"I can fix bad writing... I can't fix a blank page."
This is a famous Nora Roberts quote. I've heard her say it countless of times in her "Chat With" at Nationals. It is usually in response to the questions she's asked about how she is able to write so much and so fast. Doesn't she need to get inspired? No. Doesn't she need her muse? No. Doesn't she ever get writer's block? No.
Nora Roberts goes to work every day and writes. Period. It's her job to produce pages and she does it. What has me thinking about this line lately is the fact that while she does make it happen every day, it's not always good. Especially not the first time around and that's okay.
I'm recently back on a deadline and trying to get myself back into writing shape. For me writing is a muscle. And just like a body can go to crap if you don't exercise it, my ability to produce pages after going months without doing any serious writing has also gone to crap.
But I'm okay with the effort of rebuilding that writing muscle. It feels good. Like starting a new exercise routine before it gets boring. I feel energized and ready to WRITE! And after getting in a few hours during the week and a lot of hours on the weekend slowly my page count is growing.
The problem was when I was working yesterday I was boring myself with what I was writing. I can't even imagine how awful it would be for someone to read it. In that moment I panicked.
What's the point of doing this work if it's no good? Am I just wasting my time?
Then I remembered that all too famous quote. I can fix what I've done. But having nothing, no pages, no boring scenes, no awful stilted dialogue… well that's just a book not written.
So I continue to plug away and take comfort in the fact that when I'm done I might have four hundred pages of crap – but hopefully it will be fixable crap. I believe I read where Nora wasn't attending this year's Nationals and I'll miss her. I'll miss that Chat With where she gives the same answers year in and year out to all the newbies who come to find out what her "magic" is. It never hurts to have a refresher course.
Nora Roberts goes to work every day and writes. Period. It's her job to produce pages and she does it. What has me thinking about this line lately is the fact that while she does make it happen every day, it's not always good. Especially not the first time around and that's okay.
I'm recently back on a deadline and trying to get myself back into writing shape. For me writing is a muscle. And just like a body can go to crap if you don't exercise it, my ability to produce pages after going months without doing any serious writing has also gone to crap.
But I'm okay with the effort of rebuilding that writing muscle. It feels good. Like starting a new exercise routine before it gets boring. I feel energized and ready to WRITE! And after getting in a few hours during the week and a lot of hours on the weekend slowly my page count is growing.
The problem was when I was working yesterday I was boring myself with what I was writing. I can't even imagine how awful it would be for someone to read it. In that moment I panicked.
What's the point of doing this work if it's no good? Am I just wasting my time?
Then I remembered that all too famous quote. I can fix what I've done. But having nothing, no pages, no boring scenes, no awful stilted dialogue… well that's just a book not written.
So I continue to plug away and take comfort in the fact that when I'm done I might have four hundred pages of crap – but hopefully it will be fixable crap. I believe I read where Nora wasn't attending this year's Nationals and I'll miss her. I'll miss that Chat With where she gives the same answers year in and year out to all the newbies who come to find out what her "magic" is. It never hurts to have a refresher course.
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