My writing journey (it's just as fun as you'd think)

We zoom in: Disneyland. January 2020. A birthday trip.

I was so naïve.

I was living in Oakland, CA at the time and in two months my company had moved to working from home and I would never return to the office. Ever AGAIN.

Very dramatic.

I did the normal things everyone did at the start. I baked. Used up leftover canned pumpkin. Made chili. Took long walks. Got a standing desk. But I was losing it. Slowly but surely as I joined Zoom meetings with my coworkers I saw the desperation in everyone's eyes. And their hair. We all gave up and started wearing messy buns 24/7.

I opened up an old manuscript I'd started the year before. It was my thing. I don't know how many dusty stories I've abandoned. Writing is easy. Writing a full novel is HARD. At least the first time.

But I dusted off the fantasy novel and dove into it. I researched Norse mythology. I used weasel words and filter words and every 'no-no' you'll find on blogs about self-editing.

We moved up to Portland, OR. Wildfires ripped through the PNW and we hunkered inside for a week, choking on smoky air. And still I wrote.

And then...I finished. Two years after I'd started it and abandoned it too many times I'd finally finished.

It was awful.

But then I started my next book in Dec. 2020. I finished that one in three months. I was inspired by myself. I could do it. I could write an entire novel. This one I've taken the time on though. I read every blog about revising. I read books on structure. I learn how to build lists of agents and how to write query letters.

I make friends through #pitmad and #amm and every other writer event on twitter. We trade our manuscripts. I know I only know your twitter handle, but here's a piece of my heart. What do you think?

Two years later I've got a (fairly) polished book I've rewritten three times. I have two new manuscripts that wail at me like petulant children. I try to divide my attention between them, but my Hamlet sequel '2 Die 2 Sleep' is winning out.

It should be an interesting next couple months of writing at least.