Friday, December 31, 2010

The Inagural Post: Why I Write and Why I Read

So I've decided to start a blog.

I have no idea why I'm doing it.  I have no idea whether anyone will read it.  Not for awhile, I suspect.  Which is fine.  Gives me a chance to get the lay of the land, so to speak.

There are two things I do pretty frequently, more often than anything else: writing and reading.  I don't really have any other hobbies, so to speak.  I like cooking, but I live alone and I'm a picky eater.  I like dancing, but I hate crowds and I don't have a boyfriend.  I used to like television and movies, but now I can't remember the last time I went to the theater and I can't even find my remote control half the time.

So that's what I do.  I write.  And I read.  And that's that.

And this is fine with me.  I have great friends, a good job, a nice (albeit quite messy, most of the time) apartment, and I love my life.  Being a book girl is awesome.

My love of reading started very early.  As a kid, I had a difficult time socially--that's just another way of saying I was a pariah--so books became my escape, and the characters became my friends.  Anne Shirley.  Meg Murray.  These were the girls I related to growing up.  As I got older, I moved on to Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte.  (Ah, yes, despite my cynical facade, I am a sap.  I am a sucker for the romances.)  More recently, I've been reading a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal romances.  I love supernatural stuff.  I've always been a big believer in a world full of possibilities.

As for writing...well, that one is simpler: I am a megalomaniac.  The books you read don't always end the way you want them to.  The books you write do.  I get to create a world and its inhabitants.  Then I get to control it.  I am a god.  HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Seriously, though, I live half my life in my head making stuff up, anyway.  I'm a regular Walter Mitty.  I might as well use writing as an outlet for it.

At any rate, since I need a place to keep track of them anyway, here are my reading and writing-related resolutions for 2011:

Reading Resolutions

1. Keep track of the books I read.  I read a lot of books in 2010.  Too bad I have absolutely no idea which books, or how many

2.  Be more open to new genres and authors.

3.  Along the same line, take more reading suggestions.  As the Book Editor over at cc2konline.com, I really should try to be more open and diverse in my reading.  (Of course, the advantage of having my own personal blog is that, on it, I can be as self-indulgent in my reading as I want!)

Writing Resolutions

1.  Revise that manuscript of the first draft I just finished.

2.  Join some critique groups.

3.  Learn to take criticism better.  (I've got a long way to go on this one.)

4.  Start submitting to agents/publishers before the end of 2011.

5.  Work on something else as I'm revising, so I don't want to tear my hair out.

Oh, boy.  Something tells me it could be a long year...

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