Some Background

I have always loved telling stories from a young age. When I would babysit or nanny kids I would make up tales and my imagination was always going wild inventing futures, loves stories and alternate realities. At no point growing up did I think I would be able to make a living off of writing, and so, while I wrote for fun and personal enrichment, I didn’t necessarily nurture the skill. I hyper-focused on career, until I realized that everyone who told me I’d burn myself out was one-hundred percent correct. That on top of a significant amount of stress in my family and social life, I realized I hadn’t left myself with many personal pleasures and hobbies to pursue. And then I started to have some health issues that limited my ability to partake in my usual very active past-times.

It was then that I fell back on my love of stories. I had always had a bucket list goal to publish a book, and at this point I started to actively work toward achieving that. I started by taking general writing classes with the Writer’s Studio, both to practice the skill, and to find community. The classes were great, teaching me multiple valuable lessons including:

• How to give, and take criticism
• The narrative voice
• How to analyze great/classic works

However, I realized that the class itself was practice of a skill. The goal to publish a book, would obviously need good writing, but the writing was pointless without a story that made since. This is where I struggled. I would have a general idea, but kept running into dead ends and not knowing where to go next or not entirely understanding why I story I wrote wasn’t working. That’s when I realized that successful stories have certain core needs. I started exploring podcasts and came across Fiction Writing Made Easy. This podcast and the mailing list have introduced me to so many other incredible resources, including free or reduced price courses.

Now I am outlining my story, working on it’s first draft, and am very excited for my future in writing, whether it continues to be an enjoyable hobby, or a viable source of income. Additionally, I am working on my website and mailing list to find my audience and connect. So if you find these posts interesting, or like the premise of my story, stick around! I’d be happy to have you along!

-ESR