In short, I'm Shari Cross. In not so short, I'm a daydreamer who sometimes puts those daydreams into books.
It took me a long time to start putting those daydreams on paper. Not all of them of course, some will forever stay locked in my mind. But the rest dance their way across my keyboard or skate along the ink of my pen. Beginnings, middles, endings, musings-ideas drifting like dust.
The dreams are endless, but so are the distractions and the self doubts. That's what makes it hard to create something more substantial, something that won't blow away with the first breeze. Which is why I sometimes feel that I don't live up to the title of writer. When the words don't flow right and I can't get lost in a story the way I used to, when I read through what I just wrote and feel like hitting delete, when it feels like the progress in this industry is somewhere between backwards and non-existent . . .
There's a different kind of pressure when writing a second book; an expectation of sorts. Maybe that's what traps me. Wanting my current project to be better than the first, so much so that I question every word on the page. But the truth is, it will be better because I'm a better writer today than I was ten years ago. I'm better because I've worked at it. Through every sentence, used or unused, I grew.
Why am I saying all of this here? Because I want you to understand what brought me here: A love of stories and story telling and the need for something to help push me to the finish line of the second book in my series. The first is complete, in fact you can read some of it here. I'll be posting chapters from it as well as short stories and excerpts from new projects.
I'm also hoping that, through connecting with readers (like you if you've made it this far in my ramblings) I'll take another step in the direction of living up to that title: Writer. Maybe in your mind I will. Maybe you'll enjoy these daydreams of mine. Maybe not. Either way, I welcome you to explore them.
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