Everyone is a Genius!

Today started off bad. Kiki found out she has to retake an exam and it's a deciding factor in whether or not she passes her class and graduates! Major stress right there. We were both really upset by the news, but then she found this. It's been an encouragement to both of us!

"Everyone is a genius. But if you grade a fish by how well he climbs a tree, he will spend his whole life thinking he is stupid." - Einstein

Two weeks, four days, ten hours, 57 minutes, and counting...

It's been a while. We're now under three weeks away from my road trip up to see my bestest best friend in the whole world and I can not tell you how excited I am! It's going to be the best summer ever just because of the month of May, I've gotta tell you. ^_^ So freaking excited!!!

To express my excitement, here is a representation of how I feel...

The most amazing people in the universe!

So I suck at posting every day... OTL I think it's because when I get busy it gets harder to think of things to write. I love writing here though, so tonight, even though it's late, I want to acknowledge a person who has made me the happiest author on the planet today!!!

Okay, actually two people. =) First is of course my lovely and beautiful sister Kiki!!! Who sent me a picture on Facebook that has really brightened my life! This week has been really tough and it's only going to get tougher through April, but every time I see this picture I smile.

Even now I'm smiling because this is just the best! I love it!! She makes me so happy. Yay for best friends!!! 

The second person who has made me SUPER happy for VERY good reason is the wonderful Fanfiction member Leslie-potter-daughter-of-Zeus. Not only is she the first person to officially follow our Disney's Reality story. She's also the first to officially follow us as authors! I know this week hasn't seen a DR chapter, but getting that email tonight only made me want to write more for you guys! So not only have I finished the DR chapter three and four, I've started on writing our second Fanfic! Unfortunately, we've made the decision not to post anything until after Easter. So you'll be seeing those next week.

So Thank You!!! To Kiki and to Leslie-potter-daughter-of-Zeus. You two as awesome!!!!!

Why so much work?

Because Kiki is graduating!!! That's right. She's graduating from college and I'm so excited and proud of her, I'm going up to visit her! Woohoo! Unfortunately, that leaves me with five weeks to come up with seven hundred dollars. Yikes... Needless to say I'm a little stressed. I mean, wouldn't you be? So that's why there's been less time for writing. I was able to get Elizabeth out yesterday and hopefully Andrea out today. You haven't met her but you will!

DR chap. 3 is also almost finished so fingers crossed it's out tonight!

Apologies and Goodies

I haven't written anything in several days, and I think it comes down to one thing. Not making the time. And I don't mean, I haven't written the blog. I mean nothing. Nothing's gotten done in the last several days! I can say it's because I've been busy and that wouldn't be a lie. I've been very busy an stressed with work. But the fact is, when I had free time, writing was not the first on my to do list and it should have been.

For those of you keeping up with the blog and with Disney's Reality, I do apologize for the lateness of chapter three. It'll be up as soon as possible. And I apologize for the lack of posts. It will go back to once a day. Also, Spring has been stalled but no more! That's my first priority after work.

Thank you for your understanding and for sticking with us. It means so much. Hugs to all!!!

A Lot of Thinking...

Several people have asked me recently why I don't study writing. If I love it, I should study it, right? I've been doing a lot of thinking about that. My answer to their questions have always been that if I have to do it, I'm afraid it will become more of a chore than a joy. But now I'm wondering if maybe taking a few creative writing classes might be good...

I don't know... still thinking about it, but that's all that's on my mind today. That and work. I've got a big trip coming up in a few weeks and need to makes sure I have the money to pay for it. So... other than that... Have a good Monday. =)

Saturday...

Yesterday I didn't get to finish the TS chapter because while running errands my tire exploded on the expressway!! So we were out there half the day trying to figure out how to change it. Luckily, a very nice business man came. Our knight in white dress shirt and shiny red tie! He helped us change the tire, load the hold one. Let us borrow his cellphone to call someone to let them know. Showed us how to do it again. Then made sure we were on our way before he went on his. It was really an amazing story and if he wasn't already married, I would have said it was the perfect meet cute!

Needless to say, I will be using this in a story coming soon...  >_>

In geekier news, I SAW THE HOBBIT!!! And seriously, my favorite part was watching the sexy vampire from BBC's Being Human, Aidan Turner, as an even sexier arrow shooting, sword swinging dwarf! -sigh- I'm so making a character out of him!!! Just wait!! xD

So hopefully a TS chapter will be up tomorrow if not later tonight. Disney's Reality will be up for sure on Monday. And as always, we're constantly posting in Spring if you want to check it out. PLEASE DO!!!

Thanks for reading and for your support. Hugs and Chocolate Chip Cookies for you all!!!

Easter Funday!

Easter Sunday is coming up and I just have to say... WOOHOO!!!!!

So the other day my mom and brother and I went on an early Easter hunt of our own. We hunted Skylanders and I don't know if' you've ever played but that game is addicting as all get out! We've played all day yesterday and all morning so needless to say, now much writing has been done... But they are awesome! We had to go to three Targets, four Walmarts, two BestBuys, and GameStop before we were finally able to get all the game pieces we were looking for! Even the very rare NinJini! Seriously, you have no idea what we went through yesterday to get all these.... The walking and the embarrasing asking of questions and the getting lost on the expressway and Siri NOT TELLING US where the Target was!! But we made it! We're alive!!! 

