Beautiful People #5: A Escritora

That's right, Dean, you are.

(Obviously, I had to steal this, Cait.)

Q U E S T I O N S

1. How many years have you been writing? I'm not sure at all when I began writing... several years ago, at least. I don't know that I ever thought I'd be a writer, though. I always hated "write a short story about _____" assignments the very most, all the way from K-4, until perhaps... 7th grade? Something like that. When did you officially consider yourself a 'writer'? A few years ago? I'm not really certain. I'll have to look through my dates and see. Though I believe the first time I officially considered myself an actual writer would have been soon after Anne-girl and I began talking about books and writing and characters and plots and movies and all.

2. How/why did you start writing? Because I had to, the way Jeremiah had to preach.

3. What's your favorite part of writing? Writing. I know, lame, boring, extremely creative answer. 'Tis the truth, though. Writing is my favorite part of writing. When the words flow not so much from me but through me and I'm simply the channel through which they pass from the abstract to black and white colors.

4. What's your biggest writing struggle? Plotting. Plotting, plotting, plotting. I get random ideas and scenes and pictures and words, but rarely ever an entire story. Or if I do, I can't get enough details pinned down to actually get on with it. Thus all the cliffhangerishness that goes on around here. (Desculpe.)

5. Do you write best at night or day? At night. In the middle of the night. Strange, perhaps, but true. Then again... it seems I'm not so alone in this as I once thought. My favorite writings are always the ones I wrote sometime in the wee hours of the morning. This does seem to be changing somewhat, but for now it still remains.

6. What does your writing space look like? (Feel free to show us pictures!) Hmm, I don't exactly have one. My writing space is my laptop, or occasionally my phone or tablet, or, even less often, my notebook. Unless it's poetry... poetry I write in notebooks, or occasionally on the phone. For poetry, writing tools from first choice to last: notebook, tablet, phone, laptop. And for everything else: laptop, tablet, phone, notebook. (Something like that.) Weird.

7. How long does it typically take you to write a complete draft? I don't know, I've never done that [yet].

8. How many projects do you work on at once? As many as I want, I suppose. I'm not extremely organized about this writing thing. I'm trapped, though, as anyone else. In the most beautiful, chaotic way, of course.

9. Do you prefer writing happy endings, sad ones, or somewhere in between? Somewhere in between, I suppose. I like happily sad endings, or sadly happy endings. Please tell me you understand what I'm saying? Because I do realize that at first glance that may look like exactly the same thing, but it is not.

10. List a few authors who've influenced your writing journey. (Listed randomly.)

• Markus Zusak (The Book Thief)
• Allie Condie (Matched)
• Westmoure (Revelations)
• Anne-girl (Scribblings)
• Cait (Paper Fury)
• Sky (Further Up and Further In)
• Clare Vanderpool (Moonlight Over Manifest)
• Matthew J. Kirby (Icefall)
• Nicholas Sparks (A Walk to Remember)
  I've never loved love stories, but he makes them real. I've never read any of his books {though I just started The Longest Ride}, but I've seen A Walk To Remember {which was the first love story I fell in love with}, The Notebook {which was the second, I think}, and, as of this week, The Lucky One {the movie could have been done much better, but the story behind the cheese was quite the one}. I didn't realize until this week, when I watched The Lucky One, that all three were based on books written by Nicholas Sparks. Thus his addition to my list of awesomeness writers.
• A&E (screenwriters, Once Upon a Time)
• the writers of Supernatural
• Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)
• Michael Grant (Gone)
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Christopher Paolini (Eragon. His books breathed into me a permanent inspiration. I suppose the day I finished Inheritance is the day I truly began to become a writer.)
• Mark Twain
• Jack London (The Call of the Wild)
• Ely ({what can I say?})
• Olivia (The Scribbleagonist)
• Ashley G. ([insert title here])
• Christine Smith, aka Lauriloth (Musings of an Elf)
• Jaime, aka Jaguar Hero! (The Dancing Lawn)
• Vicki (Sunshine and Shadow)
• Rachel Heffinton (The Inkpen Authoress)
• Ted Dekker (The Circle Series)
• Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson. He writes with a simplicity I at times admire.)
• Amy Walker
• and of course many others, but I can't list them all (sadly)

11. Do you let people read your writing? Why or why not? It depends. Sometimes I post what I write, sometimes I show it to only certain people (or characters), and other times I show it to no one (perhaps not even myself). In the latter case, I have a secret, private blog upon which I scrawl any and all such works for safe-keeping. Why? Because some things simply are or are not meant for sharing, dearie.

