.the starting line

So my mind has been very focused on my writing lately. I've already written two short stories (which in my case is an 80 page notebook) this year and I'm already halfway through my third one. When I'm writing, I feel alive. I connect with my characters, feel what they feel, live what they live and escape reality for a little while. And when I talk about my stories my face lights up and whoever I'm talking to can tell how passionate I am about them. Take my boyfriend for example, I ramble about my stories to him all the time. I tell him where I'm at in the story, how I feel about my characters, everything. In fact the other night I was talking to him about the story I'm writing now, about a high school cheerleader who falls for a guy in her class who could care less about her. Well one of my characters, Kelly, the cheerleader whose trying to be the reigning school queen (the main character has this title) is, well, a bitch. the biggest bitch. She is the epitome of a high school cheerleader and boy is she beginning to piss me off. But that's how I know she's good and I'm doing a good job writing her. My boyfriend finds it hilarious that I can separate myself from my characters as if I'm in the process of reading the story instead of writing it. I think this is a pretty good skill to have. It makes it all more fun, don't you think?

Anyway, back to my point. I've been writing so much lately that the thought of publishing comes up in my mind quite often. So I'm going to start checking things out, looking into different Canadian publishing companies and seeing what's out there and what I need to do to get into it - to get this done. I'm going to be a published author and I've started this blog to tell my story, to talk about my journey into this next step that I'm about to take in my life. Writing is my life, my passion, my skill. I went to Journalism school at Sheridan College and have many articles published in The Sheridan Sun, have been writing for an online music magazine for two years (www.soundproofmagazine.com) and have taken a creative writing course at the University of Toronto. I'm ready to take the next step and I want you to come with me.