The All-Knowing Writer

November 7, 2012

If you were about to run a marathon, would you get up on the day of the big event and start running without preparation?  If you did, you'd probably pass out after a few miles of jogging. In order to win, athletes condition and practice. Musicians must rehearse to create melody instead of noise.

Writers are no different.                                       


In fact, writers never stop learning.  As an author, if you ever feel you have come to a point of all-knowing creative expression, you should put down your pen and walk away. It is at that point when your success has ended. I have read books from best-selling authors only to find their next attempt at authorship a complete failure.  The reason for their creative demise was complete satisfaction in their abilities. These authors believed that they had reached the Mt Kilimanjaro of creative expression. They had nothing else to learn.

Don't fall into the trap of the all-knowing writer because in the world of story there is always more to learn.  The beauty of writing for the author is the reality of never reaching the mountaintop.  You always have room to improve, even after you have been a bestseller.

 

MY WIP IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!

October 11, 2012

 


MY BOOK IS DRIVING ME CRAZY …

and I think I might be starting to hate it!!

You were editing and/or proofing your WIP and suddenly flipped out? It’s okay. Calm down, and take a deep breath.

Did you used to love your book? Did you used to read it and think, “Dang! I wrote this? This is amazing stuff!”? Then I can help. You are experiencing what all writers eventually suffer: Work-in-Progress Burnout, or WIPB.

WIPB hit me with my first (written) novel, The Judging. I spent twe...


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Writing With Soul

October 6, 2012
Writing is a very spiritual experience, one that calls on the spirit to express itself in a very personal and private way. As writers, we must tap into that special part of ourselves that allows us to move others; to entertain, stir emotion, evoke conviction and cause wonder. In order to accomplish this task, a writer must find that part of the soul that allows the honesty of who they truly are to be revealed through the words that fill the pages of  "work."

I don't use the word "work" lightly...
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