"Living is easy with eyes closed,

misunderstanding all you see,

It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out

It doesn't matter much to me..."

I'm a young author just trying to make my way through the world, one page at a time. My work is grounded entirely in the real world and I prefer writing about everyday people and their troubles than fantasy. My inspirations are Irvine Welsh, Bret Easton Ellis, Hubert Selby Jr., John Updike, and Charles Bukowksi (especially him). Never heard of them? That's fine. My writing is arguably the most important thing in my life, and even if it takes me nowhere it won't cease to be the most important thing in my life. I value every single review I receive and often send thank you notes to the people kind enough to give me feedback. I don't get all that many reviews, which can be a tad frustrating, but the ones that do review usually have good things to say, which is always good to hear. I'd like to thank two of my most frequent reviewers, Raigo and Kittyinjurface, for their continuing support and reviews. You're both great.

The reason I don't update very often is because I don't put my stuff up until it is finished. Finished and edited. If I publish as I go along, I get all tangled up and things just don't work out. I've got a lot of projects on my plate, but I will try to get them al up. I'm still young and I've got all the time I need. So I'm hoping that my fans (Not that I have any) will afford me the patience I need while I work.

I think Fictionpress a good site. Any site that gives authors a chance to showcase their stuff is good in my eyes, but there are some things that annoy me around here (Although this is more an issue with the authors than the site).

1. Ridiculous names. Virtually everytime I read a story on here, a character (usually a protagonist) has some ridiculous name that tries to hard to be original and unique but just comes across as stupid. Or even worse, they're Japanese or Chinese names when the story doesn't take place anywhere near Asia and the character in question is whiter than a slice of Wonder bread (You have absolutely no idea how much that ticks me off). Whatever happened to normal names?

2. An overbundance of homosexuality. I know that probably sounds homophobic, but that's not my intention. I have no problem with gays, or with stories about them and their struggles (Some of them are my favorites), but it seems like everyone and their mother on here writes about it. What's worse is the stories are all dull and cliched. Boy/Girl falls for another boy/girl. Mutual attraction develops. They face obstacles from parents, friends, bullies, teachers, etc. Something very bad happens, but in the end love conquers and it's happily ever after, the end. Throw in some gratuitous sex and you've got the formula for almost 70 percent of the stories on the site (Although I shouldn't talk because one of my stories follows this formula, only with a straight relationship. Oh well, I'm a hypocrite). These stories never seem to be very realistic either. The boys are all dark, misunderstood emos with perfect hair and beautiful eyes lifted straight out of a My Chemical Romance wet dream, and none of the stories seem to accurately portray the real pain and hardship that accompanies coming out and engaging in a gay relationship. It seems like the majority of these stories are written by straight teenage girls who don't really know about homosexuality and just write about it to satisfy their own strange fantasies, and because it seems to be in fashion. Final summation: If you're going to write a gay themed love story, try to make it original.

3. Unrealistic dialogue. When I read some of the stories centered around teenagers around here, none of the dialogue rings true to me. The characters' speech is either too exaggerated or too eloquent. No one seems to be able to strike the balance for the right amount of realism in teen speak. And use some contractions, for Christ's sake. I don't know any teenager who says "Do not" and "I am" as opposed to "Don't" and "I'm" when speaking.

4. Unrealistic drug use. As someone who has experience with certain drugs and knows a lot about that world, it bothers me when people write about drugs and describe the effects with wild innacuracy. Do some research, damn it!

Now I know that none of you care about my grievances, but it's my profile, so I reserve the right to write any stupid-ass thing I please.

Now, let's take a trip into the dark side...

Works:

If you're looking for something lighthearted that'll leave a happy feeling in the pit of your stomach, you're in the wrong place. My stories are brutal, dark, and disturbing, almost all of them ending in tragedy. You have been warned.

