Writing Inside Out

I think the hardest thing about writing is connecting the thoughts with what actually ends up on the page. I have the stories straight in my head. I know the characters like they are my best friends (don’t judge), I see their homes, their pasts, I feel their pain and happiness, joy, and sorrow, and I know exactly how I want to write it down. The most challenging part is making sure that it actually gets on paper (or the screen). I greatly value the time my husband takes to read through the books and point out the things that don’t make sense. He is my biggest critic, but also my biggest fan. He cheers me on if I get frustrated, and he doesn’t let me release a book until it’s at the highest quality it can be for the readers. For that, I owe him everything in the world because I owe it to my readers to make sure that what they read is the best that I can turn out.

That’s not to say that my work doesn’t have room for improvement. I go back and read Silver or some of the books I wrote that will never see the light of a publishing day (or at least not without a ton of revising), and I do see things that I would change. I wouldn’t take back Silver- it’s still one of my favorite books for its own reasons, but I’m happy to say that I feel my writing has improved since its release.

That should be the goal of any writer. You can’t wait until you never make a mistake or you’re at the very highest of your writing ability, because we are all still learning and the world will have to wait for your masterpiece until you are 100 years old and on your deathbed (trust me- at that time, writing a book won’t be your first goal). Writing is a learning process, and if you don’t start, you’ll never learn.

I love writing and the challenge it presents. My biggest war with myself is making sure the thoughts in my head that make up the stories come out in a way that the readers see the same worlds and know the same characters I do. If I miss the boat, then I go back and work on it until I feel the book is the best it can possibly be. I give my readers the promise that I will never publish anything that isn’t ready to be read, and I love the opportunity to share my worlds and my friends with people who take a chance on an indie author. Thank you very much.