You ask. I answer. (That's what I do.)

The girl sat at the desk, alone in the room now. She picked up the clipboard she had pushed off to the side before the others had left. A black, ball-point pen was conveniently standing in an old coffee cup on the desk. She picked it up, sniffed it- it smelled a bit like Starbucks, or old cream- and stared down at the questions on the paper.

1. What is your name and do you like it, why or why not?

She thought for a moment, picked up the pen, and began to write:

I don’t know why my parents picked the name “Sarah Elizabeth” for me. Maybe after I was born I looked like a Sarah Elizabeth, although what you look like when you are first born does not give much of a clue to what you will look like when you’re older. Maybe they thought it was a good, suitable, structured, name. Maybe some people think it is, but the thing is, I’m not a good, suitable, structured kid. I’m rather crazy, odd, and different. Some people call me Bethy or Sarah Beth (my parents and grandparents especially), a lot call me Sarah, but I really love it when people call me Sari. It seems more unique, exotic, and special. Whenever I mention how much I like another name, they never hasten to tell me that I was almost named “Beatrice”, though.

2. Do you like animals? Why, why not? What’s your favorite?

She smiled at this question and continued writing in small letters across the paper:

Animals. Animals, nature, the outdoors. They’re all a big part of my life. Since I was a very little girl- think, age three- I was outside, riding horses, throwing Frisbees for my dog, climbing up trees to look at the squirrels scampering from branch to branch. I love animals, it goes without saying. Any of them. There’s just something about them that comforts me. They’ll sit there, listening to me. Dogs hit pretty far up on my theoretical favorite animals list. Since I love running around and playing and jumping, dogs are a good companion to do that with. Horses are also one of my favorite. Since I was a little girl I’ve been riding, loving, and taking care of horses, always dream of having my own. While others are scared of them, there’s something about grooming them, petting them, or straddling their great bodies and holding onto the reins as they canter over the jumps, or even as they walk up a trail. I also love birds: one thing you should know about me is that I love speed, and heights. Flight has always been a dream of mine. Watching the birds up in the sky is the closet I can get. For now.

3. Do you have any siblings? If not, what about your parents? How do you feel about these people?

My family. Some people may say their family is the most important thing to thing, but to me it’s my friends. They are the ones that support me and are always there for me. They are the true family to me. Not that I don’t love my blood family, because I do. Family is really important to me, I guess. Most of the time I feel like they don’t understand me, and they’re not trying to understand me, no matter how much they try and get into my brain that they do. I suppose you want to know more about them. I do have a little sister, (my blood sister, anyway), Maggie. She’s a fullback in soccer, and a total tomboy. She’s short, with short, wild brown hair and blue eyes like my own. At times I can tell we’re related. Most of the time I have no clue where we got her. My mother is the grown-up image of my sister, and she grew up in Virginia. I got most of myself from my dad’s side of the family. When he was little, my dad had curly blonde hair (like mine) and his blue eyes are still the same sapphire shade as always. He loves classic rock music, his motorcycle, and working with his hands. We both share a love of sports, reading, heights, and speed. I do love them, but I’m actually sad to say that I’m not nearly as close to them as my sister is, or as some other people are to their parents.

4. Do you know me?

The girl smiled as she wrote:

Of course I know you, Tay. It’s hard not to know you. Everyone knows you and your bubbly, loving personality that have combined and are threatening to take over StoryWrite. Everyone knows you and wants to be your friend, and you don’t turn them down. You always dig up the good and people and their writing. The good in you is not hard to find- it’s overflowing from everywhere!

5. Where do you live?

Sometimes I would be tempted to say “out in the country” or “in a big city,” but today I am content with writing I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Today I am not ashamed of my hometown, where I’ve lived all my life. North Carolina has four distinct seasons, and here you can enjoy (or something like that) every one of them at their own time. Now, in early October, it’s still warm and starting to cool down. The trees are shedding their leaves like snakes with their skin, and when you look out your window the grass is crowned with a blanket of orange. In the winter it’s rather cold. Not as cold as other places, but it’s cold nonetheless. We don’t get a lot of snow, but when we do we get out of school and rush home. We milk it for all it’s worth, making a few measly snowmen and snow angels, packing the wet snow into snowballs and scouring the neighborhoods for our friends. In the spring, it’s absolutely beautiful. The sky is a never-ending bowl of pure blue, and often we get that rain that we’re always so deprived of in the summer. June through late September, it’s dry. Dry, and hot. Raleigh has the best parts of everything. It’s a city. It’s the country. It’s a small town, a big town. We all know each other, we all know no one. I can look out my window at night and see the moon and stars, but drive a couple of miles and all you’ll see are airplanes.

6. Do you like music, and, if so, how do you relate it to your writing?

Music. Music is a huge part of my life. Everything influences my taste in music, which influences my mood, which influences my writing. Right now I’m really in to classic rock and country. I like both of those genres of music because they’re so...real. Real. True. Country music isn’t always about heartbreak, or drinking and cars and girls. Country song topics range from friendship, to love, to cars, to enjoying life, to being outside, and to just...being. My dad was the one that got me to start listening to classic rock. Kansas, Led Zeppelin, The Police. I love the “real” music. I do relate it to my writing: I write about real things.

