The Get To Know Me Tag (Writer’s Edition!)

good morning, cyberspace!

As you can most likely already decipher from today’s lamely transparent title, today we are going to be doing the Get To Know Me Tag! (writer’s edition!)! Because I love doing tags. And I am a writer.

And also because I needed a cop-out post this week since my life has been super crazy hectic and I have not had a chance to come up with something clever and original.

Seriously, guys, I literally cannot even remember the last time I was able to sit down for a solid period of time and work on my book. It has been days. It has been weeks. IT HAS BEEN AN ETERNITY. But — thank the stars — my life finally looks like it’s about to calm down again (assuming I don’t get killed with a jackhammer over the weekend. . .? #demoday), which means that not only will I be able to work on everlost here in the next couple days, but I ALSO have something super special planned for next Tuesday!

Something glorious! Something spectacular!

Something suspiciously like the second installment in the Storytime With Kenzie! series. (*hint hint*)

So. If you can just bear with me for today and let me do this happy little tag, then I can personally assure you that next week you will be able to hear all about the frightening and woeful tale of how I nearly died. Sounds fun, amiright?

So without further ado and guilty apologies, let’s dive right into the tag!

. . . THE RULES . . .

Link Back To The Lovely Bean Who Created The Tag . . . That would be Savannah! *slaps link onto page*

Thank The Lovely Bean Who Tagged You. . . And that would be Madeline!!! Thank you SO much, Madeline!!! I absolutely adored doing this! (why, yes, I’m writing this after I wrote my answers down. what, you think I’m chronological? lol NO.)

Share The Tag Graphic. . . *boop* IT’S SO GORGEOUS, ASDFGHJKL!!!

Tag Eleven Bloggers. . . wait what?

. . . THE TAG . . .

— Vital Stats and Appearance —

NAME. . . Mackenzie ***** (lol, you don’t get to know my last name, ya stalker)

NICKNAMES. . . Kenzie. . .? I don’t really have any other nicknames. People call me Kenzie, Kenze. . .that’s about it. I mean, ‘that’s about it’ for nicknames that aren’t special family-given nicknames that shall not be randomly shared over the internet. Aha.

BIRTHDAY. . . Soon!

HAIR COLOR AND LENGTH. . . Golden-brown with reddish tints. . .? I really don’t know the exactly color of my hair, okay? Don’t judge me, peasants. As for length, it’s rather long, but also wavy. So WITH the waves, it comes down to ehhhhhhh. . .a couple inches below my shoulder blades? Give or take a few? If it was straight, however. . . LOLOLOLOL MY HAIR IS NEVER STRAIGHT.

EYE COLOR. . . Weird. Kind of a bizarre mixture of brown and green. Like a turd. But a very pretty shade of turd.

BRACES/PIERCINGS/TATTOOS. . . Ear. . .piercings??? I can jab earrings into my earlobes, if that’s what you want to know. Why you would even want to know this is beyond me, however.

RIGHTY OR LEFTY. . . Righty, unfortunately. I think being a lefty would be cool.

ETHNICITY. . . Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. . .something? I think I’m mostly Irish. Definitely Irish (I’m as pale as a marshmallow, so. . .?), but I think there’s some other stuff (Dutch, maybe?) thrown in there, as well. I am the proverbial melting pot, my friends.

— Firsts! —

Finally! The writing questions!

FIRST NOVEL WRITTEN. . . Oh goodness, I can’t even try to remember what my first novel ever written was. If I had to take a stab in the dark, though, I’d probably have to say it had something to do with talking horses. However, to give a more accurate answer, here are just a few of my earliest remembered works —

• A novel about a detective named Oliver Crump (pretty much smol Kenzie’s first rip-off of Sherlock Holmes, BEFORE she knew what Sherlock Holmes was. [also Mr. Crump was a terrible detective. just throwing that out there.)
• A shocking tale of woe about a horde of wild horses (that could talk, of course) who had to flee their beautiful grassy plains because of the terrible and treacherous ‘Rangers’ who were taking over their land (and obviously it was the child-horses who were going to get their land — and the captured members of their family — back safely. because logic.)
• A story about how a young girl and her parents moved out to the country and so obviously she immediately got a horse because that’s totally the first thing you do when you move to a new house, right? Right. (unfortunately for this story, I was forced to give up on such a work of pure genius because having a main character, her pet dog, and a horse all in one story was just way too much. there were too many characters to keep track of, here.)

