In the Beginning Writers Used Quills ...

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I started writing when I was in my teens around 15-16 years old which is about two-thirds of my life time so far. They were just the begins of stories that I couldn't think of how to continue writing what I wanted to say. From a few of those ideas came my first full novel ... it was bad even if the basic story was sound but it sparked a passion in me to write and tell stories to make people happy. From that first horrid novel came a sequel just as badly written with a little more of a thoughtful story line. The third part began midway through writing the second half where even the story started sounding weak but the writing itself had improved a bit.

This was how it began for me with pads of discarded junk paper, pens, and a handful of ideas. I never really looked back over them since even if I did like the story I had written, I wasn't ready to take up the next part of writing a real book. I never did get around to actually editing any of those early novels I had written. I just continued writing bits and pieces of new books that would pop into my head in a half hazard mess. This gave me only three completed but raw novels and a dozen or so beginnings of stories that didn't really go anywhere.

After having been trying for 10 years or more, the writing got put aside while I turned to other ways of releasing some of the creative ideas in my head. I tried drawing but I was definately no artists but I learned a lot about using colour and mixing my mediums. I bent my hands to a whole slew of different handy crafts plus I started reading more frequently. Nothing gave me the same feeling that writing had given me. I was proud at some of the pictures I had drew but I still clung in my heart to my writing the great novel (at least something that could appear on a shelf in a book store) one day.

Life has a habit of throwing you curve balls when you least expect it. In my case, it came to me in my mid thirties when my apartment caught fire. All those have created novels and my three completed pieces of trash novels where lost with the library I had built up over many years of novels and series I loved reading while helping my learn where some of my weak points in writing lay. This set back was destructive to me while freeing me of what I had written that I could see no means of ever truly fixing.

I stopped writing seriously after that for a few years. I still wrote just never really pushed at creating on the level I had been trying to do when I was younger. A few short stories, some article type pieces, but nothing that truly lead to a full novel level story. It took a long time for my mind to return to thinking of a bigger project but with others advice, two stories started forming in my mind that had me return slowly to writing. A few more years passed but nothing really was ever completed as I used any excuse I could to do other things than concentrating on getting those 2 books written fully.

This would be where that other big curve ball hit my life. An old friend that knew me back when I actually wrote contacted me with a new idea and a challenge that sound at that time like an impossibility. I accepted the challenge grudgingly feeling slightly bullied into it but, as I prepared for it, I returned to one of those 2 story ideas that had been slowly worked on. It was a return to my teen years when most people always saw my sitting with a pen in hand and a spiral pad of writing paper in front of me. I was writing again seriously and staying focused on just the one project without bouncing from story to story like I had done so long ago.

As for the challenge itself, I proved that I could write more often and faster than I ever believed possible. I did have help this time around that the pen and paper method could never compete against. I had purchased a little notebook computer and the pages of the book began forming themselves faster and easier. I completed that first challenge of writing in 1 month a 50,000 word plus story by writing 2 of those stories during that month of November, 2009. If you wish to look up the challenge, search for the word "NaNoWriMo" which stands for "National Novel Writing Month". I suggest this as a good exercise for anyone that writes even if you are not serious about ever getting yourself published.

The principle and lesson that could help all writers was very simple. Stop worrying about spelling and grammar as you get that story from start to finish out of your head and on paper. For me, it worked miracles getting me to stop turning over the story in my head with constant reviews until I had the words "The End" showing on the screen. Once the story is out there, comes the hardest point as I writer you will ever face: Editing. Editing isn't simply going through the book and fixing those little mistakes (like spelling and grammar) even if that would be the first step of the process. It is a very long process that I am still in the midst of for one of the books I had spewd out during my first challenge.

I have no fear that one day it will be ready for bookshelves but it can't be rushed if I want it to give enjoyment to all that read it. As I reach the border of 42 years of life, *blush* I begin writing a blog to put out some of my ideas and the story of how I came into being a writer by learning from my mistakes but never simply dropping a story aside again seeing it as unfixable over all. I leave you with this to think about and will continue letting you know where my passion for the written word has lead me so far. Some of my blog entries might be a little odd and maybe even sound insane at time but understand that I am human and nothing is ever truly sane when dealing with a creative mind.

Ciao bela until next time.

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