You have always loved reading and telling stories. You enjoy writing. You teachers, professors, friends, and family, say you should write a book.
You attend a writer’s conference. You make a commitment to write your book … but then life gets in the way. Your spouse or partner begins feeling jealous of the time you commit to your craft. Your day job’s priorities change, your commitments parents and children pile up, the hot water heater goes out, and you find yourself in response mode to a full calendar whose meetings and events are being set by others. Your writing time disappears. Instead of writing articles or books, you’re now reacting and managing tasks.
As a writer, you know that to write a book you must put your bottom in a chair and your fingers on the keyboard. You know writer’s write. People don’t want to hear you say you are a writer. They want to see the magazine article, blog post, e-book, or print book. Friends and family will only view you as a writer when they see they finished product. There will never be any book dedications to them without you writing the book. You won’t be asked for an interview or have a book signing without first writing.
The tension between life’s daily grind and developing writers is what inspired jimmiekepler.com. As a husband, father, grandpa, Christian, writer, an information technology professional, geek, cat lover, and former US Army officer I had to fight for the time to write. I studied writing through reading books, blogs magazines, self-study, listening to podcasts, attending writer’s group, and attending writing conferences and conventions.
While having my first professional writing sale way back in 1981, I have to date not achieved my goal of supporting myself financially by writing. I figured that other writers might be struggling with the same situation and launched Kepler’s Coffee House as a way to provide easily accessible, shareable writers development insight for those who need it. The focus of the website is two-fold. I concentrate on the business and craft of writing. Let’s face it, neither of those is important unless you write. So that is where I’ll being.
You may be wondering, why call the blog Kepler’s Coffee House? I selected the name because I do the majority of my writing in coffee houses.
If just one person finds value in what they read, I consider it worth the effort. After all, I am the greatest winner in this little adventure.
Subscribe to Kepler’s Coffee House. See the follow button on the lower left of the screen.
The best way to get the latest articles from Kepler’s Coffee House is to subscribe to the blog. You’ll get at least one post a week entirely focused your development as a writer.
The photo is the cover of February 2011 issue of Poetry & Prose Magazine. My name is on the lower left corner as a featured poet. If you click on the picture it will enlarge where you can read the names on the cover.
Jimmie Aaron Kepler is a novelist, poet, book reviewer, and award-winning short story writer. His work has appeared in over twenty venues, including Bewildering Stories and Beyond Imagination. When not writing each morning at his favorite coffeehouse, he supports his writing, reading, and book reviewing habit working as an IT application support analyst. He is a former Captain in the US Army. His blog Kepler’s Book Reviews was named a 100 best blogs for history buffs. Kepler has a Bachelor of Arts in history with English and military science minors. He also earned Master of Religious Education, Master of Arts and Doctor of Education degrees. You can also visit him at Kepler’s Book Reviews.
