One of the most common pieces of advice I’ve gotten about writing is to just start writing. Which I do, but without ever letting people see it…because hey, every time I write it’s my own little brain-child and I don’t want it to get picked on by the other kids.
That, however, has also kept me from writing consistently and I have yet to finish any of the longer projects that I’ve started. Last year I did NaNoWriMo, but I didn’t finish because, well, life got in the way – and this year I was so wrapped up in school and work that I didn’t have time to even contemplate it.
Still, I shouldn’t have to wait until next November to write…and I need to learn how to let other people see it, criticize it, etc, before I’ll ever have the guts to consider being published which, in my heart of hearts, I would really like to do. I don’t want to be #1 on the NYT Bestseller list, or anything like that…I just want to write and hopefully well enough that it’ll be worth sharing. If I can make a living off of it, so much the better.
But I’ll never get there if I don’t work harder, and certainly not if I don’t start letting people actually read what I write…
So, some of this may be short writing exercises, some of it may be rants, and some of it may turn into a story that will span several posts. In any case, I’m going to welcome comments and constructive criticism – comments like “You suck” will get their full due: deletion.
So…here it goes. Enjoy watching me spill my guts.