I’m not one of those that always wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a history teacher, and did so at the college level. And teaching history is a lot like story telling with all the characters and events. Everyone said, “You know all these stories. You should write a book.” Since I’m not the world’s best typist, the idea of typing a story didn’t appeal. Then my husband bought a computer – and so with word processing and spell check, I decided to take the plunge.
I wrote several manuscripts – back in the old days when you had to print it out and mail it to the editor/agent. What a pain. So part of the dream is today it’s so easy to write and submit via the internet. The dream? No more postage and trips to the post office.
I joined a critique group, and learned the craft as we made our way through our first manuscripts. We all belonged to RWA (Romance Writers of America) which gave information on craft and the business of publishing. I attended as many conferences as I could and took workshops. The dream? Not only am I signing at the RWA Readers for Life Literacy Signing at the National Conference, my critique group and I am giving a workshop.
And finally, since I retired from my day job, have a home office and recently sold my first work on proposal. I at my computer, writing on my WIP, with my dog at my feet. This is living the dream.
What’s your dream of writing? Here’s hoping that you someday can live your dream.
Congratulations! I can’t imagine doing all the hard work to write a novel unless you utterly adore writing. Loving the subject matter has to be a great help, though.
It has always been my dream to send my characters out into the world to share their stories with total strangers, strangers who will come to love them as much as I do. Not quite there yet, but I’m working, studying, learning, writing, and rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. The dream is getting close; I can feel it!
Hope your signing at RWA is a dream-come-true. And how wonderful that your critique group is joining you for the workshop. Enjoy!