Maggie Thom's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

A lot of people have the dream of writing a book, a memoir, a story, a poem, "One day... I'll do that." They'd really like to but.... they never get started.
Why not?
Often the lack of follow through is due to a belief deep down that they aren't a writer. They don't know what to write. They don't know how to write. They were never good in English class, they don't know a verb from an adverb, they don't know how to punctuate and their grammar sucks. And they don't think anyone would read it. Or if they do they won't like it.
The neat thing about writing is you can really start doing it at any age. Any time. There are young children who are writing, teenagers, people in their twenties, some in midlife and some well into their 80's. One gentleman was over 100 years old when he started. He published his book at 103 years old. So it's never too late to start. If you really keep saying you'd like to write something.... now is the time.
Writing isn't about following the rules, although many people will tell you it is. It really isn't. Don't get me wrong before you put out your finished product... click here to read more - http://tinyurl.com/ablpkbr .

2012 the year of so many predictions and changes. Although the dramatic end of the world didn’t happen I do think there were some profound changes. For me 2012 was a big leap year. I made a number of changes in my life and I finally made the push to do something with my writing.

It sounds so simple, I did something with my writing. Big deal. Well I can tell you it was a big deal. I have been writing for a very long time. Over the years, I did all the things I needed to, to improve my writing – courses, critique groups, writing and more writing, getting feedback from others – and yet I still felt that it wasn’t good enough. If I put it out there for the public, yikes! What were people going to think? What if they didn’t like it? What was I thinking to even contemplate doing it?

Fear is an interesting thing because we turn it into an almost impossible thing to overcome. We keep coming up with excuses why we can’t do something. I know I did. I had every reason why my writing wasn’t going anywhere.
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It doesn’t matter how much reading you do, how much planning, how much learning you do, until you put the wheels in motion you really have no idea what is going to work and what isn’t. And you really don’t understand what everything means until you are using it in the way it is intended. This is so true for being a published author. The biggest thing I’ve learned is that there is no one rule that fits everyone. Each person who is published or who publishes themselves will find the journey different. There are so many avenues available nowadays to get published that want-to-be authors really have to do their homework as to what works for them.

Here are ten (although I could make this list closer to thirty) things I didn’t know about being a published author:

1. That writing the book was the easy part. Who knew?

2. That once you are published the real work begins. I had to come up with a plan for what I wanted to do with my book. How was I going to market it? Where was I going to find my readers?

3. That formatting is a lot of work and it is very different if you are doing a paperback book versus an ebook. And then each type of ebook, depending on the company, requires a different layout to be done for their specific company.

4. That asking for help was easier than I thought and there is a huge community of authors willing to share.

5. That not everything has to be perfect, that although I read and learned and asked questions, until I was actually published, that’s when I really understood what it all meant. I have accepted that I will learn as I go.

6. That I would have to find that balance of marketing, networking, doing events, writing and having a life outside of my published one. It was really easy to get pulled in to feeling like I had to be everywhere at once. It’s important to choose a few things and make those work for you.

7. That to market my book effectively, I should have started marketing it several months before it was published.

8. That when I started to find my readers, the ones who love my book, that they would...

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Wine, the nectar of the gods. Or so I'm told. It is something that has been enjoyed for many centuries, that's for sure but beyond that I don't know much about wine. I know they make it from grapes. And sometimes other fruits. It gets bottled up or in some cases boxed up and shipped out so that we can enjoy it with our meals, when we want to celebrate, after a long day at the office, after a stressful day, when we have company, well, really whenever we darn well please.

Other than that I don't know much about wine. What I do know could probably be poured into a thimble. I know what I like and what I don't but I never really remember much else. To tell you that it's a Cabernet Sauvignon made by so and so, I usually don't pay attention too much to that. Gasp! I know. I can tell you if it's red, white, rose or white zinfandel and then if it's sweet or dry but that's it. I'm getting better at remembering the names of those that I enjoy.

For my latest book, Deceitful Truths, it is a companion book or sequel (still figuring that out) to Captured Lies. Both are based around a winery in Ontario. Now why I chose a winery I have no idea. Why I chose Ontario, I have no idea. What I do know is that I'm glad I know people there, who know people there, who know people there... or I'll just have to ask strangers for some answers.

As I mentioned I like wine but I only drink it once in a while. I've done the wine tour thing, a couple of times. I've hung out with people who are wine connoisseurs. And I've tried different wines. And do you think I can remember anything about all of the wine process, the types, what to pair it with? Nope. I have to read. And then read again. Not sure why it won't stick but...
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I am sad but don't get teary-eyed on me, it's just that my printer has died. And it's only seven. I guess that's pretty old in the printer world, a hundred or so, maybe? I really can't complain it has printed, I'm sure, at least ten thousand or more pages. Mostly manuscripts, short stories, ideas that I'd run off and take with me to read over, rewrite and edit. Then I'd type all that new stuff in and then print it again. It worked great because every time I had to sit and wait for my kids to finish an activity or a practice for sports - of course I watched, between paragraphs or pages, it depended, sometimes maybe even chapters - I'd be able to have something to do. I also ran a business a few years ago, empowering women to step into their dream, so I printed off many pictures, manuals, training plans, radio show outlines, presentations and so much more.

And for the last year it has been my true companion in helping me get my two novels, Captured Lies and Tainted Waters, edited, rewritten, completed and finally published. I had also used it to make bookmarks, pictures and many other items to help advertise my two books. Sadly though, now that I am at the point of rewriting and editing my third novel, Deceitful Truths, it just didn't have in it to print it for me so that I could have a hard copy to read. I've discovered that I still like to print off my manuscripts and go through and make changes on the paper. I do lots on the computer but I find it helps me to see and read my book differently. Not sure why...

Anyway my printer, a Canon, which I truly loved and felt it was an amazing printer has gone to printer heaven. Well actually the recycling bin is where it will be heading to... but don't tell it that...
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When we put something out for the first time, we are so concerned with it being just right. With everything being as it should be. The way we've been taught... trained... We are so concerned about what others think. Yet when we were children it was okay to just try, it didn't matter the outcome. It didn't matter what others thought because more often than not we would be encouraged. It was that we were doing it and it would get better with time. Or at least I think that's what the hope was.

So now the question is, what is perfect? Everyone has a different definition of what this means. And to be honest it can become an excuse not to move forward. I know because I used it a lot. I mean my stuff couldn't be perfect... because I can't write like authors like Sandra Brown, Robert Ludlum... because others were giving me suggestions of what they thought should be in there... just because... So to translate, that meant something had to be wrong with it... it couldn't be worthy of others.

There is no such thing as perfect. I know I've read books by authors I love and sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don't, at least for me. Yet someone else will love what they've put out there. The point is that they didn't wait for perfect, they published it.


Perfect is a myth. There is a point where I had a decision to make, take the leap or keep wishing and wanting. To get really good at something, we have to step into it... try it... learn it... grow with it. Because we learn by doing, not by thinking about something but by actually doing it. We really have no idea until we get into something what it's really about or how it will be received.

Here's what I've learned: I love what I'm doing; what I write isn't for everyone; I do put in a lot of time to make sure that what I write makes sense, flows, doesn't have plot holes... but here's the kicker... none of it's perfect. It sure isn't in my eyes, anyway. Every time I open one of my stories, Captured Lies, Tainted Waters, Deceitful Truths or any of the new ones I'm writing, I always think or see a better way of telling it. But at some point I had to stop doing that and decide that it was good, that it was okay to put it out there

In fact, don't tell anyone but I really like my stories. There are things that I would and do differently each time I write but I actually quite enjoy creating them and reading them. Because I read a lot and because I put a lot of time into planning out and plotting my stories, I know I've put my best effort into them. And if I like reading them, I'm sure there has to be at least one other person who does. :) Thankfully, I have found many who really love what I write.

So for anyone who is thinking of starting a new adventure in life, want to follow your dreams, jump into it - just make sure its for the right reasons and for you. I know when I leapt into publishing Captured Lies, I had no clue what I was doing or getting into. I know that if I'd waited any longer for things to be perfect I'd never have done it. And believe me that took a long time to get there but I now wouldn't have two well-received published novels with a third one out soon.

