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Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Blog? What blog?

Every time I decide to post on this blog I check the list that shows every post I've made so far.  And every time I do that, I come upon the beginnings of a post that I had started weeks before and never got around to finishing.  I always end up deleting that old post (because I'm not really interested in blogging about a topic I had picked out weeks before) and starting a new one.  And half the time that new one becomes the new old-post-from-weeks-before-that-I-never-finished.

BUT NOT THIS TIME!

Oh no, I am DETERMINED to finish this post.  Even if it means skipping all my afternoon appointments!

Okay, that's a lie.  I'm not going to skip my appointments.  But I AM going to finish this post, even if I have to finish it at 11:00 tonight when LOST and Parenthood are over.

So, what is this post about?  WELL.  I think it's going to be about writing.  I just read a great blog on kt literary about teen writing.  I looked back on some of my stuff and CRINGED.  It was horrible.  I had this fanfic that I wrote when I was like twelve, and it's all about how my friends and I go on an exchange to Hogwarts.  Oh, and Harry and Ginny get married.  And I date Draco Malfoy.  Yeah.  Good stuff.

Anyway, that made me think about my writing journey. *cue clichés*  No, really.  It has been quite a journey, and I'm not even half way!  I mean, I guess there's no end to the journey and blah blah blah, but seriously.  I still have a long way to go.  I would love to be published some day, but for that to happen I need to write something that is worthy of publishing.  I wrote a novel in 2008 for NaNoWriMo, but it's still in it's roughest rough-draft form.  I'm thinking about re-writing it completely, actually, because as much as I adore the story, there are some weak plot points that need fixing and I skipped about six or seven chapters in the middle because I didn't know what I wanted to put there.  So I suppose I'll work on that this summer.

But anyway, the JOURNEY!  I've been into reading and writing for as long as I can remember.  I actually remember being four years old and writing a story that consisted of two-word sentences like, "Nona runs."  I typed it out on our Macintosh (back before it was called a Mac) and it was in HUGE font that made the whole sentence take up a page.  (I may have had help typing.  I don't remember the process, only the finished product.)  It was SO COOL.

I remember reading my first REAL chapter book in third grade.  It was called Number the Stars, and it had something to do with a girl named Annemarie who was Jewish and the Nazis came and things... happened... I don't really remember the plot, but I remember that was the first time I ever heard of Jewish people having to wear stars on their clothes.  And I also remember that I thought Annemarie was the COOLEST NAME EVER and I was TOTALLY going to give that name to my daughter some day.  Except... somehow I misread it and thought it was pronounced "an-nuh-mare."  Like Anna Mare.  Like a horse or something.  It was a while before I realized that I was pronouncing it wrong, but even then I still thought Annamare was a cool name.  I was kind of a weirdo.

Anyway, I said I was going to get this blog posted, and it is now Wednesday morning.  I'll just say this one last thing: Doesn't matter what your goal is (for me, it's publishing my work), the best thing you can do is PRACTICE.  I know I have no authority or experience in this area, because I haven't reached my goal yet, but I know that practice is the key.  So, maybe this summer I'll post some excerpts from the story I'm working on so I can get some feedback and continue to practice and improve my writing :)

And with that, I think I'll hit "post."  Because if I wait any longer, I'll just come back in several weeks and discover this unposted blog.  And I really don't want that to happen AGAIN.

2 comments:

  1. I totally understand what you mean about writing!! It is all an practice! I really hope you are able to put up excerpts of your stories/fanfic/etc... I would love to give you feedback!

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