And so the blog begins...

Let me just state for the record, that I never in a million years would have ever thought that I would be writing a blog.  However, after watching another exceptional episode of Ugly Betty on Netflix (if you haven't seen this show, you need to watch it immediately) in which Betty creates her own blog, I got this little jab to my self-conscious telling me  "Hey maybe you should try it"  so here I am.

I am currently ploding through the self-editing of the book I have written (insert: pulling hair, swigging caffeine by the truckload, driving my husband crazy with my self doubt)  If that isn't bad enough this is my third edit.

The very first version of my story I started in 2005, when I was pregnant with my first baby.  My intention was to write for  middle grade , and it was written in third person.   I was about 200 pages in when I hit the wall.  Not a real wall, but a complete and utter block where I couldn't think of another thing to write.  The story was so so, and I really couldn't connect with the characters.  (ie: drowning with no chance of survival)

Then my sister Amanda shows up with a little book called Twilight.  Now my sister, who for all intensive purposes is an extremely intelligent person, hates to read.  *Gasp* I know.  To an avid reader, who is never without a book in my hand, this is sacrilege.  But wait for it, she is literally gushing about how she just read the entire series in one week, and it is so good.

Now I was a little iffy about this vampire book, especially since I had never read a YA book before (unless you count HP)  and because vampires scare me. They always have, and when I was little I used to make sure my covers stretched up and over my ear, because I totally believed that a vampire couldn't bite me if it couldn't see my neck.  True story.    But since my I-never-read sister was asking me to check it out, I did.  I devoured the entire series in 4 days!  And can I say that it changed my life?  It did, literally.   Stephenie Meyers is a genius, and I love, adore, and worship her.  She opened the world of YA to me.

I really connected with the first person view, and I loved the thought of an older character that I could connect with.  So in homage to my sister, I created a YA story, with her essence at it's very core.  I modeled my main character Fiona directly after Amanda. (figuratively and literally)  In a way,  I was writing this book for the both of us.

So the second version was done within three months, and I was extremely proud of it.  I had edited it, reviewed it countless times, and finally with a kiss and a sigh I queried it.  And was rejected, by every single agent I contacted.   This was someone screaming "you suck"  50+ times, and boy did it hurt.  So I stepped away from the book,  and shelved it for months. 

Now I still believed in my little book, so eventually I reopened it.  As I reviewed it with fresh eyes, I began to notice some serious flaws.  First, I was working with too many characters.  Or should I say main characters.  The plot was becoming confusing.   So I began the rewrite, again.

Fast forward a couple months, and here I still am, still writing. 

So to help keep the sanity of my family (ie: Mom, Manda, Hubby, and of course myself) I decided to record the process of writing, failing, and hopefully in the end succeeding in my goal of becoming a published author.

Thanks for reading, and here's hoping!