Putting my typewriter where my mouth is

Just to clarify : )

A good friend of mine, and a regular visitor and commentor here asked me if I only write about writing, or if I actually write any original fiction.

Yes! I do write original fiction. It’s just that I don’t post them here. The net is not a safe place for young stories to be roaming around. More than someone flicking it, I have aspirations of seeing these babies in printed form sitting on many bookshelves.

So, apart from pointing out interesting links and sharing thoughts about writing, the mutt writes, too. In fact, I wrote my first story when I was in 8th grade. I don’t remember what the story was, nor do I have a copy of it, unfortunately. But I sent it to a children’s magazine, and in a few weeks got my first rejection letter. I don’t have that either : )

The editor said they published only original fiction, so if I may please send in something I had written myself, that’d be nice. I was thrilled! I was delighted! They thought my original story couldn’t have been written by an eight-grader, and must have been copied. Damn! I could be a writer after all.

Thankfully, I didn’t stop writing. When I got my second-hand portable typewriter, a few years later, I really churned it out. When I read those stories now, and see the number of stories I produced, I am stunned. How did I get so many ideas, and how did I muster the discipline to type with so much dedication. If I had a quarter of that, now!

As years went by, this waned. There would some months and years of great prolificity and some at the other end of the spectrum. There have been spurts when I’ve quickly written about thirty odd pages of a novel and then come to a dead stop. Sometimes, one short story a year is all I could manage.

Recently, it’s come down to a trickle. The last few years, especially have been terrible. Every December, I would look back at the year gone by and feel depressed about the lost opportunity.

But this year has been good. I’ve got the motivation back. I’ve found a sense of direction. And I’ve written a couple of stories, one of which many of my friends and readers believe to be my best effort to date.

So … The Mutt, writes too. Original stuff. Even if it seems, there’s no way I could have thought of it : )

Cheers!

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