The Newest Peoples... See what I mean? A lot of hunting... >_>

-distracted by kitty's constant meowzing-

She finally shut up... (Zees ees un old picture)

But back to talking about Eater. Like actual Easter... As much as I hate getting up early for Sunrise service at our church, we get to sleep ALL DAY!!! Or in my case, WRITE! I already know what I'm going to do. First RPs, then Disney's Reality, then BANG! Can't WAIT for that!! Kiki and I decided that yes, we would go ahead and put Bang on FictionPress once the first chapter was up and we'll be adding to it as it's written. Obviously it's not written on as often as some of the others but hopefully we'll still be able to make the weekly deadline. Can't wait. Seriously, I'm SO EXCITED! 

What's your favorite part about Easter Sunday?

In Character

One of the hardest things to remember to do while writing is to stay in character. Because a character is an extension of its writer, it is very easy for the author's emotions to reflect through the character. The character may be in the midst of a very touching, romantic scene. But if the author is writing after having a very bad day, the scene might take a turn for the worse, and this normally sweet, romantic character will become bitter and snippy. Or vice versa. The character could be angry and the author mellow so then the prelude to a battle becomes a mellow argument that really takes the story nowhere.

An author must also always be cautious of the way a character talks. They don't talk the way you talk, because then all your people would sound the same!

This all sounds simple, but it really isn't. I've found myself rewriting things several times because the characters sound more like me than themselves.

One helpful thing to do is to answer a questionnaire in the voice of the character. That way you'll be able to flesh out how to write the character. How he will speak, think, even his favorite color. Not all of that is necessarily something that will go into the book but it will definitely make the characters more believable.

From mah cellie...

Unfortunately, Kiki and I are both still sick. And unfortunately, life does not stop when you get sick. Good news is, cellphones work from bed... So I can still write and post here. Can I get a round of applause for that?? No...? Okay...

Well, good news is it's Hump Day! So the weekend is almost here! And, we'll be posting a new story on our FictionPress account tomorrow. So that's pretty exciting. :)

For more updates, follow us on our twitter and Facebook. Until next time!! -waves-

A Battle with the Bees

So... Confession time. I am terrified of bees! And wasps and anything else that stings. They're like the worst EVER!!! So, every couple of months my grandparents will go travelling and I'll take care of the animals at their ranch for them. It's not the most pleasant experience. I don't mind animals but I'm really not a fan of sheep and that's about all he has out there now. Sheep and dogs... He used to have a horse, but she's gone now. -moment of silence-

So whenever I go out there, something always goes wrong! I mean like really. Nothing is ever just as easy as "give them hay and water and you're done!" This one time in particular, I was feeding the sheep every other day so I didn't notice when I walked in on the second day of the job that there was a tiny wasps next right above the door to the shed (where we keep all the animal food). The third time I went, that neglected tiny little wasps nest had tripled in size! And it was covered with little stinging creatures. I ran back to the car, grabbed the wasp spray and covered myself in a hoodie and sunglasses and driving gloves (for protection, of course). It was a long battle that took up the entire spray can but FINALLY I got rid of the wasps. My first battle with them at the ranch.

Later that day I discovered two more nests and that I had to try to ignore until the next day when there'd be more poison. I thought my troubles were over... That's when I discovered that all the sheep had gotten out of the pasture and there was a big hole in the fence!! There was nothing I could do but go as quickly as possible and lock ALL the gates to make sure they didn't get out of the property! Then when I went to check on the pen of males (who'd been separated after some nasty fights) and found dead birds in their water!!! So I had to climb into the pen of MEAN rams with LONG horns to dumb three big buckets of water and refill them and get rid of dead crows!

You have never seen the horror.... -scarred for life-

All this to say... I hate the ranch and I hate bees, but it's always nice to come home from those adventures, take a long hot bath, and curl up with my notebook to write. It's like...a reward. =) What kinds of adventures do you have? And how do you reward yourself for them?

Idea Jar!!

Here's a treat. Our idea jar! And a whopping three ideas in it! Plus, Captain Hook photo bombing! ;) That's right. Take in the epicosity.

It's the After Spring Break CURSE!!

The inspiration is wonderful! When you have all the time in the world you can write all you want in the world. When real life starts again... there's still all this left over inspiration and way too little time to do all of it!!

So I've started a system. Every time we have an idea for something, I write it on a 3x5 card and fold it up, then put it in what I call my idea jar! Then, when we're ready for a new idea, we pull one out and do whatever it is! Right now, we're working on a new Rise of the Guardians fanfic for our FanFiction page. So excited!! The idea jar is kind of empty... but it'll get there. Believe me, we have tons of ideas and very little time to actually do all of them so it'll fill up fast!

