Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Magic Happened


There is this quiet, honey-soothing spot that awakens in my chest when I write. With school keeping me busy, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to write. I had felt a constant sheet of rain over my heart but, just the other night, the magic happened.

The second my fingers touched the keyboard his voice caused a light to flicker within me. It was like rhythmic drums in the air. My MC's voice—Drake—whispered as my fingers danced out his story. I shut my eyes and allowed myself to escape and transport to a world I had missed, but not forgotten.

Desperation rose from a heated ground of forbidden desire. The familiar scent of vanilla still perfumed the house. The shadows forever lurked in every corner. The grass still damp beneath me as I watched a night sky masked in light gray clouds.

And then, like a shadow unveiling the light, I saw Drake—his pale silver eyes looked at me and he nudged his head for me to follow him.

I took the first step without even thinking, trusting him. He led me deep into his mind, his emotions spiraled inside of me and I listened to his voice, a deep timbre. The branches above our heads were dipped in the moon's light, making the leaves glow. The road ahead of us dark, but not impossible to make out and follow.

He stopped walking, paused in front of a lake deeper than our past. He turned to look at me. The wind picked up and pushed back his wild black curls, highlighting his high cheek bones. I watched him in awe. He took a small, silent step into the lake and the water shifted slightly, rippling around his foot. I began to take a step and he held out his hand for me to wait, and so I did.

He walked deeper into the water and with each step he took his voice grew louder, clearer, until I was completely lost in his words, in his story. He lingered in the black water and I listened to everything he had to say, to his riveting, painful, yet beautiful story. I felt the fire in his heart.

The magic happened.

Sometimes life gives us too many doors to open, close, and keep shut that we forget to listen to that soft knock, trying to call to us…

When I write I feel like I can make the impossible happen. That night Drake made me feel as if I could walk in the sky.

Perhaps it was better that I didn’t know. Not knowing meant I could hope, and hoping made it easier to breathe-- Drake

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Update

Hey Everybody!

I know I have been kind of absent and I blame that on school, but on the bright side I Aced both my Creative Writing Three class and my AP World Literature class!!!! And.... I officially have my Associates Degree in English Literature! I am so relieved and happy that school is over and that I have a two week break. I have been working on another short story for a competition so I have my fingers crossed for that.

You know, time races by us so quickly that sometimes we don't even notice who and what passes us by. It seems like yesterday I was still in High School eating in the cafeteria and now I am heading towards getting my BA degree. It is incredible how the years pass, just like the wind; you can feel them passing at moments but you can't see them.


How is everyone else? How was everyone's NanoWrimo time?

Monday, November 1, 2010

NanoWrimo.


November 1st is finally here--the crazed writing oblivion is wide awake and really wants its coffee!

Good luck to everyone taking on Nano!!!! Let's support each other!

User name: firenight1


Who is tackling Nano this year?




"Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some under-culture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals." - Don Delillo




Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Angel Dust



I haven't posted in awhile, but everything has just been crazy in my little side of the world!

First, some super exciting news: my short story, Angel Dust, won first place for best fiction in the FCCPA Awards!!! The FCCPA Awards is basically a Florida State Community College Writing and Arts competition.

Angel Dust is a short story based on my novel Bloodstone. Drake, the narrator and main character of Bloodstone is in this story. Death, tragedy, love, and choices play a big part in my writing, so it comes to no surprise that Angel Dust is filled with all of these elements.

Also, I have been editing Silver Touch, and planning on re-writing Bloodstone this upcoming November for NanoWrimo, so I have been writing notes and outlining.

I think I have re-written Bloodstone about three or four times, but it still just doesn't feel right. I have set it aside since last Nano, and hopefully fresh eyes will catch small glints, plot holes, and flat dialogue.

Oh! And I am currently reading Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick and it is incredible!!! Just as good, if not better than Hush, Hush! So be sure to pick it up!

I know this post was short, but I have another short-story due tomorrow for class, so that calls for my attention. I'll try to post soon, though!!!

P.S- I haven't forgotten that I promised I would post pictures of my story board for both Silver Touch and Bloodstone! Soon!


Hope all is well in the writing world for all of you bloggers! Fill me in on all the exciting news! Oh, and who's participating in Nano this time around?



