I haven't dropped of the face of the Earth I have just been......writing and NOT self publishing

Okay so its six months since my last post but I have an excuse. I have totally switched gears and am now NOT self publishing as I am convinced it would be the death of a writing career that has only just begun!!! I have however made some progress, I have done a lot of research and attended a Writers Digest Conference in NYC at the end last September which I would highly recommend.

I am also now doing another Gotham writing course and I am LOVING it. In the interim,while I have now decided on going to the traditional publishing route,I am now in the process of querying my manuscript. I therefore need to boost my confidence os that when any rejection letters come in I prepared to take them on the chin.

I am writing almost daily now,both free writing and working on a first draft of a novel and I know that I am finally on the right track. I have learnt so much in the last two years about the craft of writing and I am finally calling myself as a writer.

The best advice I received recently is to simply write and as Nike and my current course facilitator,Barbara De Marco Barrett says, Just do it!!!!

Okay, so I am making progress. I potentially have an illustrator for my children's book. Of course, this is huge as we are publishing the book ourselves, it means that we have all of the risk and hopefully some reward. My aim is to have the book on the shelves in time for Christmas.

I never thought I would write for kids,until I decided to take a children's book writing course a few months ago. I was shocked at how much I enjoyed trawling the aisles of Barnes & Noble in the kids section doing my research.

As a child I would often put on my night light after my mother put me to bed and read until the wee hours of the morning, so I really should not be taken by surprise at the joy I felt when I had to revisit the works of Judy Blume, The Ramona series by Beverly Cleary and the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M Montgomery.

I enjoy writing fiction for adults and that was originally my only thought about writing, but now I have evolved. I realize that most writers enjoy more than one type of writing and so I am exploring the possibilities that interest me.

You never know where this may lead!

What have I done so far?

As of today in my quest to be a writer I have taken three certifiable writing courses and have two university law degrees as well as my professional qualification which enables me to practice law. Not sure how the latter is relevant but at least I now know what I really want to do.

Of course the thing I also do most with my time is write and read..... and write and read. I used to think reading was a way to postpone writing but I am now convinced that I was wrong.

Imagine my surprise and of course my utter glee when I discovered that my reading is actually work, maybe I was not getting paid to do it, but it is a necessary part of my research as a writer. Needless to say whenever I wanted a break from my energetic three year old daughter on a Sunday afternoon,I could now tell my husband that I was "working" while lying in my bed reading a novel.

He has been one of my major supporters in the last couple years, when meeting my deadline for my novel writing course for example, or when writing the children's book that I am hoping to publish this year.

Here is the problem with my new found profession, until you get published you never feel like you can call yourself a writer. My husband however,disagrees and for this reason alone I love him!