On to more updatey thingies... The second chapter of Disney's Reality is up. Yay! Please go read it. Rate. Subscribe. The link is here. We'll love you forever if you do!! Reviews really help to keep going, I'll tell you that. And we LOVE to hear what you have to say anyway! Also, if you're reading that and want to cheat and peek ahead, we update a few paragraphs at a time on Gaia. The link is over in the side bar with the coolio little banner thingy! But don't look at that one if you don't like spoilers! That'll definitely spoil it. lol

Also, we've hit page two of Boom! Exciting stuff, I know!!! ..... Okay, yes, progress on that has been a bit slow... but in my defense, we HAVE been doing a LOT of other stuff. Like PLENTY of posting in Spring. Daily updates are there and on our facebook. You can check those out in the side bar and at the banner above.

Also, for those of you who don't know. If you're curious... The writer on Gaia named "IrelandKiss" is Kiki and the writer names "STAR on CrAcK" well... yeah, that's me. Haha. And you can tell we have out good and bad days, but the gaia posts are rough drafts. All will be rewritten and made awesomer!!!

Thanks for reading today guys! See you tomorrow! -waves-

Sunday Secrets #3

Okay. Kiki -holds microphone to your face in a very invasive, reporterly like way- How does being ill affect your writing?
Well Ms. Ash, being ill makes it quite difficult to write because -flies into fit of coughing and sneezing-

-hides for dear life behind microphone- Oh my... And uh... How do you over come this...challenge?
Well I just -coughs and sneezes again-

Haha. All joking aside, Kiki's secret is working through illness. When you're sick, like with a cold or flu, it's really hard to focus. Your brain is like dead... When you don't feel good, inspiration is hard to come by. But a good long nap, some DayQuill, and maybe a big bowl of Ramen if you can find some, and the inspiration will slowly start to flow again. But don't give up! It'll be slow getting back to writing just like it's slow getting back to pace after you've been sick. Luckily, there's always friends around the corner and nice hot tea and warm beds to sooth the ache on the way there.

The End

We've come to the end of Spring Break, but our momentum is not over!! We will still be posting weekly on all out stories, and hopefully daily on all the RPs. We'll definitely be updating daily here to please keep reading, stick with us. And we'll keep writing to and for you. Yay!

Have fun on your last day of Spring Break!

An Author's Core

Just saw Rise of the Guardians the other day. If you haven't seen it you should. It's really good! But for now, if you haven't seen it, let me tell you this. In the movie, Santa uses a matryoshka doll to illustrate that deep down, every holiday figure has a core. Something they contribute to the world. Well, I was thinking about that the other day and, in a similar way, you can attribute that same illustration to writing, both in a general sense and a specific.

In general, writing can be entertainment. It can be distraction and escape. It can be sending a message out to the world. It can be a ticket to fame and fortune. It can be expression. But most of all, at the core, I think writing is the author's desperate need to work out personal issues in a world that makes sense. In the example of Harry Potter, the author put herself in the book as Hermione, along with her dearest friend whom she put in as Ron. In real like, the author was in love with her best friend, but he was gay. In the book, not only were they both very best friends, they were also both romantically attracted to each other, solving her desire to be with the man she loved. Now it's true, she may not have intended to ever write things out that way, but in the end, that's how it happened. An author's subconscious drive to solve their own problems.

I think it's a new way of looking at the books you read. Even way back when, people were trying to solve their own issues through their writing and I think reading can not only be enjoyable, but give you a window into the author's heart. Writing is very personal. I'll tell you one thing, I'm reading Edgar Allen Poe in a whole new light. What authors do you see differently?

Productivity? Seems Legit...

This is all I did today:

Sisters Before Misters!

So today is Wednesday. And for some reason I happened to be thinking back to about two years ago... It wasn't the easiest time in the world for me. I'd been pulled out of university because I couldn't afford it, and the man I was in love with was still there, 1,280 miles away. You can imagine, all I wanted to do was leave home and somehow find my way back up to school and my boyfriend. But now that I was home, my parents were depending on me for a lot of stuff and I couldn't just pick up and leave yet. I started working, but work kept me so busy I could hardly write at all! And almost never got to talk to Kiki or my BF. It was about then that Kiki introduced me to the show Two Broke Girls and we made a plan to move to New York together once she graduated. Of course you can imagine I was thrilled! My best friend in the world wanting me to move to the best city in the world with her! The possibilities seemed endless. I could go to NYU. Get a job. Publish my books. It would be epic!!! And as I'm sure you can imagine, I couldn't wait to tell my boyfriend. That night when he called, all that came out of my mouth was this excited rush about Kiki and New York and publishing. And you know what he said? My super sweet, encouraging, wonderful boyfriend? He said "That's kind of dumb of you, Ash. New York is a nice place to visit but why would you ever want to live there?! And you've never even met this 'Kiki' person. How do you know she's not really some old guy in his mom's basement? Even if she's who she says she is, you're not gonna still be 'best friends' in another three years. By the time she graduates, you'll both have grown out of this Internet phase and grown up. Just think about reality, Ash. It's not gonna happen."

