Time to Write

Hello all!

       It's been a slow reading week, and I'm a bit behind on my TBR for the month. My first week back from school has been busy with getting things together, unpacking, and making sure to spend time with family. During this next week I'm hoping to not only get a lot of read done, but to also get a lot of writing done.

       Today I'm going to talk about writing, because, well, I'm a writer. From about the age of ten I knew 1) that I would be an English major and 2) that I would write for the rest of my life, whether published or not. It's a passion of mine that I've had since that first short story I wrote in fourth grade. Since then I have seen the incredible things that words and stories can do in people's lives (including my own), and I want to be apart of that.

       I finished my first novel when I was thirteen, and though it's horrendous to read now, it is still one of my greatest accomplishments. I have since written four other novels that I love, but that need very heavy editing and that I don't know if I will ever attempt to get published. I wrote them during high school when I had a lot more time on my hands, but when I wasn't quite sure what I was doing.

       I didn't write much during my freshmen year of college. I did some editing on my high school books here and there, but I didn't really have any new ideas that I felt passionate enough about to take time away from studying. That is, until my last month of school when I got a new story idea that I just couldn't ignore.

       I finished a draft that summer with a lot of difficulty. I had to do a lot of research for it, and this was a first for me. I usually write fantasy or science fiction, but this novel is realistic fiction that deals with mental health and therapy. The research was intense and hard to get through. There were a lot of times while writing the first draft that I was uncertain about where the story was going. It took a lot out of me, both the task of trying to do justice for the story I wanted to tell, but also the content of the story. There are a lot of darker elements that I was just not used to working with. I was also going through a difficult few months after a shooting occurred at my college, and the feelings of the characters were sometimes things that I was feeling as well.

       A year later, I think I am finally ready to revise it. I want to have a finished draft by the time I go back to Seattle in the fall. This has been hard for me to start for multiple reasons. First, I have a lot of revising to do. Second, I'm a little afraid of how much it's going to take out of me. The first time around was so intense, and I know it's going to take the same amount of effort and emotion the second time. Third, I am horrible at sitting down and finding time to write.

       The first two of these are things that I just have to work through. The third, however, is something that I have to really work on. I know a lot of writers who say making a schedule and making sure that you're writing every day (not just when you feel like it) is so important to getting better at your craft. So, I'm going to make sure that I spend at least an hour a day editing my novel. I think I'm going to set aside thirty minutes in the morning and thirty minutes in the afternoon. I can go past this, but these two thirty minute periods must be spent writing. Once I sit down and start, I usually end up writing for long periods of time. So, though I'll have at least an hour set aside each day, I'll probably end up doing more than this.

       I hope this time schedule, which I will be starting today, will help me get through a second draft. I have a really good feeling about this novel, and for the first time ever I think I have an actual chance at one day getting this published. It needs a lot of work to get to that point, and I'm going to try as hard as I can to get it there.

       I hope one day I'll be able to share with you all what the story is about and hopefully the exciting news about perhaps getting it published. We'll see!

       I'll see you all Thursday. Thanks for reading!

        Your Pemberley Reader,
               Acacia