Chasing the Dream | Clare

One of the people I follow on Twitter posted a link to an article about Amanda Hocking, a young writer who made millions by self-publishing on Amazon.

I was inspired by her story of being an aspiring writer who has been rejected several times who decided to self-publish and sell her books on Amazon. It was cute that she only decided to do that to save up enough money to visit a Jim Henson Muppets exhibit and ended up becoming a successful writer at 27 because of it.

Of course, I know it was not an easy road because she had to do a lot of self-promotion but still, I admire the fact that she went out there and did what she could to achieve her dream when the publishing houses weren’t helping her. Now that she’s successful, she has signed up with a couple of traditional publishing houses for her next books — instead of waiting for her break, she ended up making her own break and I truly admire her for that.

As a writer myself, I know how scary it is to put yourself and your work out there. It’s different from blogging. Writing and creating stories, describing characters and what happens in their lives…telling their stories…it’s like having your own children. Like any parent, you don’t want anyone making fun of it so taking the risk and putting it all out there is a big challenge already to begin with.

I have several projects that lie waiting inside my hard drive and notebooks. I’ve always been afraid to put it out there even if I have friends encouraging me to do so. Now that I’ve read the article on Hocking and finding out that she’s not the only writer who has become successful using this mode of publishing, I’m seriously considering giving it a shot. I’m thankful that I have friends who are supportive and willing to be my focus group for my work before I make a final copy.

I’m thankful for the encouragement from Azkal and fellow blogger Lexton Moy as well. I took that as a sign that I definitely should do this!

So for now, I will not be blogging as often. Any posts may most likely be scheduled posts that I already have saved online. I’m going to pound on the keyboard and get my books together and see where they take me. My other blogs, which I have started this year, are going to be sacrificed/deleted so that I can have time for my writing. I hope you guys don’t mind.

Here goes nothing. Wish me luck!