I am taking you back to last year (2013).? Now picture time travel music and lights flashing, and the whole overly exaggerated shebang.? I am taking you back to a time when I proclaimed to the world that I, Melissa Kuch, am a published author!? That spring day the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and I had a book to inspire the world and future generations to come!!
Well, I learned relatively quickly that as soon as my book was published the red carpet wasn?t rolled out for me, ?I wasn?t a household name, and I wasn?t going to be able to quit my day job anytime soon.? So? maybe I had been a little disillusioned by the fact that I had completed one of my lifelong dreams of being a published author!? True the writing process of writing, re-writing and re-writing again after two long, arduous years was not an easy journey.? There were times I wanted to give up.? Times I doubted myself and my writing abilities.? Times when I wished I could be satisfied with just being a young woman in my late 20?s going to the bars and drinking my nights away instead of being up until 2am on a work night writing.? But after months and months of facing my self-doubt head on, I realized I believed in my story.? The most difficult challenge I had, however, was believing in myself.? Once I realized I was my own worst enemy, and also my biggest supporter, I knew I could overcome anything that came my way!? Bring it on writing demons!??And then in April of 2013, the novel was published!? It was delivered to me by Fed-Ex, and I held it in my hands like I was holding my baby.? I had given this story life and now I was going to be able to share it with the world!?
Little did I realize at the time that the whole process of writing and getting published?.well that was the easy part.?
So here I am now in 2014, with a new website design and a fresh start to shout to the world that this is still just the beginning of the journey.? And true, I hit a rough patch at the end of December (which I will get into in future blogs) but I am not giving up because the best story is still yet to be written.? So join me as I share the challenges, the excitement, the success stories,?and the- at times-?frustrating stories of my first year being published.? Through my experiences I can hopefully help future writers not make my same mistakes, or sure you may still make them yourself, but realize you are not alone in your own writing journey.?
The writing process can be a lonely journey at times, but that?s why we need a support system of friends, family, and fellow writers to help us when we hit the road blocks to break through them.? A great quote I will leave you with is from Randy Pausch?s best-selling book, The Last Lecture.? ?The brick walls are there for a reason.? The brick walls are not there to keep us out.? The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.? Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don?t want it badly enough.? They?re there to stop the other people.?