Yesterday I talked about starting my mission. Now I’m going to talk about how I got to where I am now. Nothing phenomenal happened, or you would have heard of that by now. But it was a start and it took me somewhere, even if it only took me farther by a little bit.
There were 2 big highlights that really got me motivated to get to the writing stage I’m at now. I’ll show you pictures first. Then I’ll get into details.
❤ putting email to use
^^ See this pic? Those are all conversations I had with author Lisa Schroeder. She has helped me SO much in my writing career. We’ve been corresponding with each other since I was 8. Time flies, eh?
If you were to look at my blog faq’s page where I answered how I learned designing and writing, you just can’t be shy. Reach out with your questions. I have never come across a designer/author who hasn’t been more than willing to help out.
If any of you need writing advice, I’d be happy to share what Lisa told me, or I can offer some of my own advice. Remember, those authors started in the same place as you. They’re not wizards who magically turned into this awesome published writer overnight.
Okay, class is over. Back to fulfilling my dream.
❤ calling all writers…
Last year I had a teacher who recommended that I enter this statewide writing contest by Scholastic, I think. I’m like, writing contest? Count me in. This was a really big step for me, even if I didn’t win. I mean I was entering a PROFESSIONAL contest. Judges were going to read my work.
A little about how this works. A region of Iowa, like towns that are nearby, are part one of the contest. I selected a story that I was really proud of and submitted it. The judges would judge the stories in our region, so it wasn’t just my school. I was competing with a larger range. The judges would then pick the best story and the writer would move on to a STATE level. I did not make it to state, but I was really close. I got 2nd place in my region. I still thought 2nd was pretty good, and it boosted my confidence in writing a lot. I’m still going to be keeping my eyes out for more contests, because a medal in something like that would go nicely with my query letter to an agent one day.
I also went through a little phase with self publishing, as in hey! That’s what I’m gonna do! And then I started saving. But my daddy had a good point with this, and so did another teacher who helped me with the contest. I’ll get into my opinion on self publishing vs. traditional publishing later, but a lot of people think the only logical way for a kid my age to get a book published is paying someone to do it. Like excuse me are you saying that no professional publisher would want my book?! I get it. There is a ton of competition. In my head, I probably think querying is easier than it looks. But I have a lot of things that some authors don’t. I have God. And I know that whatever happens, He’s got my back.
**Next Post Sneak Peek:
Okay. You finally get to see the embarrassing blogger I was back in ’13. I wasn’t really a blogger like I am now, my blog was considered the “official.” As in, a professional blog where I share writing updates. I’ll also be talking about the “official” social media. Haha, memories… That’s when I thought I could use my blog for a website.
