Another year, another blog.
That’s how the saying goes, right? But this is different. I’m renouncing the title of Serial Blogger in favor of YA Fantasy Author. Much more exciting, huh?
If you’ve known me for any length of time during the last ten years, you know this is on-brand for me. I always start off with good intentions and then quickly lose interest. Generally around April.
When I started Wishes and Whims, my last blog, I thought I had found my passion—Simple Living. Homemade hand soap and reusable bags—that was going to be my niche. And it was, for about a minute. Turns out, I’m not really into writing about that stuff. So, when it came time to re-up, I decided to let my Wishes and Whims blog expire.
*A moment of silence for the blog*
Moving on…
When I was sixteen I had a spiral notebook into which I poured my deepest thoughts about why my friends were fighting and why I didn’t have a boyfriend.
*Side-note: if you ever feel like your writing is crappy, read something you wrote when you were fifteen.*
As with blogs, I started a new journal at the beginning of the year, telling myself I’d Write. In. It. Every. Day. Which turned into once every few days, which turned into once a week, then once a month, until I finally just stopped completely. The back half of one of my journals is literally full of days where all I did was rip a page out of my “inspirational quotes” calendar and paste it into the notebook. Old habits die hard. For evidence of this, see the digital graveyard of my blogs.
In one particular journal entry, I wrote a list of “Life Goals.” I looked for the notebook, but I don’t seem to have it anymore. I think there were seven things on the list, but I only remember three. They were the big ones anyway. Here they are, in no particular order:
1) Go to France
2) Fall in love
3) Write a book
By comparison, the first two were cake. That third one, though, has been tough. Dozens of unfinished stories and half-created characters live in forgotten folders on my hard drive. I thought I’d never finish anything.
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
― Ernest Hemingway
Which brings me to…
What This Site Is NOT
This site is not a how-to or a site for advice. Anything I write will either be from personal experience or an amalgamation of information I’ve learned from others who have been doing this a lot longer than I have.
What This Site IS
A place for me to chronicle my writing journey, including things I’ve learned or read, updates and sneak-peeks of my WIP, and—hopefully—conversations with other writers and readers.
Also, all the publication articles talk about how important it is for an author to have an “online platform” including an official writing website. More on this in another post.
Why A YA Fantasy Author?
Well, I started out with an idea for a YA Romance in the vein of Sarah Dessen. But 15,000 words in I realized I had no real concept of plot or characters or any elements necessary for writing an actual book. Once I started researching story structure and plot—and after a long night of playing Nancy Drew, but that’s a different post—another idea floated between my ears and I decided to run with it. Magic, creatures, mystery—it all swirled in my mind while I tried to capture it on the page. A year-and-a-half after the idea bug bit me, I have a 65,000-word, to-be-titled manuscript about a teenage Seer named Talullah. Turns out being a YA Fantasy author suits me more than romance.
More on the book here.
My critique partner is helping me tear it apart and rebuild it into something worth reading, however, for all intents and purposes, it’s a complete story. A book. And I wrote it.
I hope this website will be a roadmap of my editing process, a sounding board for my frustrations, and a chance for me to connect with people whose work I love and who might someday read mine. I want to hear what you’re reading, what you love about stories, what peeves you, inspires you, challenges you.
Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out what you love and want to do. Sometimes—like in my case—it’s been dormant inside you for years, waiting to be acknowledged and encouraged, waiting for you to embrace the challenge and fear.
I’m finally diving into the deep end of the writer’s pool, YA Fantasy author lane. Who’s ready to swim with me?