12. What's your ultimate writing goal or dream? Ultimate? Hmm. Perhaps to have that one great book of my own that becomes classic and loved. Like The Book Thief. Not that said book would be like The Book Thief itself, or even the same genre, or anything, only that it would be that kind of beloved classic... you get the idea?

13. If you didn't write, what would you want to do? Act. As in, be a legit actress. Yes, that is my dream job.

14. Do you have a book you'd like to write one day but don't feel you're ready to attempt it yet? Yes, I do. The one that comes to mind would be World Without Water. It's sloshing around in my head still, gathering and collecting such things as would be needed until such a time presents itself. I don't want to start until it's ready for fear of ruining such a beautiful story. (Not that I'm really sure of what's going on yet, other than the original [title] idea. Which is part of why it's sloshing.)

15. Which story has your heart and won't let go? Jainie. And Alex. Also the others, but mostly Jainie (and Alex).

A perhaps [un]noteworthy note:

GIFs are cool but annoying. I never dreamed I'd actually use any.

And then Dean showed up on Beautiful People.

Hmm. Awesomeness, indeed.

"a escritora" is Portuguese for "the writer" (feminine), if you must know

Sunshine Award

Hello, dearies!

I apologize for my sudden absence. I've been busy with things like moving to a different state, planning things with new and best of friends, attending a wedding, and all manner of otherness. I also seem to have abandoned An Ocean Raging... I'll get back to that once I'm moved (beginning of October).

For those of you anxiously awaiting part two (of Curse Me For Loving You), I'm still working on that, and planning on finishing it before Sunday night when season four of Once Upon a Time premiers.

In the meantime, Carly from Books and Etc. has nominated me for the Sunshine Award. (Still not sure why these things are called awards?) Thanks, Carly!

rules

thank the person who nominated you

tell us five facts about yourself

answer the five questions given

write five questions for your nominees to answer

nominate five bloggers for this award

(and let them know about it)

random facts

I finally got my hair cut. I went from hair all the way down my back to hair above my shoulders with side bangs. And I love it.

My friend and I came up with an entire book plot (on accident) and cast of five characters (including names, personality, etc.) in less than twenty minutes. Also, the title for the book and ideas for a four-book series. Which she's actually going to write. And I get to know everything about everything and yell at her when I don't like something (and praise her when I do. I'm not all jerk). Yay and awesome sauce.

I'm moving from Pennsylvania to Florida in less than two weeks. (Just me, not my family. I'll be living with my aunt as a nanny for her son.)

I turned 20 fifteen days ago

I'm sick of giving random fact about myself. I'm boring, anyhow.

carly's questions

what is your favorite memory from middle school?

I don't know what my favorite memory is. But a memory is seeing the stars in the African sky so much more clearly than are usually seen here in America. There were so many, and it was so beautiful. The closest the Pennsylvanian sky has gotten to that are on clear winter nights. The sky is so much more clear and beautiful in wintertime.

if you were a book, who would you want in your story and who would write it?

plus, what genre would your book be (personality-wise)?

Markus Zusak would write it.

Hmm... I have to actually choose people? I don't know... I need a limit.

My closest friends, my closest family members, and a few random strangers just to make it interesting.

Genre? Based on my personality? Hmm. Adventure, maybe? With a dash of darkness and a hint of horror. Then throw in a small slice of sunshine to balance it out a bit.

if you could change your name, what would you change it to and why?

Jinger.

Not really. That's just what a friend kept thinking my name was when we first met. Apparently, it's now my nickname.

Honestly, I don't know.

if you could turn back time and relive a year of your life, what year would it be and why?

I wouldn't.

But, if I've got to choose...

Nope. Sorry. Too much brain power needed.

Perhaps another time, dearie.

Next!

if you were a superhero, what would be your superpower and who would be your partner(s) in crime?

what would you call yourselves?

My superpower would be that I never had to sleep. I can if I want to, but I don't have to. That would be absolutely lovely in so many ways.

I wasn't aware that superheros committed crimes? Very well. Anne-girl and Aaron. We would be all kinds of things, from Robin Hood to Charlotte Doyle to something out of Little Women, to the idiots who do things like eat pudding out of mayonnaise jars and put on fake accents when no one knows who we are. Also cosplays (which basically means mature dress-up and play-acting, minus "mature"). I'd mostly provide the insults and insanity.

