I Am A Writing Expert

I'm kidding. I'm not an expert. I am by no means an expert. Frankly, I find it hard to believe that anyone could be an expert at writing, even Shakespeare (pauses to listen to the angry horde of English teachers coming after me for saying that). Don't get me wrong, he was a damn good writer, the best I'd say, but expert implies that there's nothing more to learn in that field. If that's true, then I never want to be an expert.
My name is Layla, and I'm an aspiring author (Find my novels under L.A. Monroe, someday). This is my pen name, for those of you who've looked at my profile on blogger and were confused. I'm 18 years old, and before you ask, no, I'm not published. I wrote the first draft of a novel last year for NaNoWriMo and have refused to look at it since. Maybe one day I'll go back to it, but not for a while, I think.
I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo again this year, which is partly why I'm writing this blog. I thought it would be a good idea to keep a record of how it goes, the highs and the lows of my writing. That, and I could compile advice, both from myself and from other writers, to post.
I write mostly fantasy/YA novels. This year I'll be working on a story set in another world, where magic exists but has been outlawed in the country where my story takes place, Blanka, because 100 years before the beginning of my story, magic became too uncontrollable and the country was in chaos. Since then, the government has become very strict, regulating magic and people's lives. Society is divided into strict classes, each one recognizable because of the coloured cloaks they must wear in public at all times. White cloaks are the upper class, consisting of doctors, lawyers, politicians, teachers, and the like. Brown cloaks are the middle class, anyone who's job would be considered 'blue collar' in our society. Red cloaks are the priests. There is one official religion in Blanka, which is centered around the Red God, and his most devout followers live in the Red Temple and wear red cloaks. Black cloaks consist of anyone who's been convicted of a crime. These people aren't allowed in the city center unsupervised. Grey cloaks are the police force. They are brown cloaks, but they wear grey cloaks when they're working. Blue cloaks are students. School starts at the age of seven and, for brown cloaks, goes for ten years. School is privatized after the tenth grade, and no white cloak occupation accepts apprentices who haven't been in school for thirteen years, emphasizing the class separation.
My story centers on a girl, Rowan, the daughter of a brown cloak, whose father is kidnapped by a dark sorcerer, Kain. Rowan ends up living with her aunt, a woman she's never met, though she may be the only one who can help her find her father. As she delves deep into her father's past looking for him, she discovers things not only about him, but about herself that can never be unlearned, and perhaps should have stayed hidden. She learns why Kain took her father in the first place, and why she's the only one who can stop him from ripping apart everything she holds dear.
Mostly, this blog is a project for me, but if you happen to stumble onto this and you get some enjoyment out of it, fantastic. I post Sundays.
Enjoy!
Layla