Spring Writing Gala~Day 6

Yea!!!!!!! I finally caught up! For Day 6 of the Spring Writing Gala, I am to simply post a few pictures or a video of what I write with. While I do have a camera that takes video, I will be doing pictures, because I not only like having an excuse to take and mess around with them, I take awful videos and I am not nearly so good at editing them. I can't even take stuff out. Pretty much what I tape is what I get,

The main thing I write on is the family desk top. Sometimes this causes trouble in my family, as there are five of us fighting over the computer. (And that number is recent. It was not too long ago when it was eight of us!) I typically put some good instrumental music on at Pandora and go at it. The desk top is where I do my novels. I prefer this for my novels simply because of the ease and speed I can write while typing on the computer. Since novels usually take several rewritings, it is also easier for that reason. I do print out copies and make notes and such on the physical copy, but then I make the actual changes the text on the computer. And I have no idea why the picture is to the left. It should be in the center.

As any writer will probably agree, there is not much of a 'writingish' feel to a computer. As for as writing on it goes, it is almost cold and devoid of personality. As efficient as it is for writing, it simply is not that aesthetically pleasing, (yes, I know, wrong context for that phrase, but you know what I mean and I could not think of anything better.) I can write on a desk top, but I can not create on a desk top.  So for short stories, poems, plot outlines, character sketches, stories ideas, time outlines, essays, writing exercises, pretty much everything else but novels, I turn to my collection of note books. And yes, my different note books have different purposes.

If a girl uses note books, then obviously she uses pens and pencils. 

And then every once in a while I use my typewriter. I received it for Christmas several years back, and while I absolutely love it, I only use it every now and then for fun. I would still say it is one of the best gifts I have received over the past few years. I love my Brother, but it is just not that practical to use.



Spring Writing Gala~Day 5

I am not very good at "catching up," am I. It is as if my subconscious self physically knows when the next day will happen and only then gives me enough time to do the previous day. Day 6 was posted up today at Writer for Life.

Well, actually, it has more to do with my indecisive mind. I could not make up my mind on which movie to take this scenes from. I even considered using a scene from Warehouse 13, which is not a movie. I doubt a would be prosecuted for using a show instead of a movie, but was not the hundred movies sitting in our living room (most of them children movies, but hey,) enough inspiration for me.

Yesterday, I thought I had decided on The Princess Bride. It would have gone perfectly with the novel I am writing at the moment, Beyond Happily Ever After, since they are both fairytale parodies. I was pretty happy with this choice till I remembered that The Princess Bride is a book. I know I could still write out a scene from the movie. Having read the book several times though, I feel what I wrote would have been colored by that.

Sherlock Holmes and Up were the final two contestants. After watching a couple potential scenes from both movies, I decided on Up. Mostly because there is a bunch of weird flashy, slow motion, memory, epiphany moments in Sherlock Holmes that would make it difficult to narrate.

By the way, it is kind of long, so I won't be offended if you stop reading half way through.

Disney-Pixar Up

Scene 20: Hunters Come to Camp

In the quiet, still morning, the sun is just touching the rocky landscape. The cliff where the small camp is set looks over at a deep canyon, and far on the other side a thin waterfall splits through the brown rock, a stark slash of blue white. Gentle clouds float among the cliffs, weaving in and out of the tall segments of rock.   

A single frog sitting by a pair of black glasses croaks, his front puffing out to ridiculous proportion. Suddenly a thick, wrinkled hand slaps the frog, smashing him flat with a squelching noise. The frog wobbles in surprise, looking extremely dazed, before jumping away.

Lying down, Carl puts the glasses on, blinking in the morning sun. With a groan, he rolls over and pushes himself up to a sitting position. He is stiff and aches from a night on the unforgiving rock. Drowsily he tries to rub the fatigue from his eyes. He looks over affectionately at the house floating, though the use of hundreds of balloons, above him.

"Mornin' Sweetheart," Carl says, the traces of tenderness he felt for his late wife apparent in his voice. In the early morning, the worries and pains of the day had not yet had a chance to wear down on him, and he was in a good mood. Though he would never admit it, his time he had spent with Russel the night before had also helped add to his happy disposition.

This all disappears when his sees how much his house had sagged over the night. The balloons drift weakly, the strings which attach them to the house sag.

"We better get moving," Carl says, more to himself than anyone else there. His voice is full of worry. He looks around himself. "Uh, bird's gone, maybe Russel won't notice."

