Be Careful What You Wish For
So I thought I'd be smart and ask for suggestions about topics to write about and now I have THREE. And no excuses ~ I always find excuses are rare after a glass of Merlot.
Is it ironic that a plea prompted by writer's block brings a suggestion to write about writing?
I have no idea how to write for the "big boys", I mean I've never finished a book or been published and I'm sort of intrinsically opposed to fat cats. I suppose that means my advice is to focus on the story you want to tell rather than on the 3for2 sticker in the local book supermarket (me no like the big W of the bookworld!).
I do have a lovely letter on my pinboard from a publishing house regarding my *idea* and asking me to send some sample chapters. My lesson from this, and my suggestion to you, is to have a brass neck and ignore all the hype about *get an agent* or *publishers ignore unsolicited suggestions for manuscripts* and just write to the publishers of choice and see what happens. I tested the water and wrote to one and they shocked the hell out of me by actually replying ~ and ever since I have been trying to come up with something *finished* for them to look at.
- writing a sort of stream of consciousness diatribe - get the scene or the voice or the character onto the paper and edit later...
- write what appears in the one inch square - get a teeny picture frame (or visualise one) and describe what you see...
- figure out what show don't tell means...
- don't be afraid of dialogue...
- less is more...
- write tons and tons and worry about editing later...
- if you feel blocked or afraid to begin - write three pages of crap until the creative waters surge - you can sift the crap and delete it later...
- crap can be recycled...
- choose a place where you are wholly comfortable to write...
- write now even though those elephants are tap dancing above your head...
- listen for the story not the glory...
My biggest tip - and the one I obviously ignore the most often - is to write habitually. Every day. Without fail. Even if it is only for fifteen minutes. Or two hundred words. Baby steps make a marathon or something profound like that.
Oh yes and as I proof read this post I think the best piece of advice I have for life is Walk Your Talk 
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Tags: free writing, writing
Posted on May 13, 2008 in Uncategorized.
Reflections
For someone who has writer’s block, you do no bad.
I knew you’d have stuff to say!
It all boils down to “Just write!”
I’ve been writing like I blog unfortunately and it’s all a bit thin. I need to get out of blogger mentality where I try to be as succinct as possible (blog readers have tiny attention spans)and realise I’ve got wide open space to fill.
Last year I put my blog up for review on a bloggy site and some Mommy yank blogger told me off for writing long posts. The criticism has stuck and I need to get rid of the mentality of less is more. According to my proofer (Meeester) I need to fill in more gaps in the book I’m trying to write.
What are you reading this for btw? Away and finish yer book!
Heh, I always have stuff to say it’s just that there’s a certain creepy element hanging around and my response to that is occasional reticence.
Funny how those negative criticisms stick – I bet you got more compliments and constructive criticism about your blog than that one opinion…?
I might even write a long post about how we always hang onto the niggly negative things people say about us instead of all the good stuff…
But yeah, writing for a book is a different energy than writing for a blog. I am more rambling and long winded for the novel – though I’m sure that’s to do with the fact that there is no current actual *audience*…