See, here’s the thing. I already have so many thoughts and ideas running through my head that if I didn’t write my head might just explode.
Some of you know what I mean, this burning overwhelming idea or thought pops into your head and you’re like whoa! Where did that come from? Me, I have to write them down. The most obscure tidbit is sometimes more than enough to build a story on.
I remember watching my mother write well into the night at the kitchen table, with her manuscript printed out and being edited as she put the pencil in her mouth, typed a few more words where she was doing a rewrite and still go to work the next day. I worried for her and envied her. The discipline she had to write what needed to be written.
Today I can say I have become my mother. I let everything else come before my writing, everything.
I wanted to write before but I put it off, didn’t have time, not worth it, etc. I have so many unfinished ideas, novels, short stories…sheesh. But one thing I realized I had stopped doing was reading. My mom read, a lot. I did too, but life somehow got in the way one day and I let it.
Last year I started reading avidly again. Okay, let’s be honest, as my honey can attest, I became a voracious reader again and with that, the creative juices started to flow and spill over. I was doing yardwork when the idea for my first Fanfic popped in my head. The Season 2 premiere for Rizzoli and Iles was looming and I had done a search on the internet for info on premiere and found fan fiction…Who knew?
There were great stories there and I tried imagining doing it and thought, nope, no way. Then came the yardwork.
I love Stephen King and his advice to folks on becoming a writer is to write, just write. So I did. Fanfics and the feedback from folks have helped me become a better writer. A more confidant writer. Am I still scared? No. Terrified yes…because now expectations have changed. I expect more from myself. I love hearing from folks and knowing that I made them feel what was going on in the story I wrote. Lately I’ve been making people cry and all I can say is thank you. Because without readers and reviewers I wouldn’t ever know if what I write makes you feel, you know escape into the story.
You see, that’s why I write. To help others feel what the characters feel. Cry when they cry, laugh when they do and throw something when you can feel their frustration through the page, or e-reader, or smartphone (pick your poison)…ESCAPE….
I hope to one day become a good writer, until then, I will write and write and write…
L.E.Perez
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