Some people are lucky enough to know what they want to do from the moment they can talk about it. My son MJ has wanted to be an emergency room doctor for the past six years, and I look forward to finding out whether he ever completes that goal or changes his mind.
Some of us may have an idea of what we want to do but never take the first step. All my life I’ve been writing down snippets of poems or stories, even going as far as to enter a high school writing contest a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It wasn’t until I finally admitted to myself that writing was something I needed to do that I took the first step to writing a book.
I wrote the book and then got a little sidetracked when I found out I was pregnant. When I discovered I was pregnant, I had visions of typing during naps and rocking the baby while typing on my laptop. Then I discovered that I was pregnant with twins (hello Cupcake and Chunk). It’s too hard to rock twins and type at the same time. So I gave myself a maternity leave, but something happened. I thought about characters and realized writing is a part of my nature.
So when my maternity leave ended, I started writing a non-fiction book. Then I heard about NaNoWriMo less than a week before it started last year. I geared myself up and wrote 50,000 words. I completed a book and found writer’s groups. To my surprise, I had not written The Next Big Thing in Romance, but I discovered something more: I discovered that despite my book’s flaws (and it had many), I wanted to make it better. I wanted to improve my craft. Last year’s NaNoWriMo convinced me I could do it. Since then, I’ve spent time learning how to write: learning about dialogue, POV, word repetition, pacing. I’m still learning how to write, but I’m finding people and groups who are helping me. This year I entered NaNoWriMo with the conviction I could do it, especially with the help of those around me, including my daughter Kath who also won NaNoWriMo this year.
So this is my first blog on the journey about my trying to learn how to write as I weave the road I hope will lead to becoming a published author someday. I’d write more except I left my hero in a living room with his sister when he really wants to be at the heroine’s house instead. Happy writing or happy finding what you want to do and taking that first step to doing it.