Never Pick Up A Hitchhiker: A one shot I wrote on a rainy day almost three years ago. It's not one of my best, but I'm still very proud of it. (Complete)

Surfing The Chaos: A long story about an alienated teenager who spends his days doing drugs and hanging out with his no-account friends who's life changes drastically after a revelation from his girlfriend. Set over the course of one day. This one means a lot to me, not only because the five main characters are all based on people I know, but because it's my first work that I ever felt truly proud of. (Complete)

The Wedding of Jimmy Best: A one shot about a really messed up weding and what happens afterward. A lot of people, myself included, consider this to be my best short story, because the tone is very blackly humorous and the ending is a real shocker. (Complete)

Last Resort: A short piece about a man and his terminally ill wife taking a vacation in a seaside town. This one is very depressing and the ending is very bleak.I wrote in when I was at a strange time in my life. (Complete)

The Overpass: A rather disturbing one shot about a gang of teenagers who engage in a brutal act of violence. This one I'm also proud of, even if it creeps me out a little. (Complete)

Strange Days: The Grandaddy of all my work up until this point. This is a novel I began writing in March of 2007 and finished in November 2007. The manuscript totals up to about 378 pages in longhand, and I'm now editing and typing it. The novel is about six contemporary teenagers dealing with such issues as drugs, sex, relationships, self-harm, parents, and school. I know that description probably put you to sleep, but trust me the book isn't all that bad. The working title is Strange Days, an homage to the Doors song of the same name. I'm extremely sorry for being such a bastard and not updating in a while, but I'v got a lot on my plate right now and typing this beast is a daunting task. I'll have the whole thing up eventually, I swear. (In Progress)

UPDATE: I will put up the rest of Strange Days eventually, but I've come to the conlcusion that I really don't like it. It's just really flawed and deriviative andultimately goes nowhere. So I've decided to write another novel, very similar to it, that incorporates many of SD's scenes and elements. This project, which is now titled The Bends, is still in development, but I hope to finish it eventually.

Scum: The story of two drug addicted, homeless lovers over the course of one long day in which they engage in theft, prostitution, and begging to support their habits, all the while fighting with each other and reminiscing about their fractured pasts. This is a very bleak and disturbing story, but it's one of my favorites in my repertoire. There's only three chapters left to put up, but I just can't find the time to type them. They're coming though. (Complete)

Future Projects:

Evergreen: A story I've had in my head for a long time (since I saw Gus Van Sant's masterpiece Elephant, actually) following a bunch of students at Evergreen High School, all with their own problems, in the span of several days before a deadly school shooting. I started Evergreen and steamrolled through it, writing about fifty or sixty pages, but then I stopped and started Crashing, which I'm almost finished. I will return to Evergreen when I have finished Crashing.

Crashing: A story of dreams, loves and discoveries, Crashing centers around Ryan "Rabbit" Lawson, a young man of 20 living in a small industrial town who works a menial job as a landscaper and competes in illegal motorcycle races in hopes of achieving glory. But things get complicated for Rabbit when he gets involved with his arch-rival's aspiring actress girlfriend. Crashing is a story I've had in my head for a long time, similar to Evergreen, and probably the one that required the most fine turning. I took a break from writing Evergreen in order to write it and it's now finished.

Black Sheep: Black Sheep is the story of seventeen year old Sam Watson, a depressed, suicidal teen from the quote-unquote wrong side of the tracks living a debauched, drug-addled existence and contending with an abusive father, therapy sessions, being in love with his best friend, and the rich kids that look down on him and his friends. He mourns for his long deceased mother and begins a heated affair with a married woman. But Sam's already tortured life takes a dark turn when an unexpected secret from his past is revealed. This one has a lot of history behind it, because the basic idea has been incubating in my head for at least five years now. I started writing it, but I'm unsatisfied with the direction it's going so it's on hold. (There's no pleasing writers). However, I'm planning on developping this into a series of novels that follows this characters through different periods of his life. It's a long way off, but it's coming.

The Bends: As I mentioned above, I've grown weary of my first novel, Strange Days, so I think it's time to put it to bed. I'm going to finish typing it and putting it up, but it's more going to be something for my own amusement than a serious piece of writing. I'm instead working on a project known as The bends, which, much like SD, follows several contemporary teenagers through their frenzied, partied out lives. It's more of a semi-autobiographical piece, so it's close to my heart. The title is a reference to the second album of one of my favoite bands, Radiohead, but it's also a metaphor for high school. The Bends is a medical condition that affects divers when they rise to the surface too quickly, also known as decompression sickness. It can cause problems that affect for your entire life. High school is similar in the vein that we rise to the surface too fast and are thrown into a world we're not really prepared for, and the things that happen to us during our high school years can affect us our whole lives.

In addition to all that, I manage a C2 community showcasing what I think to be the best in teen and young adult fiction I find on this site. The archive contains two of my stories (of course) and a bunch of other really good ones. I named it Strange Days, after my novel. If you have a story that you think might belong in the archive, PM me and I'll be sure to add it.

If you actually read all of that idiotic rambling, you deserve a medal.