7. What is your favorite thing to write?

I write about anything, and everything. If I were a painter, I’d paint the world and beyond. If I were a dancer, I’d dance to every music and until my feet fell off. If I were a singer, I’d sing every song, every note, and every tune. I write what I know. I write what I don’t know. I create, I enhance, I change. I have no favorite, I have no least favorite. I write romance, horror. Fiction or non-fiction. First person or third person. Thought-provoking or non-sense. It doesn’t matter, as long as I am writing.

8. Are you a people person?

What an interesting question. I suppose I am, at times. I love to be around others- to interact with them, to know them, to love them. At times, however, I am an “alone person.” I love to be by myself, too. It doesn’t make me feel hidden, or lonely, but mysterious, thoughtful, even gentle or elite. But I do love being around people: each person has a story, a background, something else to say. We aren’t just statistics, or numbers: each person on this earth is another person. I love getting to know people, to hear what they have to say.

9. Do you seem to have a lot of REAL friends?

Real friends. Friendship is a fickle thing, but true friends will stay with you through it all. They love you for who you are. As cliché as it sounds, they are always with you and they’ll be with you until the end of it all. I still have a lot of the same friends I had in pre-school- they’ve been with me through everything and I know they always will be here. I also made a lot of new friends last year at my new school, ones that were always there for me last year and will be here for me always. Real friends know you. They love you. And for me, they can make me laugh when I didn’t even think I could smile.

10. How do you feel about war?

I don’t know if you’ve heard the song, but the opening lyrics to “Love Me If You Can” by Toby Keith very well express my feelings about war. It goes, “Sometimes I think war is necessary, but every night I pray for peace on Earth.” Sometimes I think war is necessary. The United States is free. I love freedom, and everything freedom is. We have to protect that sometimes. But on the other hand, I love peace. Peace is beautiful. I do wish we had peace. If there was peace, there would be no need for war. But for now, we have to try. We have to try to get there. We have to work together, make sacrifices, and believe that we can get there.

11. Why do you like StoryWrite?

As a young writer, I need encouragement. I also need people to criticize me. I can get both of those things here on StoryWrite. I need people to tell me to keep going and some to tell me what I can do better. I need some pushing forward and some preparing me for what’s beyond this site. StoryWrite isn’t just business though: it’s about writing and whether you take your writing seriously or not, it’s about having fun with it. It’s about putting your thoughts, and feelings down, and being heard. All I want to do is be heard.

12. What got you into writing?

I don’t know what got me into writing- it’s just been something I’ve always done. If I had to label it with a date and reason, I’d probably say I’ve been taking my writing more seriously (or as serious as you can get, since my writing is about just having fun and being heard) for the past three or four years. In the fourth and fifth grades I had one of the best creative writing teachers I’ll probably ever have. She encouraged me, pushed me forward, but gave me advice and ideas. I also really loved the arts- I’ve always been into acting, and a little bit of drawing and singing. Writing was another thing I tried, and it clicked for me.

13. Do you have a friend here that you really, really love?

I assume you are referring to StoryWrite when you say (or, rather, type) “here.” I have tons of friends here (I think), and all of them really support me and help me with my writing and motivate me to keep going. There are a few, however, that really stick out to me. Stormy kisses, also known as Erica, always comments are my writing and I can always count on her for a happy word or a hello. Also, you, Tay, are really good to me here. You’re just so awesome and yes, you comment a lot (more than necessary, ha ha) on my work. RockingDebater and LostShadow also really welcomed me to StoryWrite and still comment and message me lots. It always makes me feel good when anyone says, “hello” or comments on my stories, though! So thank you to everyone! It feels good to know I’m being heard.

14. Does your writing seem to affect the people around you?

I really hope so. It feels...amazing whenever someone says that my writing really touched them, or changed them, or just made them feel a deep emotion. It makes me feel like I got to them, and they heard me loud and clear. When I “affect” someone, it’s not always positively, and that’s actually okay with me. If I changed their life for worse, then, well, I’m sorry, but as I writer I did what I was trying to do. As I writer I want to change your life- it doesn’t have to be a huge impact on your life- but I just want to know that I left my footprints on your heart. I want to be heard, and when someone hears me, I know that I affected them someway (either for the good, or the bad).

15. Why do you write?

The girl paused. This was the hardest question. Even though she had been writing for some time, it was hard to translate her feelings about writing into actual words and get them on paper:

I write because that’s what I do. Writing is my life. That’s how I say who I am and express myself: through words. I am an artist in every aspect- I create. I enhance. I tell stories. I tell the facts. I also paint, dance, and sing- but I just do those things with words. My paints are the letters, and my canvas is a sheet of paper. The music I dance to is the language I speak, and the steps are the stories I tell. My songs are those of things I know, and don’t know. I write because that’s just who I am: a writer.