Thursday, September 17, 2009

This Must Be Thursday. I Never Could Get The Hang Of Thursdays...

It somehow seems apropos that I start with a quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, since Douglas Adams was a major influence on my writing style during my formative years, and remains so to this day.

Hi. I'm Sheila, and I'll be blathering expostulating sharing my trials and tribulations as an aspiring author with you on Thursdays here at The Melt-Ink Pot. I have never lived in either Washington or Maine (though I have visited both and loved them). I'm a native Denverite currently living in the Denver metro area, a fairly rare species in these parts. Colorado is an amazing mix of city and country, of mountains and plains, and I haven't yet found anywhere I'd rather live.

I've been a voracious and omnivorous reader since about the age of four and a half, when my father accidentally taught me to read (he had a bad habit of following along with his finger when he read to us). But it took me until I was in high school to figure out that I could write stories, too. That was when I went out and bought some spiral notebooks and some ball-point pens (because back in those days your only other option was this thing called a "typewriter", and if you think your old laptop is heavy and hard to lug around, you should try hauling one of these babies along for a day) and started scribbling.

Like many writers, I then spent a number of years in the "I can start novels but can't finish them" stage of my career. However, in the last few years (thanks in part to National Novel Writing Month, which I discovered in 2006), I've since moved on to the "I can finish novels but I can't edit them" stage. (Turns out I'm a bit verbose. Who knew?)

Thus far I've completed two historical romances and two fairly fluffy space pirate adventures, all of which are in need of substantial revision (okay, and word-count reduction) before they're ready to see the light of day. My other works in progress include a couple of fantasies, a paranormal romance, and some sci-fi comedies. I'm currently editing my Regency romance while sorting through my file of story ideas trying to decide on my next writing project.

Favorite authors include Anne McCaffrey, Larry Niven, Connie Willis, Diane Mott Davidson, Monica Ferris, Barbara Metzger, Gene Stratton Porter, and of course, Douglas Adams. (I'll probably think of a whole bunch more as soon as I post this, of course.)

Trivia facts about me: I nearly always have music stuck in my head; I write and fence with my left hand but bowl and use knives with my right; I don't have cable television; and I collect rubber duckies.

That's probably plenty to go on with for now. I'm really looking forward to good times with my fellow bloggers here, and I hope you all enjoy the ride!

1 comments:

Andrea said...

I spent a night just outside the Denver airport once, but I'd love to back and see CO properly. Looking forward to reading your posts!