My Writing Journey

The first thing people learn about me is that I have a lot going on. I am very multi-passionate and start a lot of creative endeavors. I honor my natural ebb and flow and allow myself to enjoy things in the moment without judgement. I might have a dream that inspires me to paint. Tomorrow I may choose to explore fashion design. However, something that keeps me grounded and remains a constant in my life is my creative writing practice.

I started writing at a young age. My mother often talks about the first book I wrote when I was 8 years old called Lady Bug and Friends. I did the illustrations myself too. Lady bug went missing and her friends set out to find her. It was my first attempt at writing suspense and mystery. After that I wrote a few more children’s books before graduating to poetry and playwriting in middle school. I joined the speech team in high school and started my speech writing journey.

In college, I majored in communication and learned more about journalistic writing and academic writing. During this era, I started numerous blogs and shared my thoughts and musings online anonymously. Then grad school taught me all about literature reviews.

I’m telling you all this because I’ll be 38 next year. That means, it’ll be 30 years since I wrote my first book. I journal everyday, have two degrees in communication, and spent years developing my writing skills. Yet, I struggle with calling myself a writer. I wonder why this is? Maybe because my writing isn’t perfect but I’m learning that it doesn’t need to be.

The more books I read, the more I understand how debiliating perfectionism is and that it’s me getting in my own way. I have a ton of book ideas floating through my phone and journals waiting to be shared. I have excerpts of books and random pieces of dialogue ready to be expanded and developed into complete stories. So this post serves as me ripping off the bandaid.

I was encouraged to go back to my childhood and remember what brought me joy then. I recently reread my high school journal. Yes, I still have it. On June 20, 2000 I wrote, “ I just need to sit in a room and write. That’s the only thing I love just as much as music.” Twenty- two years later and my feelings remain the same. I also wrote that my biggest wish is to write one really great book. Well, I might as well stop playing with younger Me’s goals and put some respect on her vision. Let’s Go!

This blog is my space to practice my writing and hone my craft. My goal is to write one really great book and make younger Me proud. However, I’m no longer striving for perfection. To me, “really great” means complete. I’m no longer sleeping on myself. It’s time to share my voice with the world and get published. If you want to follow my journey to becoming a published writer then make sure you subscribe below.

I’m Black, queer, and proud so my genres of choice are Black lesbian romance and supernatural fiction. I don’t know about you but I’m ready for some Black lesbian vampire romance novels. Representation matters and it’s time to add more diversity to this space. I’ll share excerpts of my writing on here so please stay tuned.