If you like to read romance novels of all genres, join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all...about our writing, of course! Every week we'll answer the same questions. Once you've read my blog, the link below will direct you to another. Tell your friends and feel free to ask questions or make comments.
There are only a few weeks left before our blog tour will be six months old. On July 29th, join us as we celebrate our first milestone, and give back some of the love. We have incredible prizes on offer, including a Kindle Fire and multiple romance libraries. Enter for free HERE! If you're joined me from Carrie Elks , welcome! Here are today's questions. How often do you write? The Catholic guilt answer to this question is “Not as often as I should.” But the I-have-a-family-and-a-full-time-job-and-need-some-down-time-too answer is “As close to every day as I can.” It's so easy to find excuses not to write. But if I do that too often, I get cranky. I start to berate myself and get down on myself and generally wonder why I ever thought I could do this writing thing in the first place. Which makes it even easier to not write. So I do my best to write every day, even if it is only a couple hundred words. My daily goal is only 500 words, so once I get about half way there I can usually flog myself into finishing. If I can write 6 days a week, I am happy. Do you think it’s important to your craft to write as much as you can, and as often as you can? The more practice, the better, of course. That's why I try to write every day. But everyone needs a break. Saturday I spend most of the day driving (we're on a short holiday right now) and while I didn't write, I did manage to work out what was wrong with the pacing in one section of my work in progress, so I was happy with that. Sometimes you need to step back and just look. And besides – while most people consider writing the act of putting words on paper, those words wouldn't be worth much if we didn't do the thinking and plotting and planning part, too. So really you could say I write almost 24 hours a day (wink-wink). What is your opinion on the saying “if you don’t write every day, you’re not a writer"? Can't say I've ever heard anyone say that. Can't say I agree with it, though. I suppose it depends on your definition of writer. Some say you're not a writer if you're not published. Some say you're not a writer if you write romance. To all those, I say – blehhhh (imagine me sticking out my tongue). One of my favourite writing books is “Telling Lies for Fun and Profit” by Lawrence Block. One of the chapters is titled “Sunday Writers” (or something like that – I don't have it in front of me right now) where he discusses why amateur painters and sculptors and crafters are often proud to share their work, while amateur writers shove their work in a drawer (it's an old book – now we just hide in on our hard drives) and don't tell anyone they've even attempted to write. Maybe it has something to do with how words communicate our thoughts in a way other artistic endeavours don't. But we should be encouraging anyone brave enough to give this writing gig a try, whether it's for cash or creativity Now head on over to visit Sarah Hegger!
6 Comments
J.J. Devine
7/15/2014 10:50:08 am
If we all wrote as much as we wished each day, we'd be multi pubbed by now :) Great answers!!!
Reply
Gemma Brocato
7/15/2014 10:50:23 am
I sort of think that even if you don't write every day, the work is never far from your mind. Drive time seems like a good time to work out tricky plot points, unless you're the driver. Then you should focus on the road and traffic around you. Great post Brenda.
Reply
7/15/2014 10:57:28 am
Totally with you on being cranky pants. I'm that way if a day, two, or seven go by and I haven't been able to write because of other obligations. I'm a bear to live with at that point and get locked into the office and can't come out until I put one word on the page.
Reply
7/15/2014 11:32:56 am
Great answers. I'll get the cranks if I'm taken away from doing what I want to, repeatedly. Writing everyday has become such a habit, I don't feel right away from my computer. That being said, I'm not working full time, no children in my house and my hubby is independent. Great way to be a writer.
Reply
7/16/2014 07:13:51 pm
I find driving can really help me sort through story problems :D Great answers!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |