That great feeling when you finish one project and start on another. There’s nothing like it, and I can’t help but feel I’ve short changed myself all my life. You see, for years I refused to write for one reason or another. I couldn’t wrap the idea of typing or writing something by pen as fun. Even when I played D&D and planned campaigns and story lines, I still did as little writing as I needed to.

Now I know better. I know the joy of world building and being able to paint the scene with words. And character development, showing my character growth before it happens. All while thinking of the best solution to get the budding narrative to the next part of the story. Pouring my heart out, leaving it all on the page, to run off and drip to the floor. Writing is a messy process, and while the book still needs editing to clean it up, I know the story is there.

I just finished my 6^th novella, the writing part at least, and I can say I feel amazing. The sense of accomplishment, even if no one reads a single one of my stories, fills me with a warm fuzzy feeling. It’s still a long process until it’s ready to be published, but getting the story down is the toughest part in my opinion.

The best part about finishing a project in my humble opinion? Planning the next one! Of course, I continue to slave away at other projects. I have a science fiction trilogy that’s been at the back of my mind since before I started this latest work. Two of the works are done, and I’ve been editing those and working on this latest project while the last book in the trilogy stews. The work I just finished writing has helped fill me with great ideas to use, even though the stories are in different settings and places.

I may write by the seat of my pants, but every story needs a plan of action. I constantly jot notes for other stories while I write, and I usually use those ideas in one form or another. Writing my ideas down while I write also helps me have a better time planning and visualizing the next work. And sometimes I come out with plans for more than one!

But that’s another story for another day.

There’s nothing better than sitting down and building your own world. It’s addictive, and I find myself doing it even when other things are on my mind. I’ve been making characters for as long as I can remember, being a game player.

I learned how one small, subtle difference in personality can lead to a million different plans of action. And those plans of action knit themselves together in my mind, to form the tales I want to tell.

Now that I’ve started this writing journey, I don’t see how I can stop.

If you are someone young, or someone who doubts theirself, but you have an idea for a project, I’m going to tell you to go do it. You might not be able to right this second, but the moment you can, you do it.

Start that drawing, take those pictures and make a collage, build a city out of Legos. There’s nothing quite like the feeling you get when you’re creating.

And if you’re like me, and you’re considering a story you want to write, do it.

The moment I started writing stories, weights I didn’t even realize I was carrying lifted from my chest. And the great thing about being human? We all have our stories that deserve to be told.

Riley Amos Westbrook is one of the moderators of the #SupportIndependentAuthors board on Goodreads, and a supporter of independent authors on his own site: http://rileyamoswestbrook.wordpress.com/