The Road So Far
My writing origins fit the typical pattern. I can't say I've ever not been writing. My mom likes to tell people how she has the first "book" I wrote when I was three. I still have an excellent illustrated saga about an Octapoos navigating the trials of marine social life, which I even stapled together and fashioned a cover for. It doesn't stop there. All through primary school, I wrote during reading time, a fact that irritated some teachers, while others humored me.
It became a solid hobby through high school and college. For some reason, I never thought about it so directly or explicitly as I do now, even though it was always a part of my life. I didn't have goals or milestones, I just wrote when I felt like it, and spent the time in between daydreaming up stories. When I try to think back, I honestly can't remember how much writing I would do in an average week.
In the middle of vet school, I stumbled upon Brandon Sanderson's free online lectures. At first I thought the reason I loved them was because it was fascinating to see a favorite author talk about the behind-the-scenes of the craft. When I couldn't get enough of them and found myself rewatching lectures to pick up new points, I realized the reason I loved it was because I love writing. I wasn't just learning interesting factoids about how Sanderson works, I was taking a free creative writing class. I soaked it up. Then promptly noticed everything I was working on at the time was unsalvageably amateurish.
So I set about working on my new story with fresh determination and a critical eye. I joined Critique Circle, an online writing forum and critique group, and it opened my eyes to editing and critique. I met my fantastic critique partners, put my early chapters through the gauntlet, and my manuscript found its feet. For the first time I had momentum, an intricate plot, and fleshed-out characters. My prose improved enormously. What had been a personal leisure became a team effort, and with the possibility of finishing a MS, I took the craft more and more seriously. I'd picked a painfully over-ambitious story for a first novel, with a huge cast, non-linear structure, massive stakes, and big worldbuilding. It could be great, but only if I put my head down and worked.
One day, close to final exams, I finished the first draft. And another day, many months later, I finished the second draft. I got chapter-by-chapter feedback from my partners. I polished. I recruited friends and writers to beta read. I rewrote. And somehow, I hit a point where I felt satisfied, dipped my toes into the water and looked up some agents. It was time to query.
I didn't write dilligently all that time. Sometimes I went six weeks or more without even opening the document. It may have been because of difficult clinical rotations or getting ready for the licencing exams, but not always. Sometimes I just felt uninspired, like the project was too difficult to pull together into a solid, coherent novel, and that nobody would want to read it let alone try to publish it. But I pushed through, and it turns out people do like it, and do think we can publish it. And I have more ideas that will turn into more novels. Maybe those novels will turn into series. It won't be all peaches and roses, but the gates are open.
Querying, though, is a separate story in its own right.
It became a solid hobby through high school and college. For some reason, I never thought about it so directly or explicitly as I do now, even though it was always a part of my life. I didn't have goals or milestones, I just wrote when I felt like it, and spent the time in between daydreaming up stories. When I try to think back, I honestly can't remember how much writing I would do in an average week.
In the middle of vet school, I stumbled upon Brandon Sanderson's free online lectures. At first I thought the reason I loved them was because it was fascinating to see a favorite author talk about the behind-the-scenes of the craft. When I couldn't get enough of them and found myself rewatching lectures to pick up new points, I realized the reason I loved it was because I love writing. I wasn't just learning interesting factoids about how Sanderson works, I was taking a free creative writing class. I soaked it up. Then promptly noticed everything I was working on at the time was unsalvageably amateurish.
So I set about working on my new story with fresh determination and a critical eye. I joined Critique Circle, an online writing forum and critique group, and it opened my eyes to editing and critique. I met my fantastic critique partners, put my early chapters through the gauntlet, and my manuscript found its feet. For the first time I had momentum, an intricate plot, and fleshed-out characters. My prose improved enormously. What had been a personal leisure became a team effort, and with the possibility of finishing a MS, I took the craft more and more seriously. I'd picked a painfully over-ambitious story for a first novel, with a huge cast, non-linear structure, massive stakes, and big worldbuilding. It could be great, but only if I put my head down and worked.
One day, close to final exams, I finished the first draft. And another day, many months later, I finished the second draft. I got chapter-by-chapter feedback from my partners. I polished. I recruited friends and writers to beta read. I rewrote. And somehow, I hit a point where I felt satisfied, dipped my toes into the water and looked up some agents. It was time to query.
I didn't write dilligently all that time. Sometimes I went six weeks or more without even opening the document. It may have been because of difficult clinical rotations or getting ready for the licencing exams, but not always. Sometimes I just felt uninspired, like the project was too difficult to pull together into a solid, coherent novel, and that nobody would want to read it let alone try to publish it. But I pushed through, and it turns out people do like it, and do think we can publish it. And I have more ideas that will turn into more novels. Maybe those novels will turn into series. It won't be all peaches and roses, but the gates are open.
Querying, though, is a separate story in its own right.
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