Friday, December 13, 2013

It's not ADD. I'm writing!

I have always wanted to write a book.  About 5 years ago, while observing my then two-year old daughter do puzzles, I was struck with an idea for a cool Mid-Grade or Young Adult book series.  It was one of those lightning bolt moments where you felt something change in the universe.   What started as a simple idea morphed into an outline.  The outline sparked an intense bit of research.  The research merged with the original idea and created a new idea.  The new idea got a new outline and the book began.   I got 5K words into the novel and realized something critical, I was totally missing my audience.  I had no idea what a Mid-Grade or Young Adult novel flowed like and how the voice sounded.  I kept the outline and the research, scrapped the novel and began devouring books in the genre I was writing.   Several dozen books later, I got sick of reading and wanted to get back writing.  I started the book over with a different voice and a better idea of where I was heading.  I got about 12K words in and then I realized that this was going to take a lot of work!  Not only that, but I needed to improve my writing skills so the words came better.  I still loved the idea but I couldn't bear to screw it up from inexperience.

My desire to coddle this novel in its infancy led me to hesitation.  I shelved the book and started reading blogs and online resources for writers trying to get my ducks in a row.  Then I realized that I had never considered that this beloved idea could see its way through to completion only to lay in limbo with no agent or publisher willing to take it.  The horror!  This thought led me to consider self publishing my book, which in turn led me to spend time and money on amazon buying then reading self-published books to see what that was all about.  After getting my fill of ebooks, I decided it was time to get back writing.  After a few days of staring blankly at my book, I started an exercise to get the creative juices flowing again and began to outline a new, completely unrelated, epic fantasy novel.  I liked the new idea so much that I went back to my first book and had this talk:

Me:  Even though we haven't been spending much time together, I just want you to know I still love you.

Book:  Are you leaving me?  Am I being dumped?

Me:  No! No, I love you, I really do.  I just need to figure some stuff out.

Book:  Is there another book?  Is that what happened?

Me:  Well, I did have this other idea, but you know you will always be closest to my heart.  I just need to see if this other idea pans out.

Book:  How!?  What?!  What did I do wrong?  Why don't you love me?

Me:  I still love you, I swear I do.  Its just... Its the timing.  Its not you, Its me.  I'll keep in touch.  I promise.

One thing lead to another, and now I am about 40K words into the fantasy novel.  Things are moving really fast, I have even told my parents about the book.  My commitment is solid.  But then I started this blog....

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