Walk, Crawl, Stumble. . .

Okay, so be honest. Who looked at that title and thought, "Wait! That's backwards. You have to crawl before you can walk!" Well, in truth, normally I would agree with you, but when it comes to my writing, this seems to be the pattern I follow.

I sit down to write the story, my creative juices flowing, not like a river, but more like a steady stream. Finally after much work and effort, I hand my new work to my critique group. As thanks for my efforts, they beat, mutilate, and abuse it. With a smile, I take it back, knowing that they have my best interests at heart.

Here is where I crawl. The edits are great, and I know they are needed, but I have to stop and analyze each one. If it is punctuation: just fix it. If it is grammar: Okay, now how do I fix this? If it is a story issue: here are the hardest ones, as in some cases it is already fixed later in the story. Some I need to figure out how and where to fix it. This process is slow, and difficult, but again, necessary.

Story written, edits done, now you would think I could at least run, but no... Time to have my critique group check my query letter, send them out and wait. Receive rejections, but keep striving forward, knowing that someone will see my work, my passion, and want to take my work to the next level.

Hopefully when that finally happens, I will begin to run. Till then, my fingers will continue to tap out pages, my mind will continue to visit my wide tracks of property in la-la-land, and I will move ever forward.

First post is always the hardest.

Okay, so after three wonderful days this last weekend at LTUE (Life, The Universe, & Everything) at BYU, the advice that was most often stated was that social media- i.e. Facebook, blogging, Twitter, etc- was by far the best way for an emerging author to get their name out there.

For those who are curious as to why on Earth they would want to follow my ramblings, I'll give you three reasons. Because let's face it, three is the fairy-tale number, & it just works! 1. I will blog about what I learn as a new writer, as I try to get published, and post links to other bloggers that interest me. 2. I will keep everyone up-to-date on the status of my W.I.P. (Work In Progress), and maybe even hold contests. 3. On a different note, I will also offer computer advice. Those who know me, know that I am a true geek, and will post advice as I see it.

So to make sure I keep all my promises in one post, step one is already done. New writers should use all possible social media outlets to get their name out there and interest in their books. Also, check out Diana Shaw-Tracy's blog at http://dstracywrites.blogspot.com/.

Next, I am currently editing my trilogy, "Shadows of the Dragons" (thank you Diana for your edits!), as well as working on a prequel to this trilogy, thus far unnamed.

Computer advice? Well the best I can give you now- Trust me this fixes 80% of computer problems- turn the computer off & back on. You will be amazed at how often things will work after wards.

As a final word, any & all advice is welcome. Lemme know below!