So, this is a blog...

It's funny. I can write 50,000 every November for NANOWRIMO, I can write countless novels and short stories, and talk the ears off my friends and family, but when it comes down to writing a blog, I'm left sitting at my keyboard, staring at that blinking cursor with absolutely nothing to say.

I decided honesty is the way to go. I'm going to type what I'm feeling and thinking and that way, you'll get to know the real me.

I've always been the kind of person that wants to be the best at everything I try. A perfectionist, really. Well, writing is the kind of business that really puts a person like me in their place...at the bottom.

It's the first thing I learned when I decided to write books. There is always someone better than you, more successful than you, with more followers and fans. But that's okay. There's room for everyone. I truly believe that if you have a story to tell, someone will read and love it as much as you do.

Getting to the point that your book sees the light of day is a different story. I promised honesty and here it is. I struggled greatly with the editing process. Perfectionist, remember? Getting edits back from the publishing company was page after page of someone telling me what I did wrong.

BUT...

Then I woke up. The criticism wasn't an attack on me. After my ninth round of edits on Ready to Burn, it started to occur to me, these weren't my mistakes, they were improvements. And now, I love editing. I can't seem to read over my book enough. Heck, I'm even editing books I read for fun. Editing is a way of life.

So, what I've learned over the last couple years, is that, like life, writing is all about your perspective.

Not everyone has to like it, because some people will love it. And that's all that really matters in the end.

I'm Mandy Michelle, Romance Writer, Open Minded Perfectionist, and Editor Extraordinaire.

Ready To Burn