Consistency

It's a lot easier for me to write because I want to, not because I have to. For me, that's the trick. As soon as I feel this prod that I just have to write another chapter or another blog -- I won't do it or I'll do it with great resistance. So even with this blog-writing, I'm sure it will be sporadic -- if it's to be authentic -- but it will be consistent somehow . . . So the magic is getting it done consistently because of desire, not guilt. I was consistent when I wrote my novel because I never went beyond the joy of the moment. Sure I dreamed that maybe by some stroke of luck my book would be an immediate hit. I'd already picked the actresses to play my main characters . . . everyone has to dream a little or we wouldn't do anything. But my joy came really from the immediate writing. After the creative writing was done, I was stumped. What now?

So I had my sister, mother, father and friends read my very first draft and provide some input. Since my parents were true Britts, they corrected some American sounding words and phrases -- although to this day, I've realized there are a couple of corrections that I still got wrong. If you're interested -- whenever someone was to have tea, you'd say 'put the kettle on.' I think I just said, 'put the tea on.' And also -- so embarrassing -- I talked about stiletto pumps -- I meant stiletto heels of course but pumps in England are sneakers or trainers. I don't know how I did that! If I ever do another edition, I'll fix it.
If friends wanted more information in a particular part of the story, I added it. With no formal editing and knowing really nothing about writing novels, I had my writing evaluated at a writing competition. And here's where I wish I could write that they were astounded by the raw talent of this unknown author but instead they threw out terms like show and tell, and hook and point of view. I had no concept of those terms -- I know pretty crazy -- so thus began my venture using my analytical part of my brain. I needed some tangible rules about writing and my research in the process of writing began. So I did a lot of reading . . .

In my last post, I'd mentioned the Action, Conflict and Resolution rule. I did that -- went through all my chapters, making sure there was some of this in each. But then I realized as fascinating as my friends and family found my book -- because I wrote it -- what would draw others in? I needed a hook. I'll explain the creation of my hook next time when I'm authentically inspired. Until then . .