Finally–A Writing Related Post

I’m feeling immensely unsatisfied right now; down on everything–BSF, my family, my Bunko group, unanswered questions and uncertainties in terms of moving, my husband’s job, and schooling.

So, I started writing again.

I began re-reading for the umpteenth time the draft of my latest YA novel and am working on that.  I think it’s my best work yet but I always think that.  I’m sure others will think it utter crap.

Bored at editing (many of you know I HATE editing), I began to surf the internet.  Curious as to what genre my novel falls into, I began researching science fiction, fantasy, and the like.  I decided to see what Twilight is classified as since it’s just about everything and has a lot of my same elements.  It’s considered all over the board:  YA, romance, fantasy, etc.

Then I visited Stephenie Meyer’s website and found this nugget:  “With writing, the way you feel changes everything.”

She is speaking in regards to Midnight Sun being leaked on the internet.

But I couldn’t agree more.  I write when I feel like it.  I don’t write when I don’t feel like it.  It definitely takes a certain mindset you have to be in.  It’s not like a job with your hands or repetitive.  It involves emotion–and for me, a lot of it since I throw myself into it tooth and nail.  When I’m down, my characters are down. When I’m up, so are they.

I’m resolved to get this project wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.  I’m dying to begin the query process and see if this thing is any good or not or if it will be relegated to just another file on my computer as I move on to my next project.  But, I’m taking my time this time, making this as good as I can and then see where it takes me.  I’m itching to get started on my next project but I know this one is not finished.  I don’t like to multi-task; I have to bring my characters to fruition and then move on to something else.

The Power of a Good Book

I just finished Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.  It was really good.  The ending was great.  There were a few parts that dragged but it was good.

Lately, I’ve been wondering if I could ever do that.  Sure, that’s my dream but with no one exactly knocking on my door to publish my stuff, it just makes me question if it will ever come true.

I liked being sucked in and I wonder if I could ever do that.  There’s just so much I don’t know–about my future, the stories I fill pages with, what God will put in my head to write about…

Answers would be nice to life’s questions, wouldn’t they?

Writing

As I mention in my About page, I’m a writer.  I’ve written a non-fiction book on parenting and pregnancy that I used to sell on my own website.  However, no one was buying it so the cost began to outweigh the financial gains so I took the site down.  Furthermore, my passion moved elsewhere.

Then, at the beginning of this year, I finished my first novel about football.  I tried for months to garner the attention of a literary agent so I scratched that idea and it sits on the back burner.

Currently, I’m writing a young adult novel.  This one is different than the other two.  First, I’m almost done with it.  I feel that my passion for this work is infinitely more than my previous two.  This means I’ve written the book in about a month.  I spend every waking spare moment on it and I feel it only gets better and better.  Second, this is the hardest book for me to write as it deals with issues from my past that I don’t think I have thoroughly dealt with.

Finally, I believe this one is the One God has intended for my life in order to help the most people.  The first one was just to prove I could do it.  The second one was to prove to myself that I could indeed create vivid worlds and live in them.  Thus, this one has the most meaning, the most depth, the most provocative, and the most potential helpful of all three so far.

I am so ready–so ready to see my countless hours come to fruition in the written word–hopefully something that will make meaningful impacts in people’s lives.

I once read where Stephenie Meyer, author of the insanely-successful Twilight series (which I would highly recommend) once said that she wrote these books for herself.  This truly resonated with me as I feel my planned series will be for me as well.  This book (and future ones in the series) is what makes my heart sing.  I can only pray that God guides me as I write so the words I choose impacts the most people.

I’d love to hear from other authors and their journeys through novel-writing land.