A good exercise for any aspiring writer is to create a short biography. Many of us find it uncomfortable to write about ourselves, primarily because we’ve been raised to not brag about what we have done. However, if a piece you’ve written is published, the press will want to include something about you as a person, you as a writer, you as an inspiration for others.

            If you are an unpublished author, you might thing that your credentials are lacking. Wipe that thought away! Instead focus on when the written word first took on importance in your life. Was it when your guardian read to you at night? Did you then write your own stories?

            Perhaps you wrote picture books or chapter books for young readers, because that’s who you were at the time. Maybe as a teen you experimented with poetry and essay. Or you wrote fantasy because those were the movies that you most enjoyed.

            Your task is to write an autobiography of your writing life. In high school were you the editor of the school newspaper? Were you a featured contributor as well? When you were in college did you submit to the literary journal and get a few pieces published? Maybe you were busy writing research papers that spurred an interest in journalism?

            Make a list of where your work has appeared, even if it is only on your own blog. Have you attended writing conferences? If so, where and what did you learn each time? Has your work been workshopped either at a conference or within a critique group? What did you take out of those experiences?

            Include anything that might be relevant. Don’t worry about length at this time. Later on you can trim your autobiography down to meet publisher’s requirements.

            Have fun with this one.