A new determination in his face, Carl claps his hands together and stands up. "Alright, everyone up."

Russel snaps awake with a snore. He jerks up from his prone position. "Where's Kevin?" he cries, immediately aware of the large bird's absence. "He's wondered off." Hurriedly he stands up and cups his hands around his mouth. "Kevin!" he yells. Turning to face Dug, he addresses the dog. "Dug, find Kevin."

Dug leaps up, tail wagging, glad to do anything for his small mailman friend. His nose attaches to the ground and he eagerly sniffs the ground for Kevin's sent. His small legs dart him over to Carl, nearly knocking him over. With a quick sharp movement, his stiffens his body, his nose pointing a bush Carl had been standing by.

"Point!" Dug says.

"Oh, look, there he is," Russell said, relief in his voice. He points up at the house, which is in the opposite direction from where Dug had pointed. From where he sits on the roof of the house, Kevin lets out with a loud CAW!

Dug glances around himself, as if very confused. With a shake to his head he snaps back to attention and whips around. "POINT!" he cries again, only this time his nose actually pointed at Kevin.

"Hey!" Carl yells, as he notices that Kevin has made a pile of food atop the roof. "That's my food. Get off my roof!"

A far off call catches Kevin's attention. After looking in the direction it came from for a moment, giving a call of its own.

"What is it doing?" Carl asks, fiddling with his glasses to see better.

"The bird is calling to her babies," Dug explains, tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

"Her babies," Russell smiles, then a look of confusion crosses his face. "Kevin's a girl?"

Kevin calls again before swallowing as much food whole as she possibly can. When she has swallowed as much as she possibly could, she lightly made her way down the side of the house.

"Her house is over there in those twisty rocks," Dug continues, gesturing with his head at the so said twisty rocks. "She is gathering food for her babies and must get back to them."

"Wait," Russell says, as Kevin warmly wraps his neck around Russell's, "Kevin's just leaving." As Kevin conveys good-bye to the other two, Russell turns to face Carl. "But you promised to protect her. Her babies need her, we gotta make sure they're together." Russell argues, following after the fleeing bird. Soon he can no longer see Kevin at all and he stops. He looks pleadingly at Carl.

"Sorry Russell," Carl says, secretly thrilled. "We've lost enough time already."

Russell gives one last forlorn look at where Kevin had disappeared before going to help Carl with moving the house. As he slips on his backpack, he pulls out a bar of chocolate, nearly crying at the sight.

"This was her favorite chocolate," he moans, clutching the candy with both hands, tears in his eyes. "Because you sent her away, there's more for you." Russell limply offers the candy to Carl.

Carl groans under his breath, shaking his head. He hears something rustling in the bushes, and his head darts up, looking for the source of the sound.

"Kevin?" Russell says, unbelieving but hopeful.

But it was not Kevin. Suddenly, several dogs leap out from the bushes, they teeth bared and barking furiously. Within a moment, the small group is surrounded by a pack of vicious dogs.

Spring Writing Gala~Writing Day 4

Wow, my week for the spring break mission trip was amazing! It was fun and I really connected with some of the kids there. Maybe I will blog about it later on, but for right now I will be playing catch up for the Spring Writing Gala. Okay Day 4.


Day 4 there is a list of question to answer about a character. It looks as though I am to answer them as if I was the character. Great! I love doing stuff like that. In fact, with those personality quizzes I like to pretend to be one of my characters while taking one. I feel it give me some more insight on how to make my character more consistent and realistic.

Here I go, I will be using Marian from Day 3.


Happiest memory:
The ball I went to when I left my cottage for one night. I knew it would mean I could never leave my cottage again, but the ball was so beautiful, it made me want to cry. I fell in love that night, I danced, and I saw and lived with so many people for a while.

Laugh hard:
The jester who always picks on Derek. Derek always is so uncomfortable and stiff, but the jester simply does not care, and Derek does not want to seem a party pooper, so her does not tell the jester to stop.

What you don't want anyone to know:
The way I feel when I am surrounded by my new royal family. When I stand next to them, I feel I can never compare.

Best part of your personality:
I don't know. I hear people say I am one of the nicest people they have ever meant, but Derek says I am shallow and not as perfect as I seem. He says my best personality trait is the way I am true to myself. He doesn't like seeing me try to be someone I am not.

Clothes you usually wear:
Beautiful things. Typically full dresses in pastel colors.