And that’s pretty much all I can remember for my first novels. True works of literary genius right there.

FIRST NOVEL COMPLETED. . . That would have to be The Dragon Elements. And I KNOW I’ve talked about this particular book on the blog before, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but basically it  was about–

• a young prince who was basically the ‘chosen one’ (#specialsnowflake #sopopular)
• dragons who were forced to fight each other simply for the kingdom’s entertainment (????? what ever happened to dragon equality??? where was PETA during the creation of this book???)
• an elf (???? [because apparently we’re allowed to throw a random elf into the story, even though there is literally like NO OTHER MENTION {except maybe one} OR APPEARANCES FROM ANY OTHER ELVES IN THIS STORYWORLD???? lol. #sobelievable])
• elemental dragons who hatched out of random toy eggs from a creepy egg dealer that were supposed to hold gumballs and trading cards and other strange little knickknacks but LOL NOPE. THERE’S ACTUALLY A DRAGON IN THERE.
• a beautiful green dragon who literally had to DIE just so that our ‘chosen one’ prince dude was forced to ride a completely different dragon (who just so happened to be the most powerful dragon in all the land, obviously) at the end of the book for nothing other than dramatic effect.

To be honest, I’m not particularly fond of this book. BUT — as I have mentioned in previous posts — I am looking into doing a revamp of this story! So perhaps  second time’s the charm, hm? Maybe? Please?

AWARD FOR WRITING. . . HA. None. I never even won any of those those stupid Webkinz writing contests. AND I ENTERED SO MANY OF THOSE, YOU GUYS. It was actually kind of shameful, to be honest.

FIRST PUBLICATION. . . I’ve actually never been published. Unless you count my Wattpad story, Gretel, but I don’t exactly count that since it’s not like. . .a traditionally published book or short story. Which is like my SUPER MEGA ULTIMATE DREAM. You know. If you haven’t noticed.

I have however, been most splendidly rejected by an anthology company before! I mean, they definitely had ample reason to reject me, as the story I sent in was — to put it kindly — kind of rubbish. BUT IT STILL STUNG, OKAY???

Just a little. . .

CONFERENCE. . . Once again I must give a super boring answer for this and say — I have never been to a writing conference before.

I know. How lame. I’m the lamest chipmunk in the park.

HOWEVER, I’m severely hopeful that this is something that will change in the not-so-near future, because just a few short months ago, I discovered what I believe to be the absolute most amazing writer’s conference in the entire world:

Realm Makers.

And for those of you who have (like me) never heard of Realm Makers before, it is basically THE Christian writer’s conference for writers who don’t exactly fit into the “Christian fiction” mold. Their slogan is literally, “This isn’t your grandmother’s writer’s conference” AND IF THAT DOES NOT SCREAM KENZIE, THEN I SERIOUSLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT DOES. They have super cool authors (TED DEKKER!!!!) that go and give speeches and they’ve got writerly workshops and agents and nerf wars and a cosplay banquet and I just want to go to this thing so badly, guys. So, so extremely badly. Words cannot even describe how much.

But alas. There was absolutely no way I could ever have attended it this year, so I shall just have to be patient and hope and pray for a future that might someday come.

Like maybe next year. . .

. . .or the year after that. . .or the year after that. . .or the year after that. . .or the year after–

QUERY/PITCH. . . I’ve never done this, either. (can you tell how much of a super outgoing writer I am, here? ahahahahaha.) I mean, unless you want to count that one anthology I was rejected from, but HAHAHAHAHA WE’RE NOT COUNTING THAT.

— Favorites! —

NOVEL (that you wrote). . . I’m sure this is a toughie for most writers, but for me, it’s everlost all the way. Absolutely no story or cast of characters has EVER taken hold of my heart the way this book has so far. I do, however, have some super fun plot bunnies jumping around in my head that miiiiiiight just give EV a run for its money, but right now they are nothing more than plot bunnies, and are therefore harmless.

For now.

GENRE. . . Science-Fiction/Fantasy. I used to think I was a high-fantasy girl all the way, but right now my current headspace is caught in the sci-fi/fantasy-with-a-hint-of-steampunk universe, and no matter how hard I try, I cannot get out.

