I started writing The Magician’s Doll several years ago.
My writing repertoire at the time consisted of a short story in college, some comedy sketches, and a whole lot of journal writing. I learned from my journal writing that most of what I had to say was as interesting as balancing a checkbook. From the short story and comedy sketches, I learned that writing, at least for me, is hard. Really hard. Like ‘forget this!” hard.
Then I took a sketch writing workshop led by Ranjit Souri (Ranjit teaches at Second City in Chicago, and if you would like to learn about sketch writing, he’s terrific!). Under his instruction, I learned about structure, and it opened up a whole new world for me. Whereas before I had floundered in a sea of confusion as to how to get my ideas into a coherent form, learning structure gave me the freedom to create. I started to enjoy the process of writing. A lot.
That’s when I started to think about writing a novel.
I don’t remember how I came up with the idea for The Magician’s Doll. I do remember starting to write a few paragraphs of the story and then staring, staring, staring at the computer screen. I had no idea how to get through the daunting task of writing a whole novel. It was another wall.
So I started taking online classes. Writers.com was my favorite site. I had taken other classes that could crush fragile spirits, but the classes there were warm and encouraging. The instructors were top notch, and they taught me the different pieces that make up a novel: scenes, characters, dialog, setting, plot, etc.
I learned that classes can give you tools, but in the end, it’s left to the writer alone to assemble the story. That part escaped me for years. I did other things like look for fun word processors; I read all sorts of books and articles about the craft; I moved closer to work with the idea that I would have more time to write. None of these efforts brought me closer to completing my novel.
Still, I kept in the back of my mind, always, that I would finish my novel, even if it was the only novel I ever wrote.
When I finally decided to just do it, finish it already, I took another terrific class at Writers.com to help me crash through that final wall. Working through that first draft was, for me, an endeavor so arduous that my elation upon completing the novel felt more akin to shell shock. But complete the novel I did.
Then I discovered that the work doesn’t stop there. Editing, submitting, and then all the tropes that come with self-publishing: covers, formatting, marketing. You have to love what you’re doing – that’s my biggest lesson.
But I love my story. I am thrilled that all those years resulted in a product about which I am so happy. I look forward to the day when I am far enough removed from the novel that I can pick it up with fresh eyes and rediscover it. No matter what happens, I did it. I wrote it.