Every time, I visit my blog, I get annoyed. I get annoyed by
the number of drafts I have. I get annoyed by the amount of friends who read my
post (without me asking them to). I get annoyed with how awful the post, I
actually decided to post, are. But then I get off the pity train at “Who the
Hell Cares” station and go about doing what I actually enjoy. Writing fiction.
Young adult fiction. Only a few people know that I have been working on a YA
novel. I have 10,000 words, 17 pages, and 3 chapters (not including a prologue)
in. I am taking my sweet time and only writing when I truly want to. A few
years back I mentioned to a car full of friends, that I was writing a book.
They laughed at me. Mocked me and teased me—all out of fun, I think. It
discouraged me. If these friends didn’t support me, who would? So when my
laptop crashed and I misplaced the flash drive with the beginnings of an amateur
novel, I was bummed, but saw it as a sign that it wasn’t worth sharing. Years
later, when I began writing short snip-its in a journal of a potential novel, I
didn’t tell anyone. I carried my journal everywhere and would write whenever I
had alone time to spare. I have spent many hours at Starbucks drinking a pour
over dark roast, time visiting Trey at the cemetery writing, and enjoying being
alone, but not feeling alone. I have even sat in my car in between places I
need to be to kill time. After changing the plot of what I was writing over and
over and over, I finally decided to take it from pen to paper to Brain to keyboard
to screen. I stopped going back and
re-reading what I have written. And for that, I think Veronica Roth, the writer
of the Divergent series. As an avid reader, I read the book from cover to
cover, extras included. Roth said, she didn’t re-read her work, until she was
finished. It kept her going, and creative. She could change any plot holes and
things she just didn’t think would work well once she had ended the book.
Seemed to work for her. Why not me? I began to just type, and typed I did. I
have no idea where I want the story to go, but it is going. I shared it with a
facebook friend who is an amazing writer with published books (of a completely different
genre) and he gave me great supportive feedback. He encouraged me to continue
writing. Which made me proud of my work. July 6, 2015, I posted a little bit of
my writings on Good Reads. Seeing how so many people have done the same, I just
posted an unedited draft, errors and all, with the hope that maybe just one
person would stumble across it. Forgetting that I even posted it on Goodreads,
I was shocked to get an email on October 20, 2015, saying someone had commented
on and liked my story. That Goodreads users encouraged me to continue writing.
One comment and one like. That is it. Someone enjoyed it. I went back and read
what I posted on Goodreads and I even enjoyed it. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t
regret posting it. I was pleased with my writing. Granted, it needs some
serious editing, but that is all just part of the process. So, instead of
trying to be a blogger that I am not. I am going to revamp my ‘blog’ and just
post short stories and influenster stuff (So I can continue to get free stuff—duh!).
So, please, feel free to give me your feedback on anything I post and share.
