Ready to Write Again

I've been a published author since 2003. Small presses first and then I ventured onto the Indie bandwagon. I stopped writing in 2009, because the story I was so passionate about was vehemently shot down by my long-time critique group. My friends. Not that they had ever liked anything I'd written. Not that they were successful authors.

I'd never worked all the way through any book with them, because they hated them and I couldn't use most of their advice. They didn't understand I wasn't writing a linear in the box story. They insisted I must.

I came in  and out of the group many times over a decade. They ridiculed my heroines because they wanted them to be kick ass from page one. My heroines were quirky every-women tossed in unique situations that forced them to grow. In other words, they had character arcs. Wounded by their flippant negativity, I'd have to leave so I could finish the book, then I'd sell it, despite their nay-saying.

Why did I return again and again? I was lonesome. I thought of them as friends. How messed up is that?

Last summer, I asked to return to the group, fully planning to take all of their advice for one book, just to see what would happen. I was blindsided when they refused to let me in. Because I never took their advice. Because I never finished a book with them. Because they voted me out after I left the last time.

I was absolutely crushed. I left all of my professional writing organizations.

It's been a year now, and I'm ready to go it on my own. I sent two first drafts and one work-in-progress to my Kindle to see what I was still interested in. The work-in-progress is fun, that is definitely a go. The last book they hated is brilliant and I will revise and publish it. The old romance I've struggled with for 12 years is still a downer and I am going to pull the plug on it.

This is going to be a great summer! I'm looking forward to writing on a long train trip next month. For now, I'm going to work as slow or fast as makes my muse happy.

Onward and upward.