Now what's all this then?

Welcome friends! My name is Michael Price.

I've wanted to become an author ever since I was in middle school. Back then, ideas came easy and I had all the time in the world to write or draw whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had no sense of what made writing good or bad, and no bills to make me prioritize doing "more important things" with my time.

Then high school hit, then college, then adulthood, and all along the way I felt pressure from people around me to "get a real job." I'm sure if you're anything like me, you've probably heard a similar sentiment: "Sure kid, you can [insert thing you love here] on the side or maybe on weekends, but it's not gonna pay the bills so you better learn some skills to make it in the real world. Why don't you become a doctor or a lawyer or something? That way, you can actually make money and you can just do the things you're passionate about as a side gig in your spare time."

This mentality can destroy your soul and crush your creative spirit. I wish I'd had more people tell me "You know what, if you really want to, you can do anything if you work hard and persevere." Of course, that's an overly optimistic view and it's not as simple as it sounds, and everyone has limitations. But I suspect many people have false limitations imposed on them, and many of us could be happier doing a job we enjoy if we just believed it was possible.

Currently, I make yoyo strings. If you told my high school self that I would be making a living selling yoyo strings, I wouldn't believe it for a second. But when you have a passion, even one as niche and odd as making the best yoyo string you possibly can, then basically anything is possible. And that's where I am with writing: I have a passion for creating fantasy worlds and epic stories, but I never thought it was a viable career option.

So here I am, committing to myself and the 1-2 people who might stumble across this blog, that I will write a novel. Then I'll write another one. Then I'll write another one. If I never publish anything, it will have been worth it to follow the dream and express myself creatively, and I'll use this blog to chronicle my journey and share any insights I find along the way. I hope someone will find this useful. I listen to a lot of podcasts, read a lot of books and blogs, and watch a lot of YouTube videos about writing, so if I can distill some of that knowledge from dozens of authors across a plethora of forums into short, informative blog posts, that will make this worthwhile.

And hey, if no one reads this, at least I'll have the most useful information all in one place for myself!

Thanks for checking out my blog, and please leave me a comment if you like anything you find here! I'd really like to ultimately build a sort of community around writing, since I don't have many friends who are into writing fiction so feel free to drop a line in my contact form.

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

- Michael Wolfe Price