Health & Fitness
You Should Write a Book.
What you need to know before you pen the Great American Novel.
Your friends tell you. Your spouse tells you. Your children tell you.
Be warned.
Should you choose to unleash the idea that’s been pushing your cranium for years, rousing you from sleep at 3 am, you must know that writing is not an easy task.
Just thinking about writing could send you to the Elysium Fields of Pan and his hoofed minions. (The knowledge that many successful writers are alcoholics, wet or dry, could keep you buying jackets with leather elbow patches for decades.)
Still with me? Undaunted, you press on, knowing that you are in for months of solitary confinement. You will question your sanity long before you Google “spilt personality” when you meant “split personality.”
Why go though all this is if your story lounges on the page and begs to be shredded? There is a way to avoid having to euthanize what might have been a work of art – maybe an award-winning first novel.
Share. Find a group that’s run by a professional who will not let you read your own work. Why? Your brain edits and re-writes as you read. I dare you to admit that you remembered the words you changed when your turn came at the last critique group you attended. I’m not disparaging critique groups, I am suggesting that you need to find a group that includes someone who knows the principles of writing well. Otherwise, stay home and watch a movie.
The pro group is as critical as “Did you save your draft?” I'm starting Evaluation Evenings at The Writing Loft. Let me know if you’re interested.
Upcoming topics: The "A" words that kill your story.