Yeah, my COMIC BOOK GEEK boyfriend told ME to grow out of my "Internet phase"??? We didn't talk for several days, and when we did I tried to defend my best friend. Three weeks later, he dumped me. But you know what?! He promised to still be my friend. Swore on his life. And where is he now? I have absolutely no idea because he refuses to talk to me at all in anyway but guess who's still my best friend. So SUCK IT, JACKSON!!!

And that's why I'm so excited about Kiki's graduation coming up!!! Because he said we wouldn't be friends and we were childish and stupid, but he was wrong. We're closer than ever and have grown together as people and as friends. And he's still a single comic book geek/gamer living with his mom. (Yeah, I Facebook stalked him. Found that out. Ha!) So I wonder who needed to grow up after all.

Spring break!!

I love Spring Break. For one reason. Staying up ALL NIGHT and not worrying about stuff in the morning!!! Yes, yes indeed. Spring Break is the one time of year we get the most writing done. I really have no idea why... There are other, longer breaks like Christmas, but for some reason more just gets done in March. Maybe it's the weather? Who knows...

Example, though. Just yesterday, we've written in Spring and our novels, planned some new stories and worked out kinks in old ones, posted a story on FanFiction, and still got all our normal stuff done!

It's amazing what you can do when you have all the time in the world.

My favorite Spring Break was a couple years ago when Kiki and I both decided that neither of us were tired. On top of that we were both more inspired to write than I can remember ever being. That night alone we finished three forum pages worth of posts in several stories, adding up to several chapters of several different books. And after a short three hours of sleep we still got up and wrote more! It was the best fun we'd ever had!! I'm just waiting for the day we get to do it again. It was awesome!!!

If you want to check out our latest stories, we're posting quite frequently now on Spring. The link is in the side bar, and you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter for instant post updates. Also, we'd love it if you checked out our most recent story. Though we've been roleplaying Disney's Reality for a while, now it's finally available in novel form, chapter by chapter as it's written! More stories will be up soon!! We'll do our best to post once a week and would love your feedback! Here's a link to the story --> I'm a link!

Thanks for the reads and the reviews. LOVE YOU ALL TO PIECES AND A HALF!!!!

Bye. ^_^

New Stuff here!

We've been MIA for a week, I know. With spring break coming up and working on the new books it's been a bit busy.

But that's no excuse!!!

I promise we've been working. I HAVE made progress on Bang. A whole page! Haha... Yeah... And! We've been posting in Spring so you should definitely go check that out! Link is in the sidebar. =)

Also we've established accounts on both FictionPress.com and FanFiction.net and they are ~Awesome~!!! So you should go check those out here (for fictionpress) and here (for fanfiction)!

What have you been doing this week? Let us know in the comments!

You can also follow us now on Facebook... Here! And on Twitter... Here! See you tomorrow!

Sunday Secrets #2

If you can't think of anything to write, don't panic. Just like a test, you can skip it and go back later. Sometimes if you find something to write that gets those creative juices flowing, it's easier to go back to where you were stuck and pick up again. Just make sure, if you're skipping around in the same story, to keep your pieces flowing smoothly. It's a secret. Readers don't need to know which part you wrote first ;)

Unexpected Inspiration

One of the things I struggle with most in writing is finishing what I started. For some reason it is hard for me to write the end of a story once I've finished it in my head.

I love reading novels, but it's always been hard for me to find a book that can capture my attention long enough for me to finish. Most of the books I pick up are boring. And even if they turn out to be really cool, they start out boring so it takes forever for me to get to the cool parts. I don't remember how old I was when I decided to actually try to publish a novel, but I do remember thinking "I want to write something that'll catch people with the first few lines and carry them all the way to the end.

Now the thing I struggle with is finishing the books. I have a hundred and one good beginnings, a few middles here and there if the story was lucky enough, but no ending. There are lots of story plans lying around if you look in my room. They're not hard to find. I keep them in a binder marked "Outlines." And there are even more story ideas than I can count! Those are in a jar. But I have no finished novels. Nowhere.

Here's the problem. While I'm planning and writing this story, I come up with hundreds of different characters. Hundreds of different ideas and scenes to put them through. And for a long time, well into the writing process, I'll struggle with the end. I could be several chapters into the book and still have no idea where it's headed. When I find out what the ending is, the will to write the book completely disappears.

I told my mom this the other day. She told me it was selfish. That now I've filled MY need for good stories but no one else will ever be able to read them.

Kiki's really been helping me with this. With writing to the end and finishing stories to share with the world. She's been so supportive and encouraging. She told me once when I was blocked "You're thinking too much, Ash. Just let the words flow. Just start typing. It'll come to you." and it did! That was one of the best posts I've ever written for our stories!

She also told me once, a good writer writes all the time. Even if it's just one sentence every day I have to write. And that if you write one, it's easier to write another and another. Before you know it you've written a whole page and could keep going! She taught me that, and I wouldn't still be writing right now if it weren't for her. She's the best!!!

Profiles #2

Remember Henry? We met him on Monday. Today meet Henry's wife, Elizabeth. She is the second of four main characters in this week's featured story, Spring. Her appearance is modeled after Nikki Reed, and she is written by me. :) Ladies and Gentlemen -drumroll, please- Elizabeth Toole!

