July is about writing

I'm reading You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) on my Kindle Fire and listening to Stephen King's On Writing on Audiobook while I drive and doing InkyBites' 31-Day "Recharge Your Creative Batteries" Challenge every day of July that it comes out. I got a writing desk and I have a journal and my fountain pen, a Lamy that I love. I'm ready. (That paragraph is chock full of affiliate links so if you buy something I'll get some of it. Just letting you know.)

I've asked a friend of mine who is a photographer to get a couple headshots of me (with a camera, not a pistol) that I can use online. I want to take this writing thing seriously. If I play with it then it won't go anywhere and I'd like it to go somewhere. 

Through July I'm going to do a lot of focusing on writing and trying to reach out to authors (note the difference there between my word choice? I'm a writer... I'd like to become an author so I'm going to talk to people who've done what I want to do and see if they have any tips or advice.) to talk to them about the transition from writer to author. I realize I should be focusing on the writing, but the other end of the writing, getting readers, isn't going to do itself. I don't expect overnight success but I'd like to not make avoidable mistakes so I'm going to reach out to them, probably through Google+ because it's my favorite method of networking. It seems more thoughtful than Facebook and has more room for conversation than Twitter.

My desk is in a room with no television. That's on purpose.

Wish me luck. And, if you like something I read, tell someone else about it, and if it's not TOO much trouble, leave a comment, let me know I'm not yelling down a well. I'd appreciate it. If you don't like what you read let me know that too. I can't get better if all I hear is the good. Critique, be critical, I'm asking you to disregard my feelings and be honest. I'd appreciate an honest, "That doesn't work for me" more than I would a hundred insincere "Great job!" comments.