Wow. It's taken me a long time to get to this point. This is a blog on my own personal journey to publication—not because I think I've done it well, but in the hopes that it can show other aspiring writers that there is a way to get there. The message? Simply, "Don't give up."
I've written for a long time. I wrote my first story in the third grade, in Mrs. Hall's class. And I illustrated it, too. It garnered admiration from family. We all have a similar memory, I'm sure. I moved on to write stories in study hall, in high school, to the admiration of a few friends, though I never finished any of them. Lots of starts. No endings. Again, we all have similar stories.
In college I was an art major. No writing there. I did continue to jot down little ideas and conversations on cocktail napkins as I paid my rent and tuition. Then one day a friend of my husband announced he had sold a book for publication.
What? I had no idea that a normal, everyday person could do that! He explained how he had written, then queried, then sold his work. I could do that! So I wrote my first book and sent it off. It was awful. I still have it, stored in a closet, because back in those days, you actually sent a manuscript off to publishers, unsolicited.
I don't handle rejection well, so I figured I was simply not a writer. But I couldn't get the ideas out of my head. Over the years I persisted. I carried a bag with writing tablets and pens with me to work, on vacations, anywhere I might have time to jot something down. (That didn't mean I always did write.) But I did slowly accumulate some stories. They were not very good—I recognized that—but I was getting better. I always knew that one day I would feel like I was good enough to put my work out for the public to read.
Some may think it's still not good enough. I can't argue that. I keep writing. I keep listening and learning. I keep getting better.