New Writer Success

It's kind of funny that once a writer's book/story has been published, they can really only hear how much their readers like it through hearsay. If we could just be in the same room as our readers and watch their reactions to our stories, we'd learn so much about our audience, our stories, and ourselves.

I say this because the other day (Monday, specifically), I had to read my short-story Weaponless aloud as a mini-product presentation for my PRO (Pursuing Real Opportunies) class. It was twelve pages long and at first they didn't really want to sit through the entire thing. They became slightly more enthusiastic when I told them it was double-spaced with only 250 words per page. I was so nervous.

I'm not trying to be egotistic, but I discovered this year that I'm kind of a good public reader. So I had that in my favor when I got up there to lay my baby in front of a bunch of teenagers for scrutiny. I was gratified to hear them laugh, sigh, and catch their breaths at all the right places, so that boosted my confidence quite a bit.

It definitely turned out to be kind of long. So much so, that I was in the middle of the climax of the action when the bell rang to end the period. I apologized and started putting the story away, but everyone shouted, "No no! Finish it! We want to hear the end!"

That alone made me incredibly happy! But then, once I got done, everyone congratulated me and told me it was great, that I'd better win the contest in which I'd entered it, and so on. If I could count on my stories always getting that kind of reaction, I'd read more of them aloud to my audience. Their good reactions are really something to behold.

Writer's Block (And a Few Possible Cures)

Writer's Block has been criticized by several people as being unreal, an excuse behind which writers can hide in order to not have to write. But I think it's a true problem. Oftentimes, I'll be on a roll of writing like crazy, then I'll smash up against a wall of increativity. It's not self-induced if you don't want it, right? I'm not sure about any other writers, but I know I certainly don't.

From my own experience, here are some ideas for breaking writer's block:

1. Read through what you've already written to get back into your original idea.
2. Set the mood - listening to fast or slow music during a specific scene is best.
3. Get away from other people and distractions - go for a walk to clear your mind.
4. Brainstorm with other writers to loosen your creativity up.
5. Freewrite - set a timer and write without lifting your pen about why you can't write, then starting writing anything that comes to mind about your story.

Naturally, there are many different ways to break Writer's Block, but these are the ways that have worked best for me and several of my writing friends. Hope they help!

First Thoughts

I have three writing mentors, Jennifer Archer, Jodi Thomas, and Deborah Elliott-Upton, in my area. I'm sure you've heard of all of them by now, right? Yesterday, Jenny mentioned that she has a blog to promote her written work. Lately, I've been wanting to start a blog, but I couldn't think of anything to write. She inspired me to start blogging, so I've settled on blogging about what it's like to be a teenage/young writer.

For the purpose of this post, I'm just going to write a bit about myself and where I'm coming from in my writing career. I've been writing since I was a little kid and I won a contest when I was about eight, but I didn't start really writing until I was thirteen, and didn't get completely serious about it until last year. I'm the co-president of the Writers Club at my school and I take that responsibility seriously.

Also at my school this year, there is a new class called PRO. In that class, seniors get to choose whatever career they want, then find a mentor in the career field to job-shadow for the rest of the school year. I chose writing, and because it's such a unique job choice for shadowing, I got to have three mentors instead of just one. (What was I supposed to do, watch a writer tap away at a keyboard three days a week?)

I'm not sure how long I've been with them now. I think maybe about a month. But it's incredible how much an eager-to-learn student can pick up from three talented writers in just that small amount of time. There is so much I know now that I'm glad I learned before I tried to write on my own. Now I do my best to impart the knowledge I've gained to other young writers, especially those in my group.

So that's what I intend to do here. I want to take what I've learned, congeal it into a blog under a particular topic, and put it out there for the world of new and young writers to read. ...On top of my random writing musings, that is.