Who are you as a writer?

There are so many different kinds of writers.  When I decided that I was going to 'get serious' about writing, I really didn't have a clue about the access to information or other writers that was available.  I had spent the last 20 years building a career that did not involve writing anything beyond an executive summary or the occassional irritating power point presentation.  The career was good, but something was missing.  I needed/wanted to write.

I sat down and wrote the story that was in my head.  I am very organized and so I had outlined the story.  I didn't know that this was a frequently debated concept between writers.  I just did what came natural to me; what made sense to me.

The story I wrote is a chapter book geared toward 1st/2nd graders.  My plan was to take the current character education program that our local schools use and build those words into a story.  It was a journey that a young boy took to build friendships through courage, integrity, responsibility, respect, and perserverance.  Once completed, my husband and sons read it and made suggestions/corrections.  Then, my husband who is very involved in the schools, offered it to teachers to read.  Several have read it to their classes.

It has been fantastic to get direct feedback from teachers and students within my target audience.  In addition, I have been fortunate to meet many actual writers on AgentQuery Connect who were willing to provide, shall we say, knowledgeable feedback from a writers perspective.

Teachers and students were able to tell me when they laughed, what they liked, what needed to change.  The writers I met through the different web sites and twitter, etc., were able to provide me specific feedback to the science of writing.

That's the beauty of different kinds of writers.  There is so much skill, wisdom, and experience out there if you are willing to reach out and then listen.  I have learned so much about character development, pacing, plotting, outlining, grammar, queries, synopsis, and myriad of other topics.  What a blessing that writers are willing to share what they know, so that you may know too.

I'm working on my next manuscript while I am waiting on the final critique of my first story from a great writer.  I hope to work through the suggestions for improvement and then query the first story by the end of the year.  It may make it, it may not.  But I know that I have changed for the better because of it.