Becoming a Writer

I don't know about you, but I'm always interested to hear how famous and not-so-famous writers get started.  I read once (and assume it's true?) Nora Roberts started with a notebook and pencil one long Northeastern winter when she had young kids.  I'm pretty sure I also read Susan Elizabeth Phillips wrote her first book with a friend acting as co-writers.

Like Nora (if only I could put myself in the same category), I started with a notebook and pencil.  It was about three years ago and I was working part-time.  I spent a great deal of time that year sitting in a car pool line for a good 45 minutes to an hour waiting for my then first grader to get out of school.  For as long as I can remember, I've had story ideas circling through my head like other people have grocery lists or to-do lists.  I never told anyone because I felt a bit like a freak:-).  Sometimes, my stories would be prompted by a song I'd heard or a news story I'd seen.  Sometimes, they just popped in there with no prompting.  It started as a child when I was afraid of the dark and couldn't sleep.  I'd soothe my fears by thinking of a fun story until I felt asleep.

I'd never had a creative writing class or tried my hand at writing of any kind since my school days, which at that point had been a number of years before.  So, I started from scratch.  I poured over dialogue tutorials and samples because at first, I had no idea how to write dialogue correctly.  Ironic because my writing now is very dialogue heavy (maybe too dialogue heavy but that's for another entry).  I researched, researched and researched some more.  Then, I researched again.  I read blogs, agent websites and anything else I could find.  Then, I got started.

My first "novel", and I use that word loosely, had too many characters (as my wonderful mother-in-law lovingly told me) and was a mess in many ways.  Still, in was a huge accomplishment for me.  At the end, I had a 80,000-word finished manuscript.  I finally started to tell the people closest to me and a couple of friends asked to read it.  Surprisingly, they loved it or were at least really positive about it.  A big step for me and a really exciting time.  After that, my husband bought me a wonderful MacBook Air, which I'm writing from today, and I no longer use paper and pencil except for times when a thought strikes me and I can't get to my MacBook for whatever reason.  To this day, I always carry a notebook in my car:-).

My story is not yet a success story but I like to think it will be someday.  For now, it's still a work in progress.  One in which I continue to research and learn on a daily basis.

Time Management

I think the hardest part for me in my quest to be a writer is the whole time management thing.  I work full time, have two wonderful children with their assorted activities, an amazing husband and a household to manage.  Sound familiar?  I'm sure there are others our there just like me, at least I hope there are:-).   When to write, when to do laundry and when to do anything else extra that may come up from time to time (try everyday!)-these are some of the dilemma's I face on a daily basis.  Forget about working out!  Unfortunately, that's the one thing to get neglected.  I don't have time for everything.

What to do?

I hate New Year's resolutions, but this year I focused on making a schedule.

A typical day in the life of the Romantic Writing Diva circa 2013:
6:00am:  Wake up (Ugh!)
7:00am:  Get the kids on the bus (take a deep breath)
8:00am:  Head to work (already late!)
8:30am-5:30pm:  Work (again Ugh!)
5:45pm:  Pick up kids.
6:00pm:  Maybe get in a work out if I'm lucky but often drive the kids to an activity of sorts.
7:30pm:  Dinner (too late, I know!)
9:00pm:  Get kids to bed (take deep breath again;-0)
9:30pm:  Start writing (Finally!)
11:00pm:  Got to bed and start the entire process all over again.

I'm sure you can see a lot of problems with the above scenario.  Where does poor, beloved hubby fit in?  Lucky for me, he's extremely supportive but still.  He needs me too and often I scrap the writing unless he's watching Duck Dynasty or some other man show.  Sometimes, I write during basketball practice or while the kids are playing at friends' houses.  Alas, my writing proceeds at a snail's pace:-(.  Such is the life though and I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world.  One day, my kids will be grown and I never want to look back and wish I'd spent more time with them.  I can't do without my day job, at least for now, and the house will always be there waiting to be cleaned.  Someday, I tell myself, I will be able to spend my days (hopefully sitting at a beach somewhere) writing to my heart's content.

Someday, but not yet!

I'm a writer.  There I said it.  I have to admit it feels really good.  For the last four years, I've tried my hand at writing without really telling anybody.  At first, I was too embarrassed to even tell my husband but gradually, I let people in on my little secret.  First, hubby dearest, then my two best friends and finally various other people.  I'm not sure why I was so secretive about it other than it felt weird saying, "Oh by the way, I'm trying my hand at writing a novel."  If you knew me, you'd get it.  I'm not the type to put myself out there which makes this blog a big deal for me.  My husband is the type to shout it from the rooftops, as he's practically done by the way.  When we meet new people, he's the one who says my wife, the writer.  Not me, never me.  I guess like many people, I equate being a writer with being published (I am not) or having your name splashed across something somewhere (I definitely do not).  I don't think I can count my clinical reports I write on a daily basis.  That's completely different. There's a template and as all of us trying our hand at writing a novel know, there's really no template to be found.  Write what you know.  Write what you like.  Don't worry about making it sellable (is that even a word?).  Write.  Write.  Write.  So, for me, this blog is going to be another way to do just that.  I'll write what I know and hopefully I'll learn something along the way.

Here goes, my name is Romantic Writing Diva and I'm a writer.
See, not so bad:-)