What advice would you offer a new writer?Rule One:
Read. A lot. Then write a lot. Doing it the other way around is putting the cart before the horse. Read like a writer and write like a reader. That's the best advice I've ever been given and the best I can offer. I don’t know of any other way to do it, no magic formula that will suddenly make someone an Author. Only studying and thinking and a willingness to work at it will get us there. I remember hearing years ago that writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair, and I haven’t found any way around that yet
In everyday life it’s a healthy thing to not drive yourself crazy over details. You know, like in the modern-day adage: #1) Don’t sweat the small stuff, and #2) It’s all small stuff… But the same doesn’t hold true for writing. Because writing, in its very essence IS “small stuff.” What is a novel, after all, but a series of individual words, little details all strung together into one grand, coherent, hopefully glorious whole. In writing, the small stuff DOES count, and you DO have to sweat it to make it work. Think of your manuscript as a precious cut gem where each facet has to be precisely placed and polished for optimum brilliance of the finished product. Mind the details, and you’ll be amazed how wonderfully the rest falls into place.
And...
Make sure you’re writing because you truly LOVE to write – because it warms your heart, activates your head, and energizes your spirit. Don’t do it for the money or the fame, because in reality very few authors ever achieve those things to any great degree. But ANY author can experience the deep, soul-stirring satisfaction of creation, which is worth far more than mere dollars or a splash of limelight. Writing is like opening a door to a new dimension where anything can happen. We put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard and, presto – like a phoenix arising out of the ashes of our hopes and dreams, whole worlds spring to life in full-blown color and daring! There’s power and healing in that, so long as you never forget the love that drove you to such flights of fancy in the first place. It’s magic in the truest sense of the word. And it’s all yours. All you have to do is keep writing.
~*~
Peace, Love & Joy,
Mimi ;-)
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February, 2007
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