The Words in Your Head

 “In imagination she sailed over storied seas that wash the distant shining shores of “faëry lands forlorn,” where lost Atlantis and Elysium lie, with the evening star for pilot, to the land of Heart’s Desire. And she was richer in those dreams than in realities; for things seen pass away, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

I’m quite good at imagining. I always have been. To Anne Shirley, as described above, imagining is dreams, games, and just something wonderful to do. Imagining is a game, and something I enjoy, but it is also stories. It’s one of the many ways I write my stories–there is a flaw to this method however though.

Imagine – NYC (Photo credit: Phillips_Jon)

I’m also quite good at having words flow from my head, making up stories as I walk along the sidewalk, or stare up at the ceiling at twelve in the morning, but when I’m plopped in front of a computer and keyboard, everything flies out of my head. It’s unfortunate and makes me wish for a literally tiny computer—not a iPod touch, but a miniature laptop—I could carry around in my pocket. Maybe the keyboard could even unfold to a normal size.

Also unfortunately, I’m not an inventor. I leave this idea to you, inventors of the world.

No really. Please invent it. I’d love it. Heck, maybe there is even something like that out there.

However, back to point. It’s incredibly hard to get the words out of my head, and on to a screen. I am not sure why. I lose them easily, and maybe I’m even a bit self conscious when typing them out, even though no one is reading them. However I read them, and I squirm, and wonder if they really are all that good.

And we all know one of our worst critics is ourselves.

NaNoWriMo even has a name for this—Your Inner Editor—and instructs you to hand it over to them so they can lock it away for a month.

I’m not even sure if that’s the core issue, my inner Editor. I just have a habit of…not blanking exactly, but something else I can’t quite pinpoint, in front of the computer—I didn’t used to do that as much, so it leads me to believe it perhaps started with my Editor being an annoyance and then promptly turned into a habit.

Does anyone else have this problem? Why? How do you deal with it? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

A Shiny Gold Trophy…precious

My wonderful friend Jazzy has give me the the LIEBSTER AWARD. I have another award(the Shine On Blog Award) from the amazing Nevillegirl which I’ll get to soon too. And somewhere along the way I’ll get a regular blog post up. Maybe.

But. On with the award!

THE RULES:

• List 11 random facts about myself
• Answer 11 questions from the person who nominated me
• Nominate 11 people for the award, along with 11 questions for them to answer
• Pass it on to people that have fewer then 200 followers.

1. I got the Downton Abbey scripts yesterday. That makes me happy. Yay for going around the house pretending I’m Daisy, then Edith, then…

2. I like Fullmetal Alchemist Manga/Brotherhood Anime. Random little fact for you.

3. My first real novel, and my first Nano’s main character is a detective.

4. Shift is awesome. It tis a roleplay Jasmine and me are both in. You will hear me reference it.

5. I should be working on a project. But I’m roleplaying and posting here! BE GONE DISTRACTIONS!

6. I have allergies. But one of my friends has more allergies. One of my allergies is mustard. I can die if I eat peanuts. Am I impressing you with my tales of danger?

7.  I published a story on Figment recently. Go check out my Figment page. Yay for shameless self-advertising.

8. I’m braindead here.

9. Gertra is confusing to write when it comes to people flirting with her.

10. *SCRATCHES HEAD* LETS SEE. LETS TURN off caps. Good. Good. I like to chat with people in caps.

11. I’m revising. Revising is fun. *glazed look* Actually, it is kind of fun and I have not done enough to warrant a glazed look.

1. Who was the first character you ever wrote?

Oh my. Um. Annie, I think. She was a sunny little girl that lived in someplace resembling the Swiss Alps and was like a with-parents-and-sisters Heidi that wanted a dog. I want to go back and write her story just for kicks sometime.

2. Favorite weather to write to?

Sun actually. It inspires me. But then rain does too. It sort of depends on the season.

3. Most emotional scene ever written?

Hmm…probably the end of Crime Chasers. If we can include roleplays, then my characters reactions to various deaths.

4. Favorite character in your own stories (or top three if you can’t choose)?

Edith! Edith! Edith! But I really do love her. She started out in a roleplay and now another person and me are writing her and another character’s story.

I really love Edith.

Gertra is my other favorite. Her novel was my first actual novel, longer then 10k. And she’s awesome.

5. Favorite character in other fiction (or top three if you can’t choose)?

Holly Short. Because she’s snarky and kind and just generally awesome. An then we have Anne Shirley. Why? My blog is named after her town….

and then…Deryn from Leviathan. She’s amazing, and from one of the first steampunk books I read.

