towers seemed far two spiraled for their own good and green moss-covered the stones. In one way it looked as though it was about to fall down but at the same time it looked far too old to ever fall down.

The ford focus pulled past the wrought iron gates of Heath Hill, up the gravel path and finally pulled to a stop in front of the massive oak doors.

“Here we are” my dad sighed

“You know they’ll kick me out eventually I don’t know why you even bother” I muttered.

“Because I need you to be safe” my dad sighed, he always said that. Part of me thought it was because of my mother’s murder and the other part of me thought it was because of my apparent mental illness he wouldn’t talk about.

“I’d be safe at home, but don’t worry you won’t have to see me until half term” I smirked as I got out of the car.  I slammed the door shut and scowled at my Dad. He paused for a second, but then just like every other time he dropped me off at a new school, he turned the car away and drove away. I slowly turned around, the oak doors loomed over me and my heart started to beat faster. The truth was my bad attitude was just a front. I was terrified of myself and what I saw. I had no idea how I saw the things I did or what it meant.

So there is the first little part of my novel and I know right now there doesn’t seem to be magic or romance, but trust me it’s a coming. If I get great responses there will be more. Leave comments and let me know what you think. Feel free to give snippets of your work in the comments bo and I can give you feedback. Let’s make a little writers community.

Until Next Time,

Be Blessed, Stay Strong and Never Give Up

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

http://www.gracehatton.com

Paper Cranes for Japan

Hey Guys,

This is a really quick post about the horrible earthquake that just occurred in Japan. It’s shocking to me that our world is going through such terrifying times. Just think in January last year Haiti had their earthquake. Granted Japan is a wealthy country with much more ability to look after their people but it is still a terrible tragedy for a country to suffer.

If you’re like me you can’t jet off to Japan to help the people who are suffering but there is a couple of things we can do for Japan. Firstly we can pray. We can pray that as many people as possible not only survive but receive all the help they need from the Japanese government and external organizations.

The second thing we can do is a pretty great project I found out about called ‘Paper Cranes for Japan’. It is being organized by http://www.DoSomething.org which is a great movement for youth in the US to make a real difference.

In response to the massive earthquake and devastating resulting tsunami that hit Japan earlier today, DoSomething.org is appealing to us—the young people across the United States—to share our love and support for the Japanese people with Paper Cranes for Japan.

The ask is simple:

• Find and upload a photo of an origami paper crane
  OR
  Make your own and take a quick pic of it
• THEN
  Upload that photo along with a message of support to the Facebook page Paper Cranes for Japan.

Why cranes? Cranes are sacred creatures in Japanese culture. According to ancient legend, anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish—like long life or recovery from illness—by a crane. Do Something is aiming to collect 100,000 photos of origami cranes from young people to represent 100 wishes for relief and healing to all who affected by this tragic natural disaster.

It’s as simple as Fold, upload. Fold, upload. Fold, upload.  I think this is a great idea that can really show a lot of support to the japanese youth that will inspire them to help their community in such a dark time. Please consider Paper Cranes for Japan and you can upload to Do Something’s facebook  right here – Join.

Outside of the Paper Cranes please, please pray for the Japanese people, you’d be surprised what prayers can do. I experienced the second worst hurricane season in Florida on record and that was bad enough. I can’t imagine being in such a disaster as an earthquake and tsunami. My heart and prayer goes out to the Japanese people, I hope yours do too.

Until next time,

Be Blessed, Stay Strong and Never Give Up,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

www.gracehatton.com

Hasta La Vista 2010, What’s Up 2011

It’s that time of year again. The time when we are forced to look back at the past year of our lives and wonder, where the heck did it all go? Christmas is over and while you may be getting reading for a fantastic new years eve party, if you’re anything like me, you can’t shake the feeling of regret.

The feeling of knowing you could have done so much more. I suppose, for me at least the end of the year is the only time of the year I feel a little less than optimistic. Why? Because I earnestly believe in the value of time. I believe we can get everything in this world, including money, back but time can never be given back. Therefore what I chose to do with that time is very important to me. I know each moment I am given on this earth is a gift from God and it is my responsibility to do everything I can with the moment.

So when I get to end of the year I can’t help but feel like I could have used my time better. Yet I am positive enough to know that if I focus on what I didn’t do, I will go crazy. So I am making the choice to focus on all I was able to accomplish in 2010. Here are a few of the things I have accomplished this year, completed dual enrollment course at community college, graduated high school with college credit and honours. Gotten into an amazing college with a full ride scholarship, earned my Girl Scout gold award, done numerous speaking engagements including speaking in Miami at a social media conference where the likes of Google were in attendance, launched my magazine, signed on with one of the biggest christian publishers in America and remembered to be thankful for all my blessings.

All in all, I’d say I’ve accomplished quite a bit and while I am proud of myself, I am mostly thankful to God for blessing me and for my family for always supporting me. Now I’ve told you what I am proud to have accomplished this year, why don’t you tell me what you are grateful to have accomplished in 2010.

