I finally figured out I really want to write stories.  Okay, I’m pushing 40 and you could say, I’m a late bloomer.  I’ll accept that.  But where to go from here?

Your Bookshelf!

Seriously.  (You thought I was going to name something ridiculously hard, didn’t ya?)

When I realized I wanted to write, I found my favorite authors and looked them up on the web.  That’s how I ended up at Susan May Warren’s website, www.mybooktherapy.com.

Susie had an amazing website (which is now new and improved).  I found all kinds of information, I could actually use.  I spent a great deal of time there and just absorbed as much as I could.  I still am.

But wait, don’t leave your bookshelf just yet.

Keep looking, look for the book you’ve read 2-4 times.  Do you see it, the one that looks almost worn out? What was it about that book(s) you liked so much?

I love reading books where I can forget about everything around me, the characters and their antics make laugh out loud and cry along with them.

Looking at your own bookshelf will help you decide what kind of genre you want to write, it will help you decide the writing styles you enjoy and don’t.  It helped me narrow the field.

So how about you, whose your favorite author?  Have you researched what you like about their writing? Sitting down with your favorite novel, notebook in hand, might teach you more about writing than a thousand seminars.

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Our MBT Hostess, Alena Tauriainen, a natural born organizer, manages her family business in West Texas. She balances work, four zany kids and the family dog. When she’s not being a bookkeeper, a zookeeper or a chauffeur, you can usually find her atwww.mbtponderers.blogspot.com. She enjoys writing contemporary romance so readers can sit back, relax and escape to a happily ever after. Contact her at: retreats@mybooktherapy.com.