Armchair BEA
Day 4: Beyond the Blog
Those of you who have been around for awhile know that I'm a writer. I started scribbling "stories" when I was in 7th grade, and when I was in 9th grade I got REALLY brave and wrote "a book." It went a lot like this. Then I wrote another one, and another one. Now granted, these were just my attempts, but they were still that: me trying, and somewhere in all that trying, I grew up, I started reading more and more, and I found a love of words, and the magic they create when they go together.
I learned new words, and discovered new worlds, thanks to Elizabeth Haydon, Barbara Hambly, Terry Brooks, and Stephen King. I opened the covers of books I never knew existed, and met characters that became like friends, and got me through some terrible times, including Being A Teenager, and my parents almost divorcing, and That Boy Breaking My Heart, and a lot of other Teenage Things. I learned that it's okay to dream big, because these writers had and because they dared, they were published. People - like me - devoured their stories.
I kept trying.
I joined several online roleplays, and then in 2005, along with two friends, I left behind fan fiction and roleplays, and moved into writing for my own, original characters. With my best friends, I opened doors and continually challenged myself to keep growing as a writer, and to keep dreaming. I wrote for male characters for the first time. I learned about alpha males and swooned - a lot.
More and more, I find time speeding right past me, to the point that I wonder if I'll ever get caught up on the laundry, much less publish a book. But it's still a dream of mine, especially when I look at friends I've met through blogging who have self-published. I think about it and know that someday... I just might take that plunge.
I've written YA contemporary for years. I recently made the painful decision to put away my current characters for awhile, and to put on hold the storylines I was working on with a friend. Life is creeping in around the cracks for the both of us, and we each needed a break - to come back, refreshed and renewed, or to start again with new characters when the time is right. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but by no means are those characters gone. They'll never be gone - they're just not my primary focus right now. Jonah, Isabella, Mia, Luke, Marcail - they're all up in this crazy brain of mine, somewhere.
Do I want to take them - or new characters - further? Do I want to go "beyond the blog?" Perhaps, someday. When I find the right story, that begs to be told and doesn't take no for an answer. I'd love to either self publish or actually pitch something of mine to a publisher. And when I do? I hope y'all will go along for the ride with me.
