The Writer

This is a continuation of My Story. You can read Part 1 Here.

While I may not have loved to read, I have always loved a good story. My Dad always told me stories, and I loved making them up as a child. I would spend hours thinking up characters and adventures they could go on, and lands conquered.

I became interested in writing books shortly after I got married. I figured other people could write books. Why couldn’t I?

I was naive and thought it would be easy to write a book with no guidance, research, or knowledge on the subject. I sat down at my computer and started writing. It didn’t take long before my story was boring, and I had written myself into a corner.

Huffing and puffing a little bit, I started back at ground zero. I started doing a ton of research into how to write a book. A lot of the material on the internet at the time was about writing non-fiction. That wasn’t my goal.

There were few resources on how to write good stories and full-length fiction. Stumbling upon a fiction writing method, I returned to the planning board.

I spent months outlining my book, developing my characters, and writing and editing my first book. I even made my dear husband read the whole thing. He was patient and supportive of my ambitions.
After pouring months into this manuscript, I hired another writer to give me a critique.

Pause-I’m glad I did this. Reflecting on the critique now,
my reaction was what needed to change, not the review.

Back to the story.

When I received the critique, I was crushed by what it said. While ninety percent of what the analysis said was true, some wasn’t.

I did need to develop my characters more. I needed to give more flaws instead of perfect characters to make it more believable. I needed to dumb down the “talent” and realize time requirements and abilities.

The things that didn’t need to change were things the person giving the critique didn’t know about. She said the careers of some of my characters needed to change because that wasn’t a thing. However, at the time, several of my family members were employed doing the exact thing I described in the book, so I knew it was “a thing.”

I say this because there will always be someone with an opinion of the work you put into the world. You can either attach yourself to these opinions, good or bad, or you can separate yourself and continue to learn, develop, and do the work you love.

After I received this critique, I stopped writing. I put it on the shelf and turned to other ambitions. Sure, I would dabble in writing some of the stories running through my head, but I never took the time to write another full-length novel.

When all this went down, I had just given birth to my second child. I had plenty to keep me busy and moved on quickly, barring my desire to write.

I moved through several freelance copywriting gigs, which filled the itch for my writing but never got to the heart of it.

Not long after this, I discovered graphic design. It all started with a need to design a planner that fit my needs. I needed to track my newborn’s needs, the family schedule, plus my business and creative writing. 

Slowly, day by day, I began to master Adobe Indesign and Illustrator and create planners and printables. Any printable I design is due to the lull in my writing ambitions. I’m also incredibly thankful for the skills I learned while away from writing.

This time away from writing also gave me time to learn more about the publishing industry working with copywriting clients. I matured and can now reflect on the critique with my ego in check.

As this is Part 2 of My Story, there is a Part 3. To find out how all this comes together and how this plays into what I’m doing today, tune in for another post soon.

Until then, my word of encouragement is simple. No one can take your dreams from you. Only you can give up on them or pursue them.