Aurumsisters

When admiring the generous array of reading material available here at brigits_flame , I easily get lost in the humor, dark brilliance, and complexities vs. simplicities of those stories and poems. Besides delving into the actual writings, I do love learning the motivations, inspirations, and methods of all the creators I meet here. Knowing the person behind the creation-- I suppose you could say that's one of my inspirations. I find writers absolutely fascinating.

When I learned that summer escapades with her family and best bud, and growing up in a southern town during tumultuous times influenced the complex, lovely, coming of age tale that Harper Lee created in To Kill a Mockingbird, I began to pay close attention to how personal style is birthed long before we actually begin to write. Of course, we evolve. We educate ourselves on grammar, traditional/contemporary style, and various mediums available to expand upon and display our work. Childish escapes, self entertainment, and hobbies become more. Without realizing the how and when the evolution actually began, we come to realize that creating is just... part of us. We MUST do it, we thrive upon it. Even if the writing evolves into brainstorming with others, learning to edit, and perhaps becoming publishers or critics, storytelling was most likely the very first stage in that evolution.

However, the other side of enjoying this instinctual pursuit of creative outlet are the frustrations! Writers are historically generalized as temperamental moody folks who constantly strive to pacify their muses in order to produce. Not all the good ones make it to international fame and fortune, or even cult fame status because fickle muses inspiration and motivation don't always have happy, productive marriage beds. This is why I have to give props to a young writer who not only nourishes her love of storytelling, but found a creative partner and numerous mediums that aids in keeping her productive.

Today's featured writer, aurumsisters , has developed a very unique (in my opinion) way of creating. She collaborates with her sister. What a tremendous relationship they must have! Without further ado, I give you, Pamela!

Bio:

My name is Pamela, or Pam, if you prefer. I'm not extremely picky on what people call me. This is a trait that I don't share with many of my characters. I joined the Flame in October of 2009 and jumped right in by participating in the mini-contest for that month (it was too late to enter the regular contest by that point). November was the first month I participate in the main contest and found it to be quite helpful and exciting.

I would love to say that I've been writing all of my life, but that would be a lie. The truth is that writing and I have had a very shaky, but long relationship over the course of my 23 years. I first started creating stories when I was in elementary school. Most of my stories then were acted out with Barbie dolls, rather than jotted down on paper. As I grew, I moved to writing down my stories on paper. That's when the on-again, off-again started. It seems that writing is one of the first things I let go to the wayside when my life gets the least bit busy - high school and college both saw intermittent bursts of writing.

As a child, I read more than I do now. I grew up on Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley, reading at least a book a week. With high school and college, my reading slowed but it still continued to inspire me. I have only recently begun to get back into reading and I'm finding there's a lot of books I've missed out on. While books (and movies) certainly inspire me the most now, I think the thing that originally inspired me to write was all of the hours spent playing Barbies with my sister. Each time was a new adventure with a new set of characters, much like a story.

I revived my relationship with writing this past summer when my sister and I participated in summerwrite, a challenge to write 150,000 words in 4 months. We sat down at our computers and wrote our first novel together, which is a whole other story in itself. Since then, I have kept with the writing, creating new stories and novels as the ideas come to me. And the best part? I haven't let writing disappear as my plate gets fuller and fuller. Maybe this time it's the real deal.

My sister, Crystal, is my partner in crime when it comes to everything, but especially when it comes to writing. We have been co-writing things (typically young adult fantasy) together since I was in high school. We currently are working on several novels together in addition to our own individual projects. In August, we started posting some of our fiction, including a whole novel, to a writing website that we started. (This is also where I post some of my Flame entries). It really helps me to be able to share my writing so openly with someone so close. I would not trade the relationship I have with her for anything.

Working with my sister allows me more time to write. Ever since I can remember, we have always spent most of our time together, sharing the same interests and hobbies. So, sharing writing with her provides me the opportunity to write more because I'm not trying to "squeeze" it in. We decided to start Two to Write because we were interested in sharing some of our fiction with others. We have stories to tell and we wanted to share them. We have plans of eventually pursuing a publisher, which is why not all of our work is up on the website. Currently, there are several short pieces and two novels being put up weekly for the enjoyment of others. I guess you could say it's our way of giving back to others.

Remember that full plate I mentioned? I'm going to sum it up quickly so that you can be on your way and back to your own busy life. My day times are spent as an assistant teacher in a special ed classroom. This is a temporary job until I can find a full-time teaching position of my own in early childhood (economy has made these harder to find). My evenings are spent driving to my alma mater, where I am currently enrolled in graduate classes for additional teaching certification and a master's degree. My nights are spent resting, writing, watching a few select television shows, and doing homework. And, that folks, is my life in a nutshell.

The Chosen Piece:

The work I am featuring is from one of the December prompts. I am not sure which prompt it coincides with at the moment. It is Chapter 16 of the novel that we are posting to our website, but I feel that it can be enjoyed even without reading the rest of the novel. I try to keep my entries short and this one is no exception. It rings in at a mere 557 words.

The Link:
http://twotowrite.blogspot.com/2009/12/nights-final-hour-chapter-16.html

Come hither, my darling FLAMERS! Have a read, feel free to comment, ask questions, etc. Happy New Year!

 

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