Me on Writers Who Aren't Published Yet

because i am one, like a lot of you.

sometimes i feel left out in the writing community because i'm not published yet. i'm working away on my laptop in an attempt to write something interesting and different and exciting that will one day find me an agent, an editor, a publisher, and readers.

i love writers/authors who talk about what it was like when they were writing their first book, or their second (or in the case of me, my fourth), because it makes them sound human. it's nice to know they were once me, all full of hopes and dreams and novel ideas they hope aren't complete garbage.

i really hope mine isn't complete garbage.

a couple years ago, when i was hoping it would be easy to be a writer after i finished university, i was listening to The Writing Show with Paula B (http://www.writingshow.com/index.html). i will admit, i didn't listen to all of the episodes, but i listened to the 'Getting Published' series of episodes that featured Paula talking to someone who was writing something they hoped would find them an agent and get them published, especially the ones with Mark Leslie (http://www.markleslie.blogspot.com).

he's Canadian and he was working on a werewolf novel: my attention was totally grabbed.

i loved the episodes with Mark because he was writing while dealing with a day job and a family and all the other ways that life can get in the way of writing a novel.

i want more of this. i want more people trying to make it as a writer talking about how they're trying to make it as a writer. i want more acknowledgment to people who aren't there yet but want to be so much. i want to see more blogs by book reviewers and how-to-write people about the not-there-yets, the people who are writers but not published authors.

i'm still a writer, i'll always be a writer, even if it never works out. i hope it does, i really think the novel i'm working on will be a good one, but i'm still working on it. i'm barely halfway through my first draft.

this is for all the aspiring writers, because you're out there, working hard every day, writing as much as you can in the little gaps of time you're given.

and because you're out there, i want your thoughts.

i want you to talk about what it's like as an aspiring writer, unsigned, unpublished, and not yet ready to throw your novel into the giant slush pile that's out there waiting.

you could do at your own blog, or comment here, or talk about it on Twitter. whatever you prefer.

it would be an interesting thing to do as a podcast. hmmm. *pulling on my thinking hat*

now, i'm going to go write as much as i can for the next hour. it's almost time for bed.

Me on What I'm Doing With My Life

so, it's all official and stuff. i'm now the proud owner of a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in English from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

is it wrong that i'm a bit panicky??

i feel kinda old, like i should have a totally solid life plan and stuff, but i don't. i barely have a job right now.

well, i kinda figured that i'd take the summer to think about what i wanted to do and look into some things, so i'm not totally worried at the moment. i guess in August i will be, but not now.

so, for the moment, i'm taking things one day at a time, trying to write every day (even if it sucks, because then i'm still writing something), and doing things around the house so it looks like i'm being productive.

and now, because i'm fun (i am, i promise :D), here is the latest info on my work in progress.

i'm still working on it, and i'm still enjoying it, which is good. you need to enjoy what you're writing. i keep thinking of bits to add, to takeaway, to edit and fiddle with, but i'm trying to move forward and write down what i want to fix so i can go back later and edit it.

the fact that i want to go back and edit it to make it better is a good sign. it means i'm taking it seriously, that whatever i write first isn't always the best. the hard part comes when i have to decide what needs fixing and what doesn't.

i thought up a good plot twist the other week, and i'll have to do some editing to work it in a bit more, but i think it'll be a good twist. i like it. it makes the whole book seem kind of MC in the dark and sneaky.

i do think i'll need beta readers, but not until i finish this first draft, and the second, and the third, and maybe a fourth, but i'm not sure. three drafts before beta readers/critiquers sounds okay to me.

i can only hope that by the time i query agents, they're still interested in werewolf MC struggling to figure out who she is coming of age YA novels with a romance subplot but it's not the main plot.

*crossing my fingers*