I'm back today for the second day of Bob Mayer's book. I'll dive right in.
6. Not Breaking Rules.
I'm not all that good at this one. Once, in the third grade, my teacher
accidentally gave me two candies when everyone else got one. I actually
stayed after class to return the extra candy. What third grader does
that? Me. That's who. And the honesty was rewarded. I got to keep both
for telling the truth. Since then, I've always played by the rules. I
understand what Mayer is saying. Playing too safe means that you will
never stand out. Never breaking the rules means you are the same as
everyone else, and getting noticed is one of the most important parts of
being a successful author. I think this will come with experience and
practice. Most of the authors I've read, however, get noticed by
producing consistently well-written stories. The world of romance
novels, especially with HEAs, can be somewhat limited. There are only so
many directions you can go in. In terms of breaking the rules in
romance, I think it might be more of rule bending than breaking that
will ensure success.
7. An Unwillingness to
Learn. I am guilty of a lot of things, but this is not one of them. I
love learning. I will soak up any information thrown at me (whether or
not I retain that information for long periods of time may be another
story) but I am not naive enough to think I know everything there is to
know about writing. Not even a little.
8. Letting your Ego
Run Amok. I would hope I'm not guilty of this. Mayer warns against
getting too caught up in the results of your writing -- book tours, signings,
parties -- rather than writing for the sake of writing. Maybe I'm a
little guilty of this. Since this is my first book, I have no idea what
it will be like to be published. I somehow doubt that there will be
people lined up around the block to hear me read a couple of paragraphs.
I do hope, though, that I am able to make it to a couple of
conventions, and that I meet a person or who likes what I've written. If
not, then why bother trying for publication? If I didn't want to meet
people who enjoy what I do, I could just write for myself and receive
the obligatory praise from friends and family. I understand what Mayer
is saying, I just don't know if I believe that looking forward to
reaping the rewards of your effort is totally ego.
9. Not Understanding the Difference Between Craftsman and Artist. I
am still working on this one. I would definitely still qualify as
craftsman. Craftswoman? Craftsperson? Anyways, I'm still new. I'm still
learning. A lot. I think that the experience of this is one of the
things I'm looking forward to the most. Don't get me wrong. I love
writing. Love love love it. But I have a lot to learn, and even just
these last few weeks of being able to say "I am going to be published", I
feel differently. It's a nice feeling.
10. Waiting
for the Mood to Strike. I am totally guilty of this. When I first
started writing, I would only do it late at night, with my living room
lit by candles. (I know, I know). Even now, it's hard for me to force
creativity, but I tried it yesterday. I didn't feel like writing. I told
myself "just 100 words". I wrote 1600. Not too bad. Mr. Mayer says that
writing is an emotional business, and it is, but I found that while the
emotion drives the action, alternatively, the action can evoke the
emotion.
Well that's all for today. I'm going to ignore the mood and write for the next 45 minutes until I have to go to work.
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