It Takes Courage

Writing takes courage. Writing a book takes a lot of courage--along with commitment. In the beginning, it is doubtful whether any writer will actually sell books. The process of getting to the end is long. Once the end is reached, it is necessary to go back to the beginning to revise and edit.

I write romantic fiction. I make it up but it still has to approximate reality. It must make sense and that's not easy.

This month, I joined the New Jersey Romance Writers' writing challenge, JeRoWriMo. I am attempting to add 30,000 words to a novel in which I had already had 20,000 words. I did the same thing last year and finished Patriot's Heart. I received a contract from Prism Book Group for that book and it is now available everywhere (with a gorgeous cover). :-)

A blank page is a scary thing. To compose the book, it helps to turn off the internal editor that questions every word, every comma, and every plot twist. A writer has to just let it go and write. The book can be fixed later--but there has to be something to fix.

Being a member of this challenge pushes me to throw the words down without quibbling over which word is exactly the right one. In the end, I will have a rough draft and it will need fixing. I'll turn my internal editor back on for that.

I've more than doubled what I started with on this project. The plot took a few unexpected turns, but that's fine. A few surprises can be fun.

My house is dusty and meals are usually leftover leftovers, but with one week to go, I am on target to reach 30,000 words. Wish me luck. :-)