J A C Q U E L I N E O ' H A R A

My name is Jacqueline Eve O'Hara, and some day my name will be smiling at you from the spines of short story collections and novellas on your bookshelf.

I'll begin with what most people may want to hear: why I joined this website. In all honesty, my friend sent me the link because he knew how much I wrote and blogged and thought it was a perfect fit. I do, too.

Perhaps general information is best to continue with before details make their way - I am 18, a Freshman at Christopher Newport University, and an English major. I grew up in a rural town and spent most of my time being a teacher's pet, juggling three jobs to save for college, and writing my heart out. I tutored after school, and performed in Musicals with what little free time I had. More currently, I am somewhat of a health junkie - counting calories, doing yoga, lifting weights (my poor arms), and participating in various fitness programs.

As any good title does, I'm sure mine has informed you of my intention to be a creative writing author. While (unfortunately) I do not foresee that being my main career path (I've settled upon College Education), there is no way in hell that I will not write till I lie upon my death bed.

My love of writing began when I was 11 and participated in National Novel Writing Month. To give you a crash course on this event, it is something designed for children and adults to write more. They are made to set a word goal, and given the month of November to reach that goal. They encourage little editing during the actual month, and offer an incentive for meeting your goal: five copies of your original work (they give you up until June to edit it and design a cover).

At this young age, I looked at the adult goal and shuddered - 50,000 words? Could anyone reach that? I peeked at the children around me setting their more realistic goals of 1,000 or 5,000. That seemed a bit too easy. 15,000 would do.

Apparently I was either well aware of my abilities, or too terrified of failure. I surpassed my goal by a little over 3,000 words, and just like that my first ever Historical Fiction book (Mid-1600's like the little nerd I was) was completed.

Now, don't get me wrong - I had written before. Quite extensively, in fact. I'd started at least half a dozen stories of fantastical worlds, and filled twice as many notebooks with poetry and short stories. But never in my life had I completed a full book. And let me tell you - it felt good.

I participated in this event year after year, and as I aged my goal matured. 12 years brought me 20,000. 13 years brought me 25,000. I always reached my goal and I always completed an entire story. When year 14 came around, I did something daring, if not idiotic.

I set my goal at 50,000.

Before you think I'm crazy, realize this: I was committed to reaching this goal like I had never been committed to anything else. All through September I plotted my book. I crafted my characters. I itched to begin writing, but I knew I couldn't. This was a blessing, because I knew every detail and direction my book would take in the future, which minimized my writer's block drastically. Once October arrived, I drew out every aspect of the fantasy world, and decided upon traditions and species and races.

I hit the ground running by staying up until midnight on October the 31st and cranked out 5,000 words by sunrise. I needed to write approximately 1667 words a day to reach my goal of 50,000.

I won't drone on - I met my goal. Not without difficulty, however. I had a week of dress rehearsals and play performances that made me miss a week of writing. There was also a definite loss of sanity somewhere in the last few days as I looked at my lagging numbers. There was a point in time when I locked myself in my room and wrote for ten hours straight in order to catch up. But at 11:24 p.m. on November 30th, I typed my 50,000th word. And cried.

I did this every year after - set a goal of 50,000, that is. I also always met it. Some years I planned more. Most years I planned far less. Some years I reached into the 60 or 70'ooo's and passed the 50,000 mark a week in advance. Others I was up until the last minute, racing against the clock and hoping to god what I was typing was making some sort of sense.

My participation in this event taught me many things. First, it taught me that I could do anything I put my mind to. Second, it made me an amazing typer. Third, it helped to solidify my creative mind. Fourth, it showed me the importance of finishing that which you start.

Currently, I am taking a much needed break from writing full length novels. Instead, I'm planning a novella I journaled ideas about in 9th grade. I'm impressed with the maturity level of the idea, and it will be the first realistic fiction I draft. I think my younger self realized she couldn't quite comprehend the topic she was touching upon and believed fate would return her to it at the right time. I truly hope that time is now.

On top of this, I am working on the first draft of my first collection of Short Stories. I have written many up until now, but I have never had a theme that has worked for a collection until just recently. I can truthfully say it is my best work to date, and it is the first piece of literature that I am going to attempt to publish.

I casually write poetry, generally categorized as abstract. I've written a couple of poetry collections, but often I find my poems are more meaningful when they stand alone.

For those still reading, thank you.

I expect to post frequently, and I can assure you that a majority of my posts will be either creative writing (novel excerpts, short stories, poetry), explanations of collections, books and topics I'm writing about, and advice on all genres and types of writing. There will be a minority, however, that may seem strikingly different (although I hope to write about how they do connect in the future) and you can expect those to be on political activism, women's rights, and things of my life I dub important enough to write a rant on.

If any of that seems interesting to you, please up-vote, reply, and feel free to follow. I look forward to reading your posts and seeing your reactions to mine.