Friday, July 8, 2016

Books on the Shelf


So, GONE WITH THE WOOL is officially released and in the stores. I made my first stop at a Barnes & Noble to sign their copies and also the copies of SEAMS LIKE MURDER. As usual I’m behind and I still have to get bookmarks made for GONE WITH THE WOOL. I’m not sure how the artwork will look compressed in a long thin strip. I also thought of making a bookmark with all four of the Yarn Retreat Covers.

GONE WITH THE WOOL is 15th book I’ve had published (If you count my kids’ mystery STOLEN TREASURE originally published as BLUE SCHWARTZ AND NEFERTITI’S NECKLACE). It’s funny when I think back to the days when I thought how wonderful it would be to get one book published.

There is still the same pleasure in seeing what started out in my imagination in three dimensional form. I chuckle when I read all the nice excepts from reviews in the front of the book. Are they really talking about something I wrote?

My husband seems to think that writing a book is all fun and games for me. You might have guessed he isn’t a writer. There is definitely pleasure involved and satisfaction, but it is also like pulling teeth sometimes, trying to find the words.

You would think by now I would have managed telling my inner critique to shut up and take a hike. But that voice is still there taunting me. The worst insult the voice throws at me is boring. My goal is to entertain my readers. I really just want them to have a good time, forget about what ever is getting them down, and at the end, shut the book with a smile on their face.

So boring is really bad. There has to be something to make a reader want to turn the page. Unfortunately, when I grit my teeth and am determined to try real hard, I don’t need the inner critique to tell what I’ve written is boring. Try hard is a recipe for disaster for me. I have to push myself to start and urge myself to keep at it until the magic happens. I never notice when the magic takes over and the story takes off in my head. My characters are saying wonderful things all on their own and all I have to do is get it down.

I’m rewriting the proposal for the new thing I’m working on. It is exciting to see how the stiff words I wrote in the first draft are being replaced by phrases that flow together. I admit it, when the writing isn’t going well, I get kind of cranky. I mostly keep it to myself, or at least I think so. But when I know it is going to work out, my whole mood lifts.

While I’m trying to finish the proposal, I’m also thinking ahead to next week and the synopsis for the next Yarn Retreat book I have to write. And I already have notes for the next Crochet book.

Tonight as we were coming home from Barnes & Noble a Harry Chapin song was playing on the radio. It made me think of the lyrics from another of his songs that really says it all. They went something like - it’s got to be the going, not the getting there that’s good. So much as I’m thrilled to see my books on the shelf, it’s the journey getting there that is the real excitement.

1 comment:

Linda O. Johnston said...

Love your description of your writing process and the good and bad things about it. Some sound familiar!