Stuff and other stuff and etc.: 3/23/14

No one ever said being a writer was easy.

It's not. I don't do it because it's easy. I do it because I love it. And yes, you’re going to have shitty days. It's part and parcel of being a writer.

Suck it up cupcake, and move on.

It isn't something for the timid or easily discouraged to take on. You have to develop a tough hide. I have. During my life, I've been stomped on by the best. But I've picked myself up, dusted myself off, and kept on going. Kept putting one foot in front of the other.

Bad reviews are also part and parcel of being a writer. But you can’t let them tear you up too badly. They’re going to happen. Not everyone is going to love what you write. Accept that. Read them, and make note of what the person writing the review said they didn’t like about your book. Determine if there’s any truth in there, something that you need to fix. Make lists of the pros and cons reviewers say about your writing. Look at the reviews critically and impartially, and use them to make yourself a better writer. Don’t whine and wallow in a self-pity party.

Watch what other writers do, BUT DON’T TRY TO MIMIC THEM! You’re all individuals. What works for one may not work for another. We each have to find our own road as a writer. What creates success for one writer may not necessarily do so for another writer. FIND YOUR OWN PATH! And stride purposefully, passionately down it.

Always be learning. Always be putting yourself out there. Get people to know who you are, the author, the writer, the person. You can’t sit in a cave and throw a book out the entrance and expect immediate success. Promote yourself as a person, as an author, before you ever publish that first book. Don’t jump out of your cave, finished book in hand, and say ‘Hey world! Notice me and my brand new book!’ The world doesn’t know who you are! Unless you’ve first taken the time and invested the effort to introduce yourself to them. Have you introduced yourself to the world?!!? There’s no excuse for not doing it cupcake. The world, and the internet, provides you with many tools to do that with.

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As I write this, I’m 53 years old. I’ve wanted to be a writer ever since high school, and that was back in the 20th century, back in 1976-1979. When I graduated high school, I had been through several career options, and discarded them all. I wasn’t sure about going to college, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do, what I wanted to take. So I put off going.

I had watched too many of my upper-classmen friends head off to college, spend a couple of years there, and then drop out. Without accomplishing anything. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to waste my parents money.

So I spent 2 years at home after high school. But they weren’t wasted time. I got to spend some quality time with my parents; and most importantly, I matured, and I learned stuff.

My mom had cautioned me against pursuing writing right out of high school, and she was right. The writing world was a totally different place back in 1979 than it is now. Writers have so many more opportunities now than they did then. If I were graduating now, and wanted to be a writer, no matter what else I did, I would be pursuing my writing.

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But I’m not a high school graduate now. I’m a 53 year old woman, with a lot of miles under her belt, who’s been through a lot of crap, a lot of unpleasant crap; and who still has crap to deal with.

BUT, CUPCAKES, I pick myself up and go on with the business of living, of getting by from day to day.

And I still love books just as much as I did when I was a wee kid. I love where they can take me. I still love the escape from my ordinary life that they provide. I need that escape now more than ever.

Many of my writer friends have provided me with that escape. Thank you.

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And I still love writing. No, I didn’t pursue a career as a writer right out of high school. But I have kept on writing over the years, since I began in high school. The what I’ve written has changed. But I’ve never stopped writing.

And all the miles under my belt, all the stuff I’ve been through, they only serve today to make my writing more vivid, more alive, deeper and more passionate. They make it better.

I’m still pursuing my writing.

My mom and dad are gone now. They’ll never see me accomplish my dream of being a published writer, of being a ‘book published’ writer. But that’s okay. They neither one ever got that part of me.

The one who does get that part of me, who gets all parts of me, is my husband. We’ve been together now since around 1990, so we’ve put a lot of miles on the odometer together. Been through a lot of crap together. Learned a lot together.

I dedicate this to him, my hubby.

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My hubby has helped me find me, my true self. I’m very fortunate to have someone like that in my life. Someone who is so totally in my corner.

My mom, she was all about who she wanted me to be. She never did get the whole, real me.

Don’t get me wrong, she was a great lady.

But she never got me.

My hubby, he gets me. And he’s helped me crawl out from under those ideas of who my mom thought I should be. He’s helped, and pushed, me to discover myself. And he’s always in my corner.

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So cupcake,

here it is, 2014, and I’m finally pursuing my high school dream of being a writer. I spend most of my waking time either online working on this, or offline thinking about it. I’m pursuing it for all I’m worth, passionately, and without hesitation.

Thanks to ebooks and ereaders and ereader apps, I’ve gotten back into reading again. I now pursue books with the same thirst that I did when I was a kid.

And back in September of 2012, I got started doing book reviews; which combines my love of books with my love of writing. Here’s a link to my first book review:

http://jdslzone.blogspot.com/2012/09/ebook-review-st-annes-day.html

Which brings us to a very important anniversary for me, as a writer.

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On April 14th, 2012, I started writing my first fictional novel.

I’m still working on it.

No, it’s not done yet.

I stay busy with lots of stuff.

Since then, I’ve continued to come up with more book ideas.

At current count, I have over 60 books ideas. All different, saved in word files, and can be one day turned into a book.

Before this, I’d only managed to write 1 fictional story. For a Star Trek fanzine, and it was about when Spock told his father that he chose Star Fleet over the Vulcan. If I ever run across a copy of that story, I’ll post it on wattpad. It’s among my many and sundry ‘stuff’ somewhere.

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I’ve come a long way since that day back in 1979 when my mom discouraged me from writing. And each day, I get up and keep plugging on.

So happy anniversary to me,

and congrats for still plugging on,

still chasing my dream

here in the 21st century in 2014.

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Coming soon – a fictional book written by me.

* Read my writing right now on wattpad –

http://www.wattpad.com/JacquelineDriggers

* Visit my website –

http://emforjd.wix.com/jdwrite