As I saunter toward the river’s path,
a gentle breeze tickles my cheek and pass by,
floating, billowing, wafting about
and circling back while picking up scents
of violets teetering side to side.
I halt at the hint of violet upon the breeze,
wondering if the scent will carry itself back to me,
but no, it’s not to come to pass again,
just freshness, newness, playfulness of life
introduces itself to me with every step and passing breath.
Writing, whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, is more than the act of writing itself. It is a process and it all takes time. Rushing through from the beginning to the end will only get you no where very fast. This is not a post about the writing process; although, that is come up in a future post. No. This post is about taking your time with it. Let’s dig in.
I understand the urgency to get the finished product in front of people. Trust me when I say, readers know when a writer/author sped through their writing. How, you might ask? The writing itself will be bad. There will be misspellings, awkward sentences, punctuation in places there doesn’t need to be any and vice versa, plot holes, and/or the format is all wrong. The list goes on and on. I’m not talking about a few errors, because we all make mistakes. I’m talking about many. You might say that a piece of writing like this needed a good editor. That is correct. However, here again, the time was not taken to even edit the piece. Editing takes time, too. Trust me. I’m not talking about a couple of days or a week. Instead, I’m talking about months. Then beta readers have to read it first before putting it out to the public. The beta readers, or test readers, will give you viable feedback in regards to what is and isn’t working with your story or book.
Once you get feedback from your beta readers, look at their recommendations one at a time, and fix them if you agree with their assessment. Remember, it’s your writing, so it is up to you as the writer to do with your piece as you see fit.
Here is a list that should give you a picture of the length of time it takes to write a book…..
As you can see, writing a book is not a quick process. Take great care with what you are writing. You want to please your readers not make them shut the book before it begins.
Moments flicker in the sun,
at times not seen,
as we run,
Stay and linger for a while,
bask in warm light,
and in style,
Maybe see me on the beach,
breathing salt air,
I outreach
for you who sees beauty’s dawn,
and sings to me,
songs bygone,
Sweetest scented breezes fill
me as you sing
of love’s thrill.
On Sunday I took a stroll down the sidewalk gazing at the sky,
when all at once a water splatter knocked my to the side,
I jerked my head in said direction only to see a sly
smile pasted to a child’s cheeks.
On Monday rain and darkness spread across the day,
mocking me with smirking chills and wind along the way,
a sigh burst from my chest and with it any happy splay
of goodness for the coming week.
Tuesday painted a blue sky with light white cloud streaks
sashaying from north to south and dancing on the breeze,
A beautiful day and feeling from morn to night I’ll see,
But in the distance dreaded clouds leak.
Wednesday chugged me up a hill with slowness and sloth,
dankness of a sludgy day of gray air upon which flew a moth,
I should not dwell on darkness shrouding day like sackcloth,
More power lies in light for all to seek.
Thursday churned pre-weekend folly set upon the wind,
thoughts of coming attractions from which I can’t rescind,
grabs my motivations for fun that made me grin,
But shouldn’t caution overtake actions that could be bleak?
Friday sailed through morning’s window with scented fresh
air of coming relaxation at the end of a busy week of mesh
and grayness that had pressed upon my intellect and flesh,
Oh how the coming weekend appears so sheik.
Saturday woke me at noon with a headache and a crash,
laughed then spread the curtains wide with sun upon my lash,
knives pierced my temples as they gouged and dug with brash
pain as I waited for soothing Sunday and the start of another week.
Sangeetha & David’s new poetry project Once upon a time, two poets who’d never met in person began writing verses back and forth over the Internet. Their first project took them some nine months: a 100 verse Hyakuin. Once they’d completed their first oeuvre, they continued their journey together; Sangeetha came up with a fun […]
The Keywyrd, or: Creativity forms verses
To start with, theme is a lesson or idea the story teaches and is carried throughout the story. But where do we find a theme to center our stories around? We can Google a list of possible themes and go from there. After all, sometimes our mind goes blank right at that moment you want to think of something. Google helps boost our minds. Of course, there are other search engines, so the choice is yours which one you use.
Another possibility is yourself. You’re probably going, huh? That’s right. Your own experiences can shed light on various themes you can center your story around. In your lifetime what have you learned? How did you learn it? Did you have to learn how to get along with someone you didn’t like? Did you have to learn how to give more? Did you have to learn to be patient? Maybe you had to learn to take risks. The list goes on and on. Or maybe you know of someone who had a learning experience.
Does this all mean your story has to be directly related to your learning experience? No, absolutely not. You aren’t creating nonfiction. You are wanting to create fiction. All I am saying is to use your learning experience (or someone else’s) and come up with a fictional story that centers around the theme (or what you learned) from your own life.
There are times, though, when all you have to do is start writing a story and the theme will present itself as the story unfolds. Yes, there are some writers who write this way. I am one of them. I don’t like to restrict myself, and I find it more freeing to just start writing. How about you?
Drops of plenty wet the soul,
a newness fills and now takes hold,
pinkish flowers sing scents so sweet,
indulging the mind when we are weak.
Breezes soar invisibly,
hovering, surrounding, playfully,
the freshness of air so crisp and clean,
conveying pictures of nature’s scene.
Grassy cushions so green and lush,
a silky sinking, dreaming of much,
sun returned, its beams pushed forth
the dancing clouds from way up north.
Sew by weaving words,
knitting character, plot, and structure within
the fabric of emotions, habits, conflict,
bringing sparkle, glitz, pizzazz,
warming readers,
striking souls,
with words aplenty
of stories told.
Receiving a critique of your work can be nail biting, when the review can go in either direction. None of us enjoys being hammered with negative information regarding our own work. After all, everyone loves praise and pats on the back for a job well done. Realistically, nobody is perfect, so there’s going to be some negativity. But here’s the thing. Some reviews are brutal and probably unnecessarily so. You can take control of situations like this. You don’t have to feel bad about it. You can choose to let it help you. Here’s what you can do.
The point of a review is not only to let other potential readers know about your book but also for you, the author/writer, to make you a better writer. So don’t let reviews hurt your feelings. Let them help your writing.
Keep in mind, you will not succeed if you do not try. Give what you are doing a chance. I know it’s easy to give up and think success won’t happen. But the truth is this; sometimes success takes a while. If one idea is not working, try something else. Eventually, success will pick up speed.
I am going to pick on writers/authors. They spend many many hours writing their books. At the end of it all, when they publish it, there is marketing to do. If you are a self-published author, you do much of the marketing yourself. My advice, if this is you, learn about how to market your book(s). Maybe you already know. Great! If you have a publisher, they do the marketing for you. If this you, great! Everyone else mostly does it themselves. It can be discouraging at first because not every marketing strategy will work. Here again, you will not succeed if you do not try. You will not figure out what does if you do not try.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 