As of late...

So, I feel like I should update y'all on my writing via my blog. You know, on the off chance people are actually reading this. Um, anyway. Here's a brief history/current projects as pertaining to my hopeful career is an author.
**Note: this does not include various poems and short stories I have written.
1. My first "novel" I ever wrote was called Ship Girl. I wrote it in 5th grade about a girl named Jesse who got a job during The Great Depression and got shipped all around the world because some people were chasing her. She was disguised as a dude to get the job. I went back and read it about a year ago. Ha, so terrible. Oh fifth grade me. So grammatically challenged and historically inaccurate.
2. My next "big thing" was a novel that I was quite proud of until probably sophomore year...when I went back and reread it. This one is called Day of Fire. Four kids have a super rare stone that this one dude wants so he can "rule the world". They (rich girl Lexi, nerd girl Carrie, jock boy Trevor, class clown dude Mac) are kidnapped and held captive for 3 whole months while man attempts to wear them down and get stone. They eventually break out, dude goes to jail, Carrie and Trevor fall in love, Mac gets a puppy, and Lexi is still stinkin' rich. It took me 130 pages to make all this happen. But I'm still rather impressed with myself to write 130 pages on Microsoft Word 2003 as an 8th grader. However, Day of Fire will be kept in my computer forever, with the exceptions of Haley Wilson (who has a copy), Alex Kersey (who has it saved on his computer), and Charles Cain (he wanted it for his birthday...). If you, for some unknown reason, just really want to read this horrible piece of writing, feel free to ask. Just don't judge me when/if you do read it. Thanks.
3. My latest completed project is called Life Goes On. It's a Christian fiction; aka, a generally bad idea. Campbell, a rebellious teenage girl, is sent to do community service at a rehab place for suicidal people. She is totally bitter about it at first but then starts to get to know the patients. The tell her about their faith in God a lot, she rejects it each time. Then, alas, it sticks and she accepts Jesus. There's a lot more teen angst that goes down, but that's the basic story line. Christian fiction is so not my favorite because it's so angsty (is that a word?). I don't like reading it because of it's angst in the characters. The characters are never normal. You would think I would transcend that but nope! I decided to be cliche. Anyway, it's better when it comes to formatting and character developement, but the over-all story line is dry and predictable with the occasional redeeming point. I don't think that, if I saw that book on the shelf at a store, I would buy it. Which is harsh and you might be thinking, "Oh, Linley, it can't be that bad." Yes, friend, yes it can.
4. So I had this semi-brilliant idea for a book. The main character could go through dimensions. Not time traveler. No, this is different. The main character, a sassy but innocent girl named McKay, can go to a few different dimensions. It's a series. In the first book, she can only go to a world where the South recently won the Civil War (so, that world is still about 150 years behind McKay's, and our, normal world); a world where the Olympic gods are real, and, towards the end of the book, she can go to Hogwarts. Disclaimer for the Hogwarts thing: she can't effect anything that happens to any of the characters; it's like she's just a ghost (no, not one of the ones that float around the school) and can only observe. No, I will NOT make any thing up or add new scenes to the classic and great series. My only problem is that I'm stuck as pertaining to that story right now because I don't know what the great revelation at the end of the book will be/how to get there. Um, yikes.
5. Last one, I promise. Well, for right now, anyway. Four American teenagers who like to write and have put their work out there have been selected to be trained by one of America's finest authors named Harrison Levi. They live in a mountain mansion for 2 1/2 months for author training and at the end will be close to having a book on the market. Their adventures will be taped and put on a TV show that will be a huge hit around the nation. I'm using a lot of my friends in this novel in both names and characters, so, if you know me and we talk fairly often, there's a solid chance that you are/will be in this story. For example, as of now, characters inspired by my friends and family Haley W., Taylor T., Claire M., Paige T., Natalie O., Emily Ann H., Holly C., Tanner and Leslie M., and many others are already in. And I sort of embodied myself as one of the main characters...don't judge me!!! Oh, and I'm on about page 120 and not even half way done. A tad exciting. I am NOT stuck on this. :)
So, I've written a lot more failed novel attempts than successful ones but I refuse to delete any of them. You never know when the fancy will strike to pick them back up again. Thanks for reading!