For years I have always said I wanted to be a writer. I can't tell you how many times I have convinced others what a great author I will be when I have the money and time to slow down and crank out a few books. The problem is that life never slowed down.
While I was getting my bachelors I used school as an excuse. After I had my son I whined and complained about how I had absolutely no time. I settled down in what we all call the real world. I bought a home, got a respectable job, raised my son, went through a ton of pets that either got flushed or were given yard burials, and time kept passing me by.
I found time to go online at night at get my masters degree in the name of making more money at the job. I made time for little league, vacations, and hanging out with friends/family.
In the middle of the night last summer I woke up. Sweat was dripping down my face and back, I could feel my skin tingling, and my stomach felt sour. In my moment of dread all I could think is time will never slow down. I will never become an author if I sit and wait for that perfect moment.
My hands were shaking as I walked over to the chest and grabbed my laptop nestled securely in its case. I quickly plugged it up, hit the wifi button and opened Microsoft Word. For a while I just starred at the page as if it was going to tell me what to do. All I could see was the bland white screen glaring back at me. The soft glow of the light from the monitor fought back the edges of darkness all around me. I made a decision to just start typing about anything that popped up in my head.
Thank God I have the summers off work, thank God the fridge was stocked with goodies, and thank God my son was more interested in his new XBOX 360 than his mom. Three weeks later I had a 425 page book. My son figured out by day 3 that I was up to something. By day 8 he was reading everything over my shoulder and asking me when I was going to get the next chapter done.
Upon reflection that was the good news. The bad news is that I had no idea what a point of view was. No one told me I had to write from only one character’s point of view at a time. I just assumed because I knew what was happening my readers would just follow my train of thought, NOT! LOL! Okay so I have great characters and a book. I joined a free service called ChristianWriters.com. I got some invaluable input and now almost six months later I am still editing my book.
As I progress I will check in here. If you are interested I will drop in the prologue or a chapter. I look forward to hearing from you and your experiences with writing or trying to become an author.
Lisa