Tomorrow it will be 2011 and I already have some amazing projects in the work for the new year. I am not going to list the things I wish to accomplish in 2011 because life has a way of screwing up plans. Instead I am going to make a committment to work even harder in the new year and continue to achieve my dreams. I hope my journey serves as inspiration for your own journey in 2011 and together we can make our lives quite beautiful. I promise as the projects I have in the work pan out I will keep you all informed but here’s a hint as to what I am working on, the re release of “The Guys The Roses and The Regrets”, numerous TV projects and the release of my second book, “Finding Your Inner Moxie”.

Alas, my friends it’s time for me to go get my party on and celebrate this brand new year that sparkles with promise and hope. I must say goodbye but before I do, I want to say one last thing. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Your support is a huge inspiration to me and one of the reasons I work so hard. I am so blessed to have your support. Everyday I get messages on YouTube and Facebook telling me how I have helped people achieve their dreams and I cannot say how wonderful that makes me feel. If I am helping even one person, then I am a success. So to know I am helping so many people is beyond amazing. I want you to know that without you, my dreams wouldn’t be possible so thank you, thank you, thank you and a million times over, thank you.

Until next year, be blessed, stay strong and never give up.

Happy New Year and God Bless,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

http://www.gracehatton.com

 

 

25 Days of Christmas – Finals, Freezing Fingers and Birthdays

Good Morning Blog Readers,

First of all please allow me to apologize for my weeks worth of being MIA. The reason for this is really quite simple, its finals week or more to the point in my school its more like two weeks of finals.

I have been working like a crazy person trying to keep up with everything I’ve had due these past couple of weeks and let me tell ya, it’s not an easy job. I am almost at the end of it though. In fact, tomorrow I have my two final exams, one after another.

I will be studying into the wee hours of the morning most likely and then possibly fall asleep on my desk like the snazzy photo I included. So I wanted to explain that but also wish everyone that is doing finals this week, good luck or if you did yours last week, I am sure you got straight A’s.

I am just praying for the best in my own exams and I am going to do something I rarely do right now. I am going to include a second image to go along with the post because when I was looking up images for ‘finals week’ I found this and it’s just too awesome.

 

Hopefully you can read that because it’s pretty amazing. I am not too crazy how about they call it dead week but then again all the text underneath is pretty much how the past two weeks of my life has been.  Full of tests, portfolios, essays, quizzes and exams.

Aside from that, the weather is Asheville has been pretty darn cold and my fingers are continually freezing even when I am wearing gloves. Does anyone have tips for keep these fingers warm?

Lastly I had my birthday on December 13th and I am now the grand old age of 19. That means only one more year to be a teen! I can’t tell you how freaky this is for me but at the same time I intending to make this year, the best year yet. Therefore I suppose I am excited and nervous about turning 19.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this little blurb and as always let me know what you think. I am hoping to be back in the swing of things after tomorrow so look out for more Christmas themed posts,

Thank you so much for your support and I am off to study for exams,

Until next time, be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

http://www.gracehatton.com

25 Days of Christmas – The Beginning

Hello My Lovely Blog Readers,

So another year is almost over but before we can officially wave goodbye to 2010 we get to enjoy my favourite month of the year, December! Thanks to my birthday being in December, Christmas and New Years being in December its officially my favourite month of the year.

In honour of this grand month I have decided to do 25 days of Christmas. If you remember back in February I did 14 Days of Love and each day I posted a blog about something to do with love. I got great feedback on that little experiment so I decided to do again only for December and for 25 days. All the way up to possibly the best day of the year, Christmas.

I will be posting tips, traditions, reviews, randomness, videos and more. Think of this as part of your holiday entertainment. As always I love hearing your feedback in comments and it really does make it so much more fun.

So let’s embark on a holiday festival together and enjoy the 25 Days of Christmas. Look for another post tomorrow and until next time be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

http://www.gracehatton.com

Finally! A New Video! Plus Talk of Wizards and Princes

Hello My Lovely Readers,

It’s been a while since I posted a blog and please accept my humble apologies for that. College life can keep me pretty darn busy but I am very excited right now because my brand new YouTube video is finally live! I have tried to upload this YouTube video over 20 times and today at 2pm it finally uploaded.

It’s a video about my new found college life plus an awesome writing tip for you. It also contains all the juicy details on what is happening with my book ‘The Guys The Roses and The Regrets’. You can look at the video at www.youtube.com/gracehatton or you can watch the snazzy video below

If you have a YouTube account please comment, like and subscribe. If not feel free to comment on this post or send it out via Facebook and Twitter. Okay now that you’ve seen my new video I wanted to say how excited I am to go to a midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) this evening!

After I’ve watched it I will post a review sort of like I did with Eclipse back in June. I am sure there will be lots of craziness happening at these midnight showings. Are you going to a midnight show? If so let me know and let me know what you thought after you’ve watched. As someone who hasn’t read the books only watched the movies I am hoping for lots of action and for Ron and Hermione to finally get together!

