Marie J. Allen

Stories have been my love since I can remember. As a child I scribbled stories into notebooks, with my goal to one day complete a full-sized novel. Even through my teenage years I kept up with this trend with my stories slowly improving and that dream getting a little bit closer. 

Then college happened. I didn’t follow the path that many hopeful writers do when they enroll into college by choosing an English or fine arts degree. No, I chose something that was a little more data and research focused. I loved my program and never would change my choice, but I became accomplished at writing research papers–the kind that include describing research methodology and statistical analysis. There is a unique way of writing these types of papers and as I improved my skill in it, I found it temporarily damaged my ability to write creatively. It took me several years after I graduated to be able to find my love of creative writing again.

Since then I have decided to turn my goal into a reality, though I’ve been having trouble staying on task thanks to a full-time job and other life responsibilities. I often burn myself out or I feel too sleepy to complete my goal, so I give up. It’s a cyclical mess that I’ve gotten myself into. I desperately want to support myself through my art and make it my full time job, but my current full time job that I need in the meantime takes all of my energy. 

I’ve been fighting myself over this for the past few years, attempting to create but failing before I finish. It’s something I can’t keep doing if I’m serious about writing, so I have come up with a new plan. Instead of expecting a high word count from myself every day, I’m giving myself 500 days to write a first draft. The project I am working on is a science fiction novel and my goal is 100,000 words, which equals 200 words per day. 

I started this a few days ago and have already found I am feeling more confident about achieving my goals and am actually writing more than when my daily word count goal was higher. I’m currently on day 4 of this challenge and am just under 3,500 words total, currently. 

This lower word count has also helped me feel less guilty on working on my other projects (such as finally get this website going) and getting the sleep I need too. I plan to update my progress here to keep myself accountable along with sharing my thoughts on whatever part of the writing process I am on.

I’m sure the majority of an audience seeking a site such as this is much like myself. They are writing, thinking about writing, dreaming about being a successful writer, and feeling like a failure when not writing. However, you don’t have to be a writer, or even hope to be a writer, to enjoy my content. Stories are meant to be consumed by everyone, which means everyone has a right to understand what it is they are consuming.

I read a lot. I also watch a lot of movies and television shows. These are all stories and I feel I can learn a lot from critically thinking about them, which means I will be discussing them frequently. If you enjoy reading books and watching movies and television shows without any desire to create them, there will be something here for you too. This is not just about writing, it is also about art appreciation.

I can often be critical when I review, but that does not mean I did not enjoy or appreciate the story that I experienced. I admire the artists that put their art out there and I recognize that they have done something that I have not. I do not think that I am better than them or that they are undeserving of their recognition. I will never write a perfect story (I don’t think anyone ever will), but I review them critically as a learning process for myself and for others. As far as I’m concerned, we are all here to learn from each other.

If you currently write stories, want to write stories, or just like stories in general, I hope you can enjoy yourself here and maybe we can learn something new together.