I blame The Lunar Chronicles, personally.

AUTHOR. . . If I seriously have to pick just one, I’d have to choose Jane Austen.

Or Marissa Meyer.

Or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Or L.M. Montgomery.

WRITING MUSIC. . . I’m actually kind of picky when it comes to my writing music. Sometimes I listen to music. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I listen to stuff with words, sometimes I listen to the Sherlock soundtrack on an endless loop. It totally depends on my mood, what scene I’m working on, which character is the viewpoint for the scene, and whether or not I’m trying to relax and just get the words down, or if I’m trying to do some hardcore edits.

BUUUUUT. . .some of my favorite songs on my everlost playlist include. . .

• Bad Case Of Loving You – Robert Palmer (just. . .don’t ask. please.)
• Killer Queen – Queen (I’M SERIOUS. DO NOT ASK.)
• Who You Really Are – Sherlock, Season Four
• Brother Mine – Sherlock, Season Four
• Fiji Water – Owl City

As you can see, I’ve got a giant assortment of random here. But that’s just the way I roll, peasants.

TIME TO WRITE. . . Again, this totally depends on about a million different factors, but if I didn’t have a life or any obligations whatsoever, I would probably say early mornings. I LOVE writing in the mornings. Watching the soft flames of sun just barely stretching out over the horizon. Listening to the tiny birds outside as they wake up. The silence of the house because literally no one but me is up yet. . .

Ugh, I love mornings.

Unfortunately for me, however, I happen to be somewhat of a nightowl, which means that getting up when I want to is literally a no-go. Because going to bed super late and getting up super early means that sleep=none. And I need sleep to keep my human form alive. And continuing to live is nice. So yes. Usually I just write in the afternoons/late at night if I can swing it.

WRITING SNACK/DRINK. . . I don’t really eat when I write. I end up just eating all my incentive candy and not writing a word because my self-control is exactly 0%. I do, however, find that I am weirdly motivated to write when I have a bottle of water with me? Like staying hydrated actually increases my productivity? IT’S WEIRD, OKAY?

And also I’m that one awkward person that apparently gets a caffeine buzz from water. There is literally nothing about me that is normal, guys, I am so sorry.

MOVIE. . . You’ve Got Mail. Hands down. I also adore Lego Batman, though, so that comes in as my Favorite Movie 1.2.

WRITING MEMORY. . . My absolute favorite writing memory so far was from two April ‘s ago when I finished the first draft of everlost. It was during Camp NaNo, I was in this AMAZING cabin filled with writers who would later become some of my absolute best internet friends, and it was at exactly 1:00 in the morning. My amazing, beautiful cabinmates literally stayed up with me all night until I finished it. They were cheering me on, they were wordsprinting with me, we were screaming and celebrating and probably flinging cookies everywhere, and it was there — in the darkness, hunched on the bottom bunk of my sister and I’s bunk bed, searing my eyeballs into ooze with the harsh glow of a laptop — that I penned the words “The End” and forever burned that glorious moment into my brain meat.

I will never, ever, ever forget that moment for as long as I live.

CHILDHOOD BOOK. . . Probably The Princess and The Goblin by George MacDonald. This book just gives me all of the warm fuzzies.

Even though it’s about creepy goblins with no toes. . .?

AGAIN. NOTHING ABOUT ME IS NORMAL, APPARENTLY.

(I talk a little bit more about my love for this book and the story behind it in this post here, so if you want a bit more of an in-depth look on why that’s my favorite childhood book, then go clicky clicky and check out that link! *points*)

— Currently. . . —

READING. . . Crowning Heaven by Emily Hayse! And HOLY GUACAMOLE IS THIS BOOK GOOD. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to read much of it at all lately (curse you, busy life) but now that I’m finally a little less busy, I am so totally going to binge this book until I finish it. I am so excited, guys.

(and also I shall be writing a full-blown review on it once I’m done, so keep your eyeballs peeled for that in the coming weeks!)

WRITING. . . As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I really haven’t had time to write much of anything over the past couple weeks. But I do have exactly three projects that I need to start cracking down on, so let’s just list those out, shall we?

