I'm Like a Trained Rat...

I'm a creature of habit. For the past five weeks, I've been carrying my iPad to the VA Clinic to write while my hubby is doing his exercise program. This gives me two and a half hours to do nothing but write. No distractions. I can't get up and head to the refrigerator, fix a cup of tea, check emails, read, play with the cats, or talk on the phone. I can't even check Facebook or Twitter. Horrors!

But I'm having a very productive two and a half hours to write. The time passes quickly and the words and pages flow. I'm energized and so immersed in the process of writing that I am sad when the time is up. I used to walk on the treadmill every day and write, but since I began using my iPad at the VA, the treadmill isn't working.

Is it the laptop? Could be. I cannot write at my desk on my desktop computer. That's for blogging, checking emails, twitter, facebook, research. The laptop used to be for writing. Now it's the iPad. Problem is...it doesn't work on my treadmill desk.

I'm like a trained rat who runs through the maze for the food when the bell rings. Once trained, I'm in a rut. Sigh. I must condition myself back to the laptop and the treadmill.

Writers are such weird creatures. Or at least, I am. Sigh.

Everyone Wants a Magic Pill

To be successful as a writer, forget the lure of a magic pill. There is no magic, except the magic within you.

When the idea of writing first draws us to tell a story, we get lost in the creation process. It's such a freeing and fun activity. Words follow words, paragraphs follow paragraphs, and before we know we have completed our first novel. How exciting! We dream of seeing our book in our favorite store, bright and shining, sitting on a shelf where people are scrambling to grab the last copy. Ah, the dream...

Then come rejections. What? Pain rips a hole in our confidence. Despair, depression, and self-doubt replace the excitement. If we're lucky, we join a writer's group seeking guidance and a magic pill to turn us into an "author."

We bury ourselves in craft books, attend seminars, workshops, and take online classes. We become addicted to learning, following the "rules," being perfect, editing, re-writing...and by doing so we lose the spontaneity of telling a story. We try to follow the "market," write what's hot, all the time stumbling around and seeking what we want to be when we grow up.

Maybe that's not you. Maybe not. Maybe pieces of what I've said apply to you. It happened to me. I became addicted to learning and in the process I found out...gasp...there is no magic pill! No magic formula! The writing process is unique to each of us.

We are individuals, each with our own thought process, ideas, idiosyncrasies. That's how God created us. Knowing that, how can we expect to follow in someone else's footsteps and achieve the same success? We can't. All we can do is be true to ourselves. Write the stories we want to write, not what we think will sell.

The process? Whatever works for you! But the most important thing to remember is that you have a writing voice. Yours is different from mine and from any other writer. If you seek critiques, read them and take what makes sense for your writing. Don't change your story because of what someone else says. That's their opinion, their "voice" speaking.

The best advice I can give? Read, read, read in the genre yow want to write. You'll know what that is. Then just write your story. Don't look for a magic pill to help you succeed. Just write.

The Dreaded Perpetual Wheel of Editing

So, I'm adding a new beginning chapter to my WIP. But, while in the "thinking" mode, I come up with a way to make the story even more suspenseful...I think.

Writers have so many choices. We are in control of the worlds and characters we create. In a few clicks of the keyboard, we can change fate. What a powerful tool!

The problem is to make sure the changes made are beneficial, not just useless rewriting and editing.

What I'm going to do is use the old pen and paper method to write down all the different scenarios before I begin making major revisions. I'll sleep on it a few days, and the "right" scenario will surface.

My suggestion to new writers, don't get caught up in revising with all the ideas that pop into your head. If you do, you'll spend all your time working on the same book for years and years and years. Yes, I do know writers who are caught in this "perpetual wheel of editing."