I'm just a writer

All I've ever wanted to do in life is write.  For as long as I can remember, I wanted to write something.  I wanted to tell stories, I wanted to envision things others couldn't even conceive.  I know without a shadow of a doubt it's what I was put on this planet to do.

I like to attribute my love of storytelling to my paternal grandmother or "Nanny" as we called her growing up.  Whenever my sister and I visited her as kids, she told us these vivid stories about my dad, my uncles, her family and more.  I used to sit against the wall in her room and listen to her while my sister was out playing with dolls or went to the playground.  I loved listening to her tell a story, because the way she told it, I could see it play out in my own head.  I've always wanted to tell stories like that; I believe there are no better kind.

I've been living as a writer for almost 10 years now.  I took time off from college to pursue this career, mostly freelancing.  I've written on everything from mailboxes to iPods to everything in between.  I've learned search engine optimization, marketing techniques and just about everything possible to create web content.  While I enjoy the writing aspect of it, the challenge of creating content that people actually search for, find and read, I'm starting to burn out on just writing for the web.

I've begun doing writing exercises.  Mostly prompts for 30 to 45 minutes every other day to help get myself back into the creative writing spirit.  I've missed writing creatively, and it's a joy to see what I'm producing from these exercises.  Some have turned into bigger ideas, others have been filed away because I think they're embarrassing.

I've decided by the end of fall, I want to begin shopping around what I believe will be my first professional novel.  It's not necessarily the one I want to be first, but it's the one that has a story that will get me into the door.  I'm pleased with how it originally played out, and I know some out there have read bits and pieces of it over time.  It feels unpolished, but it will get better once I take the time to truly go through it and ask for feedback.

Who would've thought I finally had the courage to make it this far?  I've been holding onto several things for awhile creatively; I'm too scared to share with just about everyone, but I'm going to take that leap and see where it takes me.  What's the worst that could happen?