Sometimes we get an idea. It's just a small, fleeting thing, really, but then it starts to grow. We writers, being the geniuses we are, recognize this idea for it's greatness, and jot it down in a little note, using scratch paper, a napkin, anything we have on hand. That idea, that note, starts out small, but eventually it becomes a world of it's own, filled with characters we love, and villains we might never have the nerve to face in real life, and ultimately it become a book. From Note, to Shelf. :)
Being that this is my first entry on this blog, I think some introductions are in order.(Be warned, it's a bit long!)
My name is Sammi, and I'm a 21 year old (in 6 days, that is) college student, an employee at the Barnes & Noble (somewhere in south San Bernadino County,CA), a devourer of books, and a writer.
As for being (almost) 21, it doesn't matter much to me, because alcohol taste gross (eeew), I much prefer chocolate milk (stop looking at me funny!). In college I'm majoring in Creative Photography, not only because I enjoy it, but because if I had majored in English I would have had to write essays. When I say I'm a writer, it is not of essays. Because essays bore me. A 6 page research paper=Bleck , 6 pages of my book=Fun.
I began working at B&N 2.25 years ago, originally in the cafe. Not because I like coffee (which is a taste I've only recently sort-of acquired... a little bit maybe), but because it was the only position available. After two long, sticky, chocolaty, "hey, you smell like a latte!" years, I managed to get myself moved to the bookfloor, trading the smell of espresso for the smell of new, lovely, wonderful books.
And I thought I spent a lot of $ on books before.
I learned very fast that it is unhealthy for my wallet, me being a bookseller surrounded by my passion 5 days a week. Now not only do I buy books that have been recommended to me, or that I've already researched, but I find new books I never knew about. I find them when I'm shelving new books, I find them when I'm shelving customer's books (Please, clean up after yourself/your children =D), I find them when I'm dusting, and straightening shelves, or working on projects. I pretty much find new books I want to read every day.
I should probably just start accepting my pay in the form of books. But alas, I have rent to pay, and so this can not be (did I mention my birthday is coming up?)
Today I bought "The Last Unicorn" as highly recomended by S.J.Maas on her blog (http://sjmaas.livejournal.com/), and "Howl's Moving Castle" because it's been on my list to buy for a while. Yes, I know, rent is due in 3 days.
And then there's my writing. For many years I was an avid writer of FanFiction, a humble beginning. And although I will never tell you my FF.net user name, I will admit that I wrote some awful, and some wonderful Inuyasha and Rurouni Kenshin fics. When I look back at them, I find myself thinking "I wrote THAT?", this can be taken as both good, and bad.
Eventually Fanficiton.net resulted in my finding FictionPress.net, where I stumbled upon S.J.Maas' (http://www.fictionpress.com/u/67875/S_J_Maas) "Queen of Glass". To say the least, it became my world, much in the way that some become engrossed in World of Warcraft, I spent my hours devouring QOG. I only ever made it 2/3 or the way through (chapter 52, I think). I had to stop, because my mother didn't like my eyes glued to the computer screen for hours on end. After all, I did need go to school.
Early this year, I went back to finally finish QOG, and found that it had been taken down. Sarah had an agent! I was thrilled, because I always knew QOG should be published. Soon after, QOG was purchased by Bloomsbury, due to debut in late 2011. I will have the first copy at my B&N, and hopefully I'll get it signed some day. :)
Anyways, the point of my telling you all of this is inspiration. I've wanted to write books long before I ever discovered QOG, but never took the steps to do so. Since seeing Sarah's Success, and seeing how it CAN be done, I've taken the leap, and am now (finally) writing my first book. I've got the concepts, I've got the motivation, I've even got the crit partners (well, almost, there's still one person I'm trying to work up the nerve to ask, lol!).
I'm just barely 2,000 words in (I'm already editing it to death), but it's started, and it'll be finished, and who knows, maybe I'll get to go to work one day and shelve my own book. :)
