March will mark roughly three years since I stumbled into the “Writing the Novel” class with The Redbud Writing Project. https://www.redbudwriting.org/
I was not writing a novel, nor did I submit anything, but I was hooked on the idea of spending my time writing, discussing writing, and sharing the stories I love with others.
With a few brief moments of questioning my choices, I’m still here. At the beginning of 2025, after spending 2024 logging my daily words, I decided to stop writing. It seemed pointless as I would likely never get published, and unlike what many think, writing is hard. It also takes lots of time.
A week passed, and it felt weird, and by the end of the second week, I was writing again. This was not because I was forcing myself to write or trying to reach any artificial goals. I just liked doing it, and it felt weird to try to stop.
Now, here I am, two months into 2026, tracking my words for fun with very low goals that I surpass regularly. Writing is becoming easier, and I’m happier with what I write. One story I banged out in January got smiles and laughs from my workshop. Thankfully, that was the goal of the absurdly dark humor story.
Why am I writing here at my blog after years of inconsistency? Not because I’m a professional writer who thinks I have wisdom to impart. Rather, I’m looking back on all the classes, craft books, and exercises I’ve done in these early writing days and thinking there might be value in writing about which ones help the most, which help the least, and which I’m still unsure about.
I’m hoping to start a series of posts I like to call “The Old Dog Writer.”
Like, you know, I’m an old dog that started writing late in life (new trick) and my learnings. Yes, it loses something if you have to explain it.
twcrone 