Writing has been my passion since the second grade. I remember having a journal full of stories that I thought were so great that they would one day be best sellers. In reality, they were horrible. But at least my creative juices were flowing! Third grade became even more exciting with my stories, as we were encouraged to write about anything we liked and we got to publish them and read them in front of the class. My third grade teacher and teacher’s aides would praise me for my good work. And I felt so proud of myself for writing something good.
As a teenager, I kept journals because I didn’t have a lot of close friends with whom I could share anything. So, I wrote to my journal daily. Stories still floated around in my head. Mostly just silly things, like talking animals and inanimate objects coming to life. But then as I got further into my teens I started developing better plot lines. They were underdeveloped, but a story was in there somewhere. When I was fifteen, I began writing my first “novel.” In all actuality, it was somewhere around one hundred pages when I finished it. But it was the first idea for a novel that I had ever had. (I am more of a short story/children’s author. So novels are quite daunting to me.) I kept the “novel” around, thinking of how wonderful it could be if I had it published. But I was so afraid of it being rejected that I never pursued it any further.
A few years later, I found the scribbled pages of my novel and saw how childish my writing really was. So I decided to throw most of the story out. But the idea for the novel never has left my brain. In fact, after going to college to pursue writing as a career, the ideas have only increased. I learned a lot in college about refining your writing style, and rules that should be followed. I also learned to be persistent in your attempts of being published. It isn’t easy, as so many writers know.
So, here I am. Still with all of these ideas for a novel. But I have yet to sit down and type it all out. Why? A large factor is that I am afraid I won’t create something that people will actually want to read. I’m just one insignificant person… what do I have to say that people actually want to read? I’m afraid that I’ll get really bad writer’s block and never finish—because finishing a book really is a daunting task. Finally, I have never ever written a novel before.
But I still feel those nagging thoughts, “There’s a story that you have to tell—just man up and do it!” And, “There’s a person who wants her story told. Get to know her.” These are the thoughts that intrigue me so much that I feel that if I never write I will never know these characters. They deserve to have their story told, because if I don’t tell it, who will?
