Becoming a professional writer

It has been a few weeks now that my book
"A Winter Solstice Celebration" is in the book store.

McNallys -Robinson, in Toronto, to be exact. It is a very exciting event; one I hope will continue to develop momentum.

The day I delivered my books to McNallys was a very special and exhilarating one. I was giddy with anticipation of things to come. I had accomplished another step in my journey of being a professional writer. Excited, I took the rest of the day to wander around the city. I celebrated by treating myself. I had special lunch and while I sat in the restaurant, I remembered another unique day. The day I decided to become a writer.

When people ask me: "How long have you been writing?" I stare at them, and then mutter something incoherent like, "As long as I remember". This is true.

I remembered I wrote a story when I was in the 5th grade. I wrote about a girl, who in the middle of the night, woke up because she heard a noise. She could see the time was 3 am on her alarm clock. The curtains were not closed and the beam of the streetlight fell in such a way that it highlighted the face of the clock. The teacher did not believe I could have written in such detail................. I got an F.

There were other details in my story which the teacher didn't believe and therefore she failed me.

She thought I had copied it from somewhere. But, I was not insulted or even angry. I was happy. Happy that my story was so good and that day I decided I was going to write. Be a writer! And writing I did. I wrote about my adventures, I wrote about fictional characters and I wrote about other peoples adventures. I got inspired by life itself. Then, I would just pile into a folder with the hopes and dreams of -one day- becoming a professional writer.

Another distinctive day was the day that I decided to become a professional writer. It was a calm day. Nothing exciting or unusual had happened. I was shopping in my favourite store... the book store, when I stopped and looked around. All these books, all these writers. Suddenly, a thought started to percolate from deep inside of me.

"Hey, you write! You can have your name on a book cover! You can have your own book perched on a bookshelf in the book store. Why don't you get serious with your writing? Let people read what you have to say!"

For weeks on end, this thought kept popping up in my head. I tried to ignore it, but like a bad song you can't get rid of, it kept bubbling up into my thoughts. Very distracting!

So one day, I decided to pull out one of my manuscripts and update it. I rewrote, edited and honed it. That was the day it all began.

It was the best thing I could ever have done! Look what it has brought me! Look where I'm going!

The journey of getting "there" is a thrill. Who knows what the future holds.