Noticing Newbies

I would say that I’ve been an avid reader since my per-adolescent years. The earliest memory I can remember of me being engrossed in books was at the age of 11 or 12. I was hooked on the Baby-sitter’s Club books by Ann M. Martin. I started with the first one, Kristy’s Great Idea and after that, there was no stopping me. I can’t even begin to imagine how many books I have read since then – I’m sure it’s well over a thousand.

At some point in my adult life, I think it was around 2006, I started feeling differently about reading. Well, it wasn’t about the reading in general, it was more about the content of what I was reading. I found myself thinking after reading some books, “I could have written that story” or “OMG! That was horrible!”. Now, I understand that the writing process is not an easy one. But I sometimes wonder how much preparation people put into the craft before putting their work out there for the world to see.

In 2006, I started on my first manuscript. I got about half way through my story and stopped. I was stuck. I didn’t know what direction to take. I didn’t even know how I wanted my story to end. I mulled over this for years. Then, I lost it. I lost the story. My electronic copy nor my hard copy can be found. I was devastated (I still am). And unfortunately, since then, I haven’t had any ideas that have made me want to push forward into a story.

But that hasn’t stopped me. I’m determined to learn all that I can about the craft. I’m determined to complete a manuscript. If it never goes anywhere, I’m okay with that. Just the accomplishment of completion will be satisfying for me.