Name: Gillian
Location: USA, mostly.
About Me: I am 24. I adore playing soccer and horseback riding. I own a few horses and used to take part in three-day eventing when I was younger but now I just ride for fun and help with training when I have time. Music is a large part of my life. I play guitar and piano, have since I was very small, and I am also a passable singer. 'Eclectic' is the only word to describe my musical taste. I am not vain, but somebody did write a song about me once...I was rather disturbed by it, actually. I rather enjoy writing, though a lot of what I write is too personal to share with people I am not close to. I travel quite often. I have set foot on all seven continents, and been to cities all over the world. I have also lived in three different countries since I was born. I am now a university graduate, and in my first year of medical school. Running and exercising are huge stress-reducers for me, and I often go for a long jog when I am feeling overwhelmed. Hi, my name is Gillian and I am an exercise-aholic. I am a book worm. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting married to the love of my life. His name is Cal, and he is the most amazing man I have ever known...his adorable Aussie accent doesn't hurt, either. I have two half-brother's, one half-sister, and two step-sisters, all considerably younger than me, and a step-brother that is around my age. Interesting fact: I am closer in age to my mom than I am to my half-siblings. They are all at least 19 years younger than me. I grew up as an only child, and I admit that I am spoiled. I grew up mostly with my mom, with occasional forced visits to my father's house. I have naturally red hair and green eyes, but none of the freckles that people seem to expect. It is rather staggering the number of people that assume I am Irish because of my coloring. Going along with the common perception of us gingers, I actually do have a nasty mean streak when set off, though the fuse is pretty damn long. I am a vegetarian. I like surfing. I am a terrible surfer, just ask my husband. I go snowboarding whenever I can. I am a mediocre snowboarder, and a pretty good skiier. In the summer, you can usually find me at the lake, the beach, or the barn if I am not traveling. I often do volunteer work. Dancing is one of the best activities ever and should be enjoyed on a regular basis, whether you are skilled at it or not. Fragment sentences are my friend...they should be your friend, too.
Okay, I figured that since people come here to read, I might as well put down a couple of my favorite books.
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle (for the younger crowd)
- Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut (basically, read any and all Vonnegut, though)
- Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger (again, read any Salinger you find)
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (stream of consciousness writing at its best..."My mother is a fish.")
- The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories by Tim Burton
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck (this is the only Steinbeck I will ever recommend)
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
- The Wasteland by T. S. Eliot
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I've written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
~The Decemberists, "The Engine Driver"
The history of our race, and each individual's experience, are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.
~Mark Twain, Advice to Youth
War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.
~George Orwell, 1984
I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God's sake.
~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
I was born of both stability and chaos. I have seen nothing and everything.
~Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
You will die, and when you die, you will know a profound lack of it. It’s never dignified, always brutal. What’s dignified about dying? It’s never dignified. And in obscurity? Offensive. Dignity is an affectation, cute but eccentric, like learning French or collecting scarves. And it’s fleeting and incredibly mercurial. And subjective. So fuck it.
~Dave Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, speaking about dignity
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
~James Madison
April 15, 2008: WttRW has been updated. Reviews would be greatly appreciated, guys. I can see that more than 100 people have read the new chapter...yet no feedback. Feedback is what I thrive on, people, so leave me a note somehow telling me what you think. School is winding down for the semester, so I should have more time to write soon, and I'm going to try to work on this story. Though, I'll still be dealing with work even in the summer. And filling out loads of paperwork with my husband to become eligible to adopt a baby.
April 26, 2008: FYI: If everyone who has apparently viewed WttRW had submitted a review, there would be more than 10,000 reviews right now. But there are 72. Quite a disparity between those two numbers, folks. Please tell me what you think, people! Tell me what to fix, what parts drag, what parts go too fast, places that have grammatical errors, errors in the plot, or just whether you like the story or not. I need some feedback and probably encouragement on this story, because without encouragement I'm likely not to even have this on the to-do list for quite a while. And feedback will improve your reading experience. I literally thrive on feedback when it comes to my writing.
~Gilly Bean
FictionPress.com - let the words flow
