Hi everyone! Today I have a special post as
part of the Writers Persevere event
that authors Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are running for the next few
days to celebrate their
newest book, The Emotional Wound
Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma. This book explores the
difficult experiences embedded in our characters' backstory which will shape
their motivation and behavior afterward. Check out my 5-star review HERE.
To help them celebrate this release, many of us are posting stories about some of the obstacles we’ve overcome as writers. As we all know, this isn’t an easy
path. Writing is hard and as writers we tend to struggle with doubt. Sometimes
too, we don’t always get the support we need to follow our passion, or we have
added challenges that make writing more difficult. Because people are sharing
their stories this week about how they worked through these challenges to keep
writing, I wanted to post about it, too.
I never intended to become a writer, but life is what happens when we're making our plans.
I was lucky to land my psychologist dream job in 2000. Too bad it turned into a nightmare by 2007. My bosses didn't value my work and made threats to my livelihood. At that time, I became hooked on the TV show, Prison Break. Its dark themes and conspiracy theories matched my workplace misery. Through connecting with rabid Prison Break fans across the world, I learned about fan fiction. What? Hacks writing stories about TV stories?
You guessed it--I became one of those hacks and started writing my own fan fiction. At first my writing stunk but my TV show buddies encouraged me to keep going. When reality sucked, I turned to fiction. I left my bitter job and started a new job at a friendly, supportive clinic that taught me a useful specialty. Inspired by fan fiction, I wrote thousands of words and then found a publisher to launch those words into the universe.
I'm now working on my eighth novel. In a strange twist of events, I returned to the old job in 2013 and version 2.0 is going swimmingly.
My emotional wound is a great example of how pain can lead to beauty and strength. Write on, friends!
~*~
I never intended to become a writer, but life is what happens when we're making our plans.
I was lucky to land my psychologist dream job in 2000. Too bad it turned into a nightmare by 2007. My bosses didn't value my work and made threats to my livelihood. At that time, I became hooked on the TV show, Prison Break. Its dark themes and conspiracy theories matched my workplace misery. Through connecting with rabid Prison Break fans across the world, I learned about fan fiction. What? Hacks writing stories about TV stories?
You guessed it--I became one of those hacks and started writing my own fan fiction. At first my writing stunk but my TV show buddies encouraged me to keep going. When reality sucked, I turned to fiction. I left my bitter job and started a new job at a friendly, supportive clinic that taught me a useful specialty. Inspired by fan fiction, I wrote thousands of words and then found a publisher to launch those words into the universe.
I'm now working on my eighth novel. In a strange twist of events, I returned to the old job in 2013 and version 2.0 is going swimmingly.
My emotional wound is a great example of how pain can lead to beauty and strength. Write on, friends!
~*~
Do you have a story to share, or some advice
for others? You can join Becca and Angela
at Writers
Helping Writers from October 25-27th, where we are celebrating
writers and their stories of perseverance. Stop in, and tell them about a
challenge or struggle your faced, or if you like, write a post on your own blog
and share it using the hashtag #writerspersevere.
Let’s fill social media with your
strength and let other writers know that it’s okay to question and have doubts but
we shouldn’t let that stop us.
GIVEAWAY ALERT!
There’s a prize vault filled with items that
can give your writing career a boost at Writers
Helping Writers.
I would love for one of you to win
something that will help you get closer to your goal!
Comments
Glad things are now well on the job front.
Thanks for sharing this story, Jennifer!
Angela
C Lee, thanks for stopping by and good luck overcoming any obstacles in your path.
I'm so glad your wound led you to discover your passion and talent for writing. My life would be less shiny without my wonderful crit partner in it. :)
Nicki, the book is chock full of good writerly stuff. Right back at you, babe. You put the partner in critique partner!