Profile

"My fingers write magic, my voices sings Broadway, and my dreams are my wings."

In the short time I've been alive, I've found that I enjoy weaving together the threads of a story in order to create the perfect ensemble more than I do anything else in the entire world. My dream has been to become a published author since I realized it was possible back in the first grade. I had a really silly story entered into the school lit mag that went something like:

"The clown was sad. It was his birthday. A girl knocked on the door. The clown was happy. The end."

Upon seeing my own words in print, I was bitten by a muse who claimed me as my own, and things have never been the same. My goal is to finish up my first novel and have it in the final stages of revising/editing by the end of 2010 at the latest so that I can attempt to publish it in 2011. If my muse decides to play nice, of course, since my current story is taking its sweet time to brew. I've been trying to get started for a year, but my characters are being slippery little beasts who can't make up their minds yet!

In the meantime, I'm a voracious reader. When I'm not doing research for my writing, I love to read books that make me think or ones where the beauty of the author's words simply take my breath away. My favorite author is Jodi Picoult because there are always so many shades of gray in her work, and you're always making your own decisions. "My Sister's Keeper" and "Keeping Faith" are my favorite books by her, and also my top two favorites books by anybody. Other books by her are high on my list as well. Right now, I'm thoroughly in love with the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan and am recommending it to everyone in the world.

Thankfully, I'm a bookseller at the moment, so I can afford to indulge my book obsession now more than ever before! ^_^

I also enjoy graphic design. I love fussing around in Photoshop and got my start making blog icons and doing icon challenge contests (icontests) back in the day. Now, I'm also to use programs such as Illustrator, InDesign, and Flash. I'd love to get into freelancing and do things such as book cover design, so I've begun putting together a mock-up portfolio.

I love traveling; I lived in Nagasaki, Japan for two years and got to visit many parts of the country. I think Hiroshima and Kyoto were my favorite prefectures to visit because they're so beautiful and full of so much history. Hiroshima completely rebuilt itself after the atomic bombing and is a sight to behold now. The memorial museum at its heart with the remnants of the Dome are haunting testimonies to never forget. Nearby Miyajima Island is beautiful as well; it was lovely to pet the wild deer and see live monkeys when we went up into the mountains. Kyoto was beautiful because it has so many lovely shrines and temples full of history, not to mention the still-lively Geisha District. While in Japan, I also made short trips to Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong, China. I've also previously traveled to Quebec, Canada with my high school French class. The countries I'd most like to visit in the future are Greece, Italy, France, the UK (all of the countries there!), and Egypt.

My last great interest in life is music. Music plays a heavy part in my life. Sometimes, I have playlists created for stories that I'm working on. Sometimes, I use music to unwind when I'm stressed out and trying to relax. My tastes are very eclectic and all over the place. I even enjoy music in other languages, even ones I can't understand, though the ones I understand the most certainly top my list. One of my biggest loves is musical theatre. I try to go to New York City a few times a year to catch various shows. While living in Japan, I tried to catch some foreign shows as well. I even saw the Takarazuka Revue's version of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" on my "golden" birthday while overseas!

...And that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about little old me, ne? ^.~