The next one

I used to write regularly in high school. These were the days before the internet, of course, so there were fewer distractions for a teenager and all I did was read and write. After finishing one story, I quickly moved on to another. I found inspiration all the time, and was disciplined enough to see almost all the stories through.

That's a bit harder to return to. The first book is barely out, but I've been training myself to think of "the next one" already. There have been a few false starts, but giving up shouldn't be an option.

Inspiration, I'm reminding myself, is more of a mode. I just have to get back in that mode, because surely it'll get easier once it's back in my regular routine. A friend just told me an anecdote about her life that is now swirling in my head, hopefully I get to create something out of it. She's even looking forward to it. :)

Yikes

The first post truly is the toughest.

I set up this blog to document my new life as someone who has published a work of fiction (see how I avoided saying "author"), but this'll only work if I actually write something else, and not just the one novel. I'm going to try to do that.

So let's start. Yesterday I wrote my book dedication, and that wasn't as easy as I thought. I usually find author's dedications cute, if they're short and cryptic, but since this was my first time I felt compelled to thank everyone I'd ever met. Thankfully I restrained myself. It ended up as a list of shout-outs to a number of people who truly did help me get the story published, in one way or another. And then I closed it with a few sentimental thank-yous. Just a few.

The next thing I have to do is return to a "romance" frame of mind. Those who know me will laugh, because I tend to be very skeptical of romantics. And yet I've been buying Harlequin from Booksale again lately, so maybe I'm just in denial.