It is 2022 and a lot of things have happened. I got married, I was in the hospital, my first child was born, and I finished the first draft of the book I was working on. Now, some of those things might seem more important than others, but I will let you decide for yourself how you see them. As for me, they were all blessings.
The marriage was great and my baby boy is the best thing ever, but those things are personal and I would like to keep them that way and refrain from elaborating too much about them. As far as the hospital goes, it was scary, but I am all better now. Finally, for the reason this blog and website exist, my writing. I will elaborate on that.
I have stepped back from contests, writing short stories, and posting here on this website in order to focus on the book. I had hoped to be further along by now, but in my opinion, the journey as it is has turned out some great writing. I finished the first draft of the book on 9/13/2022 in the wee hours of the morning, then I promptly cut it in half after realizing I wrote two books in one. So, finishing my first book almost immediately resulted in me finishing my second book.
Now, I should say that this is technically not my first book, although it is the first book that I am pursuing into a finished and hopefully one day published product. There have been approximately 3.7 other books I have written and just never pushed any further. They were part of my journey, part of the process to learn and understand how to become a better writer. This most recent first draft that was finished, it is the culmination of that process and hopefully will be enjoyed by a handful of people, more than two and less than 7 billion is the target number of readers.
To accomplish that, I have been trying to expand my community. As lovely as my network of friends and family are, one does not accomplish the dream of being a full-time author on two dozen book sales alone. So, to that end, I have been engaging on Twitter a lot more in preparation for my one-day release of “Good Bye Garth,” (working title). I have found the #WritingCommunity and have seen more growth and engagement there on Twitter than ever before.
For too long, I have kept my writing close to my chest, possibly for fear that it would be rejected for being lesser than the greats. There is also a vulnerability in writing, laying one’s ideas, and therefore themselves, bare. But, as I once heard somewhere, there are plenty of bad stories out there that are successful because the person who wrote them believed in themselves. So, to that end, I am going to start throwing my stuff around like there is no tomorrow, because who knows, there might not be one day.
I also have a couple of resources I have used, among other things, to help me become a better writer, so I thought I would share. Youtuber Alyssa Matesic has some great insights with experience in publishing and editing. Tale Foundry makes awesome videos about all kinds of interesting things that get the creative juices flowing. Hello Future Me is a favorite of mine for breaking down world-building elements in fantasy. Finally, Brandon Sanderson posts the literal college classes online that he teaches for writing books. I hope you find something useful in these suggested resources, I know I have.
If you enjoyed this post feel free to explore the site or share it with a friend, virtual or real. Have a great day!
Nathaniel Writes 