Who Said Writing Was Easy?

Another radio interview today ... with coffee in hand, I review every possible question my interviewer may ask. I hope I don't trip over my tongue. I seldom do, but you never know. It's a call-in interview, so I can stay in my pajamas if I want ... I mean who's gonna know, right? I love to talk to readers, I love to think that somebody out there wants to hear about my work, my rich, deep Southern stories ... it's why writers write ... to have someone read it. But to get them to read it, they have to know about it. And to to get them to know about you and your work, you've got to "advertise."

It's the part of the writing process that most writers avoid. The marketing end of things. But it's just as important as your writing. My passion about what I write is so embedded in me that I have no problem getting it from the page to the microphone. I enjoy talking about my characters, or my plots, and how I come up with the idea. That part is easy for me. Don't misunderstand, I think everyone gets a little nervous to speak in front of crowds, but that's a good thing for me ... it pushes me to do my best and I'd be concerned if I wasn't.

For me personally, promoting my work --- marketing what I write, it's the fun part. The hard part is the writing process itself. Getting it down first, ironing out the plot, taking out the exposition, trying to incorporate everything that matters correctly into the story. For example, if a gun shows up on the table at the beginning of the story ... it better have purpose and meaning somewhere in the plot. Readers don't like loose ends. If you mention a character has a scar over her left eye in Chapter two, you better tell your readers, eventually, how she got that scar.

So you read your chapter over and over and over again. You put it away for days, weeks, months ... pull it back out and then the answer flys up in your face and you rewrite. You rewrite the entire chapter again, or the entire book. You find the word the fits in a sentence then you realize you've used it twice in the next paragraph, so you haul out the thesaurus. Or change the paragraph. Or delete the sentence. A writer can literally pull their hair out laboring over their prologue or their first chapter. We can take days to write one sentence. And then, we can write entire chapters in a matter of hours. You must be careful not to over edit to the point you loose the meaning or sacrifice your voice.

Who said writing was easy?

It's not easy. But it's the most gratifying profession I could ever imagine there is. After you pour yourself onto the page ... it's the satisfaction of knowing who you are, your purpose in life, and what you were meant to do that makes it all worthwhile. I heard a great quote today - The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. - William James

So when I speak to my listeners today on my radio interview, I know they have no idea the hours and the time I put into just one story. Some stories have been years in the making, others were absolute miracles and written within days. There's no rhyme or reason to it. But I hope what they hear, is my passion. I hope they hear my love of the art. I hope they think, damn! I need to write that woman's name down and buy her damn book!

Blessings to you and yours.