Hi! I'm Vanilla.

Hey guys!

I'm Rachel, but you can call me Vanilla.  Yes.  Like the tea.  Which is very tasty indeed.

Basically, as I'm sure you've guessed judging by the previous posts, I like to write.  My favorite genre to write is present day/realistic fiction, although I have a long way to go before I join the ranks of such fabulous authors as John Green and Ally Carter.  But I'm working on it.  And one day, hopefully, I'll get there.

I've been reading ever since I was three, and ever since I haven't been able to get enough.  (By the way, does anyone else ever alternate between having 2343486745682 books to read and having zero?  Right now I have zero.  Leave me suggestions in the comments, folks, I'll check them out!)  I started with books like the Boxcar Children and Little House on the Prairie, reading them over and over again until I was satisfied.  I needed more than my library could contain, and I hunted everywhere for something special that I would love.

I can't remember exactly when I started writing, especially since it was physically difficult for me as a child.  But I know I've always had ideas and stories floating around in my brain, and when I was old enough to start typing on my mom's laptop I became an author.

The first major story I wrote was called "Penny Austin and the Mystery at the Museum."  I was really into Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and that sort of old fashioned mystery when I was nine or ten, and I tried to emulate that in this little novella.  I never did finish that story, and I think it's still sitting on a computer somewhere, waiting for me to pick it up again.  Seeing as how I've completely forgotten what the mystery was and who done it, I think it will be as much a surprise for me as for the reader.  But I do remember that my mom gave it to my grandmother, who passed it around to everyone at her work.  They loved it (looking back on it they may just have been humoring a ten year old), and I loved that they were pleased.  Ever since then, I've decided I wanted to be a real live author, like the ones who smiled up at my from the back of well worn library dust jackets.

After that, I fell into a sort of slump, writing wise.  I WANTED to write, but the inspiration and the dedication were never there.  I wrote a few little stories, for schoolwork or just because I felt like it, but at around 15,000, "Penny Austin and the Mystery at the Museum" was the longest project I had ever worked on, and to me at the age of ten, it was the work of Shakespeare himself.

Then, along came Nanowrimo 2012.  Or rather, Camp Nanowrimo.  I.  Was.  Terrified.  I had originally wanted to do Nanowrimo 2011, along with the rest of the slightly insane writing community, but I remembered the event on November 14th, and decided it was way too late to jump in.  Looking back on it, that was probably a good idea.  I had no story, no plan, and I was basically in over my head.

So all spring, I planned my novel.  I read every guide on writing I could possibly find, I looked up how to articles, and I came up with a halfway decent plot.  At the time, I was wildly obsessed with Jane Austen, so my novel, which I called, "Breaking the Cage," involved dramatic scenes in the rain, parents dying tragically, and a beautiful young heroine who didn't seem to fit the mold of society around her.

I absolutely hate that novel, but I finished proudly on June 28th.  I haven't touched the draft since then, and I don't know if I ever will, but I'm incredibly glad that I wrote it.  It was one of the best experiences of my life, and Nanowrimo has become something I definitely look forward to.

This year, one of my friends invited me to join the tea-spitters for Nanowrimo.  And it's been an incredible journey.  I had marathon writing sessions with them, cried over having to kill off one of my characters with them, and I've made a fantastic group of friends.

That novel, which I called, "And a Dash of Fear," I'm still not finished with.  It once again reflects my current obsessions, as I tried to capture the spirit of "The Avengers."  It involves a young man who learns he can time travel (also a subtle reference to my love of Doctor Who), and his adventures as he tries to escape the clutches of a madman intent on using his mind for experimentation.  I've fallen in and out and back in love with this novel, and in a sense, it's sort of like my child.  If you'd like to view my Pinterest board for this monstrosity of a story, you can find it here

So, that's where I am currently, writing wise.  I'm going to finish "And a Dash of Fear" before next Nanowrimo, and then it'll be onto the new project.  It's a wild ride, but I'm looking forward to it.

As the Doctor would say, "Next stop, everywhere!" 

Love you guys,
Vanilla xx