Hi peeps, I'm sorry I've been horribly negligent keeping up with my blog, and I apologize. As most of you know, it's been a crazy fall for me, taking on new clients to write content for, such as The Adventure Group and Forge Media, not to mention transitioning back to Gatekeeper Press and re-releasing Hot Winter Sun. Oh, yes, and before I forget, the SQL will literally be out any day. Here’s a little impromptu cover reveal for those who are interested:
Anyway, I thought I would briefly touch on the subject of “write no matter what.” I only have one thing to say about that: bad advice.
Believe me, as a professional writer for 18 years, I understand having discipline in your work life and forcing yourself to complete tasks by their deadlines. I live it every day. Writing for a newspaper or website is a specific version of the craft, and you do need to be able to sit down and “just do it.” When people ask me to describe my job, I usually say it’s, “write on demand.”
But with creative work, it’s different, and that’s all there is to it. You can’t force creativity. Have you ever heard of an artist getting frustrated and throwing his paint pallet across the room? Well, it’s the same with us. If you’re not inspired, and you have nothing in your head, nothing is going to come out on the paper.
If it does, it’s going to be dry, stilted, and boring, and believe me your readers will know you were straining to get it there. If you’ve ever read a book by an author you love, but were underwhelmed by that particular novel, that’s usually what happened: that author was chasing a deadline and “forced it.” Always do your best to avoid a situation where you have to try to manipulate the muse. It doesn’t work.
I hear a lot of novice writers tell each other, “sit down and make yourself write 5000 words today no matter what!” It sounds like a noble endeavor, but it’s just a recipe for boring. The reason is simple. It will be uninspired writing. And we all know what that sounds like.
If you have your idea in your head, but the words aren’t coming, just let the idea keep swimming. If it’s good, it will find its way to the paper as long as you're able to pause when you’re inspired and get the thoughts down before they flee. If you do that every time, what you're essentially doing is only writing when you’re inspired and THAT’S one of the keys to great writing.
Forcing it when there’s nothing there leads to a nothing book. So wait for the muse to show up, and get to the page before the thoughts are gone. You’ll be glad you did.
As promised, I will be doing more posts about self published versus traditionally published, and marketing campaign strategies. Just give me a second to get my life under control here…
*Hugs!*