Share this author's profile RainDance (Ashley)

Life amazes, disgusts, confuses, pleases, frightens, upsets, elates and inspires me. So I write.

I originally began writing online through a fantastic website called Ficlets. However, it was run by the not-so-fantastic AOL, who shut it down. Ficlets I've written can be viewed here:

http://ficlets.ficly.com/authors/raindance?page=1

Before you read any further, I want you to know why my profile is so fluffing enormous. Here's the why: when I read a person's work, I love to know just who that person is and how their personality impacts what they write. By writing an unecessarily long profile, I'm hoping that you'll read it and understand where I come from when I write, either that, or become completely confused. :D

For a teenager, I've got to say I think I'm pretty strange. My reasons are as follows:

1. I'm extremely emotional. I cry often and otherwise express the way I'm feeling openly. It's not that I mean to, I'm just an open book. Sometimes this is a bad thing. I haven't always been this way.

2. I spend as much time writing about fictional people as I do talking to real people. Enough said.

3. I happen to be in love with several of the fictional people mentioned above that were born of my mind and haven't left it ever since. GET OUT YOU SILLY FIENDS!

4. Sometimes I talk to myself and/or inanimate objects. The habit appears to be contagious as I occasionally catch some of my more-sane babbling their thoughts to no one. Then I get blamed for it. Again, :D

5. I eat anything and everything. Keep your hands and feet away from her mouth. Somehow I still end up tall and stick-like. Go figure. Pun intended.

6. Psycho-- I mean, psychic, experiences happen to me often. I pick up the phone before it rings. I often take the words out of the mouthes of Poozzab, Nicosaurus, Dr. Afrothunder, and others before they can speak. Once, I anticipated a request, handed my sister the sissors, she reached out and took them without looking up and thanked me. Then we looked at each other with, "What the hell just happened?" kind of expressions. You probably had to be there.

7. Getting caught up in what other people think about me is just completely ridiculous. I don't really care what you think about me. I'm Ashley. Or Rose. Sometimes RainDance. Take it or leave it.

8. I could live my life almost entirely at night and in the Winter. Snow is the most wonderful form of weather imaginable. Night time is dark and quiet and restful. Unlike the rest of my life which is thrown into chaos frequently.

And those are the reasons for which I believe I am not quite the average girl. Much less the average Ashley. I hate my name. Moving on.

There is so much I could write in this once tiny (now rather bloated) box. For instance how I really hate getting lost but I somehow have a talent for it. (For more on that, check out my blog ;))

Footnotes are one of the most wonderful inventions in the history of EVER.

I am a very sarcastic person. However, do not link this statement with the one above. I truly do love footnotes. Really. No, I'm not joking. For cereal. Sarcasm is my friend (along with Silence and Patience.) Though it usually doesn't translate well through texts and instant messaging. Which can lead to some very confusing situations...

Slam poetry is a lot of fun. I guess I can be a teensy bit "dramtic" (pshhh) sometimes, but that is only part of why I love this art form. Slam poetry is an intense expression of emotion and feeling that tends to convey a specific point. To learn more, which I suggest you do, click this snazzy little link:

http://podslam.org/?q=node/115

I used to be a happier person than I am now. I try hard though. You might not realize it after reading some of the darker, more serious things I write. But if I ever got the chance to read them to you, Anonymous Reader, I would read them with complete seriousness then look up at the end and giggle at your expression. Because I work like that.

My goal in life is to make people laugh. It's the food of my soul. Laughter is the most wonderful sound on the planet. Along with the sound of thunder and a wicked downpour. Cricket chirps. The comfortable silence between two people who love each other when words mean less than noiselessness. A cat's purring. I suppose the list goes on. But I thrive on laughter.

Everyone who meets me seems to think of me as that sweet, innocent, animal-loving (especially horse-loving), girl. What a ridiculous and ill-fitting stereotype. That's what my friends would tell you ;) Poozzab would opt for a summarization with the phrase, "downright evil."

A note about the series All in the Family Business that I was collaborating on (upon?) with Poozzab. (It's sort of on hold.) It is marked mature for gore and violence; a wee bit of cursing, too, I suppose. If plays like Sweeney Todd and Arsenic and Old Lace appeal to your sense of humor, you would probably enjoy this series. Please don't fear the mature tag. I think, if given a chance, this story will make you chuckle.

Humor, fantasy, romance and horror are usually my genres of choice when I'm writing. I like to read them too, but I'm open to as many kinds of books as I'm capable of reading.

As for music, which I can't get enough of, I have to say I loooove rock and roll. I'm also a fan of classical, country, techno, alternative, oldies, and even a little bit of rap.

Some Authors I Fancy:

• Markus Zusak
• J. K. Rowling
• John Green
• Willa Cather
• Scott Westerfeld
• Eva Ibbotson
• Caroline B. Cooney
• Cornelia Funke
• Sylvia Plath
• Jodi Picoult
• Nicholas Sparks
• T. A. Baron
• Sarah Dessen
• Diana Wynne Jones

I guess there's only one thing left to say: when I'm a starving author some day, please buy my book. I don't cope well with not eating.