The Cool Parts of Being a Nerd.

I'm a writer. 

It's one of the only things I've ever identified with for most of my life. I started journalling at 10. In high school I wrote short stories. There was a period in my life where I didn't write very much at all outside of the occassional journalling. However, two years ago I took the hobby back up and I've never stopped.

I'm often told I should write a book. I don't personally think I have the talent nor the discipline to do that. However, a year and a half of majoring in English will tell you I had seriously considered it.

So what's the purpose of this post? The other day my husband made mention of the poor reading and writing level of most people in the U.S. It's not something that surprises me. 

I get asked a lot how I write so much, how I stay inspired, how I stay organized. And I think this habbit reflects on my reading and writing level.

Do you want to be smarter? Write? Or just overall have a better grasp of the  English language?

Read a book.

That isn't supposed to sound insulting it's just fact. Do you know how much I have read in my life? Have you ever seen Gilmore Girls? Consider me Rory. If you don't catch the reference then I will when I was in school I averaged a book a week. And let me tell you something, your family may complain about buying you something but they'll never complain about a book. My floor to ceiling bookshelf was packed full by the time I left my parents house. I love to read, I love physical books, but I've recently started reading the free books on iBooks.

Reading keeps your mind active. It's good for you. It doesn't matter what you're reading. You're engaging your brain, your imagination, and building your vocabulary. 

You may not think there's books out there for you? Well I say you haven't looked hard enough. Even nonfiction books have appeal. I've actually gotten very into bibliographies more than some fiction novels I have read.

If you want to write and be good at it, you have to be disciplined. Just like any other art, it takes practice and dedication. You don't just type out a story and expect it to be perfect the first go around.

If you want to be a writer than write. It's not for everyone. Just like painting, playing music, creating art is something that some people will always do better than you. It doesn't mean you suck, it means they're lucky. That's okay. 

Be disciplined. Write every day. If you want it as a job make it a job. I have always said when writing stops bringing me joy I'll stop. So far it hasn't and ice been writing for 15 years. 

But of course there are days I'm not inspired and don't feel like writing. But I feel worse if I don't write a thing versus writing something subpar. Or blogging. 

There's no point to this. It's how I work, how I operate. The more I write the more I stayed warmed up and can continue writing. If I let myself fall into a funk I take longer to get back into the groove of things.

Of course life happens and I have responsibilities to take care of. Writing is my hobby, and I make time for it when I can. Google Docs is an amazing app available on most platforms. I write on the go. Sitting on the bus, in the car, waiting for a table at a restaurant, etc.

I've always written during school. This week I had orientation and I filled up an entire notebook writing. I don't encourage you to ignore school or work to write. I simply concentrate better when I'm doing multiple things at once. It's weird, I know.

So there's some about me and my writing. Will I ever share my writing with the world? Probably not. For now I'm happy with the hole in the internet I write for. 

But I will share this. 

What Makes You Happy?

For the past two days I have done nothing but write. Sure, I had to be a mom in between those times, but it's really easy to get a lot of writing done during nap time and as soon as the hubby is home. Why am I talking about this? Because writing is what I love! I've always dreamed of writing my own book, and I don't plan on giving up on that dream anytime soon. Lately, everything I've written has been good old fashioned "fan fiction". AKA me taking some original characters (or not so original characters) and living out my fantasies with some of my favorite characters from movies or television in a fiction-type setting. Fun fact: Fanfiction.net is amazing. If you don't want to write it, it's there to read it. Young people get on this site and show off some incredible writing skills. The first time I picked up 50 Shades of Grey I laughed out loud. You guys think that is good sex writing? Hah! You should see what the teenagers are throwing out online! Those books are horrific in comparison and I have never been able to read them because of that reason. Yeah, I said it. The smut sucks. Writing is the only thing I have ever been good at. It took me a long time to realize that, but one day in college while majoring in Social Sciences (my second major in a two year degree)I began writing some fun things on the side. Something, I soon realized, I had been doing since high school. You know how some people get bored in class and doodle on their notebooks? I had a notebook solely dedicated to writing. I would dabble in random stories I've made up, or had started with Ashley and fill notebooks with notes, blurbs, or flat out "chapters". And as I pulled out this notebook in college I realized, "Wow. What if I just wrote for the rest of my life?" Boom. English major. Unfortunately life happened. I got married, got pregnant, and now I stay at home with the best thing that has ever happened to me. But he's getting older, I'm getting older, and me and Ashley just reopened a can of awesome with an old story of ours. I started writing it to be funny, have something fun for her to read at work and me to work on at home. But now I have fallen in love. It's the first original character story I've been able to write for a long time. Besides one, that I am not ready to talk about (Ashley knows). And even though one of the characters is technically hers, it still feels great. I've pumped out so much in two days that I feel my writing cup has finally runneth over. It's times like these when I think to myself, "Yes. I am going to write a book one day." And I swear it will happen. There's a lot I need to do in between, but I know it's something that cannot be forced. One day the idea will come and boom; I'll finally be sitting in a crappy book store somewhere begging people to buy one of my mere 200 copies. It is going to be awesome.

A New Beginning

I have recently seen the visual uproar of what is now owning and using a blog full time. I used to blog on a daily basis. I think I have been and blogged on every website, including this one (I cannot remember what my id was!).

I am a writer. Writers are supposed to keep journals (or in this day and age; blogs), so why shouldn't I? I need a place to express myself to the fullest and release my inner writing ability. I wanted to originally open up a blog about being a newlywed, however, I grew impatient. It is a year and one month exactly until my wedding date. Why not begin blogging now to create a space for the huge amount of stress that will begin to develop and grow as the wedding date arrives.

I am an English major and it is time to get that almost-degree and put it into good use. I will now begin to upload my stress and stories on to this blog as a way to relieve myself emotionally from the stress that comes with working in retail and attending college. And now, planning a wedding.

And so begins the path of planning, building, and growing with me, Sam-m. With two m's.