School of Hard Knocks – Writing Lessons Learned

Thanks to Readers Entertainment Magazine and Jocie McKade for featuring me on her blog today.

Have you ever hiked up a mountain?

I live within a day’s drive of the Colorado Rockies where we enjoy hiking on vacations. Have you ever made the kind of hike where the switchbacks and terrain hide the true mountaintop? You see a point far away and begin climbing, but when you arrive at that point, you realize it was just a ridge. The mountaintop is farther away and higher up than you expected.

For me, becoming an author has been a climb up the highest mountain I ever imagined, taking buckets of sweat and tears (and gallons of wine) to accomplish over a period of more than five years. I thought writing the book was the hard part. I mean, I had dreamed of becoming an author my whole life. I made several attempts when my kids were younger and struggled to find the time.

Hitting that publish button was thrilling and satisfying, like reaching the top of a difficult cliff of large boulders. I had done something many people only dream about but never found the time to accomplish. I deserved a good, long pat on the back! But wait, only a month into that euphoric ride into the bastions of literary history, I came face to face with a harsh reality. (See fig. #1) I wasn’t anywhere near the top. I’d barely risen 1,000 feet in elevation!

To continue reading the rest of the post, hop over to Readers Entertainment Magazine!