I'M NORMAL

Finally, I'm normal. Yay!!!!

I've just come from Sue Grafton's website. She has a journal section where she chronicles her writing process on some of her books. Oh, those questions and obstacles she encountered as she wrote her Kinsey Millhone mystery series are so like some of the questions I have faced as I tried to write my stories. I was so discouraged that I have all these unanswered questions about my stories. I remember squirming in my chair and scolding myself for not knowing all the answers to these questions I have at the time. As I read Sue's journal notes I heaved a sigh of relief. I'm normal. If Sue Grafton has all these unanswered questions at the time of writing then they are no big deal. I'll just have to think them through and solve them as I write my story. It doesn't mean I am not a writer or a bad writer because of them. I just need to work them through as I write. That was what and how Sue does it and I can do it too.

Get the darn thing written first. Think and work out the questions as I write out the story until I reach the end. Boy, this writing process is becoming clearer and clearer.

I'm singing right now. I'm just a normal writer. I'm a writer. And a writer with questions is a writer with questions and a story to write. Wooooohooooo....

Can you picture me with my arms in the air doing the move of pure joy and happiness?

I'm singing. Man, I feel like a writer again. I'm a writer. Writers write, writers have questions, writers solves and answers her questions and the story moves.

Yay!!!!!!!!

Writing the Story is Only the First Step?

How funny can this be? I found out just now that writing my story was only the first step. All the while I thought that was the be all and end of all of being a writer - writing the story. Once I've written my story I'm done. Who would have guessed that it was just only the beginning, albeit an important beginning, I would believe. No, I want to choose to believe that it's a very important beginning. Then, comes the hard part - the edit.

I've read somewhere that if we do not have anything written, we won't have anything to edit and nothing to turn into a book.

After this revelation no wonder I'm always so blocked. That brick wall that's always before me is there because I've not written it away. This is really a tremendously light bulb moment for me. I've got to write the dank wall away in order to get over to the other side. What a revelation!

The story doesn't need to be perfect yet. I just need to get it written down in the general sort of way to go from point A to B to C and finally E which is the End. So, what I gotta do is make sure I know where the way is, write my way from starting point or the beginning of the story to the next point which is B and then on to C and all the way to E.

Forget the edits at this stage. Get to E first and go back to clean the path of its thistles, briars, weeds, stones, rocks, poison ivy and what-have-yous that shouldn't be there.

Revelation moment! How succintly divine.

I've got it. Have you?