Work in Progress Wednesday - The process


Work in Progress Wednesday

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Kate of The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me





Thinking out loud!

Do you ever get in the way of yourself sometimes? Do you ever find that when you talk about something, explore your feelings out loud, then make a decision and then change your mind later, that you feel foolish. I do. I used to do the whole thought process thing internally and ultimately when things happened to change my mind, no one would be the wiser.

Well, I've gone and created a lot of work for myself. I really don't know what my word count is since I've been writing out the story and haven't been typing anything up. Finally dawned on me what a stupid idea that was, because now I've gotten bogged down and want to go back and read what I've written so far. Part of its typed up and the rest in a notebook. I've come across posts by a few bloggers who mention that they write in the morning and type up what they written in the afternoon or evening. What a wonderful idea so when I'm caught up, will start doing just that.

Yesterday while at work, browsing the blogs on my lunch and dinner break, I came across "Having Fun with Book Covers" at Kt literary (thanks to H.L.)

  1. Go to Fake Name Generator. The name that appears is your author name.
  2. Go to Random Word Generator. The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.
  3. Go to FlickrCC. Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.
  4. Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in, as desired. I used microsoft publisher and microsoft picture editor.
  5. Post it to your site along with this text.



Spin seems apropos to what I've been thinking about concerning my writing. My brain has been spinning, going round in circles. Where am I going with this book that I'm writing. Why am I writing it and what do I want to do with it. Is it just a hobby to do in my spare time or something to be taken more seriously.

I'm a babe in the woods, so to speak. I honestly have only been writing since 2007 when I decided to join in National Novel Write month. I dabbled occasionally over the years but never tried writing on a regular basis. Now I do and find myself thoroughly enjoying the process - imagining and writing, reading as much as I can about the creative process, learning how to write, following the path of other writers and how they write.

I ran across a few posts that really stood out, spoke to me. Made me pause and think.

Elana asked the question "are you in it to win it? Whatever "it" may be." Stopped me in my tracks and I had to think about it. Why am I doing this if I'm not in it to win. Do I want to be published someday. Heck yeah - I can't deny that thought has always been in the back of my mind. My husband's too. Since I started writing, he's been behind 100% providing encouragement. He doesn't want me to go the self publishing route - but go the whole nine yards and get an agent, go through the process. I know it won't be easy and even if I get rejected, (however many times that may be) at least I will have tried. However, for now - winning it means reading the words I have written and know that "Wow! I did that!"

Paula of Elegant Lion had a few profound things to say as well in her post "I am a writer," with a quote from Anne Taylor:

"I noticed that whenever I become conscious of the process, the process grinds to a halt. So I try not to talk about it, think about it, write about it - I just do it."


Isn't that the truth. I keep getting in my own way. I want writing to be like reading is to me. Reading is as necessary to me as eating, sleeping, breathing. If I don't read, I get cranky. It's my escape, my relaxation. I want writing to be the same way, to be essential, to be as much a part of me as everything else. I just have to persevere because perseverance is what makes a writer successful. Karen Stephenson of the Freelance Writer's Database reminds us that


"Beethoven was deaf.
Ray Charles is blind.
Thomas Edison had learning disabilities.
Terry Fox was a runner who was an amputee living with cancer.
James Earl Jones was a stutterer.
Helen Keller was deaf and blind.
Stephen Hawking, world-famous physicist has Lou Gehrig's disease.
Albert Einstein had learning disabilities.
Vincent Van Gogh was mentally ill.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was paralysed from polio.
Martin Luther King Jr. lead the civil rights movement."


"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." -- Abraham Lincoln

5 comments:

  1. It sounds like you are feeling frustrated and I'm sorry about that. But to me, your post was inspirational. Doesn't this count as successful writing? Does writing only count if it's with agents and publishers?

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  2. Oooh, I love those people in that box. So true about perseverance. :)

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  3. Love your fake book cover!

    Wonderful thoughts and quotes here too - hope you start feeling so spun around and get things moving in a steady direction once more!

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  4. Don't feel discouraged or foolish! You say you've been writing away and enjoying it, so just enjoy it. If you want to get published, that's fine, but all in good time, right? I think we all know by now that publishing is a difficult journey, so if you can love the writing, and if it can become as important and satisfying to you as reading is, then I think that's what really counts. That's how I want to be with writing, too.

    To feel really in love with writing, I suggest you read If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland. It was first published in 1938 so sounds a bit dated, but oh my gosh, did it make me feel thrilled to be a writer.

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  5. Margot: A bit frustrated yes that I caused myself a lot of extra work and now have to play catch up. Writing on the blog is writing and yes it does count. I'm not writing for anyone else but myself so yeah, I shouldn't worry so much.

    Elana: Isn't that a great list. I'm trying to teach perseverance to my son right now. Boy howdy, didn't know it would be such hard work. :)

    Kate: Thanks. I'm trying to get back into a schedule of sorts and get caught up.

    Annie: Thanks. I'm trying not to put the cart before the horse right now and just concentrate on writing. Thanks for the book suggestion. Will definitely get it.

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