When I talk about writing, I usually use a sweeping statement: I love it! That’s true—sort of. Actually, I have more of a love-hate relationship with writing.
A few things I don’t like:
Revision. Ick. I tend to cut through my pages like a machete. And the whole time I’m wondering: what was I thinking? Why is this character a PETA groupie? And why on earth is the sleuth and her sidekick having this conversation about the killer’s identity in a diner, surrounded by friends of the killer? What about this blimp? How does the blimp figure into this equation? Was I under the influence of my allergy medicine when I wrote this? (Okay, I’m exaggerating…..sort of.)
Knowing that I wrote poorly that morning. It’s important for me that I write every day. But the days I write poorly and know I’ll have to come back later with my machete I wonder if I’d have been better off doing yard work or something.
Promoting. Because now they’re so intertwined that I can’t really divide the writing and the promoting up into two separate groups. I graduated from college during the recession of 1993, and had to go into sales at one point in my jobless wanderings. Let’s just say I was the poster child for poor sales skills.
A few things I like:
I love unexpectedly getting an idea. When I get an idea, I hang onto it until I can grab some paper and jot it down. (With my brain, it will be gone forever unless I focus 100% on the idea until it’s committed to paper.) I had a conversation with a lady at my son’s flag football practice. As she spoke, I realized how much she looked like Camilla Parker Bowles. It was then that I realized I desperately needed a Camilla character in my book. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t listening to the lady speak, it meant that I somehow got signed up for bringing snacks to the next flag football practice (and, consequently, that I forgot. Because I needed to get to paper to cryptically write ‘Camilla’ down.)
I love it when I know I’ve written well that morning. I’ve got a glow that carries through the rest of the day.
I love it when I get so absorbed in writing that time flies by. I’m lost in the little world that I’ve created. It’s almost like going back in time to being a kid. Remember how you could get lost in what you were playing?
What are some of your likes and dislikes?