welcome, non-robots!

I have nothing against robots, I just don’t think they should write books. “Is that a real concern?” you ask. Probably not. I just want to be clear: this site is all about writing and what I’ve learned about it in the past few years, and one of the main things I’ve learned is that -- for me -- writing is hard. To me, people to whom writing is not hard are robots. I do not trust them. If you are one of them, you will find nothing here to interest you.

Shoo, robot, shoo!

If, however, you find writing both glorious and maddening, necessary and impossible, dazzling and stultifying, there might be something here that clicks with you.

I’ve wanted to write books ever since I can remember. I was always going to be “a writer.” It was such a given! So why did it take me 35 years? Lots of reasons, I guess. I was a bad combination of dreamy and lazy, and add to that aspects of my personality (such as perfectionism) that conspired to prevent me from finishing things. Also, it’s very easy for us non-robots to persuade ourselves we’re on our right path in life, even when we’re actually sort of languishing in the wheel ruts beside our path, and not really on it at all. I, like many others, stood beside “my path” and watched wistfully as others boldly trod it.

I wasn’t writing.

The years passed. I did other things. I edited books written by others. I went to art school. Traveled. Got married. Moved to another state.

And then, finally, something snapped. I realized that if I wanted to write books. . . I had to, er, write books. And so, painstakingly, I began to do that. It was hard. I learned what I could from others and the rest I figured out or made up. Here are my thoughts on writing fiction. Please let me know what you think. You can leave comments below each segment (anonymously, if you so choose) letting me know if anything resonates with you or if you have more to add to my thoughts. I’m still figuring out my own process, still very much cobbling it all together. Wisdom and commiseration are welcome. I’d love to hear from you!