My goal for the vast majority of my existence has been one thing. Write a novel, and get it published. The first step of that is to write the story.
I finished that first part early last month. It took me 46 days from start to finish to write 96k or so words. I found a way of doing things that worked for me, and just ran with it till I was done.

The second step, editing it.
Some time in 10th grade, my ability to read stories or other large bodies of text effectively vanished. Editing a story requires reading the story, and I can't do that anymore.
Thankfully, my mother is helping me with that. By "helping with" I mean she's being my editor since I can't do that myself.

I'd always said there was a cruel irony in being addicted to writing even though I can't really read anymore. Finishing the writing part of a novel just shined a light on part of what it was.

I'll try to remember to post some kind of update here when the next step of this process is reached.

Till then, I'm going to do the only thing a writing addict can do.

Write the next story.

Submissions for the Walt Whitman Award open on the 15th of this month, so I'm probably going to be taking ALL of the poetry i have on here down. I don't know if having some of what I'm submitting on here would cause issues or not, but i figure it's better safe than sorry.

Hell, maybe if I have a bit of luck I'll manage to win it. This might be time to go four leaf clover hunting again..

Cheers,
The Mad Poet
Isarain Malice Gale

I'm looking at the possibility of opening for story commissions, however to do that i would first need to actually have people develop an interest in the idea of commissioning me. I've come to the conclusion that a good way to gain some attention/interest would be to do a few freebies. I'm thinking i'll do three for now.

This isn't going to be a first come first served thing, or at least i'm not planning it to be so far. It all depends on how many people respond to this.

Anywho, throw a comment here or PM me with what you'd like to have written and it may just end up happening.

Have you ever had a time where you space out, and when you come back to reality you're staring at a poem that you apparently just wrote. I just had that experience. I was sitting in my kitchen staring at a smudge on the wall, and my mind just drifted away... When my phone started ringing i came back to earth and found an open word document with a poem in it... Anyone else have an experience like that?

Give me the link to a writing contest when there's all of 5 hours till the deadline, meaning the editing process which usually takes me awhile has to be done within that time frame..

I really need to find someone to be my editor.

@..@

Isarain~

The following took place after i ordered a thing of tea and was asked if i'd like whip cream on it.

Coffee shop worker "Sorry, i didn't realize we were out of whip cream."
"It's all right, i got two monsters in my backpack for extra sugar. You know, just in case i need to explode my mind."
"You know, if i took half of what you said seriously i would be very scared for you."

This made me realize that for people who don't know me and how i talk, i probably sound very odd. I've stopped in there enough that he seems to understand how i talk, but I realize that some people don't realize my somewhat dramatic way of talking is mainly silly overstatement or understatements. The "make my mind explode" is a good example of that sort of thing. What i really meant was something along the lines of "energize my mind", but i could see someone taking that as i "blow my own head off" if they took that wrong.

The moral of this story: If you meet me in person, don't take everything i say fully literally. I already come off as a bit of a nutcase, and taking everything i say seriously will make me seem like i should be in an asylum....

Isarain~

I've managed to find a poetry contest that isn't a scam, so I'm probably not going to be posting any poems here for awhile.
For any other unpublished poets out there here is a link to what i saw

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/121

Nothing much else to say. If i do a short story i'll still post it up here, but poetry is going in a locked box more or less.

A friend of mine said that was a good writer and that i should do story commissions, an that of course led to a debate which after more people said i should has resulted in this journal entry. This is mainly a testing the waters thing to see what happens when i make the offer for stories on commission.

I'm not officially opening anything since i don't have paypal set up yet, but if you'd be interested in it i'll make two 'holding' slots. Meaning you'd have priority once i get things set up. Odds are i wouldn't take many at a time, in fact i probably would only take two at a time to make sure i can get them done.

Prices will be negotiable based on exactly what you want, or how much, it is that you want. It probably would actually be the quantity that would determine pricing since i'll write anything that doesn't make me want to rip my minds eye out... So for those who would ask for porn that means scat and puke are out, but thats all that i won't do that currently comes to mind..

www.furaffinity.net/user/isarainmalicegale has examples of my adult work..

I guess thats all for now.

The dose of one of my medications (An Anti-depressant) got bumped, now i feel less like going to curl up in a corner and rot! However at the same time i'm more or less emotionally numb, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Anywho, to the folks who have commented on something of mine and not yet gotten a response I'd like to apologize for that. I have lots of trouble motivating myself to do even the simplest things when depression is sitting on me, so i intend to respond to them as quickly as i can.

There was something else i was going to say, but i forgot what it was.. Oh well!

