A writer can create anything. Writers are like gods. They can create mystical places like J.K Rowling did with Hogwarts. They can create mythological creatures like Harry Potters' Hypocrite, or Unicorns. They can build mountains and villages and underwater sea worlds. They can take you from one end of the universe to the other and you never have to leave the comfort of the couch or the blanket you're curled up under.
I want to do that; I want to write novels and tell stories that will enthrall a reader and capture their imagination. I want to make them laugh; I want to make them cry; I want to give them a ticket to travel through my mind.
So, one might ask, “Why, if you have such a passion and love for writing why haven't you broken into the novel business yet?”
Getting into the writing business has been hard for me. I've been writing since the fifth grade, yet, discipline is the hardest part, forcing myself to sit down for a little time every day and write. There are so many distractions, It seems that I can always find an excuse, a chore, or I'm just too worn out from my regular job.
I have several novels which I have started and then put off too long; it's hard to get back to them. I constantly have new ideas and plots popping into my head. I usually try to give them time to grow before putting them onto paper; it's like my mind just shoots these ideas out faster than I can produce. Sometimes I wonder if Ritalin would slow my mind down enough so that I could concentrate on one thing at a time.
Sometimes I go through long spells where I don't do any writing. I get so frustrated at my failures that I swear writing off. I begin to think that it isn't for me. But, I still get the ideas and plots building in my head. How can I let those ideas go to waste? I always go back to writing. It was my first love; my first passion. I just have trouble finishing what I start.
One day, this last spring, I came home from work and got into an argument with my fourteen year old daughter. We argued about money she needed for a trip and I commented about all the money I have to pay out for their school trips and programs.
My daughter retorted: “Give it up Dad, your life is over; it's time to give to your kids.”
That hit me hard; it angered me, and it hurt me. I was thirty-eight years old at the time, a few days from my thirty-ninth birthday, It's bad enough that I come home from my job at the warehouse, worn and tired and feeling older than I am, but now I'm being told that my life is over.
It hit me hard. I had dreams of being a novelist. Been dabbling in writing for almost thirty years, (I've a few poems published in anthologies; sold a romantic piece to Blue Mountain Arts for a greeting card when I was in my early twenties, I received two hundred dollars for that.) I really had nothing to show for it. No career in writing like I wanted, or dreamed of.
So I got mad. Not just mad, but I swore I was going to do something about it. My life was not over and I sure as hell am not dead yet. I boiled over my daughter comment that evening and all the next day while I was at work. When I got home the next night, I started researching online schools and found a course for freelance writing. It was through the Penn Foster Correspondent School.
The course costs about six hundred and ninety bucks and the payments were reasonable. I signed up immediately. I didn't tell my wife about it for a week. I was and still am determined to finish this course and gain a successful career in writing.
My main goal is learn the business side of writing: editing, marketing and such. I also wanted to work on my grammar and punctuation skills, sentence structure. My plan is to engross myself in the freelance course; gain all the skills I need for a career in writing, whether I write my novels, or just articles and short stories for magazines. I will be a successful writer.
Since I've started my course, I've completed five short stories and three articles. I'm researching the writers market for submission guidelines and markets that are looking for my article subjects and story genres.
I still haven't been able to write everyday but I am doing it much more frequently. I bounce back in fourth between my file of novels, short stories, and articles so that I am almost regularly writing something.
I do not feel my journey as a writer, up to this point, has been wasted, but I have realized it can be a long road when chasing a dream.
