If anything, this post is even more aggressively anticommercial than my usual ones, judging by how many pictures of kittens it doesn't have. (An IWSG Post)

This is an IWSG post.  For more about the Insecure Writers Support Group, click this link.

I have been writing now, 'officially', as it were, for... 


9 YEARS.

I only just realized how long it's been since I started writing again, and it's been 9 years, which surprised me because it honestly doesn't seem that long.

I began writing in grade school, as probably all writers did. Or did they? I think every writer I've ever read about began with stories they wrote early on in their life not because they were assigned to do that, but just because they liked to tell stories.

My first story ever was one called "Starhounds," and it was a Star Wars ripoff, in the sense that if you took the "Star Wars" script and replaced "Rebel Alliance" everywhere it appears with "Starhounds," you would have my story.  I'm pretty sure my villain was still called "Darth Vader."

The public reception to "Starhounds" was not encouraging, as shown by this ACTUAL RE-ENACTMENT:

Q: Do I want readers, or do I want to write? A: I'M GOING WITH JERKSTORE! (ISWG)

Hey, before getting to the post, a plug: If you are a writer, I am going to pay you to write. Click the "WE PAY FOR STORIES" tab for details, but the gist of it is: send me your story, poem, etc. and I will PAY you. MONEY. 

Now, on to the post. 

This is an Insecure Writers Support Group Post.  Find out more about that group of fine (if insecure) writers by clicking here.

Alex Cavanaugh, who lives inside the Internet and has no corporeal existence, the other day exchanged tweets with me.  (You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here, and that way you will never miss out on my trenchant insights into how the pizza I am eating for breakfast tastes.)(Hint: DELICIOUS).


Alex noted that I'd signed up for the A-to-Z challenge this year, and asked if I was ready for "short posts and lots of comments."

I responded that I'd try to keep the posts short-ish, and Alex said: