Evolution of a Novel

I admit I am one of the most scatter brained, distractible, and indecisive writer and artist in the world. One day scrapbooking, one day poetry and art journaling, next day short stories. But today will be different, and all the days ahead will be different as well.

 First and foremost I am a novelist. My favorite thing to read is novels, not poetry or short stories. Within the fiction genre I prefer romantic suspense and thriller. I used to enjoy literary fiction but as I get older I need the fast pace and seat-of-my-pants reading experience I get from more commercial types of fiction. And as many writer, editors and agents admonish writers, you should write what you like to read because of cause you know and have integrated into your mind, the structure of that genre better than any other. 

 Indeed while writing craft books are an immense help, nothing can replace learning how to write by reading the kinds of books you want to write. I've read all the Hero's and Heroine's journeys books and can pick out each step along that adventure when reading books or watching movies. I do feel I have integrated the sense of story arc from reading so many novels of any genre. 

 As I write I can sense how to end a chapter on a cliff hanger, where some suspense and tension needs to be amped up, and where the reader needs a little pause to read some inner thoughts of characters.

 But writing a novel is not only about reading other novels, or reading craft books or taking classes. Writing also requires hard work, time and commitment, and those are elements I've only applied intermittently in the past. But this time around is different.

 Again books help to ensure that commitment to the task and the work.

 I'm reading Jack Canfield's "The Success Principles," as well as listening to the audio CD in my car during my long commute. I am also reading books by Kelly Stone like "Thinking Write," "Time to Write," and "Living Write." All of these resources supply excellent motivation and tools for sticking to a writing project and I am going to adhere to them and make them work for me.  

 In this blog I am going to take you on a little journey. I will share my experiences of what I learn from these motivational books as well as other writing craft books. And I will take you along on my own novel writing journey. You may like of dislike, use or not use, my methods and writing process, but I think it will be fun to travel this road to success together. 

 The subtitle of "The Success Principles" is "how to get from where you are to where you want to be." Well, I wish to become a published novelist. Though I may never hit the bestseller category I want some moderate success and the only way to achieve that is to do the work and put in the time and not let any excuse slow me down or halt my progress.

 So come along for the ride, it will be fun and you might just learn something about writing a novel, having solid goals, and stepping on each trail stone you need to touch in order to arrive at your destination. For me that destination is to be an established novelist.

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