About Jamie
I am:
A Bookworm
A person devoted to reading or studying, or any of various insects that feed on books. (I was one of those kids who really did spend her summers reading book after book from the library.)
An Abibliophobe
Having the morbid fear of running out of reading material.
Suggested Usage: “Jamie is such an abibliophobe that she never leaves the house without a novel tucked into her purse.”
A Writer
One who writes.
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” Stephen King
“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” Gene Fowler
Novel Writing
I gave myself the opportunity to find out if maybe I could write a novel. I did (a practice one now hidden under the bed). Then I wrote another one. Then I outlined another novel. My writing doesn’t pay the bills yet, but I make enough income at my day job to help keep food on the table, spend time with my husband, keep a yard big enough for my dog to play in, and still give me (some!) time to write. For now, that feels like plenty.
Why a Blog?
Josephine Damian posts an interesting discussion she had with Donald Maass:
“…how important is it to a [literary] agent that a writer has a blog (or myspace or a website) to self-promote?”
Donald sat patiently listening, taking it all in, and when I was done, he said, “I don’t give a rat’s ASS about ANY of that!…It’s what’s between the covers that sells the book.”
Of course, other publishing people have different opinions which I won’t get into here (future post!). I like this quote more as a reminder that no matter whatever else I’m doing to forward my ‘novel writing career’ if I am not sitting down every day to write the best novel I am capable of, the rest doesn’t matter.
So…Why a Blog?
Writing is a solitary occupation and sometimes it’s nice to find other people who think this writing and reading stuff isn’t so crazy.
My fiction writing will always come first, but I see this blog as a way to become more active in the many online communities I already lurk on (see blogroll for a select few). I plan to, hopefully, contribute something meaningful and entertaining in return for all of the free information and experience others have provided to me.
If as a side effect this blog snags me a literary agent or gains a regular readership, thereby becoming a (free!) way in the future to promote my as-yet-unpublished novels, well, you won’t hear any complaints from me.
The Creative Rush
I plan to write posts about things I am interested in. Even if I am its only reader I think I’ll still have fun putting it together. The creative act is a rush regardless of whether it’s for writing a novel, building a blog, painting on canvas, capturing a beautiful photo…well you get the idea. It’s all practice, and it’s all an end on to itself.
With all that being said, this blog will center around things I find interesting and that somehow:
– relate to writing fiction in general,
– connect to whatever story I’ve written in the past,
– connect to whatever story I am currently writing,
– connect to whatever story I plan to write in the future.
My interests are varied. For the most part, posts will be grouped around themes because yes, I can be a little obsessive-compulsive about organization.