Becka's Babble

Ramblings of a Romance Writer

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #25 - 13 Things I Did to Become a Romance Author



I knew I wanted to be a writer ever since I was very young. I've actually been preparing myself for this all my life. Here are some of the things I did to acheive my goal. :)

1.) At the age of 7, I was bitten by the writing bug and wrote several original stories with colorful construction paper covers.

2.) I read many books voraciously as a child.

3.) I wrote many more short stories after reading my first romance at the age of 12, this time with romantic elements.

4.) I got heavily into poetry and filled notebooks with my own rhyming verses.

5.) I wrote a few short stories when I was 13 about a magical crystal, determined to get them published "someday". (Now, these stories are The Legends of Mynos).

6.) I passed my handwritten stories around to my classmates, my first fans, who threatened me upon pain of death if I didn't show up to school the next day with a new chapter. LOL

7.) I submitted a short story to a contest at school and won Honorable Mention. :)

8.) I took a typing class to learn the keyboard.

9.) I took Advanced Placement English and Creative Writing courses along with Psychology in order to learn more about the written word and human behaviors.

10.) I read many, many romances in order to get a feel for the voice, formula, pacing, point of view, etc.

11.) Participated in many writing exercises, short 1,000 word scenes that weren't part of a story, merely just part of a scenario you had to write about. Two of my books came from those writing exercises. ON EAGLE'S WINGS and UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE (in the Mistletoe Magic Anthology).

12.) I did a lot of research on many different publishers, submitting one book while writing another - never stopped writing, which is why I have such a large backlist nowadays.

13.) Even though I eventually got published, I have never assumed that I know it all, and therefore, I continue to learn about my craft on a daily basis. :)

~~Becka

http://www.rebeccagoings.com/



10 Comments:

At 11:47 PM , Blogger TopChamp said...

It sounds like a lot of hard work, but it has obviously paid off in the end. And it's good to see that you don't take it for granted now.

Happy TT

 
At 12:19 AM , Blogger Coco said...

Wow. Good job!!

I wish I could be so diligent... used to write a lot when I was younger (and 'distributed' the writings to my friends too!) but now... oh well.

Happy TT :)

 
At 3:10 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

All of that hard work paid off & I think that's great!

Now if I could just get a little more self-discipline...

Have a great Thursday & write on. :)

 
At 5:51 AM , Blogger Dreamer said...

I've always wanted to write. I just get lost somewhere between the beginning and the end, and don't know what to do, LOL.

I've started many books.

Sounds like lots of work, though.

:-) HAPPY TT

 
At 7:19 AM , Blogger Kate Davies said...

Great TT! My mom still has my first self-published effort -- When Mommy Is Cold, I Have To Wear A Sweater. :)

 
At 8:42 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I passed my handwritten stories around to my classmates, my first fans, who threatened me upon pain of death if I didn't show up to school the next day with a new chapter."

Sounds like great motivation!

 
At 11:42 AM , Blogger Unknown said...

I think it's great that you never gave up. I've always wanted to write the Great American novel, but I can never get from point A to point B.

 
At 12:08 PM , Blogger nikki the red said...

do you do nanowrimo.org ?

 
At 1:38 PM , Blogger Denise Patrick said...

Good for you for being persistent! I don't know when I decided I wanted to be published, but like you, I've been writing since I was very young. I'm still learning, too.

Happy TT!

 
At 9:09 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re #6, that's a example of real fans!

 

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