xxxThe following writer has been kind enough to share her story with us.

xxxIf you would like to contribute your story and photo to me, email them to:
xxxrob@easywaytowrite.com

xxxThank you.

xxxCharly Burleson

I've been writing now for less than a year, but looking back, the seeds of it were always there. I remember as a kid, my mom would take us to Toys R Us after church. My brother would run off to the toys but I would stay planted in the stationery section, nothing could lure me from that spot. I loved the fancy paper, pens, and pencils, and those neat little pencil boxes with all the secret compartments, but when I did actually get something, I was lost. I couldn't write a thing.

When I finally took a creative writing class in High School it confirmed my fears, I was a terrible writer. I could write a poem or two and Mom liked my children's story, but when it came to the real thing, to writing a story, it was horrible. No matter how hard I tried, I could not give my characters faults and putting them in conflict was torture for me. I ended up writing about some kids at a summer camp where nothing really happened and I was never so embarrassed to hand something in.

I knew that conflict was essential to a good story but I couldn't bring myself to hurt my characters. At the time I was living in a storage shed at a horse farm that I had worked at. It was hard to decide which was worse, the cold and the contempt of the kids whose parents could afford to buy them horses and riding lessons, or the abuse I had endured at home. Maybe I knew conflict too intimately to feel right about passing it on.

So I gave up.

I figured maybe, someday, I could write my one book, that was all I really wanted. It could be about my life so I didn't have to hurt anyone else, even if they were just fictional characters.

It wasn't that hard to give it up, I never wanted to be a writer, I just wanted to write. But then, I always found myself filled with envy after reading Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, or Lord of the Rings.

I don't remember exactly how it happened, but last spring I started writing a story. It was originally supposed to be a light hearted kids story because that's all I thought I was capable of. But it turned into something entirely different.

My first book Fayre Tales: The Rose Born, is now the first book in a trilogy. I never believed that I could finish one book and now I am almost done with two. I also have two other books in the wings, one about an abused woman (go figure), and one about two friends, Tully & Rourke, that I am falling in love with.

I have a blog at http://fayretales.com where you can find a bit more about me and a couple Fayre Tales excerpts, I would love to hear your comments.

xxcTo us,

xxxWrite-Intention
xxxThe Science of Success