Jim Grayson's Blog

Jim’s Blog

June 06, 2013

A friend once told me that there are two kinds of people who wish to become writers: those who yearn for the prestige of being an author and those who actually like to write. I found myself in a third category: those who never believed they had the talent for such an undertaking.

Times change and I now find myself in the group that just likes to write. It was a long process with a steep learning curve, but I have had a lot of fun along the way. One of my greatest challenges involved the need to overcome my fear of criticism. In school, criticism was akin to being scolded; it left only shame in its wake.

After working with writing critique groups, all of that changed. I learned that critique provides opportunity for growth. For the first time in my life, I began looking forward to having my creative efforts dissected on a regular basis; a lesson I wish I had learned in school.

My writing did not begin as a voluntarily act, I was pushed into it by another friend who had just published his second novel. We talked about a concept that I had for a novel, with me thinking that he would be the perfect one to convert my storyline into print. Instead, he challenged me to give it a try, at least through the first chapter. He helped and encouraged my first primitive efforts, and the rest is history. My first book, Trailer Vamp – Love Bites is now in print, and the sequel, Trailer Vamp – Wolf Tales, is near completion.

If my efforts are successful and I sell a lot of books, that would be gratifying, but this is really not really about success; neither is it about prestige. The truth is: I just like to write.

If anyone reading this blog believes that writing a novel is something best done by others, think again. It takes time, but it’s something that can be done, even by those who don’t think they have the talent.