A New Direction

I’ve been having a hard time as of late. To be completely cliché, I’m at a crossroads, for about the billionth time in my life.

Six months ago when I decided to go back to school with the idea I’d finally become a serious writer, I thought I had it all figured out.

I was going to complete my degree, gain more experience writing, finish my novel and hopefully land an agent to help me publish it, (as well as all the other books I have swimming in my head).

Wrong!

Instead, I’ve come to the very hard conclusion that school is stifling me.

I don’t exactly know what I’m going to do, but my thought at this moment is to leave school and go back to focussing on my novel on my own.

While I think school is great and I’m all for learning, the trouble I’m having is with the feedback from some fellow student writers. It’s overwhelmingly negative!

Ugh. There, I said it. Now I feel a bit freer.

Here’s the thing, it’s not that I think my work is perfect. I don’t. I know writing is re-writing and re-writing again. The problem I have with these online workshops where other aspiring writers review your work and give their feedback is that by and large, these writers just want to re-write everyone’s work how they would write it.

Honestly, how is that helpful?

I’ve tried ignoring most of their gripes and taking what I find useful, but the whole process is weighty. Every morning when I check the board to see what writers have said about my work, it’s like I have an elephant sitting on my back, and it’s crushing my creativity.

So, as of now I think I’m going to head in a new direction, again. Well, it’s the same direction I’ve been working towards, (finishing my novel and getting it published), I’m just going to do it without school.

On top of that, I’m going to publish my progress here, as well as my daily thoughts, ideas and musings from my walks with Quinley, the world’s best four-legged friend.

My hope is this blog will show people that even though life is often messy, it’s okay. As long as you’re working towards your passion, and boy am I, everything will work out, right?

Until tomorrow…