Book Chat Special: Origins Blogfest

DL Hammons (Cruising Altitude 2.0) writes, "I’m proud to announce that on February 13^th, one of my cohorts from the Déjà vu Blogfest…Katie Mills (Creepy Query Girl)…along with Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish  (Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment), will be co-hosting with me the ORIGINS blogfest.  Here’s a synopsis of what will happen on that date for you to use in spreading the word:  On Monday, February 13^th, you should post your own origin story.  Tell us all where your writing dreams began.  It could be anything from how you started making up stories as a child, or writing for the school newspaper, or even what prompted you to start a blog.  How about stories about the first time somebody took an interest in your writing, or the teacher/mentor that helped nudge you along and mold your passion, or maybe the singular moment when you first started calling yourself a writer.  It all started somewhere and we want you to tell us your own, unique, beginnings."

Before I was a reader or writer, I was a dreamer, an imaginer of worlds. We’re sometimes called Pisces. *winks* A simple bus ride to school had me staring out the window and daydreaming. Then, with reading, I couldn’t get enough of the worlds, the characters writers created. Authors were like the coolest people out there (still are).

These worlds inspired me to play in them. First I started in Phantom of the Opera role-playing games (RPGs). Then, I moved on to Harry Potter. I loved J.K. Rowling’s world so much and couldn’t wait for the next books, so I decided to write fan fiction. Why wait when I can make up my own stories using her world? I enjoyed fan fiction and role-playing, but after hundreds of thousands of words for almost ten years of time made me itch to try my own world.

In 2006, I had the idea of taking one of my role-playing characters and create a world for her of my own. This was the birth of Yssa and the Phoenix trilogy. I did nothing with this world for three years, but I loved daydreaming about it.

I really did come late to writing with publication in mind. I was almost twenty-seven when I started my first novel (The Phoenix Prophetess). I had started a new job a month before and found myself with time on my hands. When I don’t have library work to do, I could do anything I wanted—within reason, of course—so I decided to sit and start that novel. I wrote the first chapter and sent it to my friend Christine Rains and my sister Kara. They encouraged me to keep writing, so I did. Nine months later I completed the first draft of The Phoenix Prophetess. I had also brushed off two old short stories and started submitting them. When I got my first acceptance from my first submission, I was shocked and hooked. Everything took off from there, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it now.

If you told me ten years ago I would be a writer, I would’ve scoffed at the notion. Me? A writer? Whatever. I was rather dismal in English classes. Grammar and stuff I rocked. Paper writing, not as much. But I believe through time, I found my place as a writer.