As the song says, “a very good place to start.” Want to know where my writing career began? Would you believe in a treehouse on the slopes of Mt. Rainier?
Here I am, writing notes for my first novel in late June of 2003… in a treehouse… in the middle of nowhere… on the slopes of Mt. Rainier.
That novel never saw the light of day. After all, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I’d never written so much as a short story. But I had gumption. I started and finished a 100,000 word novel and sent it off to more publishers, and eventually agents, than you can imagine. And collected a ton of form letter rejections.
Did those rejections make me despair? Wallow in my failure? Nope. They made me mad… and more determined than ever. None of those rejections told me what I’d done wrong! How was I supposed to improve if I didn’t know what was wrong? (Go ahead and laugh, all you writers out there! I know. How stupid could I be? Expecting busy editors and agents to teach me how to write!)
Eventually I got a clue and sought out other writers… people who were published and knew what they were doing… and began my journey to learn the skills necessary to the craft I’d chosen. I’m still learning, of course. Will be until I close my computer for the final time.
Eighteen or so years later, I finally got around to redrafting that first novel. Youngest and Seeker are the result, with Chosen still to come.
Writing isn’t a fast-track to anywhere, but it’s a fascinating journey!
