Author not writer.
The story of how I went from regarding myself as just a blog writer to an Author.And what my work-in-progress book is basically about.
On the 25th of January 2024, I began drafting a manuscript for my first book.
Amazing right, I know!
The perspective of me being an author and not just a mere blogger was initiated when I noticed that Medium references their writers as Authors.
I remember having a light bulb moment when I discovered this fact. Right then and there, something monumental happened concerning my career as a writer. I began taking myself seriously as a professional writer and started regarding my writing works as an Author. Despite not having written a book, yet.
In hindsight, I think I was a bit delusional for believing I was an author but now, having already written almost ten thousand words for my manuscript within a month, I see why first, I needed to believe the quote-on-quote facade so that I could work my way into turning it into a fact and a reality for myself.
It has now been a year and a half since I started a blog page that I knew that’s what it was called only came to learn this later on. I was so impressed with myself: wait what! I have a blog! so I’m a blogger! Yeah, I didn’t know any of those terms. I just knew I find writing interesting and fun and I just happen to publish my entries online. Classic oblivious behavior. Oh well!
When I fairly got acquainted with the writing industry by reading the book writing_a Memoir by Stephen King, I learned about literary magazines, online submissions, and writing contests. I then began collecting my not-so-fair share of rejection letters and no responses for my submission. The worst nightmare for any writer, I perceived regardless and still do.
In the same breath, I also learned a lot about self-publishing and how an author such as Coleen Hoover debuted her first novel: Slammed, in a similar fashion.
What’s more, and something I found super interesting is that most authors have blogs and some even got book deals as a result. I’m talking about Mark Manson, in case you’re wondering.
I found the surprisingly common blog-to-book notion very encouraging and very much doable. Especially since I was somewhat discouraged from ever writing a book since I was only but just a mere twenty-two-year-old girl with no creative writing educational background. I can also do this! I remember thinking to myself. Just recently, I found out that having a blog is a crucial thing to have when establishing an Author’s platform.
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"Chance and choice are different sides of the same coin." But, I only understand this now.
In a nutshell, that’s a one-sentence summary of my book’s premise.
For a huge chunk of my life, I subconsciously let Chance_my circumstances, dictate by then, my often pathetic life. Making me feel like a victim in a life I didn’t even sign up for. I didn’t ask to be born, did I?…
But now, that I’ve grown and gotten a little wiser, I understand that I do have a say on how I view my life and myself: I do have choices. I get to choose the perspective I see everything. I do have control over my destiny!
Given all that, I have gained an entirely new perspective on my life, right from my childhood years till now, as an adult. Nothing good or bad happened to me, it all, happened for me.
With that kind of attitude, I now know that I’m right where I should be, and that alone fuels me with so much energy and optimism soldiering forward into the abyss.
In the book, the power of choice:perspective-based _ is the North Star.
