Taking off my pants!

 

Short post: I have always been a pantser. This book channeled my thinking. I can now write a decent outline that doesn’t restrict my creativity and makes me write faster. That’s all you really need to know because the Kindle version of this book is only about $2.99, so go buy it!

Longer post: The longer / more I write, the harder it is for me to find new information or ideas that really resonate and change the way I think.

That’s pretty normal … I mean when I started journalism school, I was clueless. I left there reeling, and about four hundred per cent smarter than when I started. Then I went through a series of jobs writing, editing, fact-checking, proofreading, printing, and selling magazine, books, and other content. By the end of those I was probably another couple of hundred per cent smarter.

My first front-to-back overhaul edit of a novel manuscript probably doubled my writing smarts yet again.

And, ever since, I’ve continued to work with new people, take workshops, read blog posts and books, and try new things.

I no longer expect a complete, shocking overhaul of my knowledge. I mean, I’m giving myself some credit for having already learned quite a bit. But I really value it when any of the above teaches me at least one significant new thing.

And I’ve been lucky. Especially this year. It’s been a year of big learning.

I’m at a crossroads right now where writing fiction is very close to being an actual, viable job for me. To make it so, I have to up my output, while maintaining quality, and still loving what I do. Libbie Hawker’s book has shown me a way to do that.

I’m no longer in the zone of having the kind of increases in my writing learning that I used to have when I was a newbie, but I’ll give this book a good solid twenty-five per cent increase on my learning smarts. Remember, those are smarts that have already been doubled, and tripled, and quadrupled before, so a twenty-five per cent increase is pretty darn good – I don’t find those gains often.

Loved reading this book, love using it, and am loving taking off my pants!