My advice... leap. You never know what's on the other side until you try it. While there truly is no such thing as perfect... you will grow into better.

An aside: a good example of perfect, as I'm writing I put leapt which wordpress didn't like so I had to look it up. I was worried that I had forgotten how to spell and wondering if that really was a word. Yes it's a word and yes it's spelled correctly. The English language continues to change (and baffle me) and with all the different countries claiming ownership as to what's correct and not, there is no way you'll get it right for everyone. :) So do it for you.

Original Post: http://wp.me/p2ydBl-yy

I think I'm like most writers, I have a ton of ideas and not enough time to get them all down. The ones I think I'll remember I don't. I've learned to write down anything that I think I might want to use later on. My muse likes to bombard me with plots and scenes and people until I put the brakes on and choose one to play with for a while. It's not turning it on that's the problem, it's turning it off.

Here's how it works for me. Inspiration for ideas come from anything and everything. Seriously. I see someone flip a page and I'll start the 'what if' game. What if the person had no fingers. What if the person had suction cups on their fingers. What if in turning that page, they are transported to another world. What if they were on the moon doing that. The fun part is to connect things I normally wouldn't link or think of in my everyday life.

I play this game with different things I see until I find something that really intrigues me. So I take a simple thing I see, hear, smell, taste, sense, feel, and take it out of context, put it in some other situation - real or imagined - and then I play with it like a puzzle. Move this piece here, move that piece there, until I find I have something that is really interesting. Sometimes this will happen right away and other times I just need to leave it ruminate around in my brain for a while and then usually out will pop ideas. I then choose to either keep playing with the stories that are forming or I let them go. Or sometimes it all just gets lost in the abyss of my mind. :)

My muse never really takes a break. Needless to say my brain is pretty active most of the time. Don't get me wrong I've learned to shut it down so that I have quiet time, however it doesn't always play by my rules. And it doesn't always just choose the convenient hours to play this game. Some days I'll be doing something and this brilliant (well it seems like it at the time but sometimes it isn't once I really look at it) idea will come to me. Some nights I'll wake in the middle of the night with a fully formed idea, scene, outline. So then I scramble to get it down on paper so that I won't lose it.

After I have an idea I like, I'll start looking at what the story could be - the back story, who the characters are, where it is happening, why it is happening.... and on and on until my story is built and it is something I like. That's what happened with Captured Lies. The idea started simply enough, from a plane flying rather low over us. The 'what ifs' started coming to me. I ignored it for a while but then the story kept bugging me and soon I was writing scenes in my head. That's when I knew I better start getting it down on paper.

My muse is really demanding, entertaining, and fun - now that I've learned how to harness it. Well at least most of the time. How do you manage your muse?

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Writing this novel taught me a lot.

It always surprises me when I write a novel because each one is so different, not just the story but the process that I go through to write it.

People often say to me, your so lucky to be able to do that – write a book. I do have to agree, I am lucky because I get to create roller coaster ride suspense/thrillers. But believe me there is no luck involved in writing a book. It’s not really about hard work but it is about focus and dedication. If you’re going to write a book, you have to be willing to put in the time.


Believe me they do not write themselves.

I set a crazy goal with writing Split Seconds. Initially I had set out to write 40 to 45,000 words by the end of November, which I didn’t meet. But I did write 42,202 words in 18 days. So I’m pretty happy with that. The best part is that I did achieve writing 55,000 words in 21 days. I think that’s a new record for me. I still didn’t hit the 18,000 words in a day (and probably won’t again – it just made me feel like my arm was about to fall off) but I am sure I have never written that many words – 55,000 – in that short of a time period.

Whew! It was a crazy amount of focus. Especially considering, I had quite a few other things going on at the same time. Life does not stop.

I’m not sure why I had told myself I wouldn’t do it again. I guess I figured that after being focused so much for three weeks, I’d be burnt out. Instead what I found was that I truly liked the focus and dedication that was able to do, day in and day out


Split Seconds is finished.

The great news is that book 5, which is actually book 3 in The Caspian Wine Series, is finished.

Read More Here: https://www.maggiethom.com/what-writi...