Guest Post: Writing Life by Cassandra Jade
Today’s post comes courtesy of Cassandra Jade. Visit her blog for a look at my post there!
I would like to give a special thank you to Geoffrey for hosting me today.
When Geoffrey invited me to visit his blog on my tour, he suggested that I might like to write about the writing life. This suggestion certainly got me thinking about what it is like for me as a writer and why everyone has to follow their own writing journey.
I have always loved to write. As a child I would write short stories by the bucket load and I was always working towards finishing that first novel. They were all most likely rubbish and utterly predictable with poor expression and worse editing but I loved it nonetheless. Despite that, I didn’t want to become a writer. I wanted to be a teacher. As I got older, writing faded into the background as I studied and generally got caught up with everything else.
As a full time teacher I do not have a lot of spare time. When I’m not in the classroom I am planning for the next day, week, term, or marking something, or filling in some paperwork, or worrying about just what went wrong during such-and-such a lesson. I can’t remember the last weekend I had that I didn’t spend at least half of my time working.
Yet a few years ago I made the decision to spend that tiny little bit of ‘spare’ time that I had to pursue an old dream. To write a novel. To write many novels.
I’m very fond of the expression “You can’t find time, you make it.” And in all honesty, I very much believe that if you really want something enough you will create a space for it in your life, even if sometimes it isn’t practical to do so. I very much wanted to write. To have that time to myself and to create something, just for the sake of creating it.
When I made this decision, I wasn’t thinking about publishing. It wasn’t until I actually finished writing an entire manuscript and had edited it that the idea even entered my head. But once it had, I didn’t want to let go of the idea. I knew it was a long shot and I knew that there were plenty of people out there trying, but I went for it anyway.
In May of this year, Death’s Daughter was published as an e-book. This only fired my enthusiasm for writing, though it hasn’t done anything for my need for more time in my days.
Everyone has their own journey to walk and their own priorities. My writing journey goes on and hopefully it will continue for quite some time more. I certainly continue to love creating and telling stories.
Where are you on your writing journey?
Cassandra Jade is a fantasy writer from Australia. You can visit her blog at: http://cassandrajade.wordpress.com
Her first novel, Death’s Daughter, is available from Lyrical Press.
Thanks for sharing your story, Cassandra! Congrats for fulfulling a dream!
Cassandra, thankyou. I’m about to return to a new school year, and was wondering how I would ever find the time to keep writing the way I have been during the holidays. You’ve given me new hope.
Thanks for this lovely post.
Sometimes it all seems a bit daunting. Some days it seems like I’m just getting further behind. In the end though, it is something I’ve always wanted.
Thanks Laura.
Very inspiring post Cassandra. Your proof that if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. Congratulations on having your book published and your continued success in writing.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Thanks Mason.