We'd call ourselves kameraden. Obviously.

I'm really not usually the one to come up with the name.

I'm just the one who changes the original words around properly.

(Fine, I'll tell you. Kameraden is German for comrades.)

yeah, I used Google translate...

my questions

what kind of posts would you like to see (more of) on my blog?

if you could be a new character in your favorite TV show, which show would that be?

what role would you play in the show?

why is the sky blue?

tell me your worst nightmare

how and when did the writer's curse first consume you?

nominees

Westmoure || Revelations

Anna || Anna's Notebook

MaddieJ || The Wonderful World of My Life

Evi || Where Books Never End

magicandwriting583 || Magic and Writing

I've one other announcement. Two, actually. And neither of them have anything to do with anything associated with my blog. Yet. I have two new Monte Cristo converts. And I have become a Sherlockian.

Now we'll see how I do about getting that fanfic finished...

Half-Baked

Hello, dearies! Today, I have an announcement to make for a friend of mine. Anne-girl from Scribblings is hosting a new blog called Half-Baked! Here's a quick blurb she wrote for it:

Half Baked is a blog dedicated to the art of writing and exploring what goes into a solid story. The blog operates on the principal that most stories are like cake, delicious and scrumptious and all the other cake words that are out there. But just like cake, a story can come out gooey and shaky in the middle, half baked. This blog is meant to help turn awesome ideas into solid, fully baked novels. Stop by ahalfbakedplot.blogspot.com on September first to join in the release party. There will be contests and a giveaway and of course virtual cake.

I don't know about you, but I'm definitely excited about this. Head on over and give it a look!

Giveaways & Plenilune

First, Plenilune! I've been meaning to post about this and add the button to my blog for the longest time.

I really don't know much about this book, but I do know of the author, Jenny Freitag of The Penslayer. Her book, The Shadow Things, is one of Anne-girl's favorite books, and so she (of course) lent me her copy. I don't remember the book too much (I really should read it again), but I do remember that it was good and enjoyable.

All of that to say, Jenny has a new book coming out! Of course, you've figured that out by now. The cover reveal will be posted here (and other places) on October 9th, so be sure to check back!

Next, the first of two giveaways I'm posting about today. Rachel of The Inkpen Authoress is hosting the Half-Dozen Giveaway! The winner will receive one of each of her published works as well as a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. This giveaway begins at midnight tonight.

click the button to view Rachel's entry post

Last but not least, the second giveaway is by Miss Wendy of The Midnight Garden. She went to a movie screening of If I Stay and has received a movie tie-in copy of the book and a paperback copy of Where She Went by Gayle Forman for this giveaway!

Click here or on the picture to the left to enter and to read Miss Wendy's post.

Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation. I haven't read these books or done too much research on them. I'm interested in them and the movie, which is why I've entered the giveaway, but other than Miss Wendy's post, the movie trailer, and some other random things I've read/heard about these books, I don't know much about them.

Reading and Numbers

I'm supposed to be reading right now. I've got something around 1382 pages to read before Monday the 28th. Usually, I call 13 my lucky number (I know luck has nothing to do with it but it's fun). However, in this instance, I don't believe it is [lucky]. Maybe it's the 2 at the end there...twos aren't good.

I love numbers. I act all superstitious about them but I don't really believe in all of that. Some of it, maybe, like how 7 is the perfect number and 3 is the number of God and 5 is the number of grace. That's all Biblical. But how people get super weird about it, that's not really real. I just like to play around cause it's fun watching numbers and looking for patterns, and finding them even if they aren't really there [in a superstitious way]. Thirteen is awesome, the best number ever. Thirteen, four, seven, and three are all good numbers. Any odd number is good. With the exception of four, most all even numbers are bad (including, sometimes, numbers ending in four). Actually, I never really thought about a system or anything -- I never really gave that any thought until just now -- but it seems I do have one of sorts, just not one that's easy to explain.

Anyway, enough of that. I need to be reading. But what am I doing?

I'm reading.

Oh yes, I am. Not right now, obviously, since I'm typing this post. Before that. Just not what I'm supposed to be reading.

I've been reading Anne-girl's blog and I simply can't stop! I love it. In fact, I've added a few posts to the lists on My Penslayer.

Roddy and Eric and Lywin and Annike and Miles and Barney and Binker and all the other lovely characters I've been reading about or from. Excellent. Beautiful.

Now off again to other worlds.

Slán a fhágáil, a chairde