September 10, 2009

What I hope to accomplish...

Other than limiting my usage of both ellipses and em dashes (not likely to be very successful in these ventures--I use both heavily...), one of the primary things I'd like to accomplish with this blog is to talk about my other writing projects. And, hopefully, use it as a way to keep motivating myself to keep working on them.

I'm in the process of writing a series of children's books based on stories my father used to tell me when I was little. As of right now, I have three stories written, and I want to write two more. Then, I'd like to polish them, get someone to illustrate them (NOT me -- that would be an unmitigated disaster) and explore self-publication and/or look into how one gets a literary agent.

Although I've been a writer all my life, I'm feeling a bit nervous about this particular venture. While my early writing entirely centered around the fictional short story (which is essentially what these children's books amount to), I've spent my entire career writing for newspapers and corporate marketing materials and websites.

In short: I'm sort-of-not-a-little-bit worrying that I've lost my fiction/creative thang, as it were.

It still feels like it comes naturally...but I'm not sure. I have some great friends (including Two Pretzels; thank you!) who have agreed to read the stories from the perspective of a writer and a parent. I know their feedback will be invaluable. I'm also trying to identify some other outlets/sources for feedback, both online and offline.

My biggest enemy right now is time. I work full-time, I volunteer at my local dog shelter, I'm married and have two dogs. I'm busy, and I jealously guard my time.

That's why I'm hoping this blog will help me stay motivated. I'll feel compelled to post some kind of update, which I'm hoping will goose me into staying on schedule.

In addition to writing about my writing (and hopefully not boring any readers to tears in the process), I'll also post about my dogs (they're cute), my thoughts on life (they're vast and varied), my gripes (ditto vast and varied) and anything else that strikes my fancy. I won't write about my day job (big no-no), not that that'd be a super-exciting topic, anyway.

So: I'll write. Hopefully someone will read. With any luck, we won't all feel cheated in the end. :)

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