What do I know anyway?

The 'What do I know Anyway?' section (located towards the bottom of the write hand column) is here for the purpose of sharing the ups and downs of a new writer.

I started writing casually around 1999 as a creative outlet. I'd always painted until then but found words easier and more rewarding to shift around on paper. I abandoned my first attempt at a book in 2002 after writing about 200 pages which I thought were pretty good. I sent it out to about 20 publishers and received 3 rejections and a lot of silence.

Over the next years I took some writing courses, joined a writing club, built up a network of readers to give me constructive feedback and learned how to critique others' work. I would also say that I learned how to read properly; to really notice what was being said and how the author constructed characters, events and drama. During that time I became enamoured with the short story, reading as many as I could and writing about 5 myself. I also wrote a screenplay and another novel- which for the sake of argument we will call my first novel. The only thing I ever tried to get published during that time was non-fiction pieces in local publications- articles, interviews and reviews.

By the time I started on my second novel in 2005 I was starting to feel like I might possibly-one day be...gulp... a writer. I couldn't not write.

I approached my second book in a totally different fashion- I felt equipped, like I knew what I needed to do to make this work. Starting it's life as two different short stories, the characters grew and started to feel like friends- the events and people were with me for the entire 3 years that it took me to write it. During this time I also worked a full time professional job, renovated an apartment and had a couple of children. I'm not trying to show-off or anything, just point out that real people with real lives can still write- it just takes time.

In January 2009 I decided that I would start trying to find an agent. That brings us up to date with the launch of the Fiction Exchange and if you're interested, you can find other random incidents from my writing career in this section- posted as they occur.

Gotham Writers' Workshop

With a 'Best of the Web' rating from Forbes, the Gotham Writers's Workshop offers a number of writing classes in 'more than a dozen forms of writing'. They are based in New York City and you can take their classes on location or online.

I took their Fiction Writing I online class a few years ago and LOVED it. I got issued log-in information and was able to explore the class before the first lecture went up. Our teacher posted these lectures weekly and what I loved about it was that I got to work on it when I wanted to. Not famed for my organizational skills, I had a nagging feeling when I enrolled that I would be frantically doing my assignments in the middle of the night before the weekly deadline to submit passed but I found the content engaging and motivating and managed to stay on top of my work easily.

I felt that the coursework was well constructed and I learned a lot. I got clear, constructive feedback from my teacher and well-meaning, though not always constructive feedback from my classmates. Overall, I loved the experience and would especially recommend it to someone who likes to work at their own pace and who can't afford to go to New York City! Gotham Writers' Workshop offers a bunch of different classes and elevated levels of some classes so if you are thinking of taking a class make sure that it's the right one for you.

Apart from any struggles with time-management, the only drawback that I can see from an online course like this might be for someone who is not used to, or sensitive about receiving feedback about their writing. When comments turn up about a labour of love that you posted for the group to critique, they are in black and white in front of you and it can be hard to judge the tone in which it is meant. When I took the course I hadn't received much feedback and although there were a few cringes, I found that it taught me to embrace and receive criticism for which I am grateful to this day.

For more information check out their site