January Theme: Beginning is only the Beginning by Deborah Lytton

January 1st always invigorates my writing.  A new year, a fresh start--anything is possible.  I vow to challenge myself to write better, with more meaning, depth and power.  But beginning a manuscript is the easiest part, isn't it?  How many good ideas I have that can't seem to progress past page 20?  15?  10?  And that is where the devotion to our craft comes in--in the pages between the first and the last.  For it is the commitment and discipline to completing the story that makes us writers. 

Books that inspired me to become a writerThe beginning of my journey as a children's author came with the realization that I wanted to write books like the ones I loved as a girl.  The books I read when I was growing up became a part of me and the characters inspired me to be a better person.  I wanted to write books that made a difference to one girl, like those books made a difference to me.  The first middle grade manuscript I wrote was a story about a girl and a horse.  And the real triumph was not the beginning but the very last page.  I had never written something so long.  My early writing was all screenplays which run 90-120 pages with a lot of space on the page.  This first novel was almost 200 pages, and I was so proud of myself for finishing it.  That manuscript has never been published.  And my first publication, JANE IN BLOOM, was actually my seventh complete novel.  I have boxes full of writing that will never be read by anyone but me--and maybe my children.  But those manuscripts gave me the courage not only to begin a story, but to end a story.  They taught me about story flow and character development.  But mostly, they taught me about commitment.  For every ending leaves room for another story to begin.  And the beginning is only the beginning.