Later, procrastination

I've heard it over and over--all writers need a blog. We need to put ourselves Out There. We need Facebook and Twitter accounts and we need to Connect with our readers. I started writing fiction seriously a year ago, but this is my very first blog post because I don't have any readers to Connect with. I'm a little nervous to press "publish post" knowing I don't have a single blog follower. It's like sitting alone in the middle of a crowded high school cafeteria, picking at your sandwich and wondering if anyone is going to come sit by you.

More than that, though, I didn't think I had any right talking about writing fiction. I felt like I needed something substantial that would scream, "Hey guys! Pay attention to me. I know what I'm talking about," like at the very least, agent representation.

I know all about writing news. I could talk your ear off about journalism and the stories I've covered during my career. I probably will in later posts. But what I've learned during the past year is that it doesn't matter if you already have an established journalism and technical writing career if that's not the type of writing you want to do. Writing fiction is still hard work. Learning about publishing is hard work. Querying agents is nerve wracking and getting rejections sucks. Nothing I learned in J-school gave me any frame of reference for entering the world of publishing.

But I'm learning. And I'm making mistakes along the way. And that, my friends, is what I have to offer. As I'm wading my way through this process of revising and querying and agonizing while I compulsively check my e-mail, I can share what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing right.

So, I'm done procrastinating. I am now officially blogging, and hopefully helping some other unpublished authors along the way.