“A writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden.

In my view, a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.”

– Junot Diaz

About Me

I am in my late-twenties and have a full time job working at my Not-Dream Job that is currently getting me through life while I try to actually achieve the actual Dream Job I want. Who knew trying to become a certified Librarian could have its hills and valleys? That's life for you.

I regret to inform all my readers of ALL my ongoing projects that they are delayed until further notice. I have been inactive for two years now and have finally come around to telling you why. I'm very sorry for the late update.

My grandmother passed away two years ago and, in short, her death has had very negative effects on my life. My grief period is passed but the fallout isn't so simple. My grandmother was a writer. THE writer in fact. The only one in my family to be a certified published author of two books and several short stories. Growing up, she encouraged me and helped me find my style. She was my mentor and best friend. Everything I know now, I learned in some way through her.

So much of who I am is due to my nature as a writer. Therefore, so much of my identity as a writer is tied to my grandmother and her teachings to me. Without her presence in my life, writing has become this . . . Horrific task. I can't pick up a pen or type up a simple haiku anymore. I have this horrible, dark feeling towards my writing now. I simply can't bear to do it anymore. This loss isn't just a simple thing for me. I lost the one person who could tell me what was wrong and give me the advice I needed to be better.

My writing is a huge part of me. It makes up a core part of myself. Not being able to write, now not simply because of writers block but because if DEATH, is like I have had a limb removed. My grief is not limited to tears or saddness, but now coming to live alongside a hole that can no longer be filled.

I can't make myself write. I can't push myself. I don't know HOW without her and I know that makes no sense at all but I have no idea how else to describe this.

My plan is perhaps to try out one-shots as a form of therapy. I have to put the two main projects on hold until I can get my headspace cleared but I still need an outlet to vent my feelings and pain. Until I find a way to not despise my writing, I need to practice. In order to practice, I have to try putting down words again. And in order to do THAT, I need the courage to TRY.

I'm afraid of my writing. I'm afraid that I can't be anything without my grandmother to guide and believe in me as someone who once understood what lay at the core of a writer. Her praise was never empty or blind or biased. I can't tell you how many times she beat me into the earth with that red pen. But, she made me better and stronger and more experienced. No teacher ever understood me the way she did. What I liked to write. How I liked to write. My style. My passion. Everything I am now can be traced back to how she taught me.

She thought I had so much promise and I know I can't give up because the holy hell she must be raising from the other side is bond to reach earth soon in one way or another. But, the fact remains, in my personal life and my life in school, she was the only one to see that promise and know how to make it happen.

I miss her. Everyday I get up and look at the laptop and think . . . I've got to do this. But, I can't. I just can't. It's like I have no idea HOW to anymore. And I hate myself all the more for it. For being a coward. For giving up. For hating myself for NOT being myself.

But, two years is a long time to feel disconnected from one's self. From being seperated for the one thing you feel you have any promise or hope for. I HAVE to try.

It's just very hard for me right now. But, I'm going to try.

About My Writing: Since taking Creative Writing classes, I've learned how to be less wordy. I'm a very description orientated writer but, again, I'm learning where it should be properly used and also when to know when the description is taking away from the story. I love to write flash fiction. This means One-shots, small introspection, and running consciousness pieces. However, I am currently working on a Trilogy based on The Hobbit.

Updating and Posting I write best when inspiration hits me and this means I'm very irregular when it comes to updating. Sometimes I have everything planned out in my head but its not transferring well to paper and sometimes I have no idea how to take the next step in the next chapter (mostly, I'm the former). I may have things written down and planned out, but I usually write one chapter at a time. Usually. I can spout bursts of chapters in a week and then go silent for the following. I apologize in advance because there may be large breaks between updates however, I rarely give up on a project. If I do, I let the public know.

My Stories:

The Hobbit

Flitting Through Pages: A Reader's Odyssey Book I - Complete*

* This story's document has now timed out on my account due to my hiatus and now I will start Part 2 in order to continue the story

Flitting Through Pages: A Reader's Odyssey Book II: The Two Companies - In Progress

Flitting Through Pages: A Reader's Odyssey Book III: (title not yet released) - Not yet written

Flitting Through Pages: A Readyer's Odyssey Book IV: (title not yet released) - Not yet written

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (New Revisions Made!)

Heaven's Light Shines Upon You (Part I of the "Heaven's Light' Trilogy) - Complete

The Light Within Us (Part II of the "Heaven's Light" Trilogy) - Complete

Of Nightmares and Midnight Dreams (extra; post-"The Light Within Us") - Complete

Heaven's Symphony of Stone (Part III of the "Heaven's Light" Trilogy (after much demand by the public)) - Coming Soon!

