Wyrd of the Writing Raven

First things come first, of course, so I must start by saying: I love crafting words!

Earlier this year I wrote a fractured fairy tale in the noir style of hardboiled detective fiction. In it, I wrote a sentence using four instances of to/too. It is a masterful piece of grammatically-correct bad writing that would only be found in that genre. When I passed the story on to my proofreader, I had to insist that she not try to change that sentence, I was so proud of it.

That aside aside, you can trust my writing. I started writing over twenty years ago and worked without knowing any other writers. I never gave much consideration to sharing the dozen or so novels on my laptop, much less publishing them. All that changed when I met a poet and newspaper columnist who taught me about proofeaders and beta readers and suggested I contribute to our local newspaper. I had my doubts, but I sent some samples to the editor and now I have feature stories and articles in newspapers and magazines in the southeast quarter of my state.

I am, and always will be, a fiction writer, but I improved my craft greatly in the years I wrote regularly for publications. I also made connections with professionals who became friends and trusted sources of writing education. Perhaps the most important thing that happened was I developed the “thick skin” that comes with having confidence in my writing. I can take criticism in a professional manner and can handle rejections from magazines, book publishers and contest judges.

I joined a local writing group almost two years ago and learned there were others out there like I used to be, solitary writers struggling to learn this craft. That is a shame. Writers flourish in a community that understands them. We have similar questions and doubts, failures and confusions. We have all been alone with our words and wanted advice.

My goal in writing this blog is to share what I have learned and to let solitary writers out there know they are not alone. I’m here and I will be here regularly, releasing new content twice a month. Some of it will be writer tips or stories from my journey as a writer. Because I am at heart a storyteller, some of the posts will be snippets of my fiction.

Writing is fun work and a continual process of growth. I love it and hope you do too. Join me if you do, or if you’re just curious about the craft, and we can take this journey together. The first step is to write something, anything you’d like. I began this post with pen and paper when a thought came to me while having coffee and reading a magazine. It started as a few sentences and blossomed into what you’re reading now. None of those first sentences are in it, however. They were only the seed from which it grew.

Let your writing do the same. Ignore your inner doubts and write what comes to your mind. Walk away and leave it alone. Think about it while you’re away and return to write some more. Develop it and let those words grow with a life of their own.

If you’re still not sure where to start, then come back here next time when I’ll discuss that invaluable tool, the prompt. Until then, keep writing.