(The following profile was written by Allie before I took over this characters. Apart from a few changes here and there to make the read smoother and the character more accurate, this is Allie's writing.)
Name:
Elizabeth Wisland Toole

Age:
Twenty

Birthday:
May 13th

Race:
Irish, English

Personality:
Elizabeth is definitely not known for being the girl next door. She's a spoiled princess from a rich family, and is used to getting whatever she wants. And, when she doesn't get that, she does whatever she has to do in order to get it. She sometimes can be gentle and welcoming which comes across as being friendly and kind, but she has a horrible temper that easily can get out of control. Outgoing and outspoken, she is not a woman that one would want to doublecross or mess with. She hates to get emotional in front of anyone, in fear of appearing weak, and so doesn't often cry or show that she has much of a heart at all. Perfectionist, neat-freak, and a bit manic depressive... Those who know her would say she's a bit, well, just a little downright crazy.

Biography:
Elizabeth was born in England, raised for two years before her successful father moved the family to Ireland, to avoid an outbreak of the sweating disease. The trip was long, but once they arrived, her father bought a house and they quickly got settled. His business was as good as ever, and soon, Elizabeth was living a life that only few knew in Ireland. She and her family didn't live too far from the Tooles, another wealthy family with a young son only years older than Elizabeth, Henry. They quickly became the best of friends, playing pretend and teasing and chasing one another around their homes.

But there was a family secret, one that Elizabeth herself was too ashamed to tell anyone, even Henry. Her father went to her bed nearly every night since she was a little girl. At first she resisted, but as the beatings got worse and worse she only cried as her father whispered compliments into her ear, how beautiful she was...what a wonderful daughter she was...Elizabeth told her mother, the only person she thought could help, but her mother did nothing. She only glared at Elizabeth as if she were the one responsible...as if she were the one who asked for this. Elizabeth lived alone in a house full of hatred and evil, her father only buying her expensive gifts and surprising her constantly, for her 'good behavior'...She grew to hate the gifts, associating them with the things she was required to do in return, rather than signs of affection. She became bitter and depressed, only putting on a smile when she had to, for appearance sake. All of the men who courted her quickly changed their minds, already tired of her mechanic ways and her lack of true affection toward them.

She turned to Henry for comfort. He was really the only man she could bring herself to trust completely. He had been there from the beginning, and he made the pain of her secret life go away. He made the tears evaporate and turned her frowns back into smiles... When they were seven, she could still remember when he caught her in her backyard crying. He asked what was wrong, and when she told him that someone had hurt her, he had pulled her into a hug and swore to her that he'd protect her. He'd be there to keep her safe. Elizabeth could see herself with Henry... He saw the woman she wished she could be. A sweet, charming young woman who didn't live in fear every night and in bitterness every day. She waited day after day, trying to be that woman, to prove to him upon his return that she was the woman he wanted to be with as well. However, when he brought home another woman with the intention of marriage, she again quickly grew bitter, and had to find a way of making the other woman disappear so that she herself could have Henry, completely. Eventually, it worked. After some manipulation and lying, she was finally able to drive Elena Davlos away, and begged her father to talk to the Tooles about an arranged marriage with Henry. Why not her? He'd known her all his life.

Likes:
Fine Jewelry, Getting Out Of The House, Henry, Nice Things, Shopping, Dinner Parties

Hates:
Her Parents, Her Home, Elena, Night, Bad Hair Days, Thinking About Her Past


Fears:
Her Secret Getting Out, Losing Henry, Bugs, Losing Anything Of Value

The story picks up years later. Elizabeth and Henry are married and they've adopt a baby girl, orphaned and left with Henry's uncle. Unfortunately, the baby is Elena's younger sister. And though she can not bring herself to fully hate the innocent child, Elizabeth can not help but feel as if this baby is Henry's way of staying connected to the woman he truly wanted in the first place. And that, she can not stand! If you'd like to continue reading Henry and Elizabeth's story, just click the 'Spring' link in the side bar. :)

Marathon!

Grab your popcorn and hold on tight. We're gonna take you into the crazy world of marathons!!

Actually no, it's not that wild. It's pretty simple when you get right down to it. About a year ago, after taking over all of Allie's characters, Kiki and I realized that we had almost twenty stories all counted up. That wasn't much of a problem when neither of us had anything to do, but with school and work and friends and romance our lives were getting too busy to write the way we used to. We knew it wasn't going to get any easier either. Life was speed up, not slowing down. Something had to be done.

We remembered an idea we'd both pitched to Allie before. It was something we'd discovered by accident, actually. One night while Allie was offline (sometime in the first year of writing) Kiki and I decided to stay up all night and write. It was summer, Friday night, and what better things did we have to do? While we were writing, there was one couple in particular we were enjoying the most. A passionate scene between the two, discovering their feelings for each other in the midst of an argument. It was heated and intense. Emotions were high in this scene and neither of us could focus on any other characters. We agreed to let the other stories rest until the morning an spent the whole night just writing in one.

