Snarky Sentiments of a Paranormal Writer is my very first Author blog and it is dedicated to my very first work in progress.
I was so excited to start this blog that I dove right in to one of my many topics before taking the time to introduce myself.
Hello!
My name is Allison and I’m a fiction writer specializing in the paranormal. Wow! You can’t even imagine how hard it’s been for me to get to the point where I could say that…or even write it. But during the past few months, with the encouragement of my family and writing group friends, I finally grew the courage to come out of the closet as a writer. But still, saying it out loud was frightening.
Why? Well I think Kristen Lamb sums it up very well in two books I strongly recommend if you’re serious about writing.
In her books, “Are You There Blog, It’s Me Writer.” and “We Are Not Alone – The Writer’s Guide to Social Media” she talks about the importance of dressing for the job you want – not the job you have. If you want to be a writer than you have to own. Don’t hold back just say it, “I am a writer”.
She also warns that when someone finally declares that he/she is a writer, they may face scrutiny from family members and friends. Fortunately she also tells you how to handle that. And that’s the chapter that really made the difference. I was afraid to declare myself a writer out of fear from judgement by the “eye-rollers” as well as the “back-stabbers”. Yes unfortunately, I know among all of my friends and even some of my family members, there are people who don’t take me seriously and think I’m just wasting my time.
Figuring out a way to say, “So what? I don’t care!” was tricky. I decided it was time for me to practicing introducing myself as a writer.
I sat on my couch one morning and said out loud , to my cat, “Hi! I’m a writer. My name is Allison and I’m a writer. I’m a writer. I write fiction. I write paranormal fiction.”
My cat looked right back at me and said, “Hi! I’m Gwennie. I’m you cat. I’m your hungry cat. Guess what? Your hungry cat has an empty food dish. When you’re done talking to yourself why don’t you do something about it.”
I should have seen that coming. Declaring myself to my cat just didn’t feel right. I still didn’t feel like I was worthy of the title Writer. After all, I haven’t published anything, unless you count my blog posts and typically, those don’t count as published works. But Kristen Lamb addresses that in both of her books and as far as she is concerned you are not required to be published in order to tell people you are a writer.
I thought maybe it would help if I stood in front of a mirror and declared myself a writer. I walked into the bathroom, turned the light on, looked in the mirror and said, “Holy Cow! What is up with my hair? I can’t believe I’ve been walking around like that!”
One comb and a hair tie later, I was ready to try again. I walked right to that mirror and said, “Hi! My name is Allison and I’m a writer.” It still feels weird when I say it but I’m taking some other steps to own it. I’ve enter NaNoWriMo this year and have joined a couple of online writing groups which, so far, have been extremely helpful.
Kristen Lamb’s book were extremely motivating to the point where if I ever have an encounter with the “eye-rollers” I feel like I will be able to say, “Who are you to poo on my dream?”
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