I am thrilled to be bringing you all a guest post from the lovely Kirsti. I first met Kirsti earlier this year, when I sent her a copy of my funny little novella titled 'Crayons and Chaos', in exchange for an honest review on her new blog.
Kirsti, like so may others I have met via Twitter, is both a lovely person, and an avid supporter of the writing community. I recently found out that she had been inspired to pen her own story. When I heard this, I was a bit worried for her to be honest, as us writers are all gluttons for punishment, really. All jokes aside, I am proud of her for delving into this new journey, along with the rest of us creative souls. I look forward to reading her work, and supporting her as a new author.
Kirsti has been kind enough to share with us, what inspired her to become a writer herself. Here are her thoughts.
What inspired me to write?
I have never been one of those people who have constantly had a story in their head, which I had to get down on paper. I wasn’t that child jotting down ideas and I could never stick to journaling as a teenager, always giving up after a week or so, because I just didn’t have anything to write about. My creative outlets over the years have always been more art based, or at the very least hands on. I have gone through a number of hobbies that have included: cross-stitch, wood burning, artificial flower making, finally settling on painting and drawing. I felt this is where my creative mind would stay...until recently.
I have always been an avid reader. Especially since my late teenage years, where I developed a love of romance novels, that has lasted into adulthood. When a very dear friend of mine published her debut romance novel earlier this year I was so proud of her and expressed to her how I couldn’t comprehend, how writers put stories together. After speaking with her at length about her writing, and my love of reading, she suggested that I start a book blog. I had recently become a member of the Twitterverse and the surprisingly supportive Writing Community, only because I am friends with a now published author.
I was absolutely blown away with the variety and volume of stories that opened up to me through getting to know independent authors. They opened my eyes to the value of reviews that helped to lift the exposure of their work, and I began to seriously consider starting a blog. I was still very averse to having to write blog posts though, and opted to do a video version of a book review, quite honestly because I was too lazy to think about writing the blog.
I very soon came to realise that the video version alone, wasn’t going to be enough for me. One Twitter follower had commented that the video would lead to a blog, and that a blog might lead to me wanting to pen my own stories. I scoffed at the idea, and although I did start the blog and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed writing the posts; not just the reviews, but also in-depth Author Bios and new release posts, I still had no intention of doing my own writing.
To become a writer one must be able to write and have a story idea to write about and I didn’t feel I could write, and had absolutely no ideas at all. The only stories in my head were the fantastic ones penned by other writers. Until one Sunday at the end of the summer and after a long walk along my local coastline, a flash of inspiration came to me.
My good friend, Elsie McArthur who has now published two Scottish romances – ‘The Back Up Plan’ and ‘Love on the Rocks’, had once said to me that she’d been given the advice to write what you know. So I based the story on small snippets of my own life experiences, and used my home town as the location to make the process easier. Initially I jotted my vague ideas down and sent them to Elsie, if she didn’t think there was anything there, then I would forget the whole thing, and just continue to review the books I love to read.
However, she thought the story had ‘legs’ as she called it. I was excited. I wrote the beginnings of the first chapter in bed that night because the words were floating in my head - the very first time that had happened to me. The next day I just happened to mention my idea and initial chapter musings to another author, a brilliant writer who I’m very lucky to have become friends with. JB Lexington; author of ‘Forever Eve’ and ‘After Eve’, encouraged me to send her what I’d done, and so I acquired a mentor.
I’m not there yet with having my story out in the big scary world, but with the fantastic support of JB I have finished the first draft and as I write this blog post, I eagerly await her first round of beta suggestions. I couldn’t have made it this far without her, or without the moral support of Elsie.
I am thoroughly enjoying the writing process. It is very much like reading, in that I can get lost amongst the pages, but now I can be the puppet master and weave the web that traps other readers...well I hope so anyway.
So to answer the question ‘what inspired me to write’? Well truly, it was the amazing work of Elsie McArthur, JB Lexington, and all the fabulous independent authors, including the lovely Hayley Walsh herself, who I am lucky enough to interact with through social media on a daily basis. Their passion for the written word and creating new worlds to explore, inspired me to have a go at creating my very own story.
Thanks to Kirsti for sharing her journey with us all. If you would like to check out her blog, you can find the link below.
https://bedsidebookreview.wordpress.com/