Some things you’re not very good at:
Embroidery, dancing, being a princess.

How would your best friend describe how you look:
Cute. I would do anything to be beautiful, but alas, I am never anything more than cute.

What irritates you:
Practical people. How can you expect fairytales to happen if you are practical...Derek.

What are you afraid of:
Not being enough for the people I love.

About your family:
I don't really remember my own family. They were impotent people in a different kingdom, and I know that they got in trouble with someone else in power so my mother hid me in a cottage, but other than that I don't know. My adoptive family though, well they're royalty, and I only really see them at parties. My father-in-law is very old and sleeps a lot, my mother-in-law is very elegant and lovely, like any good queen should be. She is very cold though. My fiancé, Derek, is practicable

What does your bedroom look like:
A rich room full of books shelves, I love to read, it is one of the few things I can do without messing up. My bed is covered with quilts and pillows, and a light blue canopy hangs over my bed from the ceiling.

What do you think of yourself when you look in the mirror:
I think, peasant stock trying to look like a princess.

Most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you:
Being thrown into a dungeon by guards. This happened because I was helping Derek's rival, Rupert, and Rupert kind of humiliated Derek by calling him a fraud and a looser, so Derek got a little upset.

What do you really, REALLY want more than anything else I the world:
To be the kind of person people can see as a queen.

Heart’s Desire:
I don't really know. Is it to love someone truly? To be as queenly as a queen can be? To be a hero in a world were hero's are scarce?

Spring Writing Gala~Day 3

Yes, I am doing two days in one day, (shhhhhhh) pretend you do not notice.

Still exploring the world of characters, today we are to describe a character of our own creation. I have decided to do Marian, a character from my book in process, Beyond Happily Ever After. Without really meaning to, she has ended up much like my NaNoWriMo heroine, Clara. While the details in their personalities are completely different, and I can see the differences, their general attitudes are the same. Right at first they seem almost exactly like each other, and you really have to get to know both of them before their differences come through. Ah well, nothing for it now. Marian has already become who she is with very little direction from me.

Marian

Marian is a blond, melodramatic, princess. She has a tendency to take everything to a wild extreme and put her whole passion into anything that comes her way. Always either in a tizzy of joy, a deep depression, a stiff boredom, a rush of excitement, a whirlwind of anger, or fountain of sympathy, her emotions are hard to keep up with, let alone share or even understand. Like many princess, she spent her whole childhood locked up in a cottage. Whether it was because of this, or because she is naturally so, but she has a fascination with the doings of other people. Her natural observational skills and this odd passion means she picks up a lot about the people around her that most miss. What she picks up varies from being able to tell what people are really feeling and thinking, to knowing most people put their left shoe on first. Though a naturally nice and kind person, she is somewhat shallow, and impatient. She often spoils herself with instant gratification, never considering what the consequences of her actions may mean to herself or others.

Spring Writing Gala~Day 2

In Megan's Spring Writing Gala we will be looking into creating characters for the first week., I will miss most of it as I will be in Kettle Fall's over Spring break. Ah well.

Day number two's challenge is to write a paragraph describing someone you know. I was at a bit of a quandary at first. Who should I write about? In the end, I decided to go for someone that not only I knew well, but that others might know as well.

Harry Connick Jr. is a a dapper dresser, and his hair always as that just-less-than-perfectly-coiffed tussle to it. Musically minded, but also able to act.....

Okay, I don't actually know Harry Connick Jr. I heard him mention in passing today, and for some reason when thinking of people I could describe, his named popped into my head.

Anyhoo, here is my real entry.

Jacob,

better known as my little brother

Random, random would be a good way to describe him. Doing weird things at weird times, this seven year-old boy never ceases to surprise me. At times his crazy antic are tiring, and his energy level is much too high. His clear blue eyes, dimpled smile, and polite attitude makes him quite the charmer, even if he doesn't want to be. He is a master of weird facile expressions, building with Lego's, and verbal sound effects. When he grows up he hopes to be a fireman, or a Lego designer. He hasn't decided yet.

And I will not be posting the 30 day challenge again until the Spring Writing Gala is done, just for my sanity's sake.

Oh, and a light fixture fell on me today. I just thought that you all would want to know that.

Day Seventeen~Write a Book Review



Two post in a row. WHOOP!!!!!!!!

In Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders, things are not going well for the small town of Coven tree. Wells are drying up and crops are withering away due to the terrible drought. The inhabitants of Coven tree are about to give up when a miracle happens. Along comes Dr. Dredd with his wagon of wonders. Not only is there a dragon egg, ancient armor, and a magical mirror, but a boy named Calvin who could make it rain. At first this seems the answer to everyone pray, and they are quick to set up a deal with Dr. Dredd, willing to trade almost anything for more rain. When Ellen McCabe finds Calvin huddled in her barn, hiding from Dr. Dredd, she learns what kind of man Dr. Dredd is. A ruthless man, whose price for more rain is worse than anyone could ever think.

Dr. Dredd's Wagon of Wonders is by Bill Britten, and one of his many books set in Coven tree. The book is an exciting story with fast action comedy, aimed at ages about eight to eleven. It is a story that reflects on the strength of friendship and the need for caring. Mr. Britten balances this message well with the plot, and it does not seemed forced.

I found nothing at all offensive in the book, and in fact it is one of those rare occasions where the author has presented us with a fantasy where both magic and Christianity can live side by side in harmony. I liked that very much about the book.

My only problem with the book was the flimsy feel to the story. It kept moving at a pretty quick pace, almost too quick. It is not that there was too much going on for the amount of words or pages, rather the plot simply was not fleshed out at all. It almost felt like I was reading a very detailed outline. The character's were very flat and cliché, often predicable and boring. This made me somewhat disappointed in the book, in that it could have been a lot better if more time was spent in developing the characters, giving them more tangible motivations, and giving some thought to fleshing out the plot.

I would recommend to book for a young reader, one was has just graduated to bridging fiction. For that age group, I think this would be a very enjoyable read. It is quickly paced and action filled, and the characters are likable. For an older audience, I think they would only enjoy it as a quick read, when they need something to read for only an afternoon. If you are looking for something with a bit more heft to it though, look else where.

2011 Spring Writting Gala~Writing Day 1

Why am I doing this? I am already doing the 30 day challenge I made up, and I am hardly able to do that. Why am I setting myself up for failure. My 30 day challenge, (which is taking more than thirty days,) script frenzy in two weeks, end of school stuff, spring mission trip to Kettle Falls, do I really want to add Spring Writing Gala?

Yes, yes I do.

I am a Christian, home school girl, in her senior year, and I am getting pretty tired of people asking about what my plans are. (Getting my GED, then working at a bank while taking a gap year to look at colleges before deciding on one, probably online college if I do, do it.) I am calm and collected sort, but still managed to give people the subtle impression that I am always up to something. Typically I am not, they just think I am.....or am I?

I love reading, (mostly fantasy, but lots of other things as well) writing (that is a little obvious,) using Parentheses, (also obvious) being completely random, snakes, thinking logically, acting, blogging, taking pictures, making lists of useless facts, and blue raspberry flavor. I dislike mushy bananas, pictures of myself, being wrong, and spelling.

Weeeell, now that you know a little about me, I shall answer the questions! I plow forth!!!

How long have you been writing?--A long time. Six years is how long I have been "officially"writing.


When did you first realize how much you loved writing?--I am going to say 12. Before then writing was mostly for school, or attempted starts to write a novel. When I was younger, (and even now) I did not understand the meaning of the word short story, and could never write anything that was less than ten pages. Which drove my mother crazy, as she was my teacher and had to correct all of my work. I started my first novel when I was 12 though, and that is when I discovered quite how much I loved writing.

What is your favorite thing about writing?--Grr, I hate "favorite" questions. If I have to pick on though, piecing thing together. For me, there is nothing more satisfying than taking the characters, the plot, and the setting and putting it all together to make something than is actually enjoyable. Though the sound the keys make while I type is a very close second.

Which do you like better, Planning or Rewriting?--Planing, planning, planning.  In fact, I plan a novel for up to five years before letting it hit the paper, (or more realistically, the computer screen.)

What do you consider your best work of writing?--Depends what you mean by "best." II have to say though, that it is my most recent, (and only) NaNoWriMo novel, The Drosselmeyer Legacy. The other two novels where what I like to call, "practice" novels, and could be good if I would bother to spend the time in editing them.

What kind of writing do you feel the strongest in?--I am going to take this literally, and say fantasy fiction. I can do whatever I want, how ever I want, and no one is going to tell me it would be impossible, because it is set in a magical land. Logic and possible is kind of thrown out of the window. This is common among authors, and is known as G-O-D syndrome.

