Behind the Writing

I am a SAHM, but I like to call myself a writer, too. Even though sometimes the term doesn't feel deserved. I'm the rookiest a rookie can get, but I'm eager, and in the past four years have done all I could do to learn about the craft, minus getting a degree.

That's right, I don't have a degree.

But I like to pretend I know everything there is to know.

Until I get a huge wake up call and realize I don't know a tenth of it. And that continues to happen, over and over again.

I'm not published, but it's literally my dream. More precisely, to walk into a Barnes & Noble and see my book--all fancied out by a predominate publishing house--on the featured books table.

Really though, I'll even take seeing it wedged between two other no-name books on a back shelf. I just want to be published some day.

I've even looked into the self-epublishing rout, and am thinking of getting my short story out that way, while I perfect my novel(s).

Either way, I want to be able to claim I'm an author some day, not just a writer.

But I never knew I wanted to be a writer growing up. I never knew what I wanted to be. Only that I loved singing, art, literature, poetry, and words. It wasn't until my first son was seven months old that I got the guts to sit down at my computer and just start typing. I'd had stories and characters floating around in my brain for months, but never wanted to admit it to anyone because I didn't want to be laughed at.

So I pushed a novel out. And in the process, I got the guts to tell the ones I love what I was doing. And they were so supportive. My loved ones have been so supportive during this process, and are always the first to read my work. They are my number one fans.

All in all, as far as fiction goes, I've written three novels and one short story, plus a few short fiction pieces on my blog. In that four-year's time, I've read books on the craft of writing, religiously followed editors' and literary agents' blogs to learn the industry, and read as many books as I could to find my feel.

I've submitted different works to over twenty-five literary agents, always realizing afterward how far my work still has to go and not blaming them for the rejections. And After the major revisions I'm working on right now, I will do it all over again. No matter how agonizing.

I have taken webinars from highly esteemed agents, learned how to write killer queries and killer hooks, and even how to do perfect pitches if I ever got so blessed to be able to attend a writer's conference.

I've learned that no matter how great your prose are, the story and plot have to be just as phenomenal, and vice versa.

I've learned just what does and doesn't work, mostly on POV.

I've learned that sometimes you have to break the writing rules.

I've learned how to "kill the little darlings."

I've learned how to show and not tell, how to avoid using excessive adverbs and flowery language.

The list goes on and on.

The last four years have been humbling, treacherous, rewarding, fulfilling, and have provided me with many learning experiences. I've lost much much sleep in order to write, revise, write, and revise some more.

Did I say revise?

But it's a need I have. Like eating, I feel I can't go on without it. It's how I release my stresses, how I escape. It's how I feel whole, as an individual.

I hope to someday be able to share my still-so-imperfect-and-probably-always-will-be works that I've come to love with many other people. That's another dream of mine: that maybe, someday, people will love my characters and their stories as much as I do.

I've posted some of my work on my blog. To see some segments of my three novels, all still in the revision stages, visit:

In The Family
November Rain
The Exception

I haven't posted any of The Fourth Husband (my short story), but maybe I will someday.

To read the segments of Red Wheelbarrow I have so far (an ongoing fictional story I've started here on my blog), visit here.

Other fiction pieces on my blog:

What She Wants
Defy Gravity

For more posts on my writing, visit my Writing label. And for more background of why I write and what motivates me, visit here.