Let's Get Real....

Hi guys! 

So...it's been a while. 

I kind of dropped off the face of the world there for a little bit. Okay, it wasn't kind of, I did disappear from the blogosphere. 

Sorry about that. 

2015 was a long and hard year. The highlights of my writing during 2015 were a very inspiring and encouraging trip to the Southern Festival of Books, and two good story ideas, complete with characters and plots. 

The low point of the year was the first six months, when I hardly wrote at all. 

It was hard. I felt run down, and like I had nothing left to give to my writing. Everything I tried to write seemed to be horrible. 

But then something clicked. I was focusing too much on the publishing side of writing, and not on the creative side. I had gotten bogged down reading articles and tweets about querying and revising. Everything I wrote, I thought of whether it would sell to a publishing house. 

I was trying to write something instantly publishable. 

That isn't possible, and it's certainly not enjoyable. 

So while I'm still reading about queries and literary agents and publishing, I'm realizing that using that knowledge might be a long way away. Years even. 

I'm writing again, several thousand words a day. And while they're not fantastic words, they're words that weren't there before. Shannon Hale once said, "I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles." I love that quote, because it reminds me that first drafts aren't meant to be perfect. 

First drafts are gaping plot holes and flat characters. 

First drafts are weirdly phrased sentences. 

First drafts are leaving a chapter hanging because you don't know how to write the next scene. 

So, for 2016, let's raise a glass to imperfections. 

Because you can't paint a masterpiece without first messing up the canvas. 

I'm going to try to get back into blogging. And this time, I'm serious. I'm going to schedule posts and try to interact with my readers more. I really enjoyed blogging last time, before I fell into my black hole of writing doubt. 

Thanks for sticking with me. 

I've got lots of exciting things planned!