I couldn't get myself to focus on something more productive and i needed a distraction at that point.. Still do.. Oh well, i'll find something else to distract my mind in a bit probably.

1. When did you start writing?

I think I actually started in maybe second grade or so, the teacher would say to write something and I’d turn out a little so story like thing. At that point in time I thoroughly hated writing, probably because I had to do it all by hand.

2. First drafts: Handwritten, typed, or some combination?

TYPED! I only write by hand if I totally have to, my handwriting is atrocious. You could have a seizure in the middle of writing and it could easily end up looking better than my handwriting. Writing by hand for anything other than poems usually fries my mind, so I stick to my computer.

3. Do you keep any kind of notebook or writer's journal, and if so, what kinds of things go into it?
I probably should so I can keep track of my thoughts when they do something other than backhand me and run off, though I’d probably end up losing it somewhere.

4. Do you set any quotas for your work (number of words per day, number of hours per day, etc.)? Why or why not?

Nope, mainly because I probably wouldn’t be able to reach it every day and I’d bash my head on something the next morning for not having succeeded in the goal.

5. Are you most comfortable writing short stories, novels, or something else?

I’m generally comfortable writing whatever come into my head and stays long enough that I can get a grip on it. I usually prefer to write stories over poems though, oddly enough my poems seem to be better than my stories at times.

6. What's your favorite kind of story to write?

Not sure that I have a favorite kind of story to write, I just like whatever I can get to stay in my head for more than a few seconds.

7. Talk about a story of yours that was easy to write and one that was difficult to write, and why.

Most of what I write comes easily to me once I get going, though there is one that was difficult for me to write. It wasn’t hard because I couldn’t figure out what to do in it, it was hard because it made me want to hurl… That’s all I’ll say about that here.

8. Which of your characters is closest to your sense of self? In other words, who do you most identify with in your own work to date?

That would have to be Isarain without any doubt, hence why my name on here is that. He’s actually what I see when I look at my inner self, I don’t really connect to my human body that much.,, Aside from the whole living in it thing.

9. What work are you most proud of right now?

The second version of my poem “Who you are”, I actually think I did a good job on it. Usually the point where I think I did a good job is the point where I get other people to say “Wow”.

10. What do you feel your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer?

The weak point that comes to mind right away would have to be that I have a hard time starting usually, it’s hard to get my brain started unless I’m truly inspired. I suppose one of my strengths would be that once I do get myself going I can usually write non stop for long periods of time without fatiguing my mind, and usually it ends up turning out nicly.

11. Name a few writers who have influenced you or your work in some way.

I probably am going to fail spelling these horribly..

Tamora Pierce and Brian Jacques, probably the strongest influences because they were the only names that came to me...

12. Talk about something you've written that you later found embarrassing for some reason.

You know that piece I mentioned making me want to puke? It’d be that one.

13. Talk about the earliest stories you remember writing. What were they about?

I remember a long time ago I wrote something about pink elephants, I don’t remember where on earth that went. The only piece of really old writing I have is my “Nightmare” piece which I actually have up here.

14. If you knew you would be successful, what would you most like to write?

Probably the story that goes with Isarain and his siblings, I really need to get that one written out so I have it somewhere other than my head before my mind decays completely.

15. What inspires you?

This is a fun little question, pretty much anything has a chance of doing that. I’ve had some pretty random stuff inspire me to write something… I got inspired by chocolate covered crickets once, they tasted good actually too… No, I’m not joking about either part of that statement.

16. How many projects do you tend to work on at once?

Enough that my head feels like it’s going to split open from holding all of them at once most of the time.

17. Who reads your work before it's released to the public? Do you have beta readers, a critique group, etc.?

Pretty much anyone that I’m chatting with at a point where I want to have something I’m working on checked to make sure it flows and makes sense.

18. When you're not writing, what do you do for fun?

Chattin’ with folks online, or killing things on a game.

19. Advice to other writers?

Don’t give up. It’s easier to say than it is to do at times, though to succeed it’s something you must remember. If you give up and stop then you will never reach your goal whatever it may be, life generally doesn’t give you thinks on a silver platter. No matter what happens if your goal is to succeed then you have to persevere.

20. What are you currently working on?

I should be working on my “Tragic Awakening” Piece, but I’m doing this right now instead.

21. Share the first three sentences of a work in progress.

“In my entire career as a contract killer I have never bothered to consider the morality of shooting someone, never once stopped to think about the families of the person I was shooting. It’s not in my job description to consider who I might be hurting aside from the target when I pull the trigger, it’s just my job to make sure that person doesn’t get back up.” Despite sitting with a gun pressed between his eyes the black feline spoke calmly to the white wolf who held it, bright yellow eyes locked on the blue eyes of the wolf.

