Don’t let “what ifs” drag you down

“I wish I would’ve started writing when I was in high school.”
“I wish I would’ve read more when I was younger.”
These and similar thoughts have gone through my mind many times since I started writing short stories several years ago.
Sure, it would be great to have thirty years of fiction experience and a few published novels at this point in my life, but I can’t turn back the calendar. If I live in the land of “if only” or “what if” it will only serve to stagnate my progress as a writer. I can’t let writing/reading inactivity in the past hold me back in the present or the future. I’ve gotta write today from where I am today as a writer.
There’s no shortcut to getting better as a writer. Whether I’m 16, 46, or 70, I have to read a lot, and write a lot. Then I have to revise a lot, and keep submitting stories.

Key moments in a fledging writing career

Yeah, it's been a long time since my last entry. A lot of stuff has happened lately that I can't get into right now. My writing has slowed down a lot, but have I given up on it? Never!

Here are a few thoughts I've had lately concerning writing.

I thought about writing short stories for several years before I ever put anything on paper. I even bought Writer’s Digest magazine a few times. Then in one issue of it I saw an ad for a writer’s correspondence course. I decided to go ahead and try it. I took their test and enrolled in a course from Long Ridge Writers Institute. That got the ball rolling.
A couple of years later when I lived in Montgomery , Alabama , an issue of WD had an interview with Stephen King, whom I had never read. I enjoyed what he said so went out and bought his book “On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft.” That book is still my favorite book about writing. I’ve read it several times and King is now my favorite author.
A couple of years after that, while living in Columbia , SC , I saw another ad in WD, this one for a writers conference in Myrtle Beach . The ad had a web link for the South Carolina Writers Workshop. Thanks to that ad I started attended a critique group that helped me tremendously. Even though I live in Alabama again I communicate with folks from the critique group regularly and am looking forward to attending this year’s conference.