I have in my possession a book of poetry about pigs that I wrote when I was in kindergarten.
I started writing before I could read, and I have never stopped. I grew up in a household of words, filled with books. Writing is core to my being. I went to journalism school and won awards, as well as being a successful freelancer. (I am an award-winning agricultural journalist, which still amazes me).
But between journalism school, working as a journalist – including meeting my goal to be a sports writer – going to university and getting a real job, I stopped writing fiction for several years. I have notebooks filled with notes, half-starts. I never sat down and took the time to just write – that writing practice that almost every successful writer talks about.
So, in 2009 I decided to compete in NaNoWriMo to start that exercise. Two years ago, I decided to enter some short story competitions, flash fiction contests, giving myself deadlines to force myself to write more. It worked. I came second in my group in the first round of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge (highly recommend).
For non-fiction, I have been a blogger for more than 20 years. It started with LiveJournal, then Blogger and finally my own domain where I had success as a so-called Mommy Blogger. Now this space is for deeper thoughts about language and writing. I shall opine on the Oxford comma and the like.
I also write about things other than the writing craft here on Medium.
A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit ~ Richard Bach