I have a goal to write 5000 words a week. I have given myself a deadline of getting my next novel done and cleaned up, so it can be published this November. I’m worried I won’t get done. My list of excuses are: a son graduating high school, new job, moving to Texas, trying to sell a house, remolding projects so the house will sell, trying to find a house to buy, a son leaving on a mission, another son who wants to be able to start marching band with everyone else at his new high school (so we have to have the new house at the beginning of summer break). If you are still reading this list you should have skipped a head to the next paragraph a long time ago because the list is boring and no one cares about excuses.

Let me clarify what I mean by not getting the novel done. I have no doubt I’ll actually finish the story. And I have no doubt I will clean it up the best I personally can. HOWEVER, I believe that when I’ve done everything I can to make it a great story, the story itself is only halfway done.

Next, I need to give the story to a good critique partner who will shred it with a red pen. She’s wicked good with her pen and leaves it all on the field or paper in this case. She tells it too me straight, “That part sucks.” I think she’s the best thing since sliced bread. She’d scribble through that last line and insert something like, “She’s the best things since God said, Let there be light.” Or something more creative.

After I finish rewriting the story that was shredded, I have to find beta readers. People who will read the story and tell me what they didn’t like, where it was slow, places that the wording tripped them up and that sort of thing. Every once in a while I get a comment about something they liked, but it’s all about addressing the negatives. I try to find 3-5 beta readers and make them as varied as possible in personality, interest and what they like to read.

I have to hope that they actually read the book in a timely manner and that they will make notes. At this point in the writing process it is not helpful to have someone say, “It was good.” or even worse “It was really good.” Sometimes I have to go through a lot of beta readers to get a few that are brave enough to point out more than one or two tiny faults.

The book is off to the editor after I made the changes from the beta readers suggestions. I’m okay-ish at grammar. I’m fabulous compared to where I was ten year ago, but I’m never going to be an editor. It isn’t my talent and I’m fine with that. You don’t have to be good at everything. I’ve found that there are two kinds of writers. Those that CAN write great stories and those that KNOW HOW to write a great story. The ones that know how to write a great story are usually the grammar Nazis and they rarely, if ever, get a story finished. The ones who can write a great story and actually do it, rarely, if ever, are super-duper at grammar. They are two very different talents.

When the book has been edited, it can at last be called done. There are writers who don’t have to go through all these steps or don’t think they have too.You can tell who they are because often you put their book down and forget to ever pick it back up. I’m not embarrassed to say, I’m not a good enough writer to write a great novel without help.

Even if I meet my goal of getting the story written, it may not get done on time because when you involve people in the equation it always equals late. That’s why I’m worried. Well, I feel better. Glad I got that off my chest. Time to get back to work writing.

P.S. To the person who asked if they could quote me and reference back to my blog, I think that’s fine, but I’m guessing it was just a spam scam trying to get a response so they could deluge my post with spam. So don’t think I’m being unfriendly, it seems very suspect–I’m really not that cool that someone would want to quote me. I got a good laugh about it though.

Taking The Mystery Out of Writing – Assembly Notes

1. I had a blast!
2. I’m glad I wasn’t getting graded because I made all sorts of mistakes.
3. It’s going to be way better next time (and shorter). I learned so much.
4. When I was introduced they made it sound like I was way cooler than I really am.
5. Kids are awesome noise makers. Especially when classroom frogs go crazy.
6. When I said PLOT is a four letter word I didn’t mean plots were evil. I really meant it’s a word with four letters. Oops, guess that didn’t come out right.
7. A few times I could tell the kids got it and had learned something. Those were the best moments.
8. I look ridiculous in the video. I hope the kids were laughing because they were engaged and having fun, and not because a crazy women was parading around in front.
9. The pressure of picking volunteers was too much – hundreds of hands waving in the air. I had the teachers pick; smartest thing I did the whole assembly.
10. I seriously needed a nap afterwards. It took a lot of energy to put on an assembly.

A little more than 6 years ago I was in a recliner in the front room and so proud of myself because I had made it to the recliner without any help. I had recently spent time in the hospital for heart issues (sudden onset) and then many more weeks too sick to get out of bed without help.

However, after a while of only making it to the recliner I was seriously depressed. The doctors didn’t give me a very good prognosis for ever returning to a “normal” life. Most of the time I was too sick to even go watch my boys play ball in the front yard. I had been a very active person. Not being able to do much more than sit made me feel worthless. What’s the point of living if everything I loved to do was taken from me?

I made up a story to keep me from thinking about how pathetic my life had become and then start writing the story down. That story gave me a reason to try to continue to make it to the recliner ever day; my boys would come to my room to say hi, but my story notebook stayed by the recliner.

It seemed silly that I would even attempt to write. I’m dyslexic. Reading, spelling and the like was a serious chore for me, but I didn’t have anything better to do.

I have astounded the doctors with my health improvements over the years, but every step has been a struggle. A struggle to keep moving even when I was so out of breath. A struggle to not be depressed. A struggle to not be upset when someone thought I was faking it because they happened to see the one hour that I was up doing something that day. A struggle to accept what my life was. A struggle not to overdo it because I could do a little but wanted to be able to do a lot. A struggle to find something to give meaning to my countless hours sitting.

I decided early on that writing was what I was going to do to bring meaning to my life. Somehow I was able to find enjoyment in writing even though it was not something that came easy to me.

I recently finished a goal I’ve been working towards for many years. I published my first two book and am so proud of myself. I suppose just like when I made it to the recliner all those years ago it seems a bit ludicrous how happy with myself I am, but when you work very  hard for a long time and succeed, even in a small way – it seems like something to celebrate. Because if I don’t celebrate the small things I’d never celebrate and celebrating makes life much better.