The writing world is hard. Keep it simple.

In my journey through all things writing I have discovered something...there are about a zillion and one opinions on any given subject concerning writing, publishing, querying and so forth, and some of it reads like a foreign language. 

Now I don't consider myself too particularly dense, but man, what does a writer have to do to get a straight answer on the web!?!

Not that all sites are this way.  For as many crazy ones out there, you can also find an equal amount of excellent and very helpful ones.  Some of my favorite blogs so far are Elana Johnson, Nathan Bransford, Janet Reid, and Pub Rants.  These seriously are just a few of them and I have gained some great insight scouring their pages...it's like they're are my best friends but they don't even know it...no, that really sounds creepy so scratch that last bit.

Anyhoo, with all the twisted wires in the writer/publishing world as well as the crazy lingo, I thought how lovely it would be to go to a kind of Writing for Dummies place.  So guess what?  I'm going to try to deliver it on my own. 

That's right.  I am a newbie to the writers world who continues to learn as I grow.  I'm not ashamed to touch on the really easy writing topics that some may feel afraid to ask professionals because they will be laughed at in front of the whole writing blogosphere.  I'm also not worried about dumbing down the hard stuff so those not in the complete know can understand.

So come back and check it out and if you have anything (writing-wise) you are desperate for just ask and if I don't know the answer I will surely find and tell you the easiest, most straight forward form of the answer I can.

Happy hunting writers, but don't hunt so hard and so long you waste all those precious writing moments and find nothing but a bald spot where you've ripped your hair out in frustration.

Ready...Set...Go

Welp, here I am.  Over a year ago I got an idea.  I pounded that idea out into the form of a 300+ page book in about three months.  Then, I got discouraged.  I thought, self: who is ever going want to read this? 

Making excuses, I let it sit on my computer, filed away amidst the other half touched ideas that I toyed with over the years.

This one, however, kept haunting me.  So I slowly started editing it.  During that process I would get discouraged, put it away, get haunted again, slowly start editing once more and round and round I went.

Then, about a year ago, I joined a writers group on a whim, through the lovely Twilight Mom's forum.  Putting my book out there to be critiqued was like walking outside completely naked for all to see.  SCARY...for those doing the seeing as well as myself.

When the band aid was finally ripped away, I realized it wasn't so bad.  I actually enjoyed the feedback. 
With that initial shock over, I had the courage to finish two edits and am on my final one.

For additional help I have sent it off to the lovely and talented Linda over at  TreasureLine Books and Publishing.  She is a pro at this kind of thing and I think I have looked at it so much, for so long, I just need some professional help - in more ways than one I'm sure.

After getting it back from Linda I will then put my final touches on the book and send it out into the world and see if it can stand on its own.

Am I nervous?  Heck yea!  Am I excited?  You bet.  This has always been a dream of mine and to finally bring it to some form of fruition is extremely satisfying.

Why the blog?

I started this blog for a few reasons:
1) To document my journey so if I ever get published I can look back and see the road I travelled.

2) To get the premise of my book out there and see what others think about it.

3) To get my name out so if I do ever get published I may already have a few fans, friends and fellow writing buddies:)

So, here is to taking your dream and running with it!