Question?

I was wondering if I...maybe...posted my query if anyone would like to help me on it???? It's hard to write. And when I thought I had a format that was working for me, because I had a request from an agent, nothing else has happened since. Part of this could be because I'm so caught up in college at the moment. One year until graduation. :/ Seems like I just go to college, but that was three years ago.

Here's a pretty picture:

This is the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. :)) Pretty, pretty! The water is emerald, just like the island!

I've Got Soul But I'm Not A Soldier...

I'm curious to learn how people write. How many people map out their entire novel prior to writing? Do you know the ending first and write based on it? Do you begin in the middle? Or do you just write?

I just write. My book runs like a movie in my head. It's so wonderful and fulfilling--to know that such a place exists in my mind. It's very cool to have others read my book and share their perceptions of my characters and places. It's especially interesting to see how people view them from my descriptions and if they are anything like what I've written. From my reading experiences, I know that I have simply ignored description of a character because he's already come to life in my head (for instance, while reading Twilight, I pictured Edward with blonde hair and favoring Kenneth Branagh--He played Hamlet in the 1996 version).
Here's a picture:

Too funny, huh? This could be because I was in High School at the time and watching Hamlet in class after reading it. However, it's still interesting!

Anyways. I always find the writing process really interesting because so many people do it differently. For me, my characters play a HUGE role, and I just done mean simply by being, they tell me what they want to do. I cannot control them, believe me, I tried! It's too exhausting. After these 8 years of writing, I have realized that they have their own life. They are busy living, experiencing tragedy, falling in love, going on adventures! They do things I don't like, and they make me cry. It's usually at this point where I want to change what they've done...but the story doesn't work that way...and I know that they're right. So I listen to them, no matter how sad or how much I cry.

What do you guys think? How much control do you have over your characters? Or do they control you?

Excitement!! Blogger award!! :))))

Anita gave me this wonderful blog award!! 

Isn't it lovely? Now, I'd like to hand it off to a couple of people:

 K.V. Briar

AderuMoro

The only requirement for this award is to pay it forward. :)) 

I love your blogs! :) I always find something really awesome and inspiring when I visit. Thank you guys! And thanks again, Anita!! 

Beauty is genius...

None of you guys know this, but every time I get a new follower, my facebook status update is as follows: 27 followers on my blog!! OMG I'm so excited!! 

That's cause I sincerely think all of you are amazing! :)

I'm supposed to be doing homework, but I don't really want to. :( I have two weeks until I move out of my apartment and go home for the summer. I intend to crack down on my writing then!! I can't wait...and I'm kind of sad. Anyone else written a Trilogy and just found that you were afraid to get to the last book cause that meant the end? That's how I feel. :( I think I'll keep writing short stories for fun. I'm not very good at them, so maybe it'll turn into a novel?

Of course, Pirates isn't my only book. I have another trilogy in mind (When I say in mind, I have one book written, the second half-written, and the third thought of.) I just haven't been writing on it because it's about vampires...and I think that craze has to die down more until I'll be ready to approach it. Don't get me wrong, I love my Shy Savior. :) I just love my pirates so much more!! I have a deep fantasy novel I'd love to return too. I think I could make it so much more amazing than I thought it was in 8th grade, lol!

I'm also dying to do something with castles and the whole princess-prince-king-queen thing. I just don't know what I'd like to write.

Anyways. I'm gonna show you something cool. It's this video!!

Watch this and listen to the awesome music, plus see some awesome moves on this bike!! If any of you are wondering the artists from this are:
The Jezabels: "A Little Piece" and Loch Lomond: "Wax &Wire" check them out!!

The Tiger and the Snow

I told myself: There must be people whose job it is to use the right words, put things in a way... who when their heart beats, can get other people's hearts to beat....That day I decided to become a poet.  - Attilio de Giovanni

This quote is from a movie called The Tiger and the Snow. It's Italian, to warn you, but it's great! And it's funny, so I do recommend it. I really loved this quote from the movie, and it made me think again about why I write. :) I use to write all the time about why I write, and I love when things make me think about why I write, and what makes me love writing so much. 


I have such a passion for other worlds. For experiencing something I would never otherwise experience in this world. I love meeting people I fall in love with and hate to leave when I close the book. I write to create my own story, my own worlds, experiences, people who I love just as much and hate to leave just as much. The only difference is now I can just keep writing for them and never leave them..no matter what novel sees the light of day and what novel doesn't. 


When I felt I couldn't find friendship, love, or something, something abstract in this world, I would turn to my books and write. They made my work-filled, High School years whole. College had taken a lot of my writing time away, but writing now relieves my stress because I'm able to back out of this world and into another where I control everything. 


I get really discouraged because in this market, getting in the market is very hard. lol. But I keep writing because it's something more for me than just getting a book publish, as I think it is for all of us. That's what I have to remember, too. I began writing as an escape, and writing should continue to be that. 


In the long run, the reason I want to be published is because I want to change someone's life with my book like J.R.R. Tolkien changed my life with his. 

Summer Reading List

Since I'm an English major, I have no time to read for myself during school, so I've decided to do so over the summer. Here's my list:

1. The remainder of the Harry Potter series
2. Jane Eyre
3. Emma
4. The Lovely Bones
5. I Am Number 4
6. Beastly
7. 1984
8. Treasure Island
9. A Brave New World
10. Man in the Iron Mask

Now, these aren't all, but I think it's a good start for summer. These are all, also, novels that I have began to read, but have never finished. Some I began years ago. Since being in school I have read a ton of novels stemming from things like God of Small Things to Le Morte Darthur. I love classics so I'm excited about Jane Eyre and Emma, as well as Man in the Iron Mask. It's literally been 5 years since I looked at that book. :/
The movie is great!!

I feel bad that it's taken me so long to get to these novels, however, it's not like I haven't been reading. The good thing about college--it does allow you to read outside of genre. Always a good thing!! :))

Cool stuff! :)

CHECK OUT THIS PHOTOGRAPHY!!!  <========I love beautiful things. Finding beauty in everything makes life easier.

Also, I'm working on my new website guys!!! ===> ashley-nixon.webs.com

I hope you all like it!! :))