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Don’t Fear New Options for Creativity
There are always new tools available for making art.
When I began writing at age 9, it was all by hand. My first sci-fi book is 50 pages, handwritten and illustrated. I thought, as a kid, creating my own sci-fi story and putting words and images to the page was the coolest thing ever.
A few years later, at age 13, I completed a typed story. This was a first for me. It was 36 pages of sci-fi, ever-so-slightly derivative of Tron (yes, this was 1985). Typing led to printing and being able to share my words in an easier-to-read form (confession moment — my handwriting is atrocious).
Over the next several years, I both hand-wrote and typed stories. Eventually, I had something complete that I attempted to have published via traditional publishing. For the next few years, I submitted queries to both agents and publishing houses with open calls.
The landscape changed a lot, and in time I began down the self-publishing route. This meant I could share my works via first Amazon and then other channels. Seeing my books in print became a reality, even though finding them in the library or bookstores isn’t regular.
Still, I went from merely being an author to author, publisher, marketer, and realistically entrepreneur (or rather, authorpreneur). Though I…