MY WRITING JOURNEY

One day, when I was a wee thing of nine years old, I got the spark of an idea to attempt my hand at writing.

After all, I had been reading vicariously since I was 4 years old. Why not try writing my own stories? So, grabbing a colorful Lisa Frank notebook (#90sKid) and a sharpened pencil, I headed out into the evening summer air and started a tale of a girl and her horse.

And that’s how a whole new world opened up for me.

This was magic. Creating entire worlds, bringing made up people to life, turning the imaginings in my head into words on a page. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

A year later, I was introduced to the world of Tolkien. Little Hobbits off saving the world? Ethereal elves? Grand adventures? Heroic men and women roaming a world so strange and different and wondrous? Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan had always been childhood favorites, as well as fairytales and just about anything otherworldly I could get my hands on. But this was something I had yet to discover. This was fantasy at its core. And from that moment on, I was in love with elves and dragons and knights in shining armor and splendid castles and magical forests. I had fallen in love with fantasy.

And so my little story about a girl and her horse got shoved into a drawer and forgotten as I delved into something much bigger and grander and fantastical. I knew I never wanted to go back. Fantasy was my genre. Exploring mystical worlds and curious beings aroused something in me that no other genre ever has.

The idea of attempting publishing had always been there, but it more floated in my mind as a dream, not guided my steps as a tangible goal. I loved writing, I did, but I never took it as seriously as I should.

Then, in 2010, I took on my first NaNoWriMo. Oh, what a grand adventure that was! I flew across the pages of my book like never before, living and breathing that story for 30 days in full. And when November was over, I kept on writing until the book was finished. As I wrote that last line, a thrill tingled down my very being. And at that moment I knew without a doubt: This was what I wanted to do with my life. Write.

And thus the insanity began. Writers are by nature insane creatures, and I embraced it full force. I began studying the craft, writing more books, discovering editing wasn’t as horrendously daunting as I feared, and put nearly all my energy in this crazy venture.

Fantasy was still, and always will be, my favorite genre, but in 2013 I took a huge leap and tentatively stepped out of my comfort zone. And I liked it, a lot. Shock of shocks! So I stepped a bit farther out, and then threw caution to the wind and tried whatever my Muse got the whim to toss my way. I went from only ever writing medieval/high fantasy to trying steampunk to dystopian to time travel to weird books that are super hard to pinpoint specific genres for. Taking the leap out of my comfort zone was the best thing I ever did for my writing. And now I love all manner of speculative fiction.

In 2014 I took another step and wrote a novella for a contest. My first ever writing to submit anywhere. I didn’t win, but, in the end, that became a huge blessing. This novella was a Beauty and the Beast retelling—something I’ve wanted to write for…ever. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, it has always been special to me, and finally writing a retelling set in a dark fairy tale world felt like my “niche”. It was everything I loved: Beauty and the Beast, a fairy tale, a hint of darkness and creepiness but with an ever-constant underlying of light and hope. That story became my whole heart. And so when I didn’t win a place in the contest, I decided to take it further and turn that 20k Beauty and the Beast retelling novella into a full novel.

Now, that novel, Burning Thorns, is the story I am pursuing traditional publishing with. I don’t know what will come of it, if anything, but it has been a joy to spend these years chasing my dream with the story of my heart.

These days my life is writing, writing, writing. I stalk writing blogs like a fiend, read whatever I can get my hands on, connect with fellow writers (my fave!), continue to join in NaNoWriMo every single year, and WRITE.

It’s a long and hard road, this life of writing. But I can’t imagine doing anything else. A writer is who I am, it’s what I love to do. And I have every intention of keeping at it until my fingers are too old and withered to bang out the words on my keyboard.

If you’re on this journey too, then you’ve come to the right place! Writing can seem like such a lone venture, but it SHOULDN’T BE. It is my favorite thing to make new writing friends and encouraging you all on chasing your dreams. So pull up a chair, grab your favorite beverage of choice (mine is coffee—surprise, surprise!), and let’s discuss creativity!

Come say hi! I’d love to chat and aid you in any way I can on your own creative journey.