Writer's Memory Lane #1 A Handwritten Letter

  Today I'm checking in with a new feature for the blog: Writer's Memory Lane. I thought it'd be fun to turn back the clock and think back on some of my early days as a writer. I don't know how regular this feature will be, but I'm going to have fun finding out. If you would like to participate, feel free to leave an anecdote in the comments section, or better yet, write a post about the beginning of your writing career and leave a link in the comments. I'd love to read your stories!

  So today's story is about the time I wrote a publisher to get more information on publishing a book. I believe I was either fifteen or sixteen. I hadn't really written much, but I was dying to get published. I knew I wanted to be an author, but I knew next to nothing about how to get there. I didn't know the names of any publishers and I didn't even know that self-publishing existed. So I Googled publishers and wrote to the first one I saw. I won't be mentioning any names. I actually wrote a letter on notebook paper with a pen in my teenage chicken scratch. I think it said something along the lines of, "I'm interested in getting published and was wondering how to go about it. Any information you could give me would be appreciated."

  It was a terribly informal and I was awfully naive. But that's just a part of growing up.

They sent my handwritten letter back along with a printed out sheet of paper explaining what their publishing services offered. Sometimes I wonder how hard the person who read my letter laughed. And yet perhaps at sixteen that same person had written a similar letter to a publishing company themselves and remembering how that felt. they simply smiled.

  Now it's nearly five years later. The letters are still in the envelope monogrammed with the publisher's logo in my box full of memories. Since then, I've discovered self-publishing, published three novels and sold over one-hundred books. Life has been far from a fairy tale, but it's all heading in a nice direction.

  Thanks for reading and I hope this post made you smile. 

-Miranda Atchley