No longer am I struggling for ideas on how to write. It is quite amazing considering last year I needed all the help I could get to even squeeze out a crappy idea.

Now I find that my self confidence in my own ideas has greatly improved. I am now willing to accept that when I work hard, I can write pretty decently! Furthermore, I have a positive attitude about my ideas and more ideas just seem to come.

What's more is that everyone who started reading my stuff last year- is now saying how much I have improved over the last year. "Most improved writer".

I'm at this point now where I have so many ideas... that I don't think I will ever be able to write them all. eek How could I have reached such a height in my creativity????

How it started:
It started with a lowly troll fanfic account. Yeah I was a troll starting in the summer of 2010. It was pretty fun too. I wrote whatever came to mind. I wrote the worst I possibly could and wrote some pretty goofy stuff. It was really funny to me.

Then, I entered a Yugioh fanficiton contest and had my friend help me write my entry. I lost in the first round but I got a lot of feedback on how to improve.

I had many issues with tense... crying Even in works I tried in.

So until the summer hit, I wrote as much as I possibly could. Read grammar books. Read novels. Anything that I thought might help me in my quest to become a better writer and not lose in the first round again.

Then the summer contest started. Man, have I been on fire. Not that people are voting for my stuff- actually a few people are, but I am getting many comments about how much I have improved and how they admire all the risks I take when I write. ^.^; It really makes me feel good to know that people are recognizing all the hard work I have been putting into my craft.

I know a lot of original authors don't really see how good fanfiction can be, because most of it really is just a bunch of crud- but in that contest, there really are some amazing writers. Least to me. I know I still have so much more to learn. But I just thought I would share my story.

OH- And I have had a few of my original poems published. But that isn't so hard. wink

Questions:

What things do you do to push yourself to be a better writer?
What motivates you to write?