Introducing Me

Hello Reader,

My name is Imogen. L. Smiley and I am a nineteen year old Creative and Professional Writing Student at the University of Derby! I am currently in my second year and was advised to create and maintain a blog throughout university etc. in order to network.

So yes, hello!

What is there to know about me? What makes me special?

I am a writer by nature, a creator of complicated plots and characters that have sparked great levels of insanity throughout my three semesters at university. The most iconic aspect of my writing at this moment in time is the "cult following" of my fans' favourite character, Floyd Alexander Wake-Daniels, a character from a series I hope to see published one day!

I am also what my friends call a NaNoWriMo ((National Novel Writing Month)) veteran, having participated in NaNoWriMo 2015 with a novel called 'Neon Blood', Camp NaNoWriMo July 2016 with a novel called 'The Heart's Fated Conquest' , NaNoWriMo 2016, with a novel called 'Neon Hearts', Camp NaNoWriMo, July 2017, with a novel called 'Cosmic Affliction' and NaNoWriMo 2017 with a novel called 'Neon Mind'.That is a total of five NaNoWriMo events as of the moment and despite the pressure of aspiring to write over 50,000 words in the space of a month, I have always really enjoyed it and absolutely cannot wait to participate in more of these events!

It is during NaNo that I write my more complicated stories. They tend to be fantasy or science fiction pieces of writing and also happen to be LGBT+ representative because I am determined to have the LGBT community represented in literature! I feel like writing representative works is a great way to create a foundation of following!

Not only am I a writer of prose, I am also an up-and-coming spoken word artist in the city of Derby. I have been performing for just over a year and I have adored using my words to influence a crowd's opinion. In such a short space of time, I have improved rapidly with my poetry - my first pieces being deemed similar to "Tumblrina Woe Is Me" complaints, and have developed to more controlled works.

In pursuing spoken word poetry, I found myself auditioning for Derby's Slam Poetry Team for the UniSlam competition by participating in a Mini-Slam, hosted by the Team Captain, with guest judges. The winner of that competition would get an automatic place on the slam team. Many, of those outside judges had heard my work prior to the audition, which meant that I had to write new pieces of work for the audition. I was very nervous due to having such a disadvantage and found myself in absolute shock when I was crowned the winner. From there, I have been working on creating stronger works of poetry and will be sure to update you, Reader, on the adventure of competing alongside the DerbyUni Slam Team in Leicester at the end of January!

Thank you for checking my blog out!
And remember!
Per Ardua Ad Astra~
-Imogen. L. Smiley