Since it’s shortly after the release of my first book, I’ve been thinking ofthe start of this journey. I’d known since I was twelve that I wanted to be awriter, but it took me almost twenty years to start writing. Why did I wait solong? Here were the biggest things that held me back. Excuse #1: I need to take classes/go to a conference before I can write a novel. Wow, that kept me from trying for over ten years! The truth is while classesand conferences are helpful, they aren’t necessary. Now, I’m not recommendingskipping college or thumbing your nose at literary courses, but don’t let thatbe a stumbling block in your path to writing a novel. Do you read a lot? Areyou a (reasonably) good speller? Are you willing to take constructive criticismand revise when necessary? Then you can do this. Excuse #2: But I don’t know HOW to write a novel. I used this one far longer than I want to admit. When I repeated it a severalyears ago to a writer friend of mine, she just smiled and said, “Then read abook on writing, dear.” Guess what? That worked! There are many great, usefulbooks aimed at helping…