Chronicling my embarkation into my own personal world of writing. I do not have a destination in mind. My only hope is to make some sense of this compelling desire to create with words.

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Manuscript submitted to Writer's Digest contest

On Friday, I sent my manuscript to the Writer’s Digest Short, Short Story competition. The name of the piece is “Along for the Ride”. I hit the deadline.

It would be simply a miracle if I were to place in the top 25 in the contest. No matter what happens, I finished a story and am proud of my work.

I shared it with my wife when it was nearing completion. She was excited about it and gave input on the characterization. I think she was surprised at how I could write. I was glad I did this.

I was later furious with myself when I re-read the piece yesterday and found the word "with" missing from one of the sentences. This may hurt any chance I had to get the editor's attention, but what's done is done.

I know I have a ton to learn and that I need to develop my talent, but I know I have a book to write in my lifetime. One that will be meaningful.

I need to identify my next writing milestone to hone my skills. It may be an online writing class or writing another piece for a contest.

I have also started a second blog, after my running blog, to track my writing endeavors, to which these entries will be posted.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Trying to find the words

Deep down inside, I have always felt a compulsion, an inner drive, to write. It is a talent that I feel that I have, as undeveloped and unnurtured as it may be.

I cannot sensibly explain why I have feel this desire to words to paper - and yet have few significantly tangible and completed works of this supposed internal passion.

I wrote on the the high school newspaper some 15 years ago. I did well, I thought. Better than most. For some reason, I chose not to explore journalism as a college degree, as a fellow writer in my class eventually went on to become an established sports journalist for a major city newspaper.

No regrets, write? I mean, right? Of course not, but this energy to write is not dead.

For the very modest degree of early success I am able to claim, it is because of my bias to write in the personal essay format. I won a scholarship in college for a 750-word essay about why I chose my profession.

I also was later published in a technical professional journal early on my career. If letters to the editor count, I have a few of those writing credits also. Many of my high school newspaper contributions were editorial in nature.

Fiction, on the other hand, scares me to death. I have several unfinished "projects" ranging from 50 to 10,000+ words.

What do I hope to achieve with my writing? Long-term, I would like to have a book published. One that is meaningful to me and that is a work that touches those who read it. Sure, it would be nice if it were to sell a ton of copies, but that's not why I am in this game.

In the short term, I hope to just get something in print again. By Friday of this week, I hope to submit a short, short story to Writer's Digest in response to one of their many competitions.

I have found myself checking writing instructional books out at the library, reading others' work on the web and tormenting over how and why I want to try to write.

I have started this on-line journal to capture my thoughts, my pain, my ideas and my energy toward the craft of writing, with the ultimate aim of finding and understanding my writing self.