No! I’m not talking about losing your virginity, but I like where your mind is at. I’m talking about the first time you finish an actual story. I’ve been thinking about my 1st time a lot recently because Riding the Rail showed up on Amazon recently and I got all nostalgic.
I came to writing later in life. I wasn’t one of those writers that had known since she was six what she was destine to be. No, I didn’t eventhink about it until I was 35 (I’m turning 40 in August) when I had a boring job and endless free time and I was actually bored with surfing. I still don’t even know what made me decide to open up a document and start writing characters.
Of course, they were all jumbled up in my head and I spent a lot of time just writing endless, meaningless scenes. Then came the dreaded news that I had no idea how to actually write and I spent a good long time figuring out the how. Finally, it all started to come together and Riding the Rail was born.
I got the idea one morning when I was riding the Chicago EL to work. I was squashed in between a bunch of strangers, none of them remotely inappropriate behavior worthy and I thought… hey, that would be a good opening scene for a book. I started writing it that day, and about 5 weeks later I submitted it.
It’s not perfect. I look back at it now and see where I can strengthen the story and the writing. I can see how my voice has changed and emerged since I started this crazy writing business, but that’s not really the point. We all
need to start somewhere. We all need a first. And Riding the Rail is mine. It will always have a soft spot in my heart and why I’ll never pull it, revise it or change its core. It’s a reminder of where I’ve come from and a marker of how I’ve changed and evolved since those early days where I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going. And, for that, I am grateful
If you’re interested you can read the excerpt or Riding the Rail on Amazon for $2.85.
~Julia~