This was different than how we'd done it before because before we'd write each individual response as one was written for us. So we'd jump from story to story and scene to scene and character to character. What Kiki and I started realizing was that from story to story, our characters started sounded a lot a like... A LOT. The writing was mechanic and kind of emotionless and choppy. But when we wrote a whole scene out at once instead of jumping from story to story, the characters and their emotions and their personalities began to shine through. The writing was smooth from post to post and it was better! We suggested it to Allie. To this day, I can't explain why she hated the idea so much. But she turned it down. Made a big fuss about keeping things the way they were. So we didn't change anything. Until after she was gone.

On our own, Kiki and I could do the things that best worked for us. We started writing in marathons. With over twenty stories and counting it was a good thing too. We also started getting rid of stories. The ones that had repetitive characters or ideas, or the ones we just couldn't make work anymore.

Now we've cut the stories down to seven and it's still a lot to keep up with. But so far the marathons work really well!

We're still struggling with picking up where we left off story to story, but as we go on I'm sure that'll become easier too.

Profiles! #1

Today meet Henry. He is the first of four main characters in this week's featured story, Spring. His appearance is modeled after Chris Pratt, and he is written by the magnificent Kiki! Ladies and Gentlemen -drumroll, please- Henry Toole!

Name:
Henry Toole

Age:
Twenty-Two

Birthday:
July 4

Race:
Irish, English

Personality:
Henry is by nature a very gentle, outgoing, friendly sort of man. He firmly beleives in giving respect in order to earn it, and though he was raised with wealth and privliege, Henry does not rely on his good background to get him what he wants in life. He may be just a little bit spoiled, however, he has a confidant streak that enables him to feel comfortable going after whatever - and whoever - he desires. Don't mistake this for arrogance, though. Henry knows what he has can be taken away just as quickly, and so proves to be a most loyal and faithful companion to friends and family. He is the kind of man that no one can really find fault in, except for perhaps a hint of too much pride and vanity, and is considered one of the "popular" people. Every woman has her eye on him for her daughter - some for themselves - but Henry has no interest in an arranged marriage. He wishes to marry only for love, and may be considered by some a bit of a hopeless romantic. Aside from this, Henry can be a bit of a neat-freak. When things are not in their proper place, he has to find it and put it there, and one of his worst nightmares would be to get his clothes dirty.

Biography:
Henry was born to an English mother and an Irish father, who was the wealthiest landowner in all of Ireland. His mother's family had come over to Ireland when she was a child, and with it being his father's native land, Henry's upbringing was something of a mix between high society and wild free-spiritedness encouraged by the natural world around him. As a result, Henry has retained a sense of respect for the working classes. They must earn their bread, while his is handed to him on a platter, and Henry finds a good deal to respect in those people even though others of his class look down on them. As a child, Henry was given the best education possible. He had the best tutors who taught him everything he would be expected to know as a young man of good society, and by the time he was sixteen, he was considered the catch of the entire wedding market. Trained to take over his father's business from an early age, however, Henry was smart enough to know that he was only desired by so many women for his large inheritance. Not for himself. So he decided early on in his life that he would only marry for love. Nothing else would persuade him into matrimony.

So, when he reached twenty-one without finding a pure-hearted woman to marry, Henry decided his true love would not come from the society beauties paraded under his nose. He left to spend the winter with his uncle in a small village one day's journey from his home. It was there that he met and quickly fell in love with an exotic beauty by the name of Elena Davlos. She returned his feelings, and after some miscommunications and encouragments from her family, she accepted his proposal and returned with him to his home. They planned to marry in the spring, which would give her time to adjust to his lifestyle, and though Henry thought they were happy, she saw things differently. Mere weeks before their wedding, only a few days before her family was due to arrive for it, Elena finally admitted to him her unhappiness here. She said it could never work; they were from two different worlds, and no matter how much pretending she did, she did not belong in his. She would hinder his future as a successful businessman, and overall she said, she loved him enough to let him go. Henry could not dissaude her. She left the following morning, returning to her family in the little village and promising to write to him as his lifelong friend.

Likes:
Nature, reading, children, dancing, music, his family, his friends, animals, snow, sunshine, gambling (a guilty pleasure)

Hates:
Being betrayed by those he loves, being punished for something he is not guilty to, messes, dirt, bugs, getting lost in memories, having his loved ones threatened in any way, not knowing what has become of Elena and why she felt they could not work

Fears:
Losing those he loves, never finding the woman to spend his life with, war coming to Ireland, and birds for some odd reason

The story picks up years later. His first love did not keep her promise to write but he found love again in a wealthy young Irish woman named Elizabeth. Charming when she wants to be but at fault in her pride. He marries her and they adopt a baby girl, orphaned and left with his uncle. If you'd like to continue reading Henry's story, just click the 'Spring' link in the side bar. :)

Shh! Sunday Secrets.

Just a short one today. Sundays are one of our busiest days, but Kiki and I wanted to share with you some of our writing secrets and confessions.

Mine for today is that listening to the Pitch Perfect soundtrack and other A Capella groups while I write helps with inspiration and keeping me focused. (Unless it's a really good song.)

Kiki says her secret is "Remembering. There's so much emotion that comes with remembering things, almost more emotion than we experience when it's actually happening."

