What's So Great About Being Normal?

This is the question that I ask myself every time I put my pencil (yes, pencil) to paper. It's what my central characters ask themselves, contemplate and/or debate in my head. Personally, as someone who lived on the obscurity of normalcy as a teen due to ridicule and rejection (kids can be so cruel), I choose to exist there now as an adult.

Moving on to what this blog is about, my journey as a writer, it is important to start at the beginning. Not the very beginning, such as conception, but when my creative mind unleashed.

It was senior year in high school, second half of the year and the class was creative writing. Taught by an young adult author, my world was rocked. As a shy teen (for those who weren't, might still understand), I already imagined different scenarios of how my life could've been different and at times, lived in the land of make believe (though unlike Mr. Rogers, it didn't exist with puppets).

It was then characters began to talk to me. The first one was named Reed. Of course, they're not characters to me, they're people (voices really) who have a story to tell and chose me to tell it. Only fellow writers, creative types and eccentrics would understand that I'm not really hearing voices. It's my creative mind giving me an avenue for expression. Anyway, Reed and his "brothers" grew up together on the streets and became a family. Now I realize how much similar it was to The Outsiders. Although I can't remember the title or the rest of the characters' names, I know one wasn't named Ponyboy.

Fast forward high school graduation, college graduation, work, graduate school graduation and career, with many dallances in creativing writing (i.e. short stories, etc.), we arrive at the present. Not quite 2010, more like 2008 when this strange rollercoaster ride began. After reading a book and the further researching the author for her bio, I had one of those "if she can do it, I can do it" moments. So I did it. I wrote a book. And wrote it again. And again.

Three drafts and two and half years later it's finally ready for the public. More to the point, ready for literary agents to either love it or hate it. So far I've received more hate than love, but who's complaining. The hate doesn't weaken my determination, while the love (when I get it), strenghens that presistence within.

As most of the rejection letters (emails) state, "it only takes one agent." Who knows, he or she might be reading this very post. Regardless if he or she is, let me extend this to all: welcome to Lost and Delirious: Incoherent Thoughts Of A Writer.