The Dream

One of my dreams, like so many others, is to have my writing published.

How long has this desire been burning away inside?  Quite a while actually, it’s just taken me a long time to admit it.

I always remember enjoying reading; I grew up on books like The Naughtiest Girl in the School and The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton.  I was lost in the wonderful worlds she created where adventure could come from the unlikeliest sources.  Since then my tastes have developed and changed as I grew older.  As a teenager I loved Jilly Cooper, Jackie Collins and Danielle Steel.  I also have very fond memories of reading A Woman of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford and the whole Emma Hart Series.  I then discovered the likes of Stephen King and Dean Koontz and was terrified and thrilled at the same time.  Books were a way to disappear into another world and become someone else for a short while. 

Today my reading choices are more varied and I love nothing more than discovering a new author. My enjoyment is just as intense and I still become absorbed by the story.  It is thrilling and something that I treasure (a life without books would be akin to a life without colour and sound to me).  As you get older I think it is easy to feel guilty spending time reading, there are so many other things that need to be done.  Yet as an aspiring writer I can now read to my heart’s content and know that it is part of the process to becoming a better writer.  

So what has made me acknowledge this desire to write and my dream of one day being published?  For so long I didn’t think that I had it in me.  For one thing, I didn’t believe that I had the imagination and there has always been room for improvement as far as my grammar is concerned.  A few years ago I embarked on a degree with the OU.  This has also been a dream and so I gave it a go.  I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the essay writing and I was surprised to discover that I was actually OK at it.  One of my modules included a section on creative writing and that, for me, was the light bulb moment.  Suddenly I found that I did have an imagination! Ever since, my head has been full of ideas.

Can I write though?  That is the question.  To be honest I’m still not sure.  Why do I have this desire to be published?  Why is it so important to me?  I think that it may give me the confidence I need to believe in myself.  Only time will tell.

So that’s what this blog is about.  It’s the story of my road to publication (I hope).