‘Tis once again the season to deck the halls, brush off the
old traditions, and maybe even start a few new ones. When I was a kid, it wasn’t
Christmas without the annual viewing of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special and
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. To this day one of the things I remember most
about Rudolph is the Island of Misfit Toys. Some part of me identified with
those toys because I was a misfit too. I was painfully shy and, due to the
makeup of my extended family, I was far more comfortable around adults than
people my own age.
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| Image courtesy of www.123rf.com |
Over the years, I became more comfortable in my own skin.
When I started writing, for the first time in my life, I felt like I had found
my passion. Then, when I finally got brave enough (I still struggle with
shyness) to meet with a local group of writers during NaNoWriMo, I knew I had
found my people. They were just like me! These people knew what it was like to
have a head practically bursting with stories. They understood how you can
intensely dislike a character that you created. They also knew what it was like
to have stories—and characters—take off in a completely different direction
from what you intended. It was like magic.
As I joined professional organizations and took classes one piece
of advice kept recurring—find others that write the same thing you do. Get to
know them. Learn from them. Network. I tried. Really, I did. However, that’s
when I discovered that once again, I’m a misfit.I joined one group only to discover
that it was a bit… clique-ish. I had enough of that sort of thing in high
school so I let my membership expire. I joined another group of sweet/clean
writers only to learn that I couldn’t promote any of my work there because my
first novel was sexy, not sweet. Strike Two. Finally I found another group of
multi-genre authors that seemed to be a perfect fit… until the founder of the group
got too busy to run it and it died a quiet death. *sigh*
I have written fantasy romance, contemporary romance,
paranormal romance, and one genre-defying video-game themed romantic short story. My
Kudzu Korners series is sweet, humorous, paranormal romance. I can find plenty
of other authors who write humorous paranormal romance but their stories
definitely aren’t sweet. I can’t help but think there are others like me but I
have as yet to find them. Oh, well. Maybe someday.
In the meantime, I’ll be over here on the Island of Misfit
Authors waiting to find a home. Want to join me? Everyone is welcome!
Until next month, take care and Happy Holidays to you and
yours!
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Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/isabellanorse
