Taking
myself seriously as a
writer has been the biggest hurdle in my progress. I toyed around with
ideas I'd had for years, until I finally decided to write them down.
Once I had them on paper, I realized I'd taken a step into the territory
of a writer.
I had to decide, do I keep going or cloister my stories in the safety of my hard drive? But there were ideas coming out in my writing that needed their own life, so I made another move, quite literally.
We moved to a new town and I searched out a writing group. My writing group helped me get grounded. So did my writer friends who turned me on to Verla Kay’s blueboards and other writing resources.
Getting myself on a public writing forum, like Verla Kay’s, was frightening. Here I was as a want-to-be writer interacting with people who knew the industry right and left. I felt like a starry-eyed kid. But I put myself out there anyway and benefitted immensely from that risk.
Now, I’m taking another one, I signed up for NaNoWriMo. YIKES! (See here for more about NaNoWriMo: http://nanowrimo.org/)
I have a middle grade novel I’ve been laboring over for a couple years. I’ve always thought I’d like to write fantasy or sci-fi type novels, but this one isn’t. I guess I’d classify it as realistic fiction, a surprise genre for me, but it was begging to be written and I had to comply.
The story idea came as a bit of challenge after watching an episode on Oprah. Something one of the guests said, sparked a thought and that thought sparked a character and that character needed a story. So I started to write her story. It’s a little of my youth mixed with a little of my adult life, with a lot of other things thrown in.
I’ve got 176 pages of non-linear chapters and ideas. The beginning is pretty well set and the ending, but the middle is having a mid-novel crisis. I finally printed it off and started going through it page by page.
I was actually impressed at some of the stuff I’d written and couldn’t believe I had written that. Then there were other parts that I couldn’t believe I had written that. Needles to say, it needs a lot of TLC and signing up for NaNoWriMo has committed me to giving it life.
It’s time to take this next plunge and move forward in my writer’s journey.
I had to decide, do I keep going or cloister my stories in the safety of my hard drive? But there were ideas coming out in my writing that needed their own life, so I made another move, quite literally.
We moved to a new town and I searched out a writing group. My writing group helped me get grounded. So did my writer friends who turned me on to Verla Kay’s blueboards and other writing resources.
Getting myself on a public writing forum, like Verla Kay’s, was frightening. Here I was as a want-to-be writer interacting with people who knew the industry right and left. I felt like a starry-eyed kid. But I put myself out there anyway and benefitted immensely from that risk.
Now, I’m taking another one, I signed up for NaNoWriMo. YIKES! (See here for more about NaNoWriMo: http://nanowrimo.org/)
I have a middle grade novel I’ve been laboring over for a couple years. I’ve always thought I’d like to write fantasy or sci-fi type novels, but this one isn’t. I guess I’d classify it as realistic fiction, a surprise genre for me, but it was begging to be written and I had to comply.
The story idea came as a bit of challenge after watching an episode on Oprah. Something one of the guests said, sparked a thought and that thought sparked a character and that character needed a story. So I started to write her story. It’s a little of my youth mixed with a little of my adult life, with a lot of other things thrown in.
I’ve got 176 pages of non-linear chapters and ideas. The beginning is pretty well set and the ending, but the middle is having a mid-novel crisis. I finally printed it off and started going through it page by page.
I was actually impressed at some of the stuff I’d written and couldn’t believe I had written that. Then there were other parts that I couldn’t believe I had written that. Needles to say, it needs a lot of TLC and signing up for NaNoWriMo has committed me to giving it life.
It’s time to take this next plunge and move forward in my writer’s journey.
Scary? Yes. Ennobling?
Definitely!
“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
P.S. I know I've said my main love is picture books, and it still is, so I also signed up for PiBoIdMo as well. I'm jumping into the cold water all at once--now I just have to stay afloat!
“If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained.” Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book
P.S. I know I've said my main love is picture books, and it still is, so I also signed up for PiBoIdMo as well. I'm jumping into the cold water all at once--now I just have to stay afloat!
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