Special Guest Sunday- Jacqueline Driggers

Hello everyone!  Please help me welcome Jacqueline Driggers to Special Guest Sunday, as she discusses following her dream.

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 Following my dream, 30 years later

I’ve always loved books and reading, going all the way back to my childhood. One of my favorite activities as a kid was going to my grandmother’s house and packing home old books. And during my early years, I was a reading demon. I started writing in high school, and when I graduated from high school in 1979, I wanted to be a writer as a career choice. But breaking into writing back then was quite different than it is now.

Back then, at the beginning of the 80s, the internet was pretty much nonexistent. Desktop computers were brand new. Laptop computers, ipads, ipods, and cell phones were still dreams on some inventors drawing board. Back then, if you wanted to be a writer, you had a limited course to follow. You could write for magazines or newspapers, but if you wanted to do that, then you better have a degree in journalism or something like that. You could go into advertising, writing jingles and ads, yet again, the college thing. You could write books. But ah, to get into this, you needed a lot of luck and probably an agent. It was, put plainly and simply, a hard road to follow.

So after high school, I spent the next two years at home with my parents, and learned to cook really well while I figured out what I wanted to do next. My husband will forever be grateful for these years. What I ended up doing is to go to a local business college, where I graduated with honors with diplomas in secretarial work and computer operations. Turned out to be a great choice. Then I went on to work as a legal secretary and a bookkeeper. During this time I continued to write, more as a hobby. I wrote a Star Trek story for a fanzine put out by a girl I had connected up with somehow. Can’t remember how now.

When I turned 30, I entered a new phase in my life when I got married. During all this, over all these years, I had continued to write as a hobby. It was how I expressed myself best. I wrote one fictional story, poems, and some non-fiction pieces. Which brings us up to now.

I used to be a big reader, but had gotten away from it over the years. With the advent of ebooks, I got back to my enjoyment of reading again. I also had been reading about the new self-publishing trend. With facebook, and computers, and the internet, and self-publishing; I kept thinking about how I wished I had all of this when I graduated from high school wanting to be a writer.

Then in April of 2012, I opened up my word processing program and started writing a fictional novel. And so began the process of my finally pursuing my high school dream of being a writer. That novel I started back in April is up to 4 chapters now, and I know what I want to do with it. I also have a cookbook in the works, as well as a poetry and short stories book too. Besides this, I have the ideas for over 40 separate books.

But before that, when I first got online, I started writing. First on the gather website, then in my blog. I still have that first blog, which was just about me sharing my opinions on stuff. I simply call it ‘Sharing About’ now.

-- http://jdshare.blogspot.com/ --

Now I have 8 facebook pages and a total of 6 blogs. Also, I have several groups as well. See my facebook note for the links for all of these. -- https://www.facebook.com/notes/jacqueline-driggers/links-for-my-blogs-facebook-pages-and-groups/10150947645299887

Plus I now have a website as well - http://emforjd.wix.com/jdwrite --

I have started doing book reviews. And I have started doing editing work as well. To learn more about my editing and what I charge, check out my website.

So yeah, some 32 years later, I am finally pursuing my dream of being a writer. And I’m staying quite busy these days. Anyone needing an editor, just get in touch with me. I would love to work with you.

Want to get in touch with me? You can do so via my website (link given above), or my writer page on facebook --

http://www.facebook.com/jdswrpg

--jd--

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Thank you so much for stopping by Jacqueline!