My Writing Journey

   I started writing when I was 14 and it changed everything. I can't even begin to describe how much it changed my life, and me.

 I started my first novel in a notebook until I got my first computer. Typing was so much faster than writing with a pen. I was amazed by how many words I could write in a day--and amazed that my computer kept up with how many words I had. My first complete novel wasn't good. In fact, it was horrible. My writing had no structure and no personality since I was so inexperienced. It's full of grammatical mistakes and plot holes, but I enjoyed writing it. I didn't care that there were so many mistakes because I had so much fun writing it. (It was the first in a trilogy and none of them were good, though I loved the premise of the story.)

 Writing hasn't gotten easier. But my writing has gotten better over time. I feel like my writing improves with every new novel I start. The first book I wrote was horrible, but I'll never forget it. I'll never forget how accomplished and proud I felt when I finished it. I'll never forget how it felt to write it. Mostly because the same wave of emotions flow through me every time one of my books reaches "the end." It's an amazing feeling. I bask in it for a while, and then it's on to the next idea!

 I never thought I would come this far. When I finished my first book, I didn't think about publishing it. I didn't know what to do with it. I finished it, had fun while writing it, and planned to write another. I was happy to keep the book to myself. I wasn't ready for anyone to read it yet. It wasn't until several months later that I finally let a friend read it. (I'm so sorry!!)

 I didn't think about publishing until about four books later. I'd edit each book from then on, before sending each book out to agents and publishers with no luck, until I finally wondered if I should self-publish. With every new book I wrote, I told myself that if no one wanted to represent it, I would publish it myself. It took me two years before I finally decided to take the bull by the horns. I knew that if I didn't just do it, I would continue to convince myself not to (like so many other writers do). I didn't want to keep putting myself--and my writing--down like that.

 This led to my decision to publish The Darkest Light. I thought the writing was good enough (it was the first book I wrote in present tense) and that the plot was pretty original. It was something totally different from what I'd written before in terms of plot, world, characters and writing style.

 It was a struggle. I ran into many problems along the way, but I got it done and I'm happy that I did. Since then, my knowledge of self-publishing has widened, and I feel that my writing has strengthened with the creation of two more novels.

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How I Started Writing

   I wrote my first novel when I was fourteen.

 Before then, I had tried to keep journals, but I could never keep it up because I thought my life wasn't exciting enough to write down on paper. Who would want to read that? Me, when I'm older? I would fall asleep while reading about the boring life I had as a young teenager. Besides, who wants to relive their teenage years?

 I wanted to write something exciting, if I was going to write about anything.

 I love reading. I wanted to write something of my own. I wanted to write a book.

 I had thought about writing books, or short stories and such before, but had never managed to do it. I'd write a page, or so, then get bored and discard the entire idea. I'd rewritten and rewritten the first few pages of this one book idea I had, but I could never really get the story rolling because I just wasn't experienced enough. I didn't have a plot outlined, or even much of an idea for a plot, and I wasn't very good at grammar (still not, but it's way better than it was originally). I just wasn't good at writing. I couldn't plan out a story.

  At first, I was using notebooks to write my book in to see if I could actually write a book. Then I came across this website called Miss Literati one day while surfing the web. It's pretty cool. It's like Wattpad, except it's generated for a younger audience. I started writing my book on there, but didn't publish any of it. I wasn't ready for anyone to see my writing. Plus, people can post comments after reading your story and I was worried I'd get negative feedback. I wasn't ready for someone to tell me something that I already knew.

 I wrote a few chapters for this story, but never finished it. I got bored with the story, feeling like it wasn't original. (It was about vampires, because I was really into the Twilight saga at the time.)

 Don't worry, I stopped writing about vampires. I have a very active imagination so I managed to come up with another book idea.

 For about a year, I had this one story that I would continuously develop in my head. I could easily listen to music for a couple of hours while in this world that I'd built as an escape. At the time, I was obsessed with X-men and the whole idea of writing about a school for teenagers that had "gifts."

 That was the book I wanted to write.

 It took me a while to realize that that was the kind of story I wanted to write, but I had the urge to get this world I'd developed down on paper. But I was also a little hesitant. "Did I want to write this story? What if someone read it? It was my world. The world I had created for myself as an escape. It was fun and exciting and mystical and different...Did I want someone reading about it?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to share it.

 I decided to finally write down the story that had been in my head for so long. The plot was good, it could've used work (maybe a lot more work than I realize right now) but I liked the plot. The writing needs a ton of work. If I ever decided to rewrite my first book, it would take a while. I liked having my magical world written down for me to read; as terrible as it was.

 I was also very excited to have written my first book. I've written about 10 complete works since, and many incomplete that I hope to finish later on.

 But that's how my love of writing started. I was hooked after that first book. I had to write more.

 And once I started, I haven't been able to stop.