I’m A Writer

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don’t win, at least you can be satisfied that you’ve tried. If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, you don’t branch out, you don’t try – you don’t take the risk.

—Rosalynn Carter

I’m a writer…

I’m A Writer…

I’M A WRITER…

*sigh*

I think if I say it enough it’ll finally sink in. I love to read. I like to get drawn into stories and follow the adventures of the characters. I like feeling as if I’m actually apart of what’s happening.

I like stories that are real. Stories that are complex. Characters that are flawed. And I’m finding myself more and more disappointed with the books I’m reading. They’re all the same. Female protagonist is in a love triangle with two equally hot, but secretive boys. Someone’s after her. The story spans three books….you get the picture.

It’s gotten boring.

But what it has instilled in me is the fact that if those authors could get published so can I. Ever since I can remember I’ve made up stories in my head. Sometimes I’d be the damsel-in-distress. Sometimes the knight in shining armor. Sometimes the story had a happy ending. A lot of them didn’t. At least not the happily ever after that we’re exposed to most of the time.

While I’ve written before, I’ve never focused on it. I’ve never believed in myself. Never believed in my writing, even though I’ve always gotten good feedback from people I didn’t know. A tweak here, an expanded scene there, and I’ve done pretty well for my drabbles. Stories less than 10,000 words.

But this year is different. I’ve signed up to do NaNoWriMo and furthermore I’ve signed up for a NaNo boot camp over on Savvy Authors. Savvy Authors has two boot camps: the general NaNo boot camp and the Entangled Publishing Smack Down. Well guess which one I signed up for??

Entangled Publishing’s Smack Down

I signed up yesterday and have been terrified out of my mind ever since. I’ve never completed 50,000 words before. The max I’ve ever written was  7776 words. And now I’m going for 50k+ in 30 days PLUS I have publishers breathing down my neck.

But at least I’ll have help before November starts. The Entangled boot camp starts on October 20th when we have to send our group’s publishers a synopsis. Then we get a week of the publishers helping us with our story before NaNoWriMo even starts.

But it still freaks me out. I really have to focus and outline my story this time. I have to work at it so I don’t let my team and our guides down. But ultimately, I have to work at it so I don’t let myself down. The only one I’m really hurting is myself if I just give up. The only way I truly fail is if I don’t try. If I try, and actually put my entire being behind it, there’s no way I can fall short. And even if I do, it’s like the quote above says, I’ll have done the best.

Is there anything you’re struggling with? Anything on your agenda that you think is a little out of your reach?