Allow me to share a challenge almost as painful as writing the dreaded synopsis.
In the querying trenches, I’ve discovered agents expect a writer to have a logical and well researched answer to the question;
Who is your target audience?
Initially, I had naively answered—everyone! Of course, my book is for everyone; for all people, for all women, for all daughters, for all readers.
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What am I going to write about?
What, What, What?
Open Twitter. Find a thread where an unknowing and naïve person says to a writer,
Writing a book must be so easy!
Bark out loud in shock! Cover mouth because I will wake the kids and the husband who is working nights and then they will invade my space and I will get absolutely nothing done. Revel in liking every single response from all the writers who responded back with hilarious, shocked, pissed off gifs. I love twitter. And there goes another half hour.
Not only do I have a novel to complete drafting—I am currently taking a course through the Writer’s Digest University and my next assignment is due in less than 24 hours, my author website needs updating, the bookkeeper is waiting for our farm books, I still haven’t unpacked the kids back packs from summer camp, there are half completed renovations in the back yard, the barn chores need completing, fur balls, laundry heaps and dirty dishes are threatening to mutiny all over my house, bills need paying, I promised myself I was going to submit a blog to Andy Rourke’s website and next weekend is the Muskoka Novel Marathon wrap up and I still haven’t read the books I bought from the other authors this summer and THIS BLOG IS DUE.
How?
How do I waste so much time? I know it’s a talent, but why do I have to be so darn good at it?
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Writing can be a solitary place.
But it doesn’t have to be.
In pondering topics for this blog, the same thought kept floating to the surface.
I am so thankful for the writers in my life.
Yes, you!
(As I suspect, at this time in my writing career, most of my readers are writers.)
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To write is a craft.
Like any craft, there is a process or sequence of steps to create a consistently identifiable, bold and long lasting product.
The craft of making whiskey hasn’t changed much over hundreds of years and writing is the same.
To make whiskey, you need only three simple ingredients; water, barley and yeast. Yet, with so few components, there are thousands upon thousands of flavours, and just as many Coopers (those who make whiskey). Although all stories share in the same basic premise–having scenery, characters and a problem, there are innumerable genres, styles and adaptations of old story lines.
As a story writer, there are things we can learn from the process of making whiskey.
I have an amazing announcement.
This news is so exciting, it is hard to believe and if you write, you will understand the significance of this announcement.
My novels, all of them, are completed—fully edited and absolutely perfect.
That’s right.
There isn’t a single word, comma, piece of dialogue or description I can improve or change. Three months from now, five years down the road or in twenty five years, I will be able to read my novel and there will not be a single cringe worthy passage. I will never roll my eyes or possibly consider a forceful palm slap to my forehead… because my writing is perfect now and will be perfect then.
If you haven’t picked up on the theme of my blog, check the calendar.
What is it about this writing thing that we enjoy?
Why would anyone want to rise before the sun, to plunk away on a keyboard in the dark and put their precious words and feelings up for the judgement of others?
Is it all about the imagining of a character’s challenges and how they can overcome them in a heroic way? Or perhaps this writing thing is a way to come to terms with our lives or to imagine how the story could have ended differently.
When I consider the moments and life experiences that have inspired my best stories, I clearly see the muse for my writing.
Do you know yours?
There have been times, many times actually, where I’ve doubted my ability to make it in the writing industry–to put something to paper that will resonate with others and cause them think and feel something new.
The truth is, although I’ve been writing since I was a young girl; journalling, crafting stories from any experience and writing letters, essays, scientific articles and recording medical records–I hold no degree in creative writing.
Any yet, there are so many things I have mastered in my life, that I learned with my own two hands–not from school. Read more
The title of this blog was originally, ‘Deadlines be Dammed’, which sounds brash, but that isn’t what I needed to write.
I came across a Writer’s Digest course being offered by Paula Munier, called the Plot Perfect Bootcamp and something in the title called out to me.
Not to mention, I thoroughly enjoy sitting in a lecture room while Paula captivates her audience with her smile, her love of dogs and her bold encouragment to do better.
So, I signed up.