My Writing Journey So Far

It’s my first blog post! Yay! I’m going to start off by sharing my journey as a writer. Maybe something in here will help other writers along the way; maybe it won’t. Regardless, I love hearing other writers’ stories, so here’s the gist of mine . . .

I first realized I wanted to join the story-making world shortly after the birth of my fourth child. I’ve always been obsessed with stories–from books to movies to everyday conversations (“oh my gosh you are not going to believe what happened at the grocery store today”). But it wasn’t until I was raising my four children that I had an epiphany that I wanted to write novels. Not just read them.

Problem was, I didn’t know where to begin. I had never taken a creative writing class before. In fact, I had a profound fear of them (shelving that story for another post). Though I’d written some 3- to 5-page books as a third grader and stapled them together for my sisters and friends to read, I’d lost all interest in writing books as I grew into my teenage years and my passion for dance took over as my primary creative outlet. But then I had that moment in my thirties where I just knew I had to write books. I still remember sitting up to the computer while my youngest child napped, knowing I had to answer this call within and . . . finding myself staring at a blank Word Document. Literally, I thought: How do you write a book? I had no idea; I assumed you began at the beginning, but I didn’t know what story I wanted to tell.

So I spent the next several years learning how to write the kinds of books I love to read–ones with compelling, proactive main characters battling overwhelming forces in striking settings. Especially off-planet settings (I really loved the aesthetics of Star Wars as a kid so I knew right away many of my stories would take place on faraway worlds). I attended writers’ conferences and took copious notes. I listened to writers’ podcasts and read all the craft books I could get my hands on. I joined critique groups and slowly but surely started to figure out how to put a decent story together. I entered pitch competitions and did well there. I made it into Pitch Wars in 2016. Then I made it into Pitch Madness the next year. I received plenty of full requests but still hadn’t found an agent. I went on to win Second Place for “Best First Chapter in a Young Adult Science Fiction” at Utah’s impressive Storymakers Conference. The next year, I won First Place for that same contest. And then, at the top of 2019, I finally got a phone call from a lovely, talented agent wanting to represent me.

I’m currently still learning and growing in my craft as I seek a publishing house to help me share my stories with the world. And I will keep writing until I figure out how to craft my books so that they resonate.

The publishing business can be brutal, and it can take years to hone the skill of writing a compelling, novel-length story, but I knew this from the beginning. During that first year, after I realized I had to be a writer, I asked myself a tough question: Do I want to write? Or do I just want to “be published?” I knew the answer right away:

I want to write.

You have to love the craft to stick around in this business. Otherwise, you’ll burn out or just give up. But the writing process itself has become something I’ve come to value in a way I never imagined. There are tough moments, of course. All the endless revisions and re-writes, the brutal critiques and the rejections–it stings. Of course it does. But there are too many awesome things to gain in this industry: the skills I’m learning, the great friends I’m connecting with along the way, the vocabulary I’m growing, the fun I’m having “nerding out” with others like me who are obsessed with the art of telling a great story. It is all worth it. The process itself is a huge reward.

TL;DR– I became a writer because I wanted to be an active participant in the story-making world. I learned right away that this was going to be a tough industry to succeed in, but I embraced the challenge because the process itself has been incredibly rewarding. So fellow writers–keep going! Keep growing! Find joy in the journey. It is all worth it.