What Writing has taught Me about Myself

When I decided to finally relent to my passion and begin writing “for real” not quite two years ago, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself in to.  Sure I loved to write.  Of course I wanted to complete a whole novel.  You bet I wanted to publish that same book and start the process all over again.  The whole idea was exciting.  But at the time that’s all it was…an idea.

And then the work began.  I wrote and read and researched and wrote some more.  I began this Blog.  I went back to my book and wrote some more.  I researched a lot more and I continued to write even more.  Eventually, a book appeared…out of the mist of my imagination, a story emerged with characters I enjoyed meeting as each made themselves known to me. 

 

I thought writing a book would be hard.  That turned out to be the easy part.  Honestly, one of the most surprising aspects of writing is that drafting the first draft of the story is not the hardest part of writing.  All you need to write a book is an imagination, a computer, or pen and paper, and a chair to sit in.  Write what comes to you, what the characters tell you to and what your imagination wants you to.  The real work begins after you write the story as you tweak the manuscript with edits, revisions, formatting, a name and a cover that’ll catch the eye, and then all the marketing involved once the book is finally available for sale.

While it may be a lot of work, it is very enjoyable and rewarding.

So what has this process taught me about myself?  Not as much as you might think…

I already knew I was determined.

I knew I had a good imagination.

I’ve always been creative.

I’ve always been stubborn, especially when I make up my mind.

I’ve always been organized (yes, even if my desk is buried in piles) and detail oriented.

What writing has actually taught me is that I already had all the traits necessary to begin this journey.  Without those traits already in place, I may not have gotten to this point at all.  The bonus for me is that this journey has shown me I also have patience (most days) and perseverance.  Writing has let me utilize the traits I already had and it has helped me strengthen the traits I needed to work on.  While I have much to learn, there is also much more to gain and this gives me so much more to look forward to...