Well, I did read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. And marveled at how people got through the first 300 pages and went on to rave about it. I plodded on and learned to love the characters like everybody else, but it does make me angry when I see things like slow beginnings that some writers (i.e., not me) can get away with doing. (If you are interested in more analysis of the trilogy, check out James Killick’s blog post Eight Writing Lessons from Larsson.)
But as to actual writing, that didn’t happen. Now that I’m back home, the Christmas decorations put away, and the opportunity to get back on track is here, I’m dragging my feet. And a head cold last week just gave me another excuse not to pick up the pen.
It helped that my writing group met up again Monday night. I haven’t been able to attend in over a month, and my writing skills were definitely rusty as we plowed through the first prompt. The second prompt came more easily, and I was reminded how much I missed writing. I followed this up with a trip to the coffee shop on Tuesday to capitalize on my momentum.
To stay motivated, I signed up for the webinar How to Hook an Agent with Your First Pages through Writer’s Digest. This time last year I took a writing class through the nearby university’s continuing education program – although I enjoyed it, the class was geared towards beginners and I needed something more in-depth than my classmates. I’m hoping this course will do the trick. If you are familiar with the Pub Rants blog, you know that the agents of Nelson Literary know their stuff. To get an idea of what the session will cover, check out these posts:
- The Number One Thing
- The Toughest Workshop to Give
- Post Workshop Debrief
- Opening Pages That Caught Our Attention
So even if my writing’s hit or miss in the meantime, I’ll be busy enough to feel like I’m accomplishing something with my craft. Fake it until you make it. Am I right?
4 comments:
I also signed up for a class to nudge me back into the game (from http://thedarksalon.blogspot.com/) and signed up for an 80-day writing challenge.
Silly sometimes how hard it is to just sit and write. :|
I have heard from EVERYONE GWTDT was soooo slow in the beginning but the rest made up for it. So, it seems to have proven true again! Might read it one of these days.
I've been fighting off head colds and the stomach flu here lately, and I admit it can be difficult to find motivation to write when you feel like sludge. But somehow *not* writing is even more painful, so I sit myself down at my desk anyway. And, thankfully, the germs have fled for the time being. It's nice to be able to write without having a box of Kleenex always at my elbow.
Thank you. I too always marvel when established authors can make every "newbie mistake" and still be lauded - I get intensely jealous. ;D
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