Three Year Evaluation

I have just returned from Pikes Peak Writer's Conference 2015 in Colorado Springs. It was a chaotic, amazing three days with some incredible people, and I am physically exhausted.

This Convention marks the three year anniversary since I started this blog, and thus, the documentation of my journey to become a published fiction author. In that period I have not published a book, or hired an editor, or an agent. I haven't even finished a manuscript. In three years I have completed two chapters and edited the others, so now I have five. Five incredible chapters.

Though I haven't achieved any of the goals most aspiring authors set up for themselves, and precious few that I made for myself three years ago, the time has not been entirely wasted. I did get into Mizzou, and I did graduate with a BA in English (emphasis on Creative Fiction). While there, my raw talent as a writer was confirmed and I was given instruction and practice to develop that talent into skill. I learned that I can trust myself on the quality of my own work. Now there are only two things that separate me from finishing First Monday Park, and they are time and discipline.

Family comes first, and toddlers make writing difficult. A simple adult conversation can be an ordeal with the munchkins clamoring for snacks and entertainment while actively spreading said snacks onto the floor and dismantling the furniture for said entertainment. Writing fiction is, for me, a more difficult prospect than talking, which might explain why I am not the greatest conversationalist. However, there are gaps in the day, brief flashes of time between staving off starvation and medicating boo boos with kisses, that I can exploit for the advantage of literary art. I just have to keep the word processor open and the next sentence or two ready. I have no idea how long this should take, but I'm setting a goal for a finished first draft in twelve months. In order to help, I'm going to either find or create a critique group by the end of July.

Don't wish me luck, I don't need it. Wish me an artificially high threshold for distraction as it affects my emotional composure, because I will need a lot of that.