Writing

The first stories I remember recording were about my stuffed animals and a short series about a guppy that my mom would read. I don't have copies of either, but I do have a copy hidden away of my first novel ever, The Planet of the Mist. Terrible, terrible, terrible. I haven't glanced through it in a while, but if I ever want to feel nauseous, I'll give it a look through. The best thing about keeping old writing is reading it when you feel low about your current writing and realizing, Wow! I'm actually improving! 

Here's a little idea of what my first novel consisted of. A girl named Ashlynn, chosen by prophecy to be queen of the Planet of the Mist, a bad guy named Lutherick who had control of fire-breathing 50 foot snakes I called Caralsties (not even sure where I came up with that? I invented my own language, had a spell book and everything), and sappy dialogue especially between Ashlynn and her love interest, Dakota. Even worse, I didn't know how to go about paragraphs, so I'd just keep typing in the same paragraph until I felt like it was too big, then I'd change to another one. Which meant it looked something like:

"I'm saying something important," Ashlynn announced. "This is just an example paragraph," Dakota pointed out. They stared at each other and decided that their passion was building, so they might as well start making out. "Why, this isn't realistic at all," Ashlynn said. "No kidding, right?" Dakota said. And it's a good thing I learned a thing or two about writing since because this is definitely not a good way to do this. Actually it's paining me to write like this right now.

I was so proud to print this book. Every page that spit out was a testament to how awesome I was, because look at how big it was! I feel bad for my poor father, who I gave a copy to and wanted him to read it. I don't know how far he got, but even two pages in would have been too much. It was bad. Truly. 

My parents have always supported me, and they're my driving force. I appreciate them going through all the sappy stories, the boring stories, the ones that didn't make sense. They've been honest with me, they've encouraged me, they've been excited for me. Words cannot express how much I love them for all they do for this dream of mine. Here's to my parents! And here's to the hope that my writing continues to improve, and that The Planet of the Mist may never see the light of day.

October: The Planning Month

October is an important month. I mean, sure, it's my birthday, and who doesn't want to celebrate my coming into the world? But it's important also because of the month following it. November: aka NaNoWriMo. 

For anyone who isn't aware that such a thing exists, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. That's...pretty much it. You have to write at least 50,000 words and that is both terrifying and exciting for geeks like me. 

How do you do this? Well, planning ahead usually is a good start.

I was beating my head on a rock trying to think of the first important step of planning (*cough* an idea *cough*) when inspiration came from an outside source. It's the same source that usually inspires many things: my mom.

She had a dream one night, and since then we've been plotting a novel. She's excited, and I hope I don't let her down. We can do this!

Wonder by R.J. Palacio... I finished reading it shortly after starting, and all I can think to say is wow. Wow. WOW. I had seen it on the shelves at Barnes and Noble for what seems like forever, but I never picked it up. I don't know why. But after reading about it somewhere on the internet, I thought: Hey, I should give this a shot. Then I finally purchased it.

It was so emotional. There were a couple times I had to close the book and take a couple breaths, tell my mom who sat in the same room as me how WONDERFUL Wonder is, before jumping back into it. I loved the point-of-view shifts, how you could see the story through the eyes of several key characters. The center character, August, was my favorite and I just wanted to give him a huge hug because of his sweet, innocent voice. I felt like I was there with them all, just as much part of the story as anyone else.

It's about August Pullman, who, thanks to a gene no one in his family knew existed, was born with a facial "deformity" (though no one likes that word in the story). He once hid it with a space helmet, and has since been home-schooled by his mother, but now it's time to try going to Beecher Prep for his fifth grade. A quote from this masterpiece: "I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse." For that reason, he's nervous, but there are students at Beecher Prep that might just look past what's on his outside.

Read it. Read it now! I don't care what book you're currently immersed in. This one deserves its spotlight. 

Kindle and Nook

Out of Orbit by yours truly, Ashton Widdison, is now available for free on Nook and Kindle directly!

I'm Reading a Fantastic Book

Obvious statement of the year: I love books. I'm very passionate about reading. It's one of the few things that really comforts me, and when I find that one novel that really reaches inside me and settles itself, totally at home, my life is that much more incredible.

I have found such a book. It's called Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I'm not done with it yet, but when I am, I'm going to review it here. Just let it suffice to say right now that I'm in love with the story, the writing, the characters... Everything about it is perfect.

Who Likes Free Books?

Responsibilities aside, I'd gladly give my whole paycheck to a new stack of books. But why do that when you can get a story for free?

October is my birthday month, but in celebration, I've decided to mark my eBook, Out of Orbit, down to $0.00. Free! Completely free! Now the eBook is available through different sites, but right now the only two that seem to have caught up with my adjustment have been lulu and iBook. Fortunately lulu.com works on any eReader, so if anyone out there is interested, test it out! It's my gift to anyone who wants to open it.

If, by chance, you readers out there find this and give me a chance, please follow my author page or find me on Goodreads. I would really appreciate any reviews!

Snippet of Out of Orbit

Here is a sample of my novel, Out of Orbit.

“I don’t…get compliments a lot. Thank you…L-Leslie.”

“No. Okay, we need to straighten that out.”

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"Don’t call me Leslie.” She made a face, like she had bit a lemon. “It’s an awful name. I don’t know what my parents were thinking.”

“W-what’s wrong with it?”

“What would you call me for short?”

“I…don’t k-know. Les, I guess.”

“Les.” Her bottom lip stuck out. “Like the word ‘less’, the opposite of more. That’s not at all flattering, is it?”

            I wanted to tell her I didn’t have to call her Les, but I wasn’t given the opportunity. Leslie twirled around so she was walking backwards, facing me, and extended her hand. “I’m Pluto.”

“Pluto,” I repeated slowly, uncertainly. Was she joking? People didn’t just pick whatever name they wanted, did they?

“Yes, Pluto. The planet.” She waved her hand slightly in the air, stretching it out even more, and I hoped she didn’t hate how sticky my hand would be from nervous sweat. I reached for her, fingers slipping along her palm. She was warm and soft. I withdrew within seconds.

“Um… H-how did you…? Why…?”

“Pardon?” she said politely.

“Why d-did you choose that name?”

“Oh!” Leslie smiled. “I was reading about the planets, and it just seemed to fit me—small and dark and it’s the reject planet. It got voted out of the special planet circle.”