How many books have you started writing?--A lot.
How many books have you finished writing?--Four, though I think I said three earlier. One of them is more of bridging fiction.

How many books are you working on right now?--Two

Have you ever taken a writing class? If so, what did you get the most out of it?--Nope

If you could write as good as anyone in the world, who would you choose?--I would love to be able to write like Cornelia Funke at least plot wise. (After all, her books are translated from German, so I have no idea how her writing flows.) Stephenie Meyer is also cool, (though I find myself rolling my eyes with her at times. My goodness, could you get any sappier, and ridiculous? It was like a soap opera with vampires.)

What have your family members told you about when you were little/what do you remember, and how might it apply to your writing life.--They have said lots of stuff, and I am sure if I thought about it I could remember exactly what they said and how I can apply it to my life, but I don't really want to spend the time. I know, I am terrible.

Day Sixteen~Write an Argumentive Paragraph

Yes, I know it has been forever, and the post will probably be pretty sparse the next couple weeks, just for a heads up. Things recently, with it being the near the end of my senoir year, have be CRAZY!!!!!!!! Thank you for your patients, my...five...followers.

I believe it is important that we understand the major world views of today. Today's media is very one sided when it comes to world views, and this is indeed a dangerous dilemma. This causes people to assume that everyone who is not a member of their own world view is stupid, in denial, legalistic, and typically depressed. This is caused by people spending all their lives being told one side of something, and this leads them to believe that their beliefs are the most logical and make the most sense, and they have reached that very conclusion because they are so smart and logical. When in all reality, what has happened to them is closer to the process of brain washing.

We will never understand someone fully till we know what he believes. We will never understand a people until we know what a cultural taboos and beliefs drive them. I am very comfortable in saying this, for it is obvious a person's actions are directly related to what he believes. Only a daring few will deny this, and they can typically be argued against by this logic. Why did they stand up? Was it their belief that a person's belief's drive their acting? What other motivations could that person have of denying that proposition? Obviously, most people will not deny such logic, but perhaps I should take more time to understand such people? Maybe then I will see their belief's as logical.

Basically, the actions of a person, or a people, will not make sense till what they believe is understood. The atheist will believe the theist deluded and legalistic, the theist think the atheist brainwashed and evil. The Buddhist and the Moslems will think each other wrong and dark. The absolutes and the non-absolutes will think each other crazy. The Catholic and the Baptist will think each other perversions to what the word of God says.

Of course, the deeper a person goes into someone else's world view, the more sure of his own beliefs he must be if he is to keep them. This is of course a hazard, but a necessary one.

I have attempted to do this. I have studied evolution, and at the moment I am trying to understand the beliefs of both Mormons, and Muslims. I have found my studies to be very revealing, and while I stay true to my Conservative Christian world view, I feel I can now understand why others do what they do.

All in all, I think everyone considered would benefit if the top then world views were taught in schools, by a believer of that world view. This would be especially beneficial to the church. Not only so they could more easily minister to non-believers of Christian world view, but to understand the different denominations within the Christian realm.

Thank You Pandora

I would just like to take a moment to celebrate the fact that I finally found the perfect Pandora station for instrumental jazz. It is the David Benoit station with Bill Evens and Urban Knights as variety.

Finding this "perfect" station was surprisingly hard to do. It probably mostly stems from the fact that I knew very little instrumental jazz artist when I began my search. One of the reason I was looking so hard, was because I did not know the composers to the type of jazz I liked to listened to. I was in the dark, I had no idea who to look up, or who was good or not.

After months of googling jazz artist and such and trying out their radio on Pandora, I nearly gave up. It all seemed to turn into fusion, elevator music (yes, I know, technically that is not a genre), or boogie in the end. I am not too fond of boogie, elevator music  is okay, but I prefer something with more of a beat, and I hate fusion.

Then one day I was browsing the genre stations, and found the one called Smooth Jazz. For a while I listened to that. Sure, it was mostly the elevator type music, but it was the best I had come across yet. Then there was this one song that struck a cord with me, (no pun intended.) It was a song by David Benoit, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I thumbs uped it. Pretty soon another song by him was played, and I loved that one too. I decided to take a risk. I made a David Benoit station. I would have been content with the Smooth Jazz radio, but I like the fact that I have more control over the stations that I make myself as apposed to the one Pandora comes up with. I added Bill Evens after a while, mostly because I like the piano as a medium for jazz music. (He was one one of my favorites from my search in google land for jazz artist.) Urban Knights I added later after hearing a couple of songs by them. Only a few songs and I could tell they were EPIC!!!!! I have listened to much more of them now and while the covers to their albums are a little weird, I only love them more.

