I've been a writer all my life but it took me a long time to build a writing life. I wrote a lot of short stories in my early years. Tried my hand at a series of non-fiction projects. Went to writers' workshops. Joined writing groups. Attended conferences. Never made the great leap towards publishing until much later. I was in the middle of a very demanding doctoral program in Health Policy. Writing papers was a joy. Doing the research was great. I felt it taking my away from fiction but I tried to ignore the longings to start a new short story. It was when my advisor finally told me that my writing was strong but my dissertation was beginning to sound like a Flannery O'Connor story [her words] that I realized that I needed to go back to fiction. I never got the PhD but I learned a thing or two about discipline and motivation. From then on, I wrote for me. And I started calling myself a writer. And I stopped procrastinating and got my work published in small venues....but I gained confidence. I took myself seriously. When I started my first novel, I was all over the place with plot, character and setting. I have at least four different versions of this book. [Tip: save all those drafts! They are a mine of useful stuff for later works] The process was frustrating and daunting. I had a good friend who was also writing his first novel. It helped to have a comrade in arms going through the same experience. Now that my second novel is finished and nearing publication, I look back on those days when I was wading cautiously into the serious writing pool with awe. Pulling a full length book together is a huge undertaking. I'm proud that I'm sticking with it.