Writing :)

I know it's been a very loooooong time since I last posted something on this blog. I apologize. It's been what, almost a year since I posted something last? Pathetic, I know, but this has probably been the busiest year of my life so far (though I know once I start college in the fall, it will get even busier). It's my senior year, and I decided to challenge myself with taking five difficult classes - two are AP, one science and one math (the two subjects I struggle with), and a Journalism class. I've also been working as well, so it's hard for me to find time to even sleep or spend time with my family.
Anyways, (back on the subject) I just thought that I would make up for all that time lost to explain something I am very passionate about: writing. It'll be pretty random and I ramble a lot, but I thought that this would be a nice way for everyone to know a little more about me, and how much I enjoy and love writing ;)

I wish my name meant "writer" because that is exactly what I am: a writer. Writing is my passion. I love many of my hobbies, even to the point of obsession, but none of those things can compare to the way I feel about writing. It is something that defines me as a person: it is ingrained into my soul, deep into the core of my being. A lot of people enjoy writing in general, but me? It's more than just a simple hobby - it's something that makes my heart skip whenever I hear the word, something that can cheer me up even during the worst of days, and it's something that I can't imagine life without.

My love for it is so strong that I can't express it in words. People who know me extremely well know that I love to take off into my own worlds and thoughts, and I do it half the time without realizing it. I would much rather live in my own world with my own sceneries and characters than live here - but that's one reason why I love writing so much. I can take myself away so easily...and I can create reality in a way that I want it to be. I can see whatever I want to see, go to places only my imagination can take me to, and live a much more creative life.

I was born a storyteller. Any of you read or watched the Anne of Green Gables movies/series? Both my parents compared me to Anne multiple times as a child - I loved to read, I was overdramatic, and my imagination could hold oceans. I was even named after Anne in my middle name. And according to my parents, I had a window friend when I was really young as well. (Who would have thought!) Well, at least until my dad saw that I had one, freaked out, and told me that I shouldn't be friends with her anymore (I think her name was Anna?) and to go out and find real friends as well <-- I probably wasn't very happy with that.

Even before I was one, I would gather all the little babies in the nursery around me and tell them about the stories I had made up in my head. When I was one, I read them books. Writing came very closely after that. I loved stories with a passion, and I loved creating them even more.

Of course, when I wrote my first book at daycare and then never stopped writing after that, I didn't start out with writing books on the computer like I do now. Nope, I hand-wrote and illustrated everything in my books. Because I started hand writing very early in my life, it is still natural for me to write down page after page of stories (your hand builds up a lot of endurance from that!) I would write series, short stories, poems, books, and I'd even color and draw in them, making my characters and imagination come to life. There were some books that were literally one hundred-page long books, ones that I spent time hand-writing and perfecting by myself.  I'd take my papers with me wherever I went - in the car, outside (even when it was windy out), to school, on vacation, and even in the bathtub (that tells you how inseparable my stories and I were!)

I kept every single sheet in countless boxes full of papers under my bed. My mom thought my room was a fire hazard, and I always knew when one sheet went missing (when she went "spring cleaning" through my room) and I would be heartbroken if any of my stories or parts of my stories were thrown away. However, after I did a good amount of crying, I made myself feel better by writing some more.

Most kids ask for barbies or toy trucks for their birthdays - I asked for notebooks and pens, and I was the happiest girl in the world whenever I got them. I still sometimes put those two items on my birthday lists, even though I do most of my writing on the computer. The excitement of seeing my world and characters come to life through my fingertips is something that can never be explained or be put into words. I still have a closet full of old notebooks and loose-leaf papers that I used as a kid.

Over the years, I've written stories in all genres: fantasy, realistic fiction, Christian, thriller/action/adventure, horror, future-apocalyptic, mystery, sci-fi, non-fiction, short stories, and poems. When I was younger, I wrote more in the realistic fiction/fantasy/Christian area. Then, when I was ten/eleven, I went through a huge "horse" phase where I wrote only about horses and their owners for three or four years (haha, kind of embarrassing, but I doubt that anyone could think up of all the different types of stories that can come out from that topic like I did ;)). After I got over that, I started writing several fantasy stories. That was around the time where I transferred from handwriting books to typing them out on the computer.

It was very different for me at first, and I didn't like it. Yes, my thoughts and stories could come out faster by typing them out, but I couldn't hold the actual papers in my hand unless I printed it out. Even if I did that though, I couldn't feel the creases in the paper where my pen/pencil had crossed. I couldn't grasp my world and hold it in my hands like I could with handwriting. However, like every other kid in this generation, I grew used to it and adapted to it over time. Still, though, I enjoy writing things out with my hands, though most of the time, I only write out things I'm planning or plotting - not the actual story.

In the past couple of years, I've been into a more future-apocalyptic/mystery/sci-fi/horror genre. It's been very interesting for me to see (through these phases and changes in style) how I've developed as a writer. I love to watch my story ideas grow more interesting, complicated, and realistic. My stories have turned from shallow, simple fifty-page stories into multi-layered, five-hundred page long books, some of which continue on into a series. I used to have to fight my way to write ten pages in a word document (that was my minimum for a chapter), and now, I have trouble making sure my chapters aren't fifty-pages long each.

Mostly though, I especially love how my characters have grown more complex as they think and react like normal people now. I've been writing in the first-person point-of-view for a while now, but I love that style. When I started writing in it, mostly as an experiment, I loved the voice of my main character as it popped into my head and made itself known. I'd never experienced the thoughts and voices of a character like that before, and I had to scramble around and write down everything she said. Living through the eyes of one person makes the story more realistic - we only live our lives through the mindset and personality of one person - and you don't get that full picture view like you do in third person. Also, the character's personality is much more realistic and prominent in the story. In all the stories I've read, the strongest and most like-able protagonists are the ones who tell their story in first-person. However, I do like third-person as well. I love the simplicity of it, the bigger picture. In third person, you have the ability to describe everything in much more detail and time, and you can do that with the characters as well, unlike first person, where you have to think of a clever way of inserting those little details that most people don't think about into your character's thoughts. But I also love deep, meaningful characters, and I find more of those in stories told in first-person.

I'm certainly going to miss writing when I go to college. There will hardly be any time for it, but I am planning on majoring in Technical Writing, so hopefully, that'll help me from going crazy. ;) As of the moment, I am currently working on six different books, all in different genres. I have no idea when I'm going to finish them, but I do know one thing for sure: every time I get the chance to open up one of my word documents and see the words and my world unfold out in front of me, the only thing existing in my universe is me and my characters. :) And even though my dream of all dreams is to become a published author, I know that I will be satisfied in the end by just writing and living in my own world.