Day Fifteen~Post About Five of Your Favorites You have Ever Written

Foow, that is a long title. I need to work on it apparently.

Most of these I have actually posted on this blog, so be sure to check them out.

Novel

The Drosselmeyer Legacy. A remake of the classic story, combining the elements of the ballet, the original story, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and ones I created myself. We all know how Clara received a nutcracker from her godfather Herr Drosselmeyer, with it actually being an enchanted prince. But the story does not end there. Instead we go further into the kingdom the nutcracker ruled, and Fritz tags along for the ride, unfortunately he ends up helping the Mouse King. As the siblings face each other, the both realize they need to compromise if they are to knit the broken kingdom back together.

Short Stories

The Duel is a suspense story set in the eighteen hundreds that questions man's motives. When Eustace enters  a duel with a man who has tormented him for many years, he must decide if he will forgive this man, or reduce himself to the level of this man he so despises.  

In The Seer Sarah has the ability to tell when people are going to die and how. Sarah is tormented by this ability all of her life, but a times comes when she must decide to let it control her life, to be her permanent curse, or if she will use it as a blessing for others.

The tension is taut in One Mississippi as what seems a harmless natural phenomenon turns out to be not only thoughtful, but menacing. One little girl must recognize the danger no one else can see, and protect those she loves from it.

Poems:

One Man's Prayer 

Day Fourteen~Post About a Favorite Book

For the last thirty day challenge I did this was actually one of the days. I felt highly tempted to cheat and use that post for this. I know I have made up my own rules thus far by simply ignoring the subconscious guidelines that my mind wants me to follow because technically there are no strict rules at all. Something about using an old post felt wrong though.

Keep in mind that this is a favorite book. I have dozens of favorite books, that, depending on my mood, fluctuate for being my all time favorite.

Even though I do not like Edith Pattou's other works, I love East. It is based after the Norwegian folk tale, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." It is about a young woman, Rose, who falls in love with a polar bear, but then the polar bear is taken away by the evil troll queen and then Rose must travel to Antarctica to save him. Mmm, when put that way, it sounds campy.

I first came across it when I was twelve. The library were I live does a summer reading program for kids and teens. If you read three hours, you got to choose from a selection of free books. I ultimately choose East because it looked the friendliest. The books for the teens, and then the younger kids were in separate places, and that was the first year I was choosing from the teen section. All the other covers looked a bit...scary, and not like something a twelve year old should be reading. Luckily, East was as friendly as it looked, and had no content in it that made me put it down.

I quite literally fell in love with the book. The story has the magical fairytale feeling to it, but the world has just enough detail and reality to get away with it. The author manages to create this beautiful fairytale land, with the events being set in the real world. Parts of the story taking place in Norway, Paris, and even Antarctica I know it is hard to have fantasies set in this world, and still have the magic not seem out of place. This book blends the real and fairytale world till they seem apart of each other.

Day Thirteen~Define an Obscure Word

How unknown does a word have to be to be considered obscure? No recently made up words in this blog post. Subconsciously I used the word, word in the sense that most people use it, that it is common enough to be found in the dictionary. (It truly does depend on what you mean by the word, word ;) I wanted a really, really obscure word. One that no one who ever came across this blog would have ever seen before. So I did the only thing possible. I took my Webster' Unabridged Dictionary, (yes, it is MINE. Not my parents. I am weird enough to have actually received it as a present for Christmas a few years back, along with a spelling and a rhyming dictionary, and I think that was also the year I received a Strong's concordance...though that may have been the next year,) and randomly opened it. Well, not completely random. The majority of the words in the English language begin with S, so I jotted over to the S section. After scanning a bit, I found the perfect word. One I do not think I will ever see used again, but one that is not too specific that I will not be able to ever use it in casual conversation. Not like the word wimple, that really can only be applied when talking of nuns.

Serrulation: in the state of having fine notches or being serrated. Any of the notches of an object which is serrated.

James rubbed the serrulation of the penny with the tip of his thumb.

That species of leaf was recognized by it rounded serrulation.

Mmmmm, blogger spell check does not accept that word. Typically that means it is not used very much. Looks like serrulation is obscure enough.