The waves broke out into a fury, galloping toward the shore, trying to reach the clearing, but all was gone. -Angel Dust

Sunday, September 19, 2010

SPEAK (a voice).


SPEAK changed my life. It saved me. After SPEAK I felt as if I could actually breathe...live. I don't support or believe in banning books. NO MATTER WHAT THEY CONTAIN. Because everyone is different. Everyone has different problems. Everyone needs an outlet. Some of these books are a voice for those who don't have one. These books, especially SPEAK, help these teens find themselves, help them know they are not alone.

I know teens who have been raped and abused. I know them personally and their story. I have been hurt in ways no girl should ever be hurt. That's why the discussion that this book is disgusting, pornographic... makes me sick.

Me, these teens, my friends, all of us have been forced to live with a horrific memory, something that will NEVER leave their minds. They deserve an outlet, they deserve for people to see that the world isn't perfect, isn't as heavenly as we would all like it to be.

They DON'T deserve to be censored, to be shut up, and by who? Another human being who is no better than any of us, any of them. Because these children and teens are not aliens. They are NORMAL human beings.

Banning books such as SPEAK only sends the message that these children and teens are not worthy to be heard, to be noticed. That whatever has happened to them should be kept' a secret, that they may never be able to live a healthy life again because if they reveal what happened to them society will shun them, call them disgusting and pornographic.

No. No. No. I'm not going to sit here and say NOTHING. No. We have to be their voice. We have to show everyone that the world and it's people are NOT perfect, but far from. Evil happens. Betrayal happens. Home is sometimes no longer safe, neither is school. This is something that NEEDS to be heard, not ignored. Because I am sick of the people who think the world is a bucket full of sunshine, that what they hear on the news can NEVER really happen.

NEWS FLASH: it can.

Children and teens are abused and neglected every single day. We can't ignore this fact, because if we do we are just as wrong as the ones who are trying to silence their voices, ban the novels that SPEAK out.

Blessings to all of you bloggers who have spoken out, who are helping fight this, who are being a voice.

Strength and love to those who have been hurt beyond reasoning. Please, have faith that you will be able to be happy again, to feel like you can breathe again.

You are not alone. You are understood. You are worthy.

Bloggers, this is my opinion. How do you feel?




"I have survived. I am here. Confused, screwed up, but here. So how can I find my way? Is there a chain saw of the soul? An ax I can take to my memories or fears?"
Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak)

"You have to know what you stand for, not just what you stand against. "
Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak)

*Te read more about this issue click HERE, written by Laurie Halse Anderson herself.*

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Pure Magic.


Have you ever had that invigorating feeling while writing a certain scene? A rush, a flash binding you to the impossible, almost as if you are being pulled away from your body and entering your story?

Have you ever entered that magical realm where you can see your characters so clearly you can practically feel them?

I have. I always feel a connection with Drake (my MC) when I write, when I day dream of my story, but earlier today…it was…unreal. I was completely lost in this scene. My fingers couldn’t move fast enough to keep up with his voice; everything around me suddenly didn’t exist.

It felt like I was there with him, seeing what he saw, feeling what he felt. Everything was in such detail; Drake’s scent, the wet grass, the still air, and his emotions so powerful, so intense. I watched his hands move, listened to his voice, tried to capture everything in all its wonder.

I felt the scene coming to an end and I held on to his voice for as long as I could. I wanted to stay there forever.

The center of my chest tightened as soon as I finished. I didn’t re-read it just yet, didn’t spell check.

I just sat there with my eyes closed, soaking in everything I just felt and saw—the depth and weight in Drake’s eyes clung to me, stayed with me, effected me so much I had to share it with all of you.

Writing is such an escape for me, but when moments like this happen, where I am lost in his world, flying high on my imaginary wind, I am at a loss for words.

Times like this remind me why I love to write. Why Drake means so much to me. I can’t be myself and not write. It has become a part of me and so has he.

So no matter how hard the future for a writer may be, no matter how many rejection letters I may receive, or however many nights I stay up wide awake trying to perfect a scene, I’ll never stop writing.


How about you bloggers? Have you ever had a moment while writing that felt incredibly surreal? Where you felt so immensely close to your characters?

I don't take breathing for granted. I suck in every bit of air that I can because I know what it's like to be trapped, to have everything be given to you and then taken away. So come on, take a deep breath. Breathe with me. - Drake