Monthly Archives: July 2013

On Uprooting Ones Life in Pursuit of a Dream

Posted on July 30, 2013 by A.L. Katherine

As previously mentioned, I moved to a new city this summer. In fact, I’m still in the process of moving, but I think the end is finally in sight!! The new apartment is still a mess of unbuilt furniture and boxes to be sorted through, but the old apartment is well on it way to being an empty shell, ready to be vacuumed and scrubbed for the next inhabitants. I have one month of work left before I am 100% moved and ready to start school in pursuit of something bigger.

This experience has been both stressful and exciting. Sometimes I was ready to call it quits and I seriously wondered if this was the right thing that I was doing. I mean, I asked my husband to move his whole life all because I wanted to take a chance at maybe someday making it as an author. I really believe going to school will help with that, not only with becoming a better writer, but learning about language and exploring the world of writing, journalism and publishing in all its various forms.

There are so many paths in the writing world, I hardly even know which one I like best, or if I even have a favourite. I know I’m writing a book series right now, but who’s to say I won’t fall in love with script writing. I mean, I’ve always thought how amazing it would be to write for a favourite tv show, or do a movie script. Hell, I even contemplated writing a script for my book!! I think it would be good practice! And what about journalism? Do you know how many avenues exist in the world of journalism? You can write about any topic!

I’m really hoping school will give me a chance to explore my options, as well as improve and grow as a person and a writer. Because writing is truly what I love, and even if I don’t make thousands of dollars doing it, if I can make enough to pay the bills that would be enough for me! What could be better than waking up every morning and going to a job you love, because in reality, something you love seldom ever feels like actual work. So moving has been an experience, and one I wish not to repeat many times in life.

I hope to be around a bit more during the month of August, but I won’t make too many promises. I still have a lot to accomplish before I’m off work, but I’ll try and post an update at least. And I still remember that I did promise you pictures of the new apartment. I would post some now, but I’m afraid there really are boxes everywhere! Ciao for now

~Kat

Categories: Life or Something Like it | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Am I good enough to be published?

Posted on July 28, 2013 by A.L. Katherine

There comes a time in every writer’s life where you have to ask yourself the question “Am I good enough to be published?”. When I first started writing my book I read an article that made me really nervous because it asked this question. At the time my answer was “I don’t know” because I honestly wasn’t sure if anyone would want to read or care about what I was writing. Today when I sat down to finalize chapter 13 I asked myself this question again and I realized my answer had changed. Am I good enough to be published? I say yes. I think that’s the first step in getting published, because if you don’t think you’re good enough to be published, how are you going to convince someone else that you are? The first step is seeing your own talent and bringing your passion to life.

Obviously there is more to getting published than just self-confidence, but I think it definitely goes a long way when you are trying to sell someone your story, because in essence that is what you are doing. You are going to someone who doesn’t know you, who doesn’t care how long you slaved over your final draft, and saying “Buy my product, spend thousands of dollars to produce and market it and hopefully you’ll get a return on it.” You need convince them that your story is worth selling. That if they don’t take the chance on you, they are going to regret it later.

You need to resolve with yourself that no matter how many rejection letters you get, someone is going to see your story like you do, it is going to come alive to them like it does for you and they are going to give you a chance. The thing I like about editing my own work is that I can be brutally honest with myself and not get offended about it. I can look at a piece of dialogue and say “Kat, this is a piece of shit, you need to re-write it.” Maybe that seems a little harsh, but I can’t tell you how many notes I’ve made that are like “Shit, shit, bullshit, re-write” etc because I want my manuscript to be the best it can be. I want to catch all those typo’s, I want to catch all those long sentence, all those blocky and choppy scenes that could flow nicer.

When I send my manuscript to a publisher I want it to be so easy to read, that they will not want to put it down. One chapter will flow into the next, until they are half way through the book and they are wondering where the last 4hrs went. When I write, I write passionately about it and I want that passion to translate over to the reader, so when someone picks up my book they are going to care whether a character lives or dies. When I read Lord of the Rings and Frodo lost his finger, I was pissed! After everything he went through, I should have been grateful that he only lost a finger, but I was still angry that he didn’t make it out unscathed. I want my readers to care about my characters like that.

I want them to come alive. I want them to be like you and me, with their own personalities, thoughts, and reactions to things. So if someone asks me if I am good enough to be published, my answer will forever be yes. It is no longer a question of IF I get published my friends, it is now a question of WHEN. Because it is going to happen. I will be published.

~Kat

Categories: Book Musings | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.