Belief, Writing, and Your Monday Fortune Cookie, 9/23/13

BELIEVING IS DOING.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Just make sure you've got that parachute before you take that leap of faith!

Believing is doing.

Back in 2000, I decided that if I really thought I was a writer, I was going to have to get serious and write! All the talking about that great story idea I'd been harboring, or that neat character who'd been haunting me wasn't getting me anywhere. I had to actually put my fingers to keyboard and start typing. Until I did, it was nothing but a pipedream.

I joined a critique group, listened, learned, wrote, and eventually began putting pages in front of them for review and critique. It was scary, putting my words in front of unbiased eyes. It was hard listening when flaws were spotted, mistakes corrected, plot holes identified, but I believed I could improve if I listened. If I remained open to learning new ways of seeing my writing. I kept at it, believing I could do it. I kept doing it, believing it was an evolving effort that would result in my becoming a better writer.

It's still true. Even now, discussing my newest idea with my critique groups is only so much hot air if I'm not putting it down on the screen. If I'm not putting words to screen, I'm not writing and I believe the only proof is in the pudding, or the writing. That's also why being in a critique group is so good for me. Not only must I believe in my writing and do the writing, but I have to turn in pages to the group, thereby holding me accountable for my dreams.

There's no getting around it, no short-cutting it, no foolin - if you want to be a writer, you have to WRITE!

And once you're doing that, YOU ARE A WRITER. Don't dismiss it, don't duck your head and scuff your shoe mumbling. Lift that head, meet the other person eye to eye and say aloud, "Yes, I'm a writer."

It took time, patience, effort, openness, and determination, but now I can truly say that I believe I'm a writer and because I'm a writer, I write!

MONDAY FORTUNE COOKIE, 9/1/12

Infinite patience produces immediate results.

SNARKY RESPONSE: Talk about an oxymoron! Infinite patience produces immediate results? Patience infers passage of time. And Immediate, well, now, I'm hearing that old joke about someone shouting at their microwave – Hurry!

Infinite patience produces immediate results.

Attempting a career of any kind requires a huge helping of patience. No one becomes successful alone. It takes time to build a groundswell of any size. Not to mention the patience it takes to produce a finished product like, say, a book.

To my knowledge, no successful writer has ever written a publishable book in one sitting. Certainly, there have been instances where a completed manuscript is highly satisfactory, but it is far from polished. After the story has been set down, there is editing for grammar and plot, fine-tuning of continuity and dialogue, filling in setting and character, to name a few. These steps are crucial and must not be skimped on if you hope to produce a polished work. Of course, if you're not interested in craft and just want to see you name in print in a self-published book, you might skip those steps, but skip them at your own peril.

Like words spoken in haste, a reader's experience with your book is something you can't erase.

Make sure that you've gone over every chapter/paragraph/word to make sure it was necessary, succinct, and factually/grammatically correct. Readers have enough books stacked up on their TBR pile that if they become disillusioned with your book for any reason, they can just shunt you aside for someone who did the work. Don't be That Writer.

All that work and patience may not result in immediate results, but it will guarantee consistent results—positive reviews and most importantly, Sales!

My enovella, The Festival of The Flowers: The Courtesan and The Scholar, took several years to finish and polish to the point where I could actually submit it to publishers. It found a home at The Wild Rose Press. And I'd like to think that all my work and then the work I did with my TWRP editor comes through to the reader.

Now, my second enovella, Collector's Item, is in the final stages of edits with my editor at The Wild Rose Press and once more I am glad that I have taken the time and practiced the patience required to produce what I hope will be a quality result.

As they say, anything worth being done is worth being done well! Or at least to the best of your ability. Short cuts only cut you short. Be patient with yourself, your writing, and your career and you will see positive results. I'm certain of it.