My Goal of Becoming A Published Author....
While in college (majoring in nursing) my favorite class was English 101 and 102. I remember my professors enthusiasm when lecturing on creative writing. I also remember wanting desperately to impress him with my writing more than my nursing professors with my ability to successfully lace an IV into a patients arm rather than in their eye (hey, accidents happen...just sayin'). I had always been a reader of many, many things. But the turning point came for me when I actually believed in the possibility that I could not only appreciate great writing into I could actually be a great writer when I turned in my first essay. The essay assignment entailed us writing about a tragedy that occurred in our lives. I decided to write on the death of my father. I didn't have to be creative about it at all, but I found once I sat in front of the computer, it sort of spilled out onto the screen and I was able to make the reader (at least my English professor) feel as though he were there with me experiencing an anguish so profound that it was incomprehensible to even format it into words. My English professor was extremely animated when lecturing, but when he turned my graded essay back in, he looked me in the eye and said nothing. He didn't need to. His eyes conveyed it all. When I turned my essay over, he had taken the time to not only give it an A+, but his comments brought tears to my eyes and he inquired about making a copy for future students to sample as an example of what he wanted to see in his writers.
Out of my tragedy came a new beginning: I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to make others lose their breath, bring tears to their eyes and never forget how words can impact your life. After writing my first rough draft, I revised a million times (okay, maybe not a million...5 times is more like it). I researched on how to become published. On a fundamental level you've got two options: self-publishing or traditional publishing. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to be accepted for traditional publishing through Evernight Teen. I knew instantly, publishing was not about making heaps of money. I have no plans on quitting my day job any time soon, that is unless I sell a million copies at which point I will happily turn in my resignation. A girl can hope, but my dreams of becoming published have been realized. I only ever wanted to write a series that would leave people fearing the end for want of more, and to get my books into the hands of readers that when long finished reading, they would continue to talk about the characters.
I doubt that I'll ever be the recipient of one of these:
But I'd love to get one of these:
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