. . . on writing

Since I have been working on a blog, I have no updates to offer on my novel-writing life, for the obvious reasons. However, my second novel A Bird Without Wings made its first appearance on Listopia: Friends Said I Should Read in 2014. Thanks! Everybody go vote! LOL.

So the other half of my Blog Manifesto [any portmanteau suggestions? Blanifesto? Blonifesto? Blogesto? Or based on mission statement - Missment?] is the subject today. To wit:

My central idea is to distil [heavy stress on the distillation part] writing tips and techniques for myself and share them with the world at large . . . or as large a world this blog manages to occupy.

I know what you’re thinking. "But, Roberta, there are so many of those sorts of blogs!" You’re absolutely right! But daily reminders might help a writer – they certainly help me – and perhaps a writer about to throw in the towel [clichés will be discussed in a later post] on his/her work might be inspired by a daily kick. Or find out something previously unknown. Or phrased in a slightly different manner that might make it stick. Or suddenly applicable.

I participate in a couple of different groups that hash out the ways and means of writing effectively - in particular The Source. I assure you right now that we rarely have consensus! Because of all the rules of writing, the most important one is: There are no rules.

Now, that patently untrue. There are most definitely rules. But – like the story of the two-pack-a-day grandpa who lived to be a healthy 110 – they’re muddied with examples of how breaking the rules works. Maybe one guy smoked heavily and lived forever; maybe a writer never used a comma and was a huge success. It could happen!

Sure. But another rule – or perhaps axiom – is: before you break the rules, know them.