#Writing Community Blog Award

*le gasp!* What’s this!? An actual Jen post on a Monday!? Is she finally back to a regular posting schedule now? …eh, don’t jinx it. XD

Okay, on a less dramatic note, I was tagged by Issabelle over on Teen Writers’ Nook for the #Writing Community Blog Award! Thank you so much, Issabelle! ❤ The tag was created by Lauryn Trimmer at Pro Story Builders

THE RULES

1. Display the award logo on your site.

2. Link back to the person who tagged you.

3. Answer 5 questions.

4. Tag 3 blogs (must be blogs related to writing, not book review blogs) and ask them 5 new questions.

5. Follow as many blogs with this award as you can!

The Questions

What made you start writing?

Aaaah, my writer origin story. 😉 Well, I’ve always had a very active and vivid imagination, I was the baby who babble talked with her cheerios before eating them. My childhood was filled with playing pretend, I turned even schoolwork into some sort of make-believe game, and when I wasn’t making up my own stories, I was consuming someone else’s whether it was a book or a TV show/movie.

Over the years I had made several attempts at writing my own stories, but most never made it past the opening paragraph. I thought a writer just sat and wrote the whole book with no trouble at all (yes, that was very naïve. XD) and since I was having trouble it must mean I wasn’t a writer. And yet, writing still called to me. So I would try again and again, each time I would give up as soon as I hit a hard spot, never making it past page one.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2015 when I finally realized I was a writer. My little brother was working on a fanfiction sequel to a series we both loved and asked me to help. Fanfiction I can do, I’ve been making up my own versions of how things went for the stories I loved my whole life. While we were writing it, he asked me a kind of offhanded question, it was so innocent and simple yet it finally awoke the writer within me. He asked me to write my own story.

And here I am, almost six years later, still writing my own stories. Looking back I really believe God created me to be a writer, I may not have started as young as some of you, but I do know I will continue to write the rest of my life.

Aaannd that was a long answer! Sorry! Next question!

Do you ever have any days when you question why you’re a writer?

Yes! Whenever the writing gets hard, and that’s often! I question if I’m really supposed to be a writer. And on really bad days, I question why I even stick with it when there are much less frustrating things to do. But then I remember not only how much I love my characters, but how much I love the very act of writing. Feeling the keys of my keyboard while I breathe life into the imaginings of my heart? That is an experience I never want to give up and wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

What’s a recent tip you’ve learned for writing?

I’ve known this for awhile, but I only recently started letting myself do it. Just write, don’t worry about anything else. Let yourself write the story that wants to be told, and if it’s different than what you thought, you can rewrite later. Don’t edit an unfinished story.

Please note, that applies to me but maybe not to you. If you need to edit as you go, awesome. You do that and write the best story you can. If you are like me, please, allow your story and yourself to breathe. It’s okay if there are inconsistencies or plotholes. No, it’s not exactly fun fixing them later, but after struggling and struggling with my very first story to the point where even thinking about it nearly made me have a panic attack, I learned I need to hold my story loosely and let it tell whatever story it wants to.

What’s your favorite writerly quote?

I’ll be honest, I had to Google some for this question because I don’t have any memorized. Here’s one that really speaks to me right now; This is how you do it: you sit down at that keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard. – Neil Gaiman

Do you have someone you consider like your writing mentor?

Well, during my first few years as a writer, I devoured every writing book and the few writing blogs I knew of, one of which was Gail Carson Levine’s blog. I read her entire blog and kept going back to certain posts when I had trouble. So, for those years, Mrs. Levine was my unofficial writing mentor. But now, I don’t really have someone I consider my writing mentor, though it’d be nice to have one. On second thought, I suppose books are my writing mentor, I know that sounds silly, but reading teaches you how to write through osmosis and you can also study a book and see how it’s author did certain things.

Thanks so much, Issabelle for tagging me! I hope y’all enjoyed my answers and learning more about my writer life!

I tag:

Christine Smith @ Bright Words in Darkened Worlds

Tara Savannah @ Tower in the Plains

Deborah O’Carroll @ The Road of a Writer

Here’s my questions!

1. Do you have a favourite character trope?
2. Can you introduce us to the main character (or characters) from your latest WIP?
3. How do you feel about cliffhangers from an author’s perspective?
4. What genre and/or time period do you feel at home writing in?
5. Do you prefer writing stand-alones or series?

What about you? If you’re a writer, what would you answer to the above? (My questions or Issabelle’s.) If you’re not a writer, what would you answer as a reader?

Tell me in the comments! 😀