March Slice of Life – Day 25

Today is Day 25 of the March Slice of Life – the daily writing challenge hosted at “Two Writing Teachers”

Yesterday, Terje wrote a lovely post about what kind of writer she is. Her words really got me thinking about how I would answer her question: “What kind of writer are you?”

I always wrote, whether short stories, in my journal, letters and later, blog posts. But I never called myself “a writer”. I desired to be one, but I didn’t take any concrete steps while I was teaching.

In June of 2013, I retired after 36 years in education. I loved teaching but I knew it was time to leave. I also know it was time to pursue my desire to write.

I took courses, joined writing groups (SCWBI, RWA) , read, attended a retreat, joined critique groups and I wrote. I took part in challenges (ROW 80), pitches and twitter contests. And, I kept writing. I did NaNoWriMo twice and wrote 50,000 words both times. I took part in SYTYCW through Harlequin twice as well.

I’ve written  romance novellas, several children’s picture books and non-fiction books as well as starting a middle grade novel. I just finished a full-length novel that I have started to revise. I have dreams and so I keep writing.

I tend to picture a scene or a character in my mind long before I start to plan or write. Once that image solidifies, I then write it down as I saw it. The scene usually arrives as a movie clip.

I tend to write sparingly and am working to expand my writing, to add more detail, thoughts and descriptions.

I wish I could be more consistent in my daily writing, that I could write religiously every day. But, even when I am not writing, I am thinking, planning, getting new ideas.

I continue to study, to seek to improve my skills.

I call myself a writer now and I keep writing.