Passions

I have had many passions in my life. Mostly starting from the time when I was a little girl. Tennis was like that. My father used to watch loads of sports on TV. I hated baseball as it was so slow. Nothing ever seemed to happen. Football was too violent. And even though my grandmother loved to watch fights I thought they were savage. But tennis! Now that was another subject - I was mesmerized when I saw women playing competitively at Wimbledon. ( This of course was long before Tittle IX). My dad - bless him - seeing me have some interest in a sport, took me out and taught me the fundamentals of the tennis. I was hooked and played as much as I was able to well into my forties, but feet and back injuries slowly killed my joy of playing and I eventually had to give it up. I suddenly found myself with lots of extra time on my hands. I decided to go to grad school. As I took courses it became obvious to me that I still enjoyed writing even if it was for the purpose of term papers. The other benefits from taking grad courses was that I began to get proficient on the computer. Things were working out well until I changed jobs and the new company was not as generous with time-off and financial support of my further education.  So forced to quit, I once again I found I had plenty of time on my hands. I tried golf but striking that tiny ball just wasn't fun for me.

As someone working with children, I was always trying to keep up with the trends in what the kids enjoyed, so when all the hype about the Potter books by JK Rowling came out I began to read them. I soon realized these books were much more than children's tales, so I trolled the internet for information and luckily I came upon The Leaky Cauldron (LC). Eventually when they announced a reading group for exploring the books, I joined the forum and the reading group. I would write every night and found I really enjoyed the discussions. It wasn't long after that in 2006 that I was invited to come onto staff as a reading group leader. That pretty much turned the corner for me as far as writing and delving into books goes! Here was something I did well, really enjoyed, and as long as I didn't fall off my chair, I was in no danger of further injury to myself. 

My years of writing in-depth discussion thread on everything from Alchemy to Xenophilia Lovegood for the Leaky Cauldron Reading Groups has stoked my passion for reading, writing and analyzing good writing. In addition I have found a wonderful community of like-minded individuals that I communicate with at least weekly if not daily via Skype. Eventually the fever for Harry Potter had began to settle, so seeking an outlet I tried NaNoWriMo first in 2009 when I was still working. The challenge of writing a novel in a month was great fun for me. I came away from that first effort with a long story with no ending. Discouraged, I didn't try in 2010, but then I retired in January of  2011. Writing for The LC Reading Group had become rather tame by that point, so I again was looking for an outlet for my need to write. I decided I had nothing to lose and tried again in November of 2011 to write a novel in a month. This time I planned a bit better and decided on my ending before I even wrote the beginning! And lo and behold at the end of that month I had a 50,000+ word manuscript for a book!

Now after two and a half months, I have rewritten the manuscript several times, formatted it into a 'first draft' and actually printed it off for a few select readers to read and comment on. The journey has really begun now. I need your support of feedback and encouragement to continue on. I will be updating you on all the ends and outs of the journey as we go along, so feel free to follow this blog. All you need to do is click the blue button on the top right hand corner of the page that says 'Join This Site'. Comments are always welcome.