Dirty Secrets from the Dirty Cowboy

I could not have found this article at a more perfect time. Author Amy Timberlake describes the process she went through to write The Dirty Cowboy. She starts off like this:

Maybe I am the only published writer who needed help to get my story off the ground – but I figure I’m not. If you’re reading this now and you’re one of those published types who wrote your story from beginning to end without hearing a single suggestion that made you think twice or who never had a carrot
(trailing a litany of suggestions) skewering a sentence, or worse, found Post-It notes (written front and back) stacked on your manuscript because your one-inch margins and double-spaced type weren’t roomy enough for describing myriads of difficulties – well, would you mind skipping this article? I’m hoping to reach someone like me. Someone who is sometimes embarrassed by all the help they needed. I’m hoping to make our case, and convince us – maybe me most of all -- that there’s nothing embarrassing about recognizing a good suggestion and taking it.

Check out the link above to see how this story evolves. It makes me feel so much better to know that I am not the only one with a great idea that is struggling to make its way onto the page. I am not one of those lucky people who writes a great first draft, so it's encouraging to see that someone else shares my pain.

Sometimes I feel like I'll never be published. Am I really a writer? Am I just a hack? It's articles like this one that remind me that the only thing separating the published from the unpublished writers is the desire to get a little dirty and to stick with it. Thank you, Amy!

P.S. Note the time stamps on these last two entries. Baby Koala has a thing against sleeping. I got 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night.