“Write about it by day, and dream about it by night.”

E.B. White

It almost always comes at night. It doesn’t matter if I’ve been up for sixteen hours and the night before, I only slept for three and if I don’t get some sleep now I may not even get three hours because the baby will make sure of it.

I write during the day, I pound my head (figuratively) during the day when a plot twist irritates me, stumps me, or just won’t flow. I’ll bang my head for days, write around the problem part, stew about it, brood about it…and when I least expect it, I’m laying down in bed and viola…the solution appears.

Not sure why. Maybe it’s because I’ve cleared my mind of the story and that all I needed was a little perspective to figure out the problem. Or maybe it’s a Murphy’s Law thing… I wanted a solution and it’s going to come when it’s not always convenient. Or it could be one of those… Be careful what you wish for…deals.

Sometimes the problem is seriously bad…as in maybe having to pitch the entire thing and start from scratch. When I start thinking along those dire lines, I really start to stress. Trying to work it through, I’ll talk to myself, I’ll talk to God, I’ll talk to the dog, but that isn’t when the answer comes.

It comes right when I’m ready to heave the laptop against a wall and have a tantrum.

If you’re having a plot problem, take a few steps back. Go at it from a different angle. Talk to God or talk to the dog. And keep a notepad by the bed because if you’re anything like me, that’s when you’ll figure out what the problem is.

“I have written a great many stories but I still don’t know how to go about it except to write it and take my chances.”

Are the words coming easily?

I started writing novels because I needed to find a way to make a living while working at home. Nothing noble about it. I wasn’t passionate about it, in fact, I had dreamed my whole life of becoming a movie producer. I got sick and had to quit the movie business, and in fact wasn’t able to go to a regular job so I had to find something that would support me. I figured I could write one of those little romance novels, no sweat. It didn’t work out quite as smoothly as I’d hoped (ha!) but it did work out. I was driven by necessity, which is one way to get ones butt in the chair. In fact, necessity keeps putting my butt in the chair, as I don’t relish living in a box under the freeway.

There are many roads to publication, and only one of them is having a deep desire to write.

How come you’re here? What puts your butt in the chair? And what’s going to keep your Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard?

“You fail only if you stop writing.” Ray Bradbury

This is, at heart, the truest thing I’ve ever heard about writing. In reality, very few people make it right away. Yes, people do. People get repped in five minutes and end up with their manuscript at auction the next day and become the next big thing and stay there. But most of the time, the road is long and filled with obstacles.

And sometimes when you hit a lot of obstacles at once it can be particularly dark and hopeless. You begin to wonder if you’re ever going to make it. You watch your friends get deals, you read Publishers Marketplace and see all those deals and a constant refrain in your brain is, “Why not me? When is it my turn?”

You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.
Isaac Asimov

Okay so to get to the moral of the story - Monday of last week I said to a friend - “you know, I’m just so sick of being on the verge of breaking. When do I reach the point where I accept it isn’t going to happen and just be happy with what I have?”

I hit this spot where I wasn’t necessarily sad, but I just felt sort of bleh and uninspired. I usually feel so passionate about writing but I think I was just in a big old rut. I was consistenly hitting my word goals and as the week went on I had a moment when the book shifted and I really learned who my heroine was and by the time Thursday rolled around I was golden again.

And then on Thursday morning I got the call from my agent. I’ve sold over twenty books but I’ve never gotten “the call” even for the anthology since it was four authors we all just emailed. Anyway, I’d sold a two book deal to Berkley Heat and suddenly, all I’d been working for had come together in that “right book, right editor, right time” sweet spot.

My head is still spinning and I keep giggling at random moments. I have a heck of a lot of work to do. But I will. I can and I will.

It can happen. It does happen. But it can’t happen if you quit.

No, I don’t mean a scene in your book. I mean where do you write? Is it in an office with the door closed and the world shut out, or is in the midst of chaos?

Do you have to have a specific place to write—do you need quiet, the Ipod plugged in to block out extraneous background noise, or does it matter at all what’s going on around you?

I write in the dining room. I actually have a bedroom in the house that’s set up in my office, but I got lonely in there. The dining room has two big windows that look out into the backyard and it’s brighter in that room than in any other. I like it there. *grin*

Typically I write during the day when my husband is at work. I can’t write to music (otherwise Nickelback’s lyrics would appear in the midst of my books..heh.) No television on, either, because I’m easily distracted. So for the past few years I’ve gotten used to writing in total silence. It works well for me.

Two months ago my son and his family (including their 4 year old daughter) moved to Oklahoma from California, and while they’ve been looking to buy a house they’ve been staying with us. That’s two adults and one child occupying my “office” on a daily basis, since my son also works at home. Fortunately, my granddaughter goes to daycare during the day so that’s helped, but it’s really thrown my writing nirvana for a curve. I’ve had to get used to noise and distraction.

But I’ve learned to adapt. Why? Because I’m a writer, and writing is what I do. I don’t make excuses for not getting the job done and whether I’m alone, sitting in front of the television, or surrounded by people, I write. This is my career. If bulldozers started digging up my yard, I’d still write. If the dogs bark all day long, I still write. If my husband has a day off work, I still write. It’s my job. I do it, no matter what. Sometimes it’s not easy, but I get it done.

My advice to you is not let anything sidetrack you. If your writing world comes under attack, take charge of it. Relocate to a coffee shop, plug in the headphones, demand that you have your quiet time to write. Or just…hide out. Do whatever it takes—this is your job. It’s your career.

It’s important.

Late getting to this, but the words still count, yes? How many have you written?

From time to time people ask me why I write. Shiloh hit on this a little bit a few days ago. For whatever reason, I never have a great answer to the question since, honestly, the answer is: because I do. Not to sound corny or annoying but I write because I want to, am driven to and am lucky enough to have someone pay me to do so. Producer/screenwriter/actor Bobby Moresco described it like this in a magazine called Creative Sccreenwriting:

I write for the memory of my mother and father. I write for the future of my children and grandchildren who will know this world without me. I write because I can make a living at it. I write because someone once said I was good at it. I write because even though I know what I have to say is not nearly enough, ever; I know it’s all I have to give. I write because I hope tomorrow to have more.

Seems simple, doesn’t it? Before I got my first publishing contract, I finaled in a few contests. Those finalist marks gave me both the courage and incentive to continue trying. I thought I could write but someone else was saying I could write. I thought I had something to say. Something to offer. Something I wanted to get down on paper and share. I wanted a chance and knew I had to earn it. But, man, I wanted it to come easier and faster. Then one day in May 2005 someone in NYC gave me that chance. An editor said I could earn money doing this thing I enjoyed and felt compelled to do. So now I write because I can and do.

This is a hard business filled with rejection both before and after you sell. There always will be someone out there who wins more contests, gets more requests and hears that phone ring with THE CALL before you do. After that, there always will be someone who is gets more attention, makes more money, acquires more publisher promo dollars and attracts more readers. This business ain’t for sissies, people who give up or for the easily disgruntled.

So, I’m thinking you need to have a reason to write. You have to know that reason, understand it and nurture it. When the whole process seems unfair - and it sure will - you can step back, dig down and remind yourself of your answer. Then push on. If the answer is as simple as “because I have to” that’s good enough. Know why and then write.

“All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure to success.”

Let’s hear it for the words!