I’m starting this blog with a minimum of preparation (like I named it and decided to do it today) because I’ve been saying I should for years and if I just start it, I’ll actually do something with it. I’m also starting this blog instead of playing Fallout 3, which is dedication that I’ll hopefully continue giving to this blog. And now that expectations are low enough, you can enjoy the rest of this. 

I’ve been writing stories since I was about 6, and I’m currently 23. My very first story was a single-page novel with a blue construction paper cover. The title, “Kittens, Kittens, Kittens!” was scrawled in sparkly gel pen, and I cut out every cat I could find in my mom’s old Better Homes and Gardens magazines and glued them in a lovely collage. It was inspired by a dream I had in which, surprise, our cat had kittens. Somehow, a manx managed to produce two orange tabbies, two siamese, a pure black, and one that did actually look like her. I’ve always been one for fantasy. 

The second story, begun when I was 9, was the adventure of an exiled princess saving her kingdom from a usurping, black-furred unicorn with red eyes. It’s gone through quite a few transformations since then, and I’m still working on it. (It’s almost impossible for me to drop an idea. They all go in my back pocket for later.) 

At 11 I actually finished a story, a fanfiction inspired by Brian Jacques’ Redwall series. It clocked in at 80 pages and I posted it on a website where other creative homeschoolers could read it and teach me how to do things like add paragraph breaks. (And indent the paragraphs, gasp!) I wrote two more Redwall fanfictions, each one a little longer than the last, learning as I went. Age 13, I wrote a draft of that 9-year-old’s story, then through my teens I came up with lots of new ideas and finished nothing. Around 18 I completed a draft of a book called Smoke and Mirrors, which has a lot of problems, but was really good experience.

Then I started working on Lionheart, which is the trilogy that’s occupied me for the last two years. While writing it, I made the decision to take writing a little more seriously, treating it more like a second job than a hobby. I finished the first draft of all three books this past summer, and I’ve been planning the re-write since then. Currently I’ve outlined the first two books, and I’ll finish outlining the third before writing Book 1 for the second time. 

Lionheart is about Ana, a young woman who is prophesied to defeat Vartan, a mage who has taken over the country of Sonderlin. But the prophecy says that she’ll die too, and her father has raised her to believe that she has no choice in the matter. When Ana’s father finds a mage willing to train her, Ana is sent to finally begin the path to fulfilling her destiny. And then Vartan captures her. Elsewhere, young, sheltered Ben lives in the enchanted Gyymhran Forest, where he is occasionally granted visions by his god, Rashiel. Conrad stumbles through Sonderlin, trying to drown his past and forget where he came from. Both men are haunted with dreams of a girl who needs help, who asks them to look beyond themselves and take a risk. 

Briefly summed up, Lionheart’s thesis is “Man was not made to be alone”. It’s the story of people learning to trust each other, and to let themselves care and be cared about. Free will vs predestination are important themes, as well as dealing with the fallout of previous generations’ decisions. Lionheart is about growing beyond origins, healing from the past, and finding reconciliation and new beginnings. It’s about family, blood and chosen, and how necessary it is to have good people for support.

After I finish re-writing Book 1, I plan to submit it for publishing. But for now, I want to try stretching my writing muscles in blogging. It’s kind of a reward to go write something fun after writing in Lionheart, so the blog can be my reward. 

When I’m not writing, I’m embroidering, cooking, with friends, or more likely, playing video games. I’m trying to get back into reading, but two years of mostly English classes in college killed that for a while. My greatest inspirations are C. S. Lewis, obviously Brian Jacques, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the Myst franchise of video games. And even though I love a good ending, I hate writing conclusions, so this is the end of my beginning.