Who is Mary Sue?

Who’s the girl that in implausibility’s face flies,

Who can do the impossible the first time she tries?

The youngest ensign to join the fleet,

Who saves the ship from utter defeat.

The long-lost daughter of an elfin queen,

Who rescues the hobbits and steals the scene.

She’s cute and clumsy, with a past that’s tragic;

Beloved by all, she can also do magic.

Her heart is pure, her aim is true,

Do you know who? It’s Mary Sue!

 (poem by Cat Carlisle)

Part of the problem of living off in my own little world is that I start to assume that things that are obvious to me are also obvious to everyone else. Case in point: I wrote the above poem, posted it on Facebook without the last two words and asked my friends to fill in the blank. I thought it would be a fun, easy riddle and was extremely embarrassed when NOBODY knew what I was talking about. I only had two guesses: "Mr. Magoo" from my brother and "Ashley Judd" (Huh?) from my husband.

"Buckethead and Egghead"

Buckethead and Egghead was my first completed book. I co-wrote it at the age of eight with a girl named Tess while we were at a dude ranch. I think my grandmother suggested it as a way for us to stay busy, probably while it was raining. We told her the story, she typed it up, printed it out and then had us illustrate it.

Welcome and "The Great Emerald"

Welcome to my writing blog! I'm Cat Carlisle and I'm new to writing. I've finished two novels (thanks to National Novel Writing Month) and have written a few short stories. Nothing published so far, but that's okay because my goal right now is to improve my writing and to find some interesting stories to tell.

So what's my writing history? Not much, really. I was one of those kids who had lots of ideas for stories but never wrote more than a couple pages before giving up. Since I'm a little nervous talking about my current projects, I though I'd start off my blog by telling you about some of the stories I attempted to write when I was little.