This blog entry is dedicated to anyone who has tried but given up on a dream because of a voice in their head telling them that they are not good enough, not worthy of triumphing over their insecurities!
In October of 2013, I began The Survivor Diaries journey. I had no idea where it would take me. I had tried to write my story some months before (on January 24, 2013), but I gave up shortly after. It might have been that the characters were not coming through clearly, or that I didn’t have their path mapped out in my mind yet, but it also might have been due to a weakness deep inside— the one that said why do you think you have what it takes to write something worth reading?
That story was tentatively named The Longest Winter, and this morning I pulled up the file from my old laptop and read it. I also published it on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/74820877-the-longest-winter-uneditied-copyright-lynn-lamb if you would like to read it. Please, just remember it is an unedited, first draft. It is only 3,904 words long, and it is written in third person omniscient, rather than the first person account in The Survivor Diaries.
When I began that story, I had absolutely no confidence in myself, but something in me needed to test my skills. Reading back over it, I think that I had something there with my characters. For me, character development holds the same importance as plot development, and it was all there. So, why did I give up on it? It was fear of failure. Giving up is what I need to work on more than that story, but I would like to revisit the Longest Winter someday.
After that brief try of only two days, I let go of the idea of writing for just under ten months; however, a new story began to take form and develop in my head. I began by sculpting characters that were inspired by family and my own past. What would I do if I woke up one morning without a country, without enough food and water to make it more than a few weeks? It dawned on me that there would need to be a community of people with varying skills if anyone was going to survive for any notable period of time. That community would need a leader who had tremendous faith in humankind and human-kindness, and that was not a naïve goal. How often have we seen Americans coming together to help each other during disasters? And I noted the general lack of faith in human-kindness in the post-apocalyptic genre.
Armed with the knowledge I had something new to bring to the table, I sat down as my desktop computer to give it another try. What was different this time? Nothing, frankly. I still did not have an abundance of faith in myself, but when I completed my first 10,000 words, I just knew that I would finish it this time.
Today, one year after I began to pen The Survivor Diaries, I have completed my third book, Moving Mountains, and I hope to have it published by the end of October.
In October of 2013, I began The Survivor Diaries journey. I had no idea where it would take me. I had tried to write my story some months before (on January 24, 2013), but I gave up shortly after. It might have been that the characters were not coming through clearly, or that I didn’t have their path mapped out in my mind yet, but it also might have been due to a weakness deep inside— the one that said why do you think you have what it takes to write something worth reading?
That story was tentatively named The Longest Winter, and this morning I pulled up the file from my old laptop and read it. I also published it on Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/74820877-the-longest-winter-uneditied-copyright-lynn-lamb if you would like to read it. Please, just remember it is an unedited, first draft. It is only 3,904 words long, and it is written in third person omniscient, rather than the first person account in The Survivor Diaries.
When I began that story, I had absolutely no confidence in myself, but something in me needed to test my skills. Reading back over it, I think that I had something there with my characters. For me, character development holds the same importance as plot development, and it was all there. So, why did I give up on it? It was fear of failure. Giving up is what I need to work on more than that story, but I would like to revisit the Longest Winter someday.
After that brief try of only two days, I let go of the idea of writing for just under ten months; however, a new story began to take form and develop in my head. I began by sculpting characters that were inspired by family and my own past. What would I do if I woke up one morning without a country, without enough food and water to make it more than a few weeks? It dawned on me that there would need to be a community of people with varying skills if anyone was going to survive for any notable period of time. That community would need a leader who had tremendous faith in humankind and human-kindness, and that was not a naïve goal. How often have we seen Americans coming together to help each other during disasters? And I noted the general lack of faith in human-kindness in the post-apocalyptic genre.
Armed with the knowledge I had something new to bring to the table, I sat down as my desktop computer to give it another try. What was different this time? Nothing, frankly. I still did not have an abundance of faith in myself, but when I completed my first 10,000 words, I just knew that I would finish it this time.
Today, one year after I began to pen The Survivor Diaries, I have completed my third book, Moving Mountains, and I hope to have it published by the end of October.
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