I have considered myself a writer for over three decades. In middle and high school, I created a fictional series based on the life of two best friends. With technology being nearly impossible to have or use during this time, I wrote my story on paper with hand drawn lines and created a cereal box book cover with construction paper over it. Little did I know that's where my writing career began.
I continued writing in high school focusing on journalism and television. I worked my up from writer freshman year to editor by my senior year and reporter in TV to director. Throughout those years, I learned about teamwork, focus, purpose, and most importantly, organization. I continued my writing in college working for the college newspaper and local paper. However, I've always wanted to write for an audience, not just for myself. I wrote to every teen magazine there was and received rejection after rejection (which I still have to this day). Nevertheless, I continued on my search for a subject matter and audience. My writing did not stop where I have unpublished work in my file cabinets waiting for an audience almost two decades later.
In 2002 & 2003, after continued rejection from publishers. I decided to print my own books and try to market them as much as possible. Let me tell you this was definitely a learning experience for me. After hundreds to thousands of dollars lost, I soon found what to do and what not to do (similar to FAQ's that I learned on my own). Yet, without the failure of all this, I do not know if I would have continued my search. I did successfully print / publish my own two books and learned how to advertise and market for myself by attending coffee shops to read my poetry to attending book signings at local bookstores to selling to family and friends.
My love for writing and learning had not stopped. I still was looking for my audience. I still wanted to write for "someone" who wants to read it. Who will read it for information and hopefully remember it. Failure has not stopped me from achieving my dreams. With great support from my educator PLN and after reading several educational books, I found my audience within myself. While I tried to write for somebody else, I should have tried writing for myself. This is how I found my audience.
Even as an educator, I still found rejections with publishers. I was not well-known, I was not a credible published author, or the content was not needed. For me, it is not about the notoriety but the chance to share my passion with others. By the grace of social media, I found a publisher who wanted to take that chance with me (not on me) but with me as a sign that I will go the distance. We will either succeed together or fail together. But we will not succeed or fail without the other.
As I continue my journey on publishing my book, follow my thoughts on my journey to getting to where I am at.
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