Do you have secrets to help your writing? Share them with us!

Seasons Update

The Seasons books are coming along great, I think! So far Kiki is doing all the writing. Wish I could help!!! But I have only a vague idea of what happened in the story before I joined in. Still, it's an absolutely fascinating read! You'll have to take my word for it but really, so far Kiki's got me on the edge of my seat after only two chapters, and you can ask anyone who knows me, it takes forever for me to get into a book so that's saying something. Haha.

Reason I've been thinking about this today is that I've officially started writing the first chapter of our future set book "Bang!" (Meaning I've opened Microsoft Works Word Processor and have spent the last hour staring at this...)

But hey! That's almost three paragraphs right? So... PROGRESS!!!!!

Excited? Yea? Yeah? YEAH?! I am. ;)

Robbed!

Today I was browsing through Spring's profiles, adding pictures to our Facebook, and I came across something that honestly surprised me. The long and short of how I made this discovery is this. When the Seasons stories were actually started, I hadn't yet met Allie or Kiki. The character profiles were set up on two different threads, one for Allie and one for Kiki, but Allie started both of them. So when we copied the profile thread links over to our page after taking over Allie's characters, the link to her profile was still at the top of the page.

While searching for information on the profiles, I happened to see Allie's avatar and the link to her profile. Despite the bad blood between us I still think she makes the most adorable avatar outfits. Curious to see which items she'd used, I clicked through her her profile. And there I found a link to her most recent story. Of course curiosity led me to click the link, and while scrolling down I made the maddening discovery that all of Allie's posts contained MY post formats!! Grant it, they were old and hadn't been used in years, and a few of the colors and words were changed. But there it was. All my hard work and she was getting all the credit!!

I didn't say anything, of course, but it's so frustrating to see your work taken by someone else and seeing them get all the credit for it. That made me mad. Not mad enough to confront her and bring up all KINDS of bad blood, but still mad.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever had something stolen from you?

Exciting News!!

In the last month we've been talking about writing a couple different books. We've got all the pieces worked out and the outlines written up. The actual writing process will begin in the next week. I'm so excited about this! You can't even imagine!!

The first book we'll be writing together is set in the future in the year 5000. China is in control of the world and English is a dead language only known to a few scholars. In this time period, scientists have been experimenting with wormholes. They've managed to produce enough energy to use one, but they can't figure out how to travel through them. What they don't realize is that since the experiments, they've been pulling people through time and space and they're all being dropped into this strange foreign world! Join Trina and Aubrey as they brave this new land and meet new people. Find out how they survive and how they grow as people, and as friends.

The second book we are writing is a trilogy involving three friends. Allison, Blake, and Carreen. And their wild adventures through the supernatural! Discover the truth about Werewolves, Vampires, and witches. Why they all hate each other. And how they can learn to get along.

All the books will be available on the Barnes and Nobel website and through Amazon (once they're done). Also hopefully we'll be able to offer them on iTunes as well for all you iBook users. (Like me) We really hope you'll enjoy them and stick with us through the writing process! Thanks so much!

Check out Nook Books here!          Check out Kindle Books here!!          Check out iBooks here!!!

The last four years. Big Changes. Hard Choices.

So a lot has happened in the last four years. A lot of stories have been started, and sadly both friends and stories have been lost. I'll tell you a little bit about that as we go on but first I would like to say one thing.

I love my best friend. To death. And back. Kiki (LiveFreeLoveWell, or now IrelandKiss) is the greatest person in the whole world! I could never ask for a better friend. When I'm upset for any reason she drops whatever she's doing to listen. When I'm blocked she does everything in her power to help. And I try to be as good a friend to her as she is to me. If time could be rewritten and we could redo some of the things from back then I wouldn't change a second of it. Not even my mistakes. Because through those we grew closer together to become the bestest of friends we are now.

But back to our story. So Kiki joined our story and honestly made the whole thing even better. Drama (Allie) was a good writer in my book but Kiki was and still is way better! I can't tell you how much I loved waking up in the morning and running to check if she'd posted yet, or getting a text from her in the afternoon saying "My post it up! :) " I loved reading her work and it was SO easy to reply to. I didn't have to think about it or anything. The words just flowed through my head in continuation with wherever she left off.

(I should put here that in the past year I've totally sucked at writing replies right away but you know... I'm getting better. I am. I swear!!)

Things were going really good for about the first year. When I started school I asked Allie to take over a little posting for me. She wasn't in school and it was hard for me to keep up with a lack of reliable internet access. She agreed and for the four months of the fall semester at university she wrote my characters for me. Biggest mistake EVER!!!

As a writer, I'll admit I'm a bit of a control freak. I know my characters inside and out. I know all of their likes and dislikes. I know their tempers and their mood swings. How they think, how they talk, how their eyes change with their emotions. I know it all just as well as if they were real people. These characters are very real in my head and I know for a FACT that everything Allie wrote for me was completely wrong! She took a strong, confident, sexy male character and made him act like a mushy, feminine, romantic pile of goop. I hated it! I hated reading it. I hated knowing she was writing it. The thought of my suave male lead acting like a sappy teenage girl made me physically sick at my stomach! Of course I never said anything to anyone about it at the time. I'm sure she'd worked hard on those posts and in her head that was how he ought to have acted. But obviously she knew nothing about him because it was bad. And I mean BAD!

