Writing Declaration

When I was 20 years old, I was frustrated that I still hadn’t written a bestselling book. That was 9 years ago. I just turned 29 - getting close to 30. Still no book. I’ve written plenty! Nothing good, though.

The image above is something I wrote on the mirror of my living room coat closet in my apartment in college. I distinctly remember coming out of my room, storming over to the mirror and attacking it with an Expo marker and then storming back into my room, slamming the door, leaving my two roommates in a dazed confusion.

Since that day, I have started 83 different novels. Of those, I only finished 7 first drafts. And of those, only 1 was even approaching logical or coherent, and that was my Master’s Thesis novel, property of my grad school. I’ve written some short stories and poetry, self published here and there - stay tuned for a future blog post shouting out my Writers’ collective from years ago - but nothing ever really happened. I went into education and teaching because I knew it was something I liked and I could do fairly well and that has basically been my professional life.

For a long time, I thought this was my story. I thought this was what it would all amount to - just mediocrity and failure. But, that’s not true. I have brought myself back into the world of the written word, this time with renewed gusto and fire.

I love video games, so I am trying my hand at some game writing and applying for game writing positions whenever I can.

I have started a new project to write a fantasy book/series that I am really excited about and I am doing all of my research. I am reading several fantasy books, taking in as much as I can. I am watching the Sanderson BYU lectures and taking actual notes. I am following Literary Agencies and keeping an eye on the market and thinking about publishing and life as a professional writer.

I have found that mediocrity and failure would not look like an unpublished writer. Mediocrity and failure looks like a writer that stops trying. A writer that stops believing. And I will not be that.

I’m gonna write a book, and people are gonna read it.