SPRING CLEANING

I'm in the process of rewriting a book I wrote about 5 years ago. It was an indulgent book. One I wrote for my pleasure and my pleasure alone. I dabbled in a different point of view as well as a completely different sub-genre of romance. The process of rewriting has been an eye opening experience thus far. First, my writing has changed as I have grown as a writer. I also realized that back then, I had no sense for what escalating conflict really meant. I had a series of incidents, but the stakes never really got higher until bam! we hit the climatic scene, and well frankly, no one would have made it that far.

I also realized that back then I didn't give the protagonist any thought. I just picked a character, and started writing. Well, I picked the wrong character who was the wrong sex who should have been human to start with, then evolve into something else. Go figure. Well, thankfully, I think I've got that all straightened out.

Actually, I found out that while my idea is still solid, everything else about the story needed a major overhaul. Spring cleaning comes to mind. You know, when you go through everything, toss out what is old and doesn't work anymore, and polish up what does... sound a little like revising and rewriting? Yep. It's hard to do, using that delete key. Being honest enough with yourself about the realities of your story and doing what it takes to make it better. Hmmm, sound a little like life?

Yeah, it does. When a character goes through your book from inciting incident to climax and resolution, the character evolves and changes. So do we as writers, although it's not a nice and neat wrap up like in our books. It's a long, draining process. Well, so is life. Life Lessons. Writing Lessons.

I have found the more I write. The more I study the craft of writing ,the harder the whole thing becomes. While ignorance is not bliss, it does reduce headaches. If you want to be a better writer, you have to learn to change the way you think about your ideas. Your character. Your plot. How do you do that? You open your mind and become willing to do what it takes. You listen. You learn. You write. You chop. You rewrite. You slam your computer against the wall. Kidding on that one. But seriously, you have to be willing to change when it's needed.

Which brings me to my point. Last time I blogged here, I gave everyone some father's day gift ideas. One of which was WHO DARES WINS: The Green Beret to Conquer Fear and Succeed by Bob Mayer. That recommendations still stands, btw. However, for me, the book is very timely in the sense that this book is helping me get the tools I need to achieve my goals. First one being, write a better book. It isn't always the writing that is the problem, sometimes its the process that is the problem and until we take an honest look at that, we will fail. I have failed.

Recently I read a blog post by Kristin Lamb regarding Blood Lessons, something taken directly from a workshop given by Bob Mayer (seeing a pattern here). I don't know Kristin all that well, but I can tell you that she is one of the smartest people I have meet. And one of the nicest too. Her blog post verbalized everything I had learned recently, but had been unable to put into words and act on it. That's important. It's one thing to know you need to change, it's another thing to take the action necessary to make the change happen.

It's spring. It's time to change.