Do you want me to tell you a story?
Is there a better question to stoke the imagination and create anticipation? The promise of a story has always electrified me. I’ve wanted to become a writer since my parents read me bedtime stories filled with fantasy and adventure. I would often sneak out of bed and stay up late scribbling ideas in a notebook. The clacking of a keyboard still heightens my senses and warms me like my parents’ embrace.
After college, I worked as a reporter before taking a twenty-five-year detour into law enforcement, but that’s another story. I retired in 2017 to work as a novelist, and today, at age fifty-five, I published my debut novel—Furious: Sailing into Terror. Better late than never.
I’ve made many mistakes over the past four years of full-time writing, and I want to share the lessons I’ve learned. There’s a big difference between having a story idea and getting published.
Read the full article article, Lessons Learned by a Debut Author, on DIY MFA. Gabriela Pereira has one of my favorite writing websites.