I’ve written about the vampires next door with a basement-stored collection of bottled blood from innocent neighbors; a girl’s clay doll creation that comes to life and attempts to murder her family; what it’s like to live in Alaska without ever having lived in Alaska, all by the bold age of 10.
I continued to write in high school, winning a few contests and the journalism award, which was cute and mood-boosting, but I didn’t think much of it. Throughout my twenties, I have been published in non-fiction mediums. But again, I tend to not think much of it. I wanted more creative freedom, and had it in my head successful fiction novels are what “real” writing is. Of course that is wholly untrue, but regardless, I did want to finally muster the courage up to dip into the fiction world, make my little self proud.
Thus, my premise, at 23 years old, was born. I am now the reverse of that age and the small seed of aforementioned premise (although evolved) is now an 89,000 word manuscript.
My first upmarket fiction novel, Balloon Days, is currently in its hunt for representation. It is one I’ve worked on and off for several years; I finally let myself take it seriously in 2018 and hired an editor. Yeah, it changed my novel’s life. The little fetus I had, begun to grow organs, and limbs, and hair, until I could see it was a fully-formed human. Until it was ready to be freed into the world.
It is a weird position to be in. I feel like I’ve been in the “writer’s world” for some time, but not in the “author’s world”, and so I teeter on that I’m not a child, but not yet an adult type of line. Regardless, I’d like to share my writer’s journey and what has helped me through the discouragement and the abundance of moments where I was highly tempted to trash it.
I often miss the fun that comes with countless imaginative, care-free ideas and the confidence behind each one. So, I have decided to apply–or make my best effort, at least–that childlike mindset to my blog posts and stop self-editing and censoring to the point where I lose my own voice within my writing.
And I thought it could be fun to share that side of me with you, the reader. Hi reader!
To sum up: my goal is to encourage new writers, maybe make veterans remember the good ole days of beginning (if there is any way any of them would read this), and share the reality of what it is like, at least from my brain to yours.
Thank you đŸ™‚
Kristi Strong 