If you're a reader, hi! Welcome. You are my very favourite kind of person. <3 If you're a writer (meaning you write--whether published or not), then welcome, too! We have some things in common. :)

So, I'm not a blogger. I'm not even really a sharer, in general. But I thought aspiring writers might benefit from some honest thoughts as I wrestle with my own writing and editing. Apologies ahead of time. This will be rambly.

I started writing seriously in 2011. One of the major struggles of the "aspiring" part was that I assumed everyone was more together than I was, and that a "real" writer wouldn't struggle as much as I did. I still find myself thinking that way sometimes. I wonder if I can really handle the scrutiny of people seeing my thoughts on the page and judging them as good enough or not good enough. That maybe I'm not good enough if people don't like what I've written. The rational part of my brain knows that's not true, that my value is independent of what other people think, but sometimes it's hard to convince my unconscious. It's an ongoing conversation with myself.

Currently, I'm editing Nightblood, the third and final book in the Frostblood Saga. In order to make sure I'm tying up all the loose ends, I'm also re-reading Frostblood, the first book.

It's strange. I thought I might look back on words I started writing 4 years ago (4 years!) and cringe. I mean, to be honest, it's always hard to read my own work. I'm not blessed with that ability to just truly enjoy and savor my own words without seeing issues and wondering how to fix them. If I had ten years, I could rewrite the same book over and over and never be completely satisfied.

However, I'm reading my first book and thinking "I still could not have done better, even if I wrote this today." I executed the vision I had of Ruby's story to the best of my ability. I put in as much effort and work as I could, with the help of friends and critique partners and eventually an agent and editors. And regardless of its imperfections, I still think it's amazing that someone like me, who is very shy about putting myself out there, was able to offer up a book for public consumption.

So, that's my big takeaway of the day. I did my best. I'm proud that I tried. I'm glad I did the work and I hope to always be learning and growing.

Fellow writers, I wish you faith in yourselves and enjoyment in your writing. I wish you energy and patience and bursts of creativity and the glow of new words.

Fellow readers, I wish you the gift of stumbling across the right story at the right time--that you'll be transported into a fictional world and love every minute of the journey.

Happy writing! Happy reading! xo