Beginnings

After reading Matt's post about 2011, I was inspired.

In the beginning of 2011, February or March, I believe, I was checking out Miss Snark's First Victim for the first time in a few months, and I found an interesting link, leading to a teen writer's blog called Write On!. It looked sorta cool, I guessed. So I signed up for the forum. I had joined writer forums before, but it hadn't lasted. I would stick around for a month at most, and then I'd just peter out. But this one was people my age. I hoped I could actually make some acquaintances who would be fun to talk to about writing sometimes, and maybe even spur me to write more often than I did. (I have a serious confession: before 2011, yes, I did write. But in spurts. I would write for a few weeks, then I wouldn't for a few weeks. Or months, even. I wasn't fond of the pattern, but that's the way it was.)

I had no clue that Write On! would change everything.

(I couldn't resist the dramatic moment. It was just begging to be done.)

At first I was really cautious when talking to all the scary strangers at WO!, but as I relaxed and got to know them better, I realized they weren't scary. I even realized I was rather fond of them. I talked to them more and more––to the point where Mum got ticked at me a few times for spending so much time talking to my "weird internet friends" during the summer.

Of course, I'm glad I didn't listen to her for once, because these people were good for me. They encouraged me to write more than I have had before, and last summer I finished my first book. Finally, I had more than dozens of starts of stories. I had a completed story, in all its messy, tangled first draft glory. And as pleased as I was/am, I know it never would have happened without y WO! people encouraging me.

This year, I did my first NaNoWriMo, and the end saw the completion of my second novel. I started––and finished––my first semester of college. I got my first real job. I learned to knit on a whim. And half of those only happened because I found Write On!.

2011 has been a year of firsts and beginnings for me. I have to wonder what I would be doing instead if I hadn't decided to check out a blog I had forgotten about for a few months. If I hadn't clicked that link. Maybe I would have already been on my way to mastering Korean and an instrument(two things I have great interest in but sadly put on back burners often in favor of creating characters to talk to in leu of real friends), since I would have more time without all the writing and knitting I do now. Or maybe I would just be a lazy bum, reading and watching TV until I turn old and gray.

Either way, I wouldn't be me, and I rather like me. I like the stories I've created and thought up, and I like the people I've met in the last year.

2012 has some big shoes to fill if it hopes to be as great as 2011 was. I think it's already well on its way, with a visit to Maggie all planned for January. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year throws at me.

Any wonderful memories from the past year to share? Was 2011 a good year, or, as Matt asked, just another year?

Finished My Novel!

It's a celebration!

I know it's my second post for the day, but this is a big moment, and I think it should be blogged.

I just finished Draft 1 of my latest novel, Blink. It's 'complete' at  50,067 words. It will be longer after I'm finished shredding to bits, without a doubt. But the important thing is that I've written the basic story down.

Now I'm going to set it aside and work on something else until it's time to return and start the shredding process.

Yay! I love writing.