I've always loved to read. I think there is nothing better than to sit down on a lazy sunday afternoon with a good book to escape the realities of our world by getting lost in a time, place and setting that someone has created. I love anything supernatural and paranormal so I'm always scanning the book stores for names like Laurel K. Hamilton, Melissa Marr, Melissa de la Cruz and Stephanie Meyer, just to name a few.
I've written a few short stories in my life, most for English class, but it wasn't until my world was turned upside down that I actually decided to start writing for real. I used the pain that stemed from a very emotional, personal breakup to create characters and a story I never imagined would get to the point of being published. To me it was my outlet, instead of crying or screaming, or even feeling sorry for myself, I poured my emotions into every word of my story. The more I wrote the clearer my characters became! I felt apart of their world, but I guess that can be expected considering I created it :).
I continued to write, enjoying every minute of sitting in front of my laptop, tapping away at the keys because it had become a way to relax at the end of a long day of work. And then the day came when I stumbled across
http://www.authonomy.com/, a brilliant writing community site set up by HarperCollins.
I was tentative at first after having read such amazing stories on the site, thinking mine was no match but when I finally did upload the first 10,000 words of my story I was thrilled by the great response I got. Such wonderful comments were posted and I thrived on the mountain of critical feedback I got. It made me want to write even more and so I thank everyone who gave me advice and posted a critique ( good or bad ) because it helped me become a stronger writer. A few months in and I learnt about Authonomy's sister site
http://www.inkpop.com/ , also created by HarperCollins but aiming at more of a YA audience. Again I posted my manuscript on this site and received wonderful feedback and comments. I wrote my heart out and by November 2010, one year and one week after having started my novel, it was finally complete! :)
