The Hard Place

I have been writing for almost two years straight now. I have written one book and a good part of a second. I have learned that with all things I have hit the hard place. The place in the book where I start to ask myself is this really going to be something someone is going to read? Is it worthy of being written, is it going to leave a reader with something to think about? Most readers have their favorite authors. The one they are drawn to because they connect with the writer. I have this huge desire to make sure that my books do that. I want the person reading the book to come away with something for them. Something that they carry with them. I have books like that. Favorite authors that write fiction, stories filled with characters that I want to be.

I want that for my readers. I want someone to think I am going to look at things differently, or I’m going to remember that next time I face a situation that is similar. To be able to enrich someone’s life that is to me what makes a good writer. That is what I aspire to do. Connect with readers and let them know they are not alone. I carry books and stories around like they are my best friends. They bring me comfort and peace and I trust that they will always be there. You do that too if you think about it. Do you have a favorite song, movie, TV character? All of those things are written and they are written so well that you carry them around. They affect you, they change you. I want to be the one who has the ability to do that to affect change. To bring someone a sense of comfort.

I have come to a place that I am very well aware of. The wall is what I call it, writers block is what others refer it to. I cannot stand this place, because I spend half of my time telling myself that yes this needs to be shared, that someone is going to read it and the other half telling myself that nope it is just not going to matter. In my first book I really had to push through this part, and I have found that is the same in the second. Yet I now have an editor and a deadline and that tends to help keep me somewhat focused. Because I am more excited at what the book could be instead of having the mindset of it having to be perfect from the start. I put a lot of pressure on myself can you tell! What a silly thing to do. The next book will be good, because I believe it will be. Will more than 40 people read it? Probably not, but what I have learned is it doesn’t matter how many read it, it matters that the ones that do, walk away thinking that was worth my time. So I need to get back to writing and remind myself, I’m just writing a book, not saving the world.

Dee