Wednesday Wanderings

What I'm reading: Secret Prey by John Sandford

Did you enjoy yesterday's post on Body Language? Want to read Part 2? Lise Fuller is continuing her article at her blog, Danger Zone. More great stuff. Thanks for starting here, Lise.

When writing, we're often told to be careful about references to current slang, celebrities, fashion--anything that might date our work and shorten its appeal, not to mention that taking shortcuts by describing characters as looking like a particular actor will fizzle if the reader (often me) doesn't know what the guy looks like.

We've been catching up on classic movies with our Netflix subscription. Last week it was Citizen Kane. Hubby and I both kept looking at each other, saying, "This sounds like today, not 1941." I guess there are some things in human nature that will never change.

Keep Reading...

Although I'm still revising one of my earlier books, I've been toying with a totally new manuscript, not exactly sure what direction to take, and dealing with the inevitable doubts. Should I write more of the same? Try something new? I browsed my collection of writing quotes. A few seemed timely.

You must actually sit at a desk and do the hard work of pounding out words on a keyboard or scribbling them on to paper. You must keep at it from page one to the end. You must commit.
~Katie Merz (editor). Writing and Selling Your First Book (2003)

In my opinion, what makes a writer is the doing it. Day after day, it's the hunger to be better. To create. A willingness to take the knocks when they come. To work through the days when it feels like you are doing the writing equivalent of pushing a turnip through a fine sieve. And then, again, it's about loving the writing when you hit a groove that makes the process feel pure magic.
~ Natasha Oakley, Living the Creative Life

That's it for today - I'm meeting a writing colleague for coffee. It's nice to chat with someone who understands the writer's life.