How to Train Your Dragon

Live With It (one-shot)- Complete

Fractured (one-shot) - Complete

A Father's Pride (one-shot) - Complete

Merlin

I Walk Alone (one-shot) - Complete

To Avalon (poetry) - Complete

CSI: Miami

Not a Team, a Family (one-shot) - Complete

A Father's Love (one-shot) - Complete

Harry Potter

It's Over, It's Time to Heal (one-shot) - Complete

Fruits Basket

Worthy of Love (one-shot) - Complete

Ninja Turtles

Blood is Thicker than Water (one-shot) - Complete

Rock and Rule

Not His Angel (one-shot) - Complete

About the 'Flitting Through Pages' Trilogy

I've noticed very quickly in writing this story that it would be very long. I noticed this even more when I realized how much I enjoyed writing the character development than I have the actual plot. And seeing as how it's the characters driving my story more than the plot, I have decided to split the story up into three parts. Please keep in mind that the plot is still important to me. However, the truth is, we all know the plot. We know what happens. What we really care about, is the characters. Seeing as how so many people are enjoying Cate and the character development between her and the canon characters, I want to broaden my options with the length.

I really like Fanfics that have someone getting caught up in the story and living the adventure. However, there are far too many OC's that are not realistic. They don't seem seem to care about what they say or how they treat the fictional world or the characters. Above all, they aren't easy to relate to. There are very few OC's in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit Fandom that I can identify with or have any sort of attachment to or compel me to have an attachment to. And that, dear readers is the source of the problem. OC's are great and have wonderful potential, but only if the author carefully weaves them in. You have to treat the characters with respect and you have to really love the story you are trying to tell the audience. Unless you do, readers are not going to be invested. That's my advice and that's all I will say on the matter.

About Cate Martin:

Catelynn Jocelynn Martin, is a twenty-four year old avid reader from Salt Lake City, Utah. She co-manages a local restaurant along side a friend and is currently in the mists of writing her first book. However, she has been having some issues with publishers lately as no one she talks to wants her manuscript. Such is the fate of many writers. Cate debates on giving up, scraping the whole novel, and writing something that caters more to what the public wants rather than the original, radical plot that she put her heart and soul into. However, in times when life is too much for Cate to handle, she reads. She goes back and visits stories that inspire her, that lift her spirits and make her believe in the wonders of the written word again. The novel she picks up this time around? 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Quotations that inspire!

“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real ... for a moment at least ... that long magic moment before we wake. Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark. Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot. Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus, reality on Southwest Airlines.

Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true? We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.

They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to Middle Earth.” ― George R.R. Martin

"I don't suffer from insanity but enjoy every minute of it." - Edgar Allen Poe

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin

"The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter." - Mark Twain

"We can't all be the heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." - Will Rogers

"We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.” - Gary Oldman, Sirius Black

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.” – Dr. Seuss

"The stories we love best do live in us forever, so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." - J.K. Rowling

"Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay . . . small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it's because I am afraid and he gives me courage." - Gandalf the Grey

"Ohana means family. Family means..." "... nobody gets left behind..." "...or forgotten." - Stitch and Nani, Lilo and Stitch

"Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." - Hiccup, How to Train Your Dragon

"Here's another curse for you. May all your bacon burn."- Calcifer, Howl's Moving Castle

"Class dismissed." - Ironhide from Transformers: Dark of the Moon

"Why does everyone seem to think it's down to me to do something about it?" - Merlin

"He's shabby-looking, he has appalling manners, he's extremely forgetful, he seems to spend most of his time in the tavern . . . but he is my manservant. And to be honest, I quite like it that way." - Arthur on Merlin

"At least I don't look like a bone-idle toad. Maybe one day, you'll magically transform into a handsome prince . . but since magic's outlawed, that's probably never going to happen." - Merlin to Arthur

"It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited for power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well." - Dumbledore

"Of course it is happening in your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" - Dumbledore

You know you're weird when . . .

You consider Ratchet's wrench throwing skills to be an Olympic sport.

You pretend you can Air/Fire/Earth/Water/Metal Bend all the time (hopefully when no one's looking).

You find every chance possible to reference Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, ect. and do so with no regrets.

You wish you were a Hobbit. And find every excuse to be one.

You lie awake every night staring at the ceiling and act out your FanFic's in your head. With loud sound effects.

You argue with yourself and LOSE.

You spout off movie quotes every time someone asks you a question and/or opinion.

You and your sibling/friend say everything in perfect sync.

You find that living in an a world similar to your favorite TV show (and/or book, cartoon, movie, game series) would be more preferable than living in reality. Luckily for us, that's what writing is for.