Where to begin?

Amateur? Novice? What do you call someone who wants to write-who loves to write-but has never done so for any other reason than what was required in school, at work, or for personal pleasure? Clueless.

For as long as I can remember (admittedly my memory is one of my weaker qualities), books have been my escape. It started young, when the chaos of home was too unpleasant. Sinking into other worlds, reading by the crack of light filtering from the hall after “lights out”. By the time I hit 8th grade I had become smitten by Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I would mow through their books, voraciously absorbing the scenes. To this day I bask in King’s word play.

Then there was the poem that won me a regional award and the papers that I wrote for my high school Creative Writing class. The papers for the undergrad and then grad degrees (those were a lot less fun). But my love affair with words continues.

Then recently, I got a wild hair up my, well you know. What if I write a NOVEL! Brilliant! I can totally do that-I love books and I’m a decent writer. It was the first week of January when I was struck with this genius idea. We were sitting at a place up in Tahoe while it rained as though it may never have the chance again.

I ordered these beautiful brown (vegan) leather notebooks that were going to be where I built this masterpiece. I started brainstorming. At first I started creating a character, but a few days in she felt so contrived that I abandoned her. Then I was animated by the idea of telling the story of an obscure Nordic goddess, but written in a 1950s American town. But soon a totally different idea started to bubble to the surface despite my focus elsewhere.

I eventually succumbed and am committed to this idea. While flushing out the characters and world, I started doing some research. I discovered this book, Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks (check it out here). I have been reading it slowly and love its straightforward presentation. It’s a very no-nonsense explanation of story structure and elements. At the same time I started exploring podcasts. I’m currently enjoying one called Wizards, Warriors, & Words, not just for the great info but for the meandering conversation and irreverent humor (check it out here or on Apple’s Podcasts).

What I have taken away so far is this:

1. Write (obviously)
2. If you want to publish something, you may want to consider developing your presence on social media (hence this blog)
3. Look at entering some writing competitions. It’s good experience and maybe you’ll make some money!
4. I don’t know shit about writing

So, that’s where I’m at. Adrift at the beginning of this adventure. I hope that you will consider walking this path with me. I would love to connect with the writing community and learn from as many people as I can.

My partner in crime, Lady Delilah Sparklebottom. Otherwise known as What Did You Do?!?