When I was able to post again with them, I continued on with the story as if the entire thing had never happened. I wrote my male lead the way he was supposed to have been written and tried my best to never refer to that scene ever again. Things went well again for another several months. Then Allie started school...

The thing about Allie is this. Before she was in school she was at home, taking care of her brothers and her niece and helping her parents keep the house in order. She did a lot of work and her computer time was her only down time. She when she came online and wasn't writing we forgave her. After all, playing solitaire for an hour while chatting with friends took much less brain work than writing three paragraphs. Then again...

This thinking is what got us in trouble. Because see, she had this bad habit of...zoning out. Where she wasn't playing a game. She wasn't chatting. She was simply sitting in front of the computer, staring blankly at the screen. She referred to this as "dying." I can't tell you how many times we'd be in the middle of a conversation, and after ten minutes or more of silence, Allie would finally write "Sorry. I died." It was bad. When she started school, it got worse. She'd "die" nearly all the time she was online. It would take days for her to even read our posts, weeks more for her to reply. Kiki and I started writing separate new stories that only the two of us wrote on JUST so we'd have something to write! It was that bad.

In October of 2010 we'd had enough. We waited for one of the rare times Allie was online actually talking to us, sat down, and told her the cold hard truth. We wanted her characters. All of them. We wanted to take them off her hands, write them for her, and maybe when she had more time in a year or so she could take them back and things would go back to normal. You can imagine that didn't go over well... But we did it anyway. She kept up with the stories more then. We didn't chat with her much but she tried a lot harder to make an effort to talk to us and keep up with the stories. By the middle of September we'd agreed to let her back and things started to be okay again. The three of us were back together and it seemed like she'd changed.

She hadn't.

Almost exactly a year later in September of 2011 we'd had enough. She'd gotten worse. She'd play games when she said she was writing. She'd call us then spend our time on the phone talking to her other friends or her roommate. She'd log in to play games and avoid chatting with us so we didn't ask about the post or lie that it was almost done or flat out tell us she didn't want to write. It was ridiculous! The stories we wrote with her were for fun and there was no fun happening there. It was all so much stress! Kiki and I were actually trying to put a book together. We were working on something that could earn us both money and Allie was wasting our time with all her crap. We'd taken more than enough of her behavior, listened to way too many excuses. We kicked her out for good. We took her characters and cut her off completely. We haven't spoken since...

It was a good decision over all, though. Kiki and I have gone back to having fun writing! We've taken out a lot of the stress of writing. The RPs list has been smooshed down to five stories (which you can link to with the pictures in the side bar) and we're working on a couple books that we're really excited about. I'll talk more about those later.

I hate to say it, but though I'm grateful to Allie for introducing me to Kiki, cutting ties with her was one of the best things we've done for the stories and ourselves. I've found out through facebook now that she'll be graduating soon, and that she's pregnant...but sadly single. I do wish her the best with her new baby and her new job. I hope she's happy and hold nothing against her. Really. But I don't regret what we did. It was the right choice.

Thank you, Drama!

One of the players to join my story was a girl with the screen name Queen of the Drama. She asked to be called "Queenie" so that's what we called her. My screen name was Black Dragon Bride so, through no direction of my own, people started calling my "Dragon." Cool name right?? Anyway... For the first week of the role play, things were going very well. People were involved. They were all communicating and writing a lot. But after the first week one girl stopped writing without warning. The next week two more join, but two left. By the end of the third week we were down to four people who were constantly posting. I was one. Queenie was another. To make matters worse, we were the only two of the four who wrote more than three sentences at a time. The story was going no where, and for us, the more experienced players, it was getting to be a chore to write with the other two girls. After a few days more, Queenie emailed me.

I won't transcribe the entire conversation here, though I very well could. I won't, for two reasons. Firstly, because the conversation was long and relatively boring in retrospect, and I'm sure you're not interested in the tedious details of what exactly was said. Secondly, I'd rather not dwell on the past shared with this girl. Despite the fact that she became a great influence in my life, we are no longer on speaking terms of any kind and I'd rather like to keep it that way. (Whoa... just wrote that in a British accent... Weird...)

The long and short of it is this. Queenie PMed (private messaged) me on the website, expressing her extreme frustration with other the two girls (I assume they were girls) we'd been writing with. She said, in short, "I can't stand writing with these one-liners! It's hard enough to come up with good paragraphs for my characters when I'm responding to a good writer. When I have to do the thinking for both characters it's practically impossible and so stressful!" And it was obvious she was stressed. It didn't take me long to decide what had to be done. That night I closed my RP. For good.

Or so I thought...

After closing it, Queenie and I continued talking. I told her about an RP idea I'd had that was similar to the one I'd just closed, but "better." She agreed to help me open it so we set to work that night.

Of course I was excited about it, but I was even more excited when Queenie sent me this:

And that is how I met my best friend. =)