Never in a thousand years did I imagine I’d ever become a writer. Actually, up until very recently, I wasn’t too terribly certain I even was a writer! I most definitely enjoyed writing when I was a wee lass. I wrote some short stories in school and I always got high praise, and I wrote relentlessly in my daily diary for years, but I never dared to consider myself an actual writer. My passion has always been music (I play a pretty mean guitar, I’m good with lyrics, and I have a voice that gets the job done). At the age of twenty I got the notion that I was meant to be a singer/songwriter in the vein of, say, Alanis Morissette or Avril Lavigne.
One day in early 2009—not long after my boyfriend Nathaniel committed suicide—I heard a little voice in my head say, “Pack up your shit, get on a bus, get yourself to L.A., and GO MAKE MUSIC!” Well, that’s exactly what I did. My journey began in April 2009. It’s nearly 7 years later and I’m still in L.A. and I’m still making music…but I’m also doing a lot of writing.
As I said, I’ve always kept a diary of some sort—especially the days, months and years after landing in L.A. In early 2015, after reading several pages of my diary, my BFF Karen told me, “You need to publish this!” I thought she was crazy. I mean, who’d want to read MY diaries; and did I really want to share my innermost thoughts and feelings—my whole damn life!—with the world? I mean, come on, it's some pretty raw shit. For better or worse, Karen talked me into it. She said, “Those diaries have a definite entertainment value, but they’re also a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of taking a chance on Hollywood.” I mulled it over for a good long while and eventually realized Karen was right. I also figured I had nothing to lose. Karen, who's a writer herself, walked me through the whole self-publishing thing. It wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be. Now, all these months later, I’m pleased to announce that Diary of a Rock & Roll Chick (Book One) is available to anyone who wants to read it.
I have other writing projects on the horizon as well. I’m currently working on three short stories, which I’m enjoying the hell out of. I’ve also decided to tackle a novel, which I’m presently outlining.
Oddly, I’ve found that writing prose offers me a sense of peace and a sense of accomplishment that music has never quite given me. Not sure why that is. But it’s pretty awesome creating worlds, and characters, and situations—and I don’t ever want to stop doing it!
My biggest problem is finding the time to write. I currently work a “regular” job in addition to the occasional music gig. But I find that if I dedicate 45 minutes to an hour each day, usually in the early morning, I can have a decent word count over the period of a week. I wish it could be more, but that’s just not feasible right now. But who knows—if Diary of a Rock & Roll Chick takes off, if I can make a few bucks from it, I can cut back on the day job…and I can dedicate much more time per week to my new found love: writing. I'll admit, that’s a bit of a dream, but I don’t care. After all, a girl’s gotta have a dream!
#
Diary of a Rock and Roll Chick is available at Amazon as well as B&N (Nook), Apple Books, Tolino, Scribd, Kobo,
Indigo, Angus & Robertson, Mondadori!
No witches, warlocks or vampires...
just a sexy tale about trying to live the Hollywood dream...
No comments:
Post a Comment