If you are a regular reader or follow me on twitter, etc you will know that I love to write. I love to write fiction and as scary as this is to say, I have almost finished my first draft of my novel. It’s around 70,000 words and it’s been a long time coming. Yes I work full time hours, have three kids, blog, house, etc, but I want to do this. I write after the kids are in bed, before I fall asleep. Everything else seems to have to take priority, I’m trying to work in more time. But for now this is what I have. Whether or not I let anyone read it or not is another story. It’s got a long way to go, it took me a long time to even say what I’ve just said to anyone other than my family. It’s kinda scary putting yourself out there.
Writing a novel is something I have wanted to do for years. I don’t know if you remember, but I did a distance learning course a few years back on novel writing it was fantastic. I learnt so much, my first assignment was on a Cinderella Interpretation. Fascinating to look at a well known and loved story from a different angle. This course taught me how I could actually do this. I could write a novel.
Being a parent means that you don’t have the time to get out and go to college or university if you want to further your education or change career paths or even start a new journey. Distance learning helped me to this in the comfort of my own home. There are so many great distance learning organisations that help and support parents like myself promoting their education for parents who can work from home and achieve a degree. I couldn’t have completed my course without these types of opportunities and hope to continue my education.
A few changes I’ve made recently to help steer me towards my goals are listening to a wonderful and talented author Sarah Painter’s Podcasts the Worried Writer, yes that is me. These are fantastic and listening to real life authors, how they got to be where they are and that they still panic putting their work out there is inspiring. Last year I took part in one of one of my favourite authors YA courses online. I gained a lot from the YA genre and met a few fellow writers that I have been communicating with since. She is also an excellent mentor, you can find out more about that on her website too.
Writing is something I have always done, along with reading. I love to read fantasy, supernatural, vampires, witches, anything with magic in it. I love some good one escapism in my books. This is what I tend to write, so far anyway. I think it’s good to write what you’d love to read. For now the book is mine and I love it. I am not going to go into it here, I will leave that for another post. There is an element of magic in the book.
I long to write, one day if my dreams come true and I wish upon that first star, I will see my name on a real life book cover. Ok, I’d settle for an ebook, but a real physical book would be the icing on the cake.
Have you done any distance learning courses? What are your dreams?
