My Journey as a Writer

Hello everyone! I decided to take the last week and focus in on writing and relaxing. So far, it's been really successful. I thought that this would be a great time to reflect my experience as a potential writer and share my plans for the future. I'm also planning on releasing more informative posts (such as book cover websites, what platforms I hope to release an e-Book to, etc.) soon.

My writing career started when I was in 8th grade. I actually finished my book, the first time I had done so, but what had motivated me the most was my friends also writing as well. I believe it was a spy book but I haven't looked at it in a long time. During high school I wrote some stuff as well but I wasn't too serious with any of my work. I remember being inspired by Maximum Ride series by James Patterson and a few of the main character names.

Now that I've been in college I didn't get serious until my Junior year. The book idea I had thought of kept nagging me to write it. While it's no where close to what my first thoughts were I've certainly had a lot of fun writing it. I technically wrote the second and third book but, I can't really use much of it, since I decided to change my story line a bit. I've drifted away from this book several times with stories in different genres but I wasn't able to focus in as much as I had wanted to.

So, what are my next steps? Well I intend on letting my first book sit for at least another week before I do a serious comb through and massive editing. Last week I was focused on getting reacquainted with the story and look for things I wanted to expand on. I also found where I want to end my first book (Leaving me with 40 pages into my next book!) so I feel much better about what's to come.

My advice to anyone writing is to find a story you're passionate about. It may change a little from when you first get started or quite drastically. But, if you're not passionate about your story, it makes it a lot harder to write. And you should take some time away from your story. It's difficult but it helps give a fresh perspective and helps you think of new ideas for your book.

I hope that my experience has been helpful! If you want to talk to other writers I highly suggest joining NaNoWriMo and prowling the forums there. Also, they have Camp versions of this challenge in both April and July, which are also really helpful. That's all for now. If you have any questions, feel free to comment or send me an e-mail!