• everlost — DUH. This is my main WIP, so 99.9% of my writing time (when I have it) is devoted to this. Also this is the project that is currently frying my brain and murdering my sanity. So. You know. I really love this one.
• The Little Bookshop of Whimsy — For all of you who have absolutely no clue what this is, let me just redirect you over to this post, where you can read all about my extremely improbable plans for this short, and also when you can expect to see it become serialized right here on Smudged Thoughts! (and also maybe Wattpad? I’m not sure about that one, yet. . . What are you guys’ thoughts on Wattpad? yea yay or nay?)
• A Video Game Consulting Project Thingy-Ma-Bobbin That I Cannot Go Into Detail On — This actually isn’t my project, but I’m helping someone sort of brainstorm some ideas for a video game they’re making. AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING.

LISTENING TO. . .

• Be Brave by Owl City
• You Were Born by Clowd* Cloud Cult
• A Bunch Of VBS Songs because I’m helping out with music crew for VBS this week! And also I’m helping out with the pre-k’s, and holy cow, they are adorable. And also kind of a handful but whatever. THEY ARE ADORBS.

WATCHING. . . The Blacklist!!! And it is SO SO good. I love.

LEARNING. . .

• Ukulele
• Guitar
• Violin
• That you can sew 193 buttons onto 16 tentacles in two days, but you probably shouldn’t.

Also I just realized how much music that is. Perhaps I should do a cover of something sometime. . .?

*will never ever do a cover of something sometime*

*I literally spelled ‘cloud’ like that and didn’t even realize it until like five minutes later. have I mentioned that my brain is fried?*

— Future! —

WANT TO BE PUBLISHED. . . YES, PLEASE!!! It is the Ultimate Goal™ after all!

INDIE OR TRADITIONAL . . . Traditional. Mainly because I do not trust myself to be my own boss. Like at all. I would literally be the world’s worst boss, guys. Just ask my inbox.

However, that being said, I have SO much respect for the writers who go Indie! And also I love the word Indie so much that I’ve actually debated doing it just so I can call myself an Indie Author.

Like literally that was the only reason.

WILDEST GOAL. . . Oh goodness, I don’t even know. I guess my wildest goal would be to just write all of the stories I’m meant to write. To write books that mean something and to change this world we live in, even just the tiniest bit. I want to get published, to see my books living happily in a bookstore. I want more than anything to be an author, and every day I strive to make that goal come true. #deep

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And that’s it for the tag! Now to tag eleven of you peeps. . . I’m not even sure I know eleven bloggers? LOL, LET’S SEE HOW WELL WE DO.

I TAG. . .

• Jethan . . . Rosedale Arts
• Kirsten . . . Simple Love
• Phoebe Ava . . . My Myopic Heart
• Kellyn Roth . . . Kellyn Roth
• The Gail . . . thegailiusblog
• Ruby . . . The Sea Calls Us Home
• The Kate . . . Story And Dark Chocolate
• loverofwriting2 . . . A Writer’s Life
• loverofbunnies2 . . . Lover Of Bunnies
• Felicity . . . The Wonderous World Around Us
• Arachnid Weaver . . . The Web Weavers
• And YOU! . . . because if you’re a writer and you’re reading this, then you MUST do this tag. Please. It is so much fun! (also this makes twelve, so HAHAHAHAHAHA I BROKE THE SYSTEM, PEASANTS!)

So there you go, my taggees! *slaps tags on your faces* THOU HAST BEEN TAGGED.

And once again, I would like to give another HUGE THANK YOU!!! to the magnificent Madeline for tagging me! You are such a lovely bean, my friend! *hugs* Thank you so so much for the tag! This was an absolute blast! *flings ALL OF THE COOKIES in your face*

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TALK TO ME, PEASANTS!

And finally, now that I have exhausted my total of 3,000 words for the day, it is your turn to talk, my peeps! What stories are you working on currently? Are you doing Camp NaNoWriMo? If so, ARE YOU WINNING??? Because you better be winning. *whips out pitchfork threateningly* What are some of your most embarrassing first-story moments? Are you a righty or a lefty? And most importantly. . .

DID YOU LIKE MY HAPPY POTATO GIF??? (you should be proud of me, Madeline. . . XD)

Let’s talk about ALL OF THE THINGS! down in the comments below, okay?

As always, until next time. . .

*flings cookies in the air and disappears*