Wrapping up, but not really...

I keep saying that I'm going to finish Natalie so soon. Two more chapters, I promise myself. Two then becomes five and then five becomes indefinite. I'm completely anxious to finish so that I can begin revisions of Natalie and start on my next project, which I'm gonna talk a little bit about now.

The first chapter of 'Voices in my Head' is up on fictionpress now. It's a story that is incredibly important to me. I wrote it when I was going through a lot of problems in my life during my Sophomore year of high school. At first it was just sort of a lame idea I had about a crazy chick. I wrote a tentative first chapter as an experiment (and this is handwritten I should say) and in two days I had finished twenty pages. The story finished at 42 pages. It wasn't the longest story I'd written, in fact it was one of the shortest. But it was the best. It was the first piece of prose I'd written that showed any kind of growth in me as a writer.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember. From joint stories with my best friend about the thrilling adventures of Box and Triangle, to fanfiction, to crossover fanfiction to real live fiction. 'Voices in my Head' was my third novel and my best. Therefore I frequently dub it my first baby. (Terribly, I tend to call all my fanfiction stories and even my first piece of true fiction my miscarriages; the babies that just weren't strong enough. Like I said, terrible.)

The story is about a girl named Pamela. She originally had my name (I'm incredibly uncreative with names; most of my protagonists originally share my name with me) but I felt it was inappropriate considering some of the situations I wanted to put her in if I ever wanted anyone I knew to read it. If that makes any sense at all. I got the idea from a book I first picked up in seventh grade by Melenie Rawn (one of my two favorite authors EVER) and after I finished writing my story, I went on to write a companion to it and I'm in the process of writing two more companions to it.

See, the way I wrote it, I left it open for 28 companions to be written, which was my original plan. And I had this great idea that they could be read in any order; that it wouldn't really matter, but if you read them all, you'd get the depth of the whole situation. I don't know if I'll ever get around to writing all 28 companions. The 28 companions actually exclude the one I've finished and the two in progress for reasons that if I ever get around to that project, you'll understand. But if I ever get around to doing any other project besides Natalie, 'Voices in my Head' is first up.

Here's a sort of breakdown of my project plan:
1. 'Natalie' --Natalie is the younger of my two babies ('Voices' is more like a toddler now) so she gets all my developmental attention.
2. 'Voices'--This should be seriously easier than Natalie, because it's completely written, it just needs a lot of revisions.
3. 'Razor Freak' -- This is something I've talked about before in my blogs, hopefully I haven't teased you too much about it. It's going to a project close to my heart because in many ways it's about me and yet not about me. If that makes sense at all.
4. My suicide attempt. --Yeah, I know. So depressing all the time, Lizzie. What is wrong with you? Yeah yeah. I've been wanting to write about my own attempt for quite some time but I want to be able to spend all of my writing time and energy on it. No sense in a half-assed attempt. And, for those wondering, didn't you write that story already? No. I believe it says so, but the 'Suicide Attempt' on fictionpress is not mine. It is entirely fictional. The method is completely different.
5. Nothing specific.--What does that mean? This means I don't have any plans after all that. I will probably find some other big project to work on or I'll brush up a bunch of my short stories (Seriously, I have over 100 notebooks in my room brimming with crappy short stories. They need to be revised and entered.
6. Layla. --Yeah, I thought of my project after that. And it's Layla. Don't ask don't tell. That's my teaser. Just Layla. It's seriously old; I wrote it the same year as 'Voices,' though it came out significantly shorter. It also has a sequel in the making.

Well, maybe someday I'll actually get around to all this stuff. I'd like to say that that's the plan for the next semester of school. But honestly, I just don't know how long 'Natalie' is going to take me and I won't be the ten projects girl. Not this time. 'Natalie' is too damned important to me to let anything else distract me. I will not be tempted.

That's it for today. I've got a story to work on, no? A story to work on. Getting the feeling back in my feet and legs. If you've made it this far and you still actually care...Man, go get a life. Go listen to some Sunset Rubdown while staring at the blue sky lying under a tree and contemplate life as we know it. Go. It's fun, really!

Lizzie Arlen