So, I was sitting here reading a book (The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Companion) and playing “Chess with Friends” with my mom when all of a sudden, an idea for a book popped into my head. I promptly stopped what I was doing and wrote said idea down. I have never taken a creative writing class nor did I major in English in college, yet I still have the grand delusion that I can someday publish a book. A book that, in fact, does not suck. Is this true for many book lovers and book bloggers? Do avid readers become the best writers? I’m not sure if either of these questions can actually be answered in the affirmative, but I tend to think so.
My friend Becky and I even have an idea for a series of books that we would write together. We even went as far as creating Twitter accounts and Polyvore inspiration boards for the characters from these books. We talk about the days where we can head to one of my family’s vacation homes and have a writing retreat. Our lives will be consumed with the waves from the lake, writing non-stop, and the best cheese-sticks we have ever eaten. Seriously. They melt in your mouth.
The problem I seem to have is actually sitting down to write. I find that I have all of these ideas swirling in my head and it is actually hard to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). I have so many distractions (Twitter being a main one). There is also the fear of rejection and/or people actually reading my writing. There will always be people that don’t like what you write. That’s why there are so many genres and types of books. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t scary. I just think that we have to remember to not let fear hinder our potential. Like Babe Ruth said,
“Never let the fear of
striking out get in your way.”
Or, like the adaptation of this quote from “A Cinderella Story,”
“Never let the fear of striking out
keep you from playing the game.”
So, I’m going to try to remember this. My semester ends soon and then I have a break until the end of August. Who is with me in giving this writing thing the old college try? Lets give each other some motivation!
