Why I decided to write about one of the worst things that ever happened to me

I came across an article recently asking for personal essays that involved any stage of romance, and since I am not doing so well financially, I decided to write an essay. I sat for awhile, just staring at a black screen. Anyone who's written anything in their life can relate to that, and also how annoyed they get writing the first sentence and deleting it over and over. I usually write fiction since my life isn't that interesting. Finally I thought of something, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to go there. I wasn't sure if I was healed enough to write that particular article. Would anyone even want to read what I had to say, or would they think that I was just trying to shame my ex? I thought about some of my favorite authors and started to write the article. In the past I had cried whenever I thought about the event, but this time I didn't. This time I flew through writing the article, even finding things to add when I was finished. When I was completely done I sat there, staring at my computer and thinking about what I had written. Should I submit it under a pen name?After some debating I decided to submit it under my name. While I hated what he had done to me, I knew that he had only made me stronger. I'm not sure if the magazine will publish me or reject me, but I really hope that it publishes me. If it doesn't I plan to revise the article and try again.

Does life experince equal writing experience?

Today I am tasked with applying for jobs online. I have recently gone through some major changes, and I can't help but wonder how they are affecting my writing. One of the characters in a story that I am currently working on works in a shoe store. I used to work in a shoe store. I was the manager of said shoe store, so do I find myself drawing from my own experiences? Yes, I do. That doesn't mean that I think you have to work in a shoe store to write about working in a shoe store. I do think there are some things you need to experience for yourself before writing about. I would feel uncomfortable writing about an emotion if I had never experienced it for myself. I'm not sure if I would have given this character a job working in a shoe store if I had not had the job working in a shoe store myself. With other characters, other professions make sense. I find myself having to use google a lot. I would actually like to find people in a few of those professions and ask them for more details about their jobs. There are some things you won't know unless you've been in their position. I find that it is easier to write things that I know, but I also love learning about new things and writing what I've learned. 

More old writing!

As I was digging through some of my things I found some more old writing. This is from when I was sending things off to the Long Ridge Writer's group. You can see my progress and see what they wanted me to change. You can also see how immature my writing was at the time. I think I've grown as a writer, and I did learn from the writer's group.

I'm a blank canvas

In the original draft of Hair Of The Wolf (my werewolf novel), there was more romance than there is now. Sure, there's a little flirting, but no real romance. There's a love interest, but again no romance. It's an urban fantasy, so it doesn't need romance, but I do want Anyssa to end up happy. She's been through so much that she deserves it. Why did I cut out the romance? The first answer to that is that Hair Of The Wolf is going to be part of a trilogy, and I didn't want to rush the romance. I hate reading a book where the romance seems rushed, or watching a movie where the two leads have known each other for three days. It takes time to build a relationship, even a friendship takes time to develop.  Another reason is that I have never been in love. I've been in relationships before, but never any where I thought I was in love. I've had strong feelings towards someone before, but I knew it wasn't love. Part of me isn't sure how to write about love if I've never been in love. Do I write about what I think love feels like? I am pretty much a blank canvas when it comes to life experiences. I've had some, as you can tell by reading this blog, but not as many as I would have liked. I need to have more. I need to be more carefree and experience more things. I need to think about what it means to be in love, and what it means for Anyssa to fall in love. I'm going to write about her falling in love, in fact I already have the whole second book outlined. I just need to get out more and do more things. I've heard of authors going on road trips, or doing extreme things to find themselves and experience more. Maybe that's what I need to do. I need to force myself out of my comfort zone. 

Do I read like a writer?

The other day I was checking my twitter and noticed a post by a writer. The post was in response to something one of her followers had asked her, and her response was that she sometimes couldn't enjoy a book because she read like a writer instead of a reader. I hadn't thought that there was a difference. I thought people just read like readers, since they usually were reading something they hadn't written. I decided to think about the books I read lately, and the reasons I enjoyed or didn't enjoy them. First Grave on The Right was simple, I didn't care for it because all the male characters were good-looking and so was the main female character, plus there was no real plot, or the plot was put on the back burner in favor of describing these great looking men. Right now I am reading the Sweet Valley adult book, and I notice little things I may not have noticed when I read the teen books as a teenager. The actions and way these people speak are unbelievable. I don't mean crazy, I mean no one says like in every sentence. I will get to the behavior part this weekend for my weekend review. My complaints for these books were things I might not have noticed or paid much attention to if I wasn't a writer myself. A book that I recently enjoyed was White Trash Zombie (I've reviewed all of these books or plan to, so check the items tagged with weekend review if you want to read more about these books). When I was reading White Trash Zombie, I kept thinking that the pacing of the book was perfect. There were parts that had nothing to do with the mystery of who turned Angel into a zombie, but I was still interested in those as well. The book was far from boring, and I plan to pick up the rest of the series, the first of which I kept wishing I'd written myself. Most readers will just put down a book they don't like, without wondering why. If you ask them why they might be able to pinpoint a reason, or they might just say that it was boring. I no longer read like a "normal" reader. I read like a writer.

I'm a discovery writer

I was watching a lecture at the gym about the two different types of writers. One is basically an out liner and the other is a discovery writer. At first I thought, these types don't describe me at all. Then I realized that I was a discovery writer. A discovery writer is someone who has trouble finishing one thing because they are ready to move onto the next. They also get ideas while already working on things, which distracts them. The out liner writes down everything they want to happen and fills in the blanks as they go. My desk is covered with post it notes filled with ideas for things I'm trying not to work on. I'm trying to finish what is almost ready to publish so I can publish it. I don't feel too bad about the type of writer I am since I get a bunch of cool ideas, I just need to stick with them.