Second thing I am going to be posting soon my views on Prince William and Kate finally getting married. To me it seems they’ve been dating for forever but that’s okay. As a english gal I am very excited for a Royal Wedding. 

So please look out for those posts and as always please let me know what you think of this post. Until next time be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

www.gracehatton.com

My Eclipse Review (Yay Jacob, Jasper and Edward boo Bella)

Okay so like a good modern teenage girl on Tuesday night at midnight I went to see Eclipse at 12:01 am with my sister and a bunch of friends. I have to admit as someone who as actually read the books I was pretty excited to see Eclipse. Eclipse and Breaking Dawn are my two favourite books out of the series. So as I sat in the cinema waiting for the previews to start I wondered how the movie would compared to the book and my imagination.

All in All I liked the movie but the best way I can give an honest review is to break it down by characters. So please enjoy my little review and let me know what you think

Edward – I have to admit if I were to pick a team I would be team Jacob but in this movie Edward is freaking sweet. If you know the story line you know he is trying to get Bella to marry him and he has some seriously sweet awww one liners. Every girl in the cinema regardless of their team was on the Edward train when he said things like ‘On my top ten list of favourite evenings number one is when you said you would marry me’ and when he refused to sleep with Bella before they were married because he came from a different time where he would court and woo her first. It was seriously sweet and made Edward the perfect gentleman.  So Edward gets a yay from me in Eclipse.

Jacob – As I said if I were to pick a team it would be Jacob even though I know he never ends up with Bella. In Eclipse he is simply awesome. He looks amazing without his shirt off and to me Taylor is a great actor that portrays Jacob’s strength and vulnerability all at the same time.  In Eclipse while Edward had most of the sweet one liners Jacob had most of the funny ones including one of the best lines in the movie. When Edward and Bella are in the tent at the top of the mountain, Bella is pretty much freezing to death. Edward can’t help her due to him being cold as well at this point Jacob comes in. Jacob suggests he warms Bella up and of course Edward protests but as Bellas teeth chatter Jacob says he has to help her or she’ll freeze to death and then grins “plus lets face it I am hotter than you”. The way Taylor delivers that line is perfect with mischief in his eyes and a grin on his lips. So yes in this movie Jacob was funny, hot, vulnerable and super strong so Jacobs gets a big yay from me.

Jasper – As someone who has read the books I was so excited for Eclipse because I knew Jasper finally got his chance to shine.  To me if the movie didn’t stick to the book on Jaspers story it would ruin the entire movie but to my joy the movie did Jasper’s story justice. Jasper got to show off his fighting skills and explain why he finds it so hard to be around Bella. He also explains how Alice found him and why he has so much knowledge about the new borns. In short Jasper kicked ass in this movie so he gets a big yay from me.

Bella – I am officially sick of Bella or maybe I am sick of Kristen Stewart,  I honestly don’t know.  To me Bella shows little emotion and is kinda blah. Whether she is sad, angry or happy she just always looks the same. The only part of this movie I liked her was when she punched Jacob and hurt her hand.  She did however get some guts right at the end of the movie and did a nice speech about why she wanted to be a vampire but over all the guys stole the show so Bella gets a boo from me.

The Cullens – They were okay nothing special. Emmet was funny, the parents were quietly wise, Alice was quirky and Rosalie was mean. However Rosalie did get to tell her back story as well and in that part she was really good. I really enjoyed both Rosalie and Jaspers back story. Over all though the cullens get a just okay from me.

The Werewolves – So you didn’t actually see the werewolves in their human forms that much so I guess I can say the CGI was really good. The only part I was disappointed in was Seth. I love love love Seth in the books but in the movie he didn’t get much airtime and they didn’t explain what he looked like in his werewolf form so when he turned into the wolf it was like which one is Seth. Leah did a good job on being mean but overall I don’t think the werewolves were explained very well. Therefore I give them a boo but that’s because of the directors not the werewolves.

Riley – The is the last character I will talk about. In the books Riley doesn’t get much air time but in the movie he got a ton. He even opened the movie. Honestly I loved him, he did a good job being a vampire leader and being in love with Victoria. I think the actor who played Riley really shown and the character was pretty great too.

So yeah I could talk more about the other side characters but they were the important ones :P. I think if you’ve read the books Eclipse will disappoint in some small areas but overall you’ll love it. If you haven’t read the books you won’t know what you’re missing so you’ll think its amazing. I look forward to Breaking Dawn but not seeing Bella. As a writer I wish she’d have made Bella stand for a little bit more than I am in love with Edward but the character of Bella develops a lot in Breaking Dawn so it shall be interesting. Let me know what you though of this blog, love it or hate it please let me know. I love talking about Twilight so comments are awesome,

Until next time be blessed, stay strong and never give up,

God Bless,

Grace Hatton – Best Selling Teen Author

http://www.gracehatton.com