Writing Tag

There's a writing tag going on at Every Good Word, and I'm participating!  The button is on my sidebar if you want to know more, so without further ado, here is the tag!

What was your first-ever piece of writing?  I’ve never had anything published, but the first book I ever made was a five- or six- page book that I wrote in Kindergarten.  I never got it back from my teacher though. 

How old were you when you first began writing? I was five.  I began seriously thinking about writing as a career when I was seven or so.

Name two writing goals. One short term & one long term.  Short term would be finishing my novel, A Fortnight in a Lighthouse (working title).  Long term would be getting AFIAL published.  I’m still a beginning writer, really.

Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Unless blogging counts as nonfiction…fiction.

Bouncing off of question 4, what's your favorite genre to write in?  I really love writing books like The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (I’m not sure what that genre is called), but I also like writing adventure stories.

One writing lesson you've learned since 2013 began.  That it’s not a crime to be better at writing about ordinary everyday things than heroic adventures.

Favorite author, off the top of your head!  Jane Austen, of course.

Three current favorite books.  Les Miserables, Emma, and Glimpses of Truth.

Biggest influence on your writing {person}: Jane Austen and Elizabeth Enright.  They have almost nothing in common, one being a writer of romance in the Regency Era (that was an alliteration, wasn’t it?) and the other being a writer of children’s fiction in the 1940’s, but whenever I’m stuck I can usually apply some technique of theirs to my writing.

What's your go-to writing music?  I actually don’t listen to music while writing because it distracts me too much, so none. 

List three to five writing quirks of yours!  I check my word count after every page, I type random letters when I’m having writers’ block because it seems to help, I carry around three or four notebooks and at least that many pencils to take notes with while I’m writing and I have a habit of dashing off six-page stories (I’m writing a whole series) when I need to take a break from my novel.

What, in three sentences or less, does your writing mean to you?  I’ve been writing practically since I could hold a pencil and even though I occasionally take a hiatus from it to pursue other interests, I always come back.  God gave me my talent for writing and I intend to use it for His glory.