Writing Realities

I'm so happy that I've been back in the blog world this week as there's been a variety of posts about writing, how we write, why we write and that elusive being published. Here are the links and be sure to read the conversations that follow as they are very enlightening.

http://pattinase.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-to-do.html

http://scottdparker.blogspot.com/2009/02/undiscovered-country.html

http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/2009/02/too-little-too-late.html

http://criminalbrief.com/?p=5431

As for my take on writing, I write because I love writing, stringing together words and telling a story that somehow touches the people who read it. Do I expect anything to come of my writing? No, but that's the way I look at life. I never expect anything and I'm never disappointed but continually thrilled when the good things come along.

Maybe I expect very little because I'm a self-taught writer. I've read the books on writing that I could afford or coerced my kids into buying me for Christmas or birthdays. I've read fiction in every genre and I've written in all them, settling on the crime genre as the one that fits the voice I'm finding in myself.

This morning I'm listening to Kate Winslet talking on Inside the Actor's Studio and she said something that I like to apply to my writing. "I kept telling myself that I couldn't do it ( a part she was offered ) and realized that's the reason I should." I'm always trying new things, stretching my writing voice, exploring new ways of stringing the words together. Sure, some of it really sucks, but writing is a learning process and making mistakes is part of the process. When you're writing always strive for more. Always make the next story better than the last. And always bring your joy to the work because your readers can feel that joy.

Over at Rara Avis there's been a bit of a discussion about being published and I'd like to leave you with this bit of wisdom from Jack Bludis, who really nails the writing business.


"No matter how well you write, no matter how hard you push, no matter how they advertise, somebody up-there, out-there, or something in the ether has to make that last push to the best seller. In a sense, it's our stars, not from ourselves, that make us (them) best sellers. It's the same luck that gets people talking about the work.You can try to plan it all you want. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Luck may or may not be a lady ... she may be just a witch who cackles as she slides her finger down the spine of the winner.Read, read, read; write, write, write. If something’s going to happen, it will."