My Literary Achievements

So I've decided, as fun as the whole "write nothing that is even remotely interesting every day and pretend like you'd actually read it someone else wrote the same thing" was, today I actually have something to talk about.
Really, I'm just pulling at straws right now.
On this morning of my final ever English Literature exam, I will be recounting the history of my interest and achievements in the area of Literature.

I suppose, it all started at age seven when, already the avid reader that I was of books with sentences like "Jack said 'No'.", my older brother (age 12) came home raving about some book called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", insisting that I read it. I promised to read only the first chapter and if I liked it perhaps I would continue to read it. It was far away from anything else I'd read with big, "grown up" words. I took me hours to read that first chapter, but I walked away begging for more. I finished the whole book. Then the next book (I actually read that one in 4 days at the age of 8!) until I'd read The Goblet of Fire and was eagerly awaiting the first movie. Needless to say, I have developed an almost unhealthy obsession with this series. Not just the books, but the movies, merchandise and Wizard Rock. I even wrote my all important final Drama Practical Exam ever piece on a girl who was a little too obsessed with the Harry Potter Franchise. (I managed to include Hank Green's Accio Deathly Hallows in there, too! Harry Potter Nerds, be proud. I am spreading the word!)

Following Harry Potter, my obsession with book series' came. I, to this day, prefer to read books that come in a series or trilogy to stand-alone books (the exception, of course, being anything by John Green or Maureen Johnson). I read Enid Blyton's "Twins at St Clares" books, "Malory Towers" books (pretty much anything by Enid Blyton - I am still a huge fan). Eventually all that reading about Boarding School began to make me write about Boarding School. An excerpt from my first "story" at age 9:
"Hailie are you sure you have every thing" Mrs Jones asked Hailie.
"Yep. I'm sure"
Hailie Jones was just about to go off to boarding school for the first time but her train hadn't arrived yet. They waited for a few more minutes and the train arrived.
"Well, I hope you have a good year," said Mrs Jones. She kissed Hailie on the cheek, hugged her then walked off.
Hailie walked on to the empty train, looked for an empty compartment and sat down. A few minutes later the train started moving. Hailie watched the scenery.
I never managed to finish that book. Nothings really changed in that area xD

A few years later, we were asked to write a book for a class project. I was extremely excited about this and wrote "Under the Spotlight" a story about all the lies and sabotage that goes on behind the scenes of play performances. I was ambitious for an eleven year old!

A few more years have passed since then, and try as I may, I have not been able to stick with a story long enough to finish it since "Under the Spotlight". I have completed many essays, and much to my horror, poems. I have nothing against people who like poetry, but I don't really have much fondness for it. So to be told I had to write it, and have it marked. Well, I hated that. And thus, I was never very good at it. My best poem to date, written earlier this year, called "Taking Flight":

The stage is set, bright lights
Searching for a subject.
Obscured from view I wait,
Head pounding, heart racing,
I wait with nervous excitement coursing
Through my veins
Like venom, restricting my movement.
I take sharp, shallow, unsatisfying breaths,
Remembering my task, my mission.
My head spins, my hands shake and
The audience fills in, faces blurred
By adrenalin.

House lights dim, the confusing buzz
Of many speaking at once, dies down.
The venom forces my throat closed;
I am almost blind with anticipation.
Against my will, my limbs move, one step at a time
Until I regain control and stop.

I find myself at centre stage staring
Dazedly into the blurred faces,
Colours running until-
The searching lights find me.
Now I see nothing.
My nerves make me shake so badly I
Step forward and hold onto the microphone
As I would hold onto life.

Music...
Am I imagining it?
Are the smudged faces hearing it too?
Autopilot kicks in.
Air flows through me like water.
My lungs open, soaking it up joyfully.

I am ready.
I begin.

The first note never sounded sweeter.
Piano and vocal chords wind together
Unbreakable, links in a chain.
My mind bursts open, my eyes
Are thrown into sharp focus.
No longer is my head throbbing,
Pulse thudding noisily in my ear.
No more shaking of the hand or racing
Of the heart.

I can hear.
I can think.
I can see.

And I fly.

In July of this year, my Lit teacher offered the class a chance to participate in an event called "Write a Book-in-a-day", an event that takes place every year to raise money for Children's Hospitals across the country. Basically, you spend twelve hours locked up with about five or six other people trying to write a children's book. As you start (at about 8 am) you are given two human characters, one non-human character, a setting, an issue and five words to be included somewhere in the text. It was seriously the most fun I have had in years and I was so eager to recreate that intense joy we felt once we'd finished the book, that I decided to do NaNoWriMo. We finished with about two hours to spare, each writing about a chapter and collectively editing each chapter. It was cold, it was rainy, but it was the best feeling in the world when we bound the book together, handed it to our teacher and ordered ourselves pizza from the English Department Staff Room. I have never felt so alive.
The prize giving for this competition was two weeks ago, and we had been told we'd one some sort of prize. Five of us turned up to receive the award for the Best Book in the Secondary School category. The description of the book that was read out surprised us:

It is a judge’s delight when presented with so many wonderful stories, any of which could claim the title of the best book, to come across one that instantly makes he/she want to wake their children – and/or the children next door, and all the way down the street – to share the magic. This is one of those books. The central character is a mischievous, manipulating and fun loving sprite who is telling her story of how she changes a mean and miserly Aunt into being loving and considerate – for that was the sprite’s job, to change people for the better. This is a story, in the words of the judging criteria, that can engage all 10-14 yr old readers beautifully and has that special goose-bump factor. It is well planned, without any glaring faults, full of humour, and contains a delightful value-system for how life can work better for everyone with a bit of give and take. The descriptions are tight and vivid – the aunt’s grim house, for example, “It was like someone had taken all of [the homeless person’s] loneliness and built a house of it”, and the monster against whom a game of chess has to be won “a gigantic blob of tangled arms and legs was emerging from the shadows, saliva dripping from its fangs” who is won over by being addressed as “Sir”. He’d never been called “Sir” before. Eventually the Aunt’s niece is rescued from the island where she is being held, thanks to some duck that carry them over the river in exchange for yellow gumboots and marzipan. By the end, everyone, including the sprite is happy, and the aunt discovers the advantages of expressing the love that is really inside her. Congratulations to the Team Flobo with its book Fiddlesticks.

In short (well actually, it was really long) that is my history of literary achievements, (ending with having "Fiddlesticks!" published before I turned seventeen!) all of which lead to my decision to do NaNoWriMo. I am still unsure as to whether I should continue NaNoWriMo, but writing this post has certainly put in a good word for the "yes" case.

Sorry this is so long, but I actually wanted to post a remotely interesting blog entry today!
NaBloWriMo Blog Posts Left: 20
Pages Left to Write: Still 180 (approx 45 000 words)
Exams Left: 3...but soon to be 2...gah...exams!'
Cookie Dough Rolls consumed this month: 2