Featured Blogger -- Carrie from Views from Nature

Today's featured blogger is Carrie from Views from Nature.

1. Tell us about yourself:

I'm married with 2 girls (ages 2 1/2 and 4 1/2). We also have a menagerie of sorts in our house: 2 kittens, a leopard gecko, dwarf aquatic frogs, fire bellied toads, and numerous goldfish. Our house is in constant chaos from kid-related insanity and half done renovations. I thankfully get to escape this all and go to my full time job everyday ;) I'm trying to rediscover my writing passion and realizing it's not as easy as it was when I was younger.

2. Give us a 30-second elevator pitch about your blog:

Views From Nature is all about me: my writing, my views, me me me! It's where I share my creative attempts and my progress towards completing an actual novel. I try to keep my family on the edges of this blog (they have their own space elsewhere) but occasionally they will sneak in.

3. When you’re not blogging...what are you doing?

I'm working, I'm chasing my kids, I'm cuddling with kittens, I'm attempting to de-stress with yoga. Mostly I'm sinking into my couch with exhaustion.

4. Who is your favorite literary character and why?:

Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With The Wind. This is one of my favorite books and movies. I could watch/read it over and over. I love her passion, I love her energy, I love her clothes! She's clever, she's beautiful, and she's relentless.

5. What brought you to the Red Dress Club and what is your biggest goal with your writing?

I saw a post linking up to it on someone's blog and it reminded me of my earlier creative writing when I was a teen and then a young adult. I thought I'd give the prompt that week a go (I believe it was to do with an inanimate object) and I was hooked. I think I have only missed one or two prompts since then. My biggest goal is to take at least one of the 2 novels that have begun to grow and develop from the prompts into an actual publishable novel. I'd like to finish (first draft) by my birthday in August. We'll see how that goes.

6. If you could save one post in a fire, which would it be and why?:

Argh! Just one?? Really? Okay, after much angst I would choose Promise. This was my jumping off point for Elle's story and it seems to be the novel I'm most enjoying developing. Also, this particular piece is a re-creation of a short story I did as a teenager. I quite enjoyed ramping up the emotions with my more mature, adult perspective.