Running Late

Hi, my name's Bethany, and I'm an underwriter.

I guess you could say that it all started when I was about thirteen. I read a book called Eragon by a guy named Christopher Paolini; and on the inside flap, it said that Christopher had started writing when he was fifteen and was now published at nineteen. Well, I knew that I could write as well as Paolini, and a plot was already forming in my head. Fantasy requires no research since you make everything up. It was just all coming together. So, I made a statement: I would start writing my book at thirteen and be published by eighteen! Take that!

(sigh)

But wait, it gets worse. While reading an article on J. K. Rowling, I noticed that she hand wrote every single one of her Harry Potter manuscripts. Youth is so ambitious and, unfortunately, blind. I decided to write out my bestseller as well and just edit it on the computer later. Please remember that at this stage of my writing obsession, I had visions of the Oprah show dancing in my head.

Now, I am nineteen years old. I have an unfinished manuscript that is still being handwritten because of my youthful stubbornness and determination. I also have writer's block.

Then one day I was introduced to this cool, new site called Storypraxis. It offered a fun writing practice in order to get the creativity flowing. So, I tried it. It was great at first; I was spitting out stories everyday. I even got two of them into the Magazine!

But now, as I sit here telling my testimonial, the literary high has come to a crashing low. The prompts no longer spark my imagination. Sometimes, I will get an idea in my head,  just a tiny sprout of a plot, so I will go on Storypraxis, only to find a prompt that is completely opposite to my idea. My hope is once again deflated.

My biological clock is ticking away, and my story is running very, very late. Paolini has had three bestsellers and is working on a fourth; his book was also made into a movie, albeit a very badly made movie. I have six months to finish my manuscript and have it published before I turn the dreaded twenty. Why did I choose this path?! Why?!

Bethany Bachman writes and doesn't write in Philadelphia. (sob)

www.storypraxis.com