Taking Charge

Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. – Seneca.

I have wanted to be an author since I could write – or perhaps since I could read, as I’m guessing that came first! I wrote voraciously while at school, but once I hit University my writing was put on the back-burner. I still wrote, but it was far more sporadic. After I graduated (after 6 years at Uni, about 6 years ago) I started to write again, giving myself the goal of submitting a story every two months to a magazine or competition. I had no luck that year – perhaps I should have made the goal a bit more of a stretch – 6 short stories in one year is really not that hard.

When I discovered Nanowrimo in 2008, I signed up, and my writing has been a little more regular since then – basically I wrote a novel   every November, left it a month or two, edited it, then started planning for my next novel.  Last year I joined an online writers group, and I have been spilling out the same quantity as my school days. In (almost) twelve months I have written a 100,000 word novel, a 16,000 word novella, a couple of 3000 and 1000 word stories, and a collection of 100 word, and flash fiction (500 word) stories. Some I have submitted to competitions, some are still going through the editing phase (or in the case of my novella – awaiting their first edit).

I have delayed writing for many reasons. At 18 I felt I was too young – and after that too busy – and at various times not good enough. But here I am at 30 – a few small publications under my belt many years ago (one short story and a couple of book reviews) and nothing since. I think it’s time I started taking charge and working towards making my dream a reality.