#MondayMotivation - On Writing

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When I began writing my first novel in 2009, I wasn't sure why I was writing. I just knew I liked it. I liked making up people and places and situations. No, actually I loved it. I loved it all--choosing names, creating entire families, making people fall in and out of love. 

So I wrote and wrote and wrote. I wrote book after book without even a thought in my head of sharing my stories. I liked reading them and that was good enough for me. I didn't share them with anyone, not even my family members. I was too afraid to because though I loved what I was creating, I was sure the rest of the world would hate my work or at the very least and the very worst, laugh at me. 

It took over a year for me to finally muster up the courage to share some of my work via a blog. Even then I posted the work but told no one about it. The few visitors I had must've just happened upon the blog. Then I added the blog link to my Facebook profile and a coworker read my excerpt and raved about it. I was shocked and hopeful. Another human being besides me actually liked what I wrote! That gave me the courage to share my work with other coworkers, friends, and relatives. The consensus was that the book was good and I should publish it. So, I did.  

It has been a little more than 5 years since I published my first book. This has been a wild ride of highs and lows. I am now a full-time author, supporting myself with book royalties and freelance editing and formatting jobs. This publishing journey has been both rewarding and disappointing at the same time. Some days, I wonder why I do this--work hard, lose sleep, and make sacrifices--and then throw my work out there in hopes it will be received well. Some days are full of so much anxiety it's unreal. Those days, I really and truly want to give up. Other times, I'm on cloud nine. I get to meet wonderful readers, some of whom I've made real connections with. I've met some wonderful authors I might never have known about had we not shared a love for writing. And then there is the fact that I get to make a living doing what I love. At the end of the day, the good outweighs the bad. That's why I continue to write through the disappointments. And if you are a writer, that's why you should keep writing, too.


Check out my books here:
Kindle and paperback:  http://ow.ly/fxVXG

Kobo:  http://ow.ly/fxW6V

Nook:  http://ow.ly/fxW4y

Amazon UK: http://ow.ly/miFUU