I realize that i've been pretty much totally inactive on here for quite a long while now, i'll blame the lack of good ideas for writing. Because i've only been waiting for 'good' ideas on things to write i've neglected writing all together, a horrid waste of the talents people have told me i have. This has allowed my mind to get horrifically out of shape, something that i must work on.

To try to get my mind back into shape i'm going to start working on doing what would equate to literary doodles, little thoughts and ideas made into a short piece of writing to try to get myself used to putting thoughts into verbal form. With any luck this will go smoothly and i'll once more be able to start producing the kind of work that sometimes earns a pat on the back.

With any luck some of the things i'll write will provide at least momentary entertainment, i'll be trying to get one done and up today.

But for now school calls me, and i must answer that call.

So at the point that i'm writing this journal entry i have a broken thumb to make my life more stressful then it already is.

Thats aside the point of this journal entry really though. I'm writing this for like the two people here interested in what's going on with me.

I am at this point no longer staying with my parents, instead i'm at a place called Gibault. If your honestly interested in knowing what that is feel free to look it up. The dorm i'm in there is called "ABLE" which stands for Autistic Behavioral Learning Environment, it's an interesting place....

I get along fairly well with most of the other clients in my dorm, but the newest one managed to make me want to beat his head in the same day he got there. Considering that i'm generally a nice guy, saying that he made me have serious desires to commit violence towards him is impressive.

There isn't internet on campus so once or twice a week i get to go off campus and go somewhere with free WiFi so i can visit with people online, because this is where most of my life is.

The lack of internet will be my excuse for being even less active on here then i normally am. So for those of you that make a comment on something and don't get a response for a long while it's not because i don't care or appreciate the comment, it's because I'm hardly online any more.

So thats all i really have to say at the moment, going to go on a short upload spree.. Hopefully the stuff i put up will be worth your time to look at.

Sincerely

Isarain Malice Gale
The Illiterate Dragon

IF i have any luck left at all that title will lure in a few readers for me to make this plea.

I need ideas for my creative drive is currently dead it seems which has left me more or less unable to write anything at all. It is my hope that i might be able to get something written if the idea comes from an outside source.

So, with that said i'm going to be opening myself up to requests and the like and hope i can manage to wake my brain up to write at least few of them.

For those people that will respond to this with a request for a story using a specific character, if you can provide a link to a good clean reference picture that would be very helpful. Also personality details and what they like and don't like would be nice, but they aren't required. I should warn however that if i don't know the second part i will more then likely make things up as i go, so if you want me to be true to the character providing that information would be recommended.

Just in case someone is wondering what i'm willing to write, at this point i'll do just about anything i can manage to get a flow going for. Serious story or smut, i will do it if i can. Though if you make a request for the latter, i won't be able to post it on here for a bit so if you want to see it i'll need a way of sending it.

I can't really think of anything else to say on that topic, so for the people that have read this i do say thanks. For those people(If any) that respond with a request or and idea, i can't even think of a proper thanks at this point.

Side note to the people that commented on the reference sheet: Many thanks for the comments on my fursona. I'd have responded to the comments individually, but so far every time i try to start writing up a response i manage to have an anxiety attack... I'm gonna have to work on that.

I had a curiosity smack me in the face the other day and I figured that I’d make a new journal entry for the sake of asking it to the maybe five or so people that are going to read this.

The question is a fairly simple one. What is it that causes fetishes and kinks to form? Is it something that happens when someone is growing up or is it some odd thing coded into our brains?

The simple ones like bondage aren’t really the ones that I’m curious about I should mention, I’m more interested in knowing what causes the more disturbing ones. Of course I should probably list the ones that probably count as disturbing for some people.

Vore, snuff, scat, and watersports.

Personally I can’t figure out anything that could happen in someone’s childhood to get them into those things. Really now, what on earth is going to get someone into eating someone alive? I’m not even going to go into wondering what could cause that third one, that just makes me.. Bleh.. *Shivers*

But anyways, I’ve posed my question for the few people that might read this to consider.

Thats all i have to say for the moment.

I think i finally got it back, that writing spirit. All it took was someone adding one of my pieces to their favorites list, which did result in me freaking out and thinking i put the wrong piece due to the fact i didn't think that it was worth adding to the favorite list, to get me to remember why I'm writing this stuff. I'm writing this to entertain people and improve myself so that someday i might be able to make this my job. Hopefully I'll be able to entertain at least a few people and get those braincells going again.
Time once more to try to rebuild my talents, i just have to hope i haven't let them die from neglect.