Image by Biljana Jovanovic from Pixabay

Have you got a dream to be a writer?

Do you feel like it’s impossible?

I did too!

Here’s what happened to me.

I have wanted to be a published author for as long as I can remember. I did some writing in my childhood. I gave up on it as a teenager. Then in my early twenties, I wrote two YA contemporary stories about homeschooled triplets and their friends.

Then a scammer scammed me out of some money and I gave up.

Eventually, I decided to take one of those mail-in courses. It was from the Institute of Children’s Literature. The course was informative and helped me improve my writing.

Yet, I didn’t do much with it. After the last lesson, I stopped writing again.

Eventually, I discovered National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which occurs in November every year. That first year, I wrote my first 50,000 words for a fantasy story. And I’ve been working on that story off and on for close to ten years now.

I continued to do NaNoWriMo every year with mixed results and now I have around twenty unfinished stories.

During that time I found Ninja Writers. Its creator, Shaunta Grimes, and her team of amazing instructors taught me a lot more about writing. She also taught me that my writing could be my business. However, I haven’t always treated it that way.

I also discovered Rhonda Douglas, the creator of Resilient Writers. She teaches a course called First Book Finish which I took and loved. She taught me the steps to finishing a first draft, revising, and overcoming my resistance to writing.

I’m still working on all of that, but she helped me immensely.

My Advice to you!

Read a lot! Reading books in the genre that you are writing for will help you to learn how others have done it. Read like a writer. Don’t just read the book for enjoyment, but take notes on what you liked the most, what worked as far as structure, plot development, character development, and world-building.

Take classes, attend workshops, and join a writer’s group. These are all things I have done to improve my writing. There’s no shame in asking for advice or learning how to do it from someone else.

Finish the story! You can’t share what you haven’t written. This has perhaps been my biggest struggle. I start a story because I love it and think it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Then the writing becomes difficult. I don’t know how to rectify a plot issue or my character starts to feel wrong. I lose interest and give up.

Don’t do that to yourself. If you’re having trouble ask for help with it. It’s something I had to learn!

Set a schedule! And stick to it! I had to create a schedule for my writing. I’m a morning person, so I made time to write in the early mornings. I usually get up at 5:30 a.m. to join a writing group at 6 a.m. We write for an hour and then discuss what we accomplished that day. It’s very encouraging. Find what times work best for you and tell everyone that’s your time for writing and you’re not to be disturbed by anything other than an emergency.

Here’s what’s happening now!

I am now a published writer!

I have self-published my first book on Amazon. Check it out!

– on Amazon.ca, https://a.co/d/2MX8R96

– on Amazon.com, https://amzn.to/4fQ8js7

Here are my plans for the future!

But that’s not all that’s happening right now.

I plan to publish three more Children’s Picture Books in 2025.

Two are already written and one is with my illustrator, Catharine Fairchild. I’m hoping that one will be published in June 2025.

The third one will hopefully come out in October 2025.

The fourth book is a work in progress. I’m currently plotting it. I will begin writing it in April.

My advice to you!

Set a goal! Make your goal a SMART Goal. Here is a link to a website that shows you how to make your goals SMART goals.

Don’t give up on your dreams of being a writer! You can realize your dreams too! It’s possible! It’s taken me over 30 years to become a published writer, but you don’t have to wait that long to realize your dream. Believe in yourself and work diligently towards what you want.