6. What are some things you’ve taken to saying you picked up from your friends? (Mine are “I kid” and “yep yep”. Guess who I got those from. XD )

I honestly don’t know. I don’t really think I’ve picked that much up. (Elyse? Maybe?)

7. Dream cast for one of your novels?

AnnaSophia Robb as Gertra

Picture made by my awesome friend, Elyse.

I don’t know for Jace and Maurice, the two supporting characters for Crime Chasers. I’ll have to do some research.

8. Pepsi or Coke?

Coke. I’ve never tried Pepsi. Perhaps I should sometime.

9. If you could play one musical instrument, what would it be?

The harp! I would love to be able to play that. I do play the violin however, and it is quite nice.

10. What’s the best thing you can cook?

Let’s see…I bake more then cook. Hmm. Well I make a pretty darn good grilled veggie sandwich.

11. Favorite girl name? Favorite boy name?

Francis and Vaudry. Francis can also be a boy name as well. I also love Anne.

WHO I GIVE THE AWARD TO

1. Kiwi.

2. Ann.

3. Orphu

4. Nevillegirl

5. Nevillefan

6. John Hansen.

7. Miriam

I actually think some of these blogs might have 200 followers, but I have no way of knowing.

Sisterhood of The World Bloggers Award: Yay!

Yay! An award! Thank you, Orphu!

Wait, it’s a sisterhood award? Then that means I’m Orphu’s sister. Hello, my long lost sister!

Rules

• Acknowledge the person who passed the award to you and provide their link.
• Include the award logo on your blog.
• Answer the ten questions posted below.
• Make up your own ten questions for the next people.
• Nominate blogs and link those you have especially enjoyed reading. The number you can select is up to you.
• Notify each individual that you have nominated them

1. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I ask you this question?

I get to answer questions!

2. What’s your favourite flightless bird?

After some Wikipedia searching, I’ve deciding on the New Guinea Flightless Rail.

A popular answer may be penguins, but they’ve gotten a bit overrated in my opinion.

3. If you could no longer be a mammal, what creature would you be? (No idea why you would have to stop being a mammal but it’s a legitimate question, all right?)

Well, a bird obviously! But not a flightless one…because the whole point of being a bird would be being able to fly.  Hmm….probably a Golden Finch.

4. Have you ever misread a word that drastically changed the meaning of the sentence? What was it?

I’ve done this a lot, but sadly I can remember.  I’ve also written a word wrong when roleplaying.

It’s a bit embarrassing.

5. Stargirl or Pippi Longstocking?

Pippi for sure. I love her– I even dressed up as her when I was…eleven for Halloween. I had the crazy braids and everything.

Why did the dub of the television series they made of it have to sound so weird?

6. If you were forced to leave this world in favor of a book-world, which world would you pick?

This will take some careful consideration….probably Artemis Fowl’s world. I like Anne Shirley’s, but it’s more dangerous. There were less treatments for illness’ and such.

7. What are your feelings about Pluto?

Pluto is nice. It’s a very pretty planet, and a name of a dog. I’m not sure which dog.

8. If you had to get a tattoo, what tattoo would you get?

It would be a tattoo that had a little house with gables on it. I kid you not.

9. Would you attend Frodo and Sam’s wedding if they invited you?

Oh, of course! And Aragon could kiss Merry to make Frodo and Sam less embarrassed(you all know which video I’m talking about.) Though I don’t really think they would be embarrassed…they would be actually getting married after all.

10. What would you have been named if you were male?

This is awesome question. I love this question? Have I mentioned that this a great question?

I would have been named Francis, and I’ve always loved the name after hearing that. I used the girl’s version of Frances a lot in stories, back when I had about five names that I usually used.

Francis. Francis.

Such a nice sounding name….

NOMINATIONS!

Kiwi

and

Miriam who’s a published author now!

The Blank Page

The first post. The feeling of staring at a blank screen that all some writers hate. We stare, and think, and do multiple head-desks as we try to get that first line right.

The first line the will decide if the reader continues to read or not. Or in the case of a unpublished author, if the agent will.

This post feels much like that. Will you continue to read my blog, or will you just click to the next blog you’re browsing through?

 “Yes, I have only a few pages written, but I have it all pretty well thought out. I’ve had such a time to get a suitable plot. None of the plots that suggested themselves suited a girl named AVERIL.”