Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"If most writers were honest with themselves, this is the difference they want to make: before they were not noticed; now they are." —Tom Wolfe



It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space." —Orson Scott Card

It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." —Martin Luther King


It's also stepping off the roof of a high-rise and trusting you'll figure out your wings on the way down.



It's all better with friends.

Wednesday Wisdom for Writers and Those Who Love Them

"When you're making a film, you have an obligation to fill the frame with life."—Joss Whedon


It's the same with making a book. You have an obligation to fill each page with life.



It's all better with friends.

Process: When I Must Pretend

I'm at a fairly recognizable place in my manuscript.  I've been here before. It's the place where I'm suddenly unsure about the direction this manuscript is heading. It doesn't quite match up with what I'd planned, and I only know two things: it will either be better or it will be worse.

But in order to find out, I have to write it. I have to finish this first draft.

And here's where the pretending comes in. I need, right now, to pretend I'm a writer who knows what she's doing. I need to plow ahead with all the confidence of a Stephen King or a John Sandford or a Karin Slaughter or a J.K. Rowling.

Right now it's important not to let missing research pieces hold me up. Write the story, then fill in the holes and make the changes later. Trust the process.

Do you have stumbling places with your work? Places where you have to fake it until you make it?



It's all better with friends.