Continued Growth

I am always growing not only as a person but as a writer. I have dipped my fingers into lots of various endeavours. Sometimes I fail and sometimes it all (somewhat) works out.

In the past few years, I've written another book. (which isn't finished yet) It's been a heart-wrenching story about a young girl named Julie who has a horrible life. It's dark and tormented and it's been extremely difficult to write. I say this because I've taken so long to finish it. Delving into her life becomes somewhat of a burden to me. In my many years of teaching, I've encountered a few Julies and I can't imagine living the life they've had to live. I can get out of it just by closing my laptop but others can't. It's a burden I am looking forward to releasing soon.

I've also decided to try my hand at freelance writing. It means many hours of hard work and research with little money in return. Getting your name out there and into the field is not an easy thing to do. Every one of the blogs and emails I receive from B2B writers tell me it will get better but I'm still waiting for the "get better" stage that hasn't come. I am learning though and I'm enjoying the work. I also took a professional writing course through AWAI. If you don't know about them and you're trying to get into the field, this course is a nice step into the world of freelance writing. I refer back to my course many times.

Real Estate. Yes.
That's me. I'm taking a real estate online licensing course right now. I have no idea why I'm taking it but since I paid for it, I'm going to finish it. Maybe it will give me the freedom to quit my full time teaching position, write and sell houses. Sounds wonderful right? It's just all work.

And to top it all off, I'm writing my books. I have a book that my daughters and I are working on in the evenings. It's a magical book for YA readers. It could become a trilogy so we'll see how that works out. Taking Estrella is a book about a school intruder shooting. I feel that my job right now gives me an advantage to writing something like that. It's a sad issue that seems to be plaguing our youth and it doesn't look like it's slowing down. My other book is the second book to Getting ME Back. It's about what happens to Linda after the first book ends and how she deals with loss and a fairly large scar on her face. I've wanted to write that one for awhile and it's halfway done.

Well to be fair, all these books are halfway done. I go from one book to another every day. I know I need to just finish one and start sending it out to agents but I haven't done that yet.

This leads me to today.

Yes, there is a point for all this explaining I'm doing. I haven't been keeping up with my blogs so here I am. Writing again hoping that my small miniscule fan base hasn't forgotten about me.

I'm still here. Still growing. Still writing.

A Night Out

I recently went to an area function and met up with a friend I hadn't had a chance to talk to in quite awhile. We spoke at length about my books and upcoming projects. It was a wonderful experience to sit and talk to one of my readers about my books.

It was humbling to know that someone put the time and effort into reading my books. AND, amazingly, she remembered quite a bit of information about the characters I created. She even gave the books to her daughter who finished reading it in two days.

She accomplished what I couldn't - the ability to give me a sense of renewed energy and focus regarding my work.

With all the negatives that go along with publishing a book (you know what I mean, we've all been there), it's nice to have someone say, "Hey, your books don't totally suck."


Thank you, Susan Ketron, for giving me that renewed sense of perseverance.

It was a great evening.
                                                              Susan                     Me