8 Signs That You Were Meant to Be a Writer

Are you meant to be a writer? Do you ever wonder if you were truly meant to be a writer? Deep down you sense that it might just be so. But then doubt creeps in, and you just aren’t sure. You look at your writing. You realize that you aren’t where you want to be. Maybe you just aren’t good enough? A great writer would be further along by now, right?

Wrong.

If you’re reading this, chances are you were meant to be a writer. You were meant to help change the world and impact people’s lives through your words. Here are 8 signs that you were meant to be a word wizard.

1. Secret Dreams

You secretly dream about writing. And if you already write, you dream about doing something bigger, like writing a novel, or scoring that big freelancing client. You dream about more, bigger, better. Deep inside you know you can do it, but that pesky little voice stops you.

2. Doubt

Yes, doubt is a sign that you were meant to be a writer. If you didn’t have anything to say, you wouldn’t even think about writing, but you do have something to say, and you know it. But doubt stops you. However, doubt is just a thought popping up. It doesn’t feel great, but you can say hi, and keep taking tiny steps forward. Why keep moving forward? Because you were meant to be a writer.

3. Excuses

Your excuse for not hanging out with your friends is, “I have to write”. You aren’t interested in what non-writers are interested in. They live a different life. They sometimes seem like a different species. Embrace this. Don’t give into peer pressure. If you’re a new writer, you won’t be sure what to do with yourself, but trust your inner calling. Trust your heart. It knows what you need. If you have to write, you have to write.

4. Inspiration

Inspiration only comes to those who can use it. If you’re a writer, you get inspired, but you also have to take advantage of that inspiration. If you are inspired to write a novel, then start today. Don’t wait for perfection. Let it be messy. Let it be chaotic. Let your thoughts go crazy and your body shiver with fear. But start. Right now.

5. Perfectionism

When you truly care about something, you want it to be perfect. I care about my writing. I want to help people. I want to help you when you read these very words. And for that reason, I want it to be perfect, because in my head, I believe perfection equals value to you, but that isn’t always true. Good enough can have a huge impact on someone’s life. Perfection is just an idea in my head. It has nothing to do with reality. Wanting your writing to be perfect is a sign that you care, and that’s good, because it means you will put out exceptional work, even when you feel like it’s crap. But you have to get your writing out there.

6. Admiration

You secretly admire great writers. You want to talk about the elegant ways they craft their prose, but you often don’t have anyone to talk to, because your friends or family may not care about writing as much as you do. This alone shows you how much attention you pay to words. It shows you that you were meant to be a writer. All you have to do is muster the courage to write and step up your game. You are ready, even if you don’t feel it. Step up to it and enjoy.

7. Lacking

When you don’t write, you feel like something is missing. You need to write. You need to express yourself through prose. You know you can make a difference, but you’re not sure. We all have doubts. They’re normal, but they don’t have to stop you. Just keep moving forward. Keep putting words out there and let the universe take care of the rest. The fruits of your labor are none of your business. All you can do is your best, so start putting your stuff out there, even if it freaks you out.

8. Yearning

Deep down, you feel this yearning to write. It’s like someone is pulling a string that’s attached to your heart. The string is pulling you toward greatness, but you are resisting. You’re afraid. You’re worried. You’re not sure what people will think. Let that yearning take you to where you need to go. Forget about what everyone else is doing and follow your calling. Embrace your uniqueness, your quirkiness and your style. Results may not come instantly, but all is well when you follow your heart. Listen to that yearning. Let the string take you on the adventure of your life.

If You’ve Read This Far …

You were meant to be a writer.

I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. I’ve scribbled down crazy stories about animals when I was 6. But lately, I’ve found myself writing articles like these. Somehow this is what comes out of me. I just keep following my excitement. I write about what makes my heart sing. And you should do the same, because what excites you is your internal GPS telling you that you need to pay attention to that. I have doubts, fears and worries, like everyone else. But I know I was meant to do this, because doing anything else is torture. So if you’ve read this far, you were meant to be a writer. All you have to do is embrace it, because deep down you know you want to.

 

Perchance to Dream

You wake up in the middle of the night, cold and shaking.  What’s going on here?

You have just awakened from a dream, in this case a scary one.  Did you know that most people have up to five different dreams per night.  Some dreams last only a few seconds while others last up to twenty minutes, and they tend to get longer the more hours you are asleep.

Dreams have been seen as a connection to the unconscious. They range from normal and ordinary to overly surreal and bizarre. Dreams can have varying natures, such as frightening, magical, or adventurous. The events in dreams are generally outside the control of the dreamer, and can at times make a creative thought occur to the person or give a sense of inspiration.

Dreams are oftentimes where I get the inspiration for my fantasy short stories.  Where else but my wildly vivid subconscious could I create far away worlds and situations?

Fellow witers, do you remember your dreams? Are they at the core of your stories? Inquiring minds want to know.

Favorite Authors

I write romance novels, contemporary romance to be specific.  My characters are people you would see on the streets of your city and have the same problems with life and love that you have.  In sharp contrast to what I write, my favorite type of book to read is science fiction.

A Sci-Fi fan from way back in my childhood, I have devoured books by Asimov and Heinlein – two of my very favorite authors – as well as campier stories by Alan Dean Foster and Brian Daley.  Foster and Daley, by the way, wrote novels based on the Alien Nation and Star Wars characters.

What draws me to these authors and their books is that they take me away from reality and bring me to the worlds they have created.  It’s one thing to be able to tell a story, it is quite another to invent an entire world to tell that story about.  The other thing I enjoy most about Asimov, and so many other great sci-fi writers, is that there is often a moral to be learned from the story.  No matter how many times I read I, Robot I always find some new truth about our current world that he was trying to make.

I am off to my bookshelf now.  I have been eager to re-read Battlefield Earth.  The movie, starring John Travolta, was just on TV the other night. While I enjoy the movie, I am a purist and would rather create the world in my mind through the words I am reading rather than watching someone else’s interpretation of the story.

Do you have a favorite genre that you turn to again and again?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Where Do You Find Creative Inspiration?

Image via Wikipedia

At every book signing, one of the questions I can always count on being asked is: “Where do you get the idea for your books?”.

My books, much to my publisher’s chagrin, do not follow the current popular trends.  If they did, I would no doubt be a more successful author.  Instead, I follow my heart.  My characters all have a basis in reality.  Some are even modeled after friends (names have been changed to protect the innocent, she says with a smile and a wink).

I also find inspiration for characters and situations in the news.  The short story that recently ran on my website was about a man who worked on oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.  Currently, I am writing a story about a soldier on leave in Paris. 

Inspiration can come from anywhere, if you let it.  Anything from a song to a movie to the weather can be the spark for a story.  Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein during a cold and dreary summer in Switzerland.  Had the weather been better, would we have had one of the greatest monster in literature?

Imagination is also a contributor to creative inspiration.  Without imagination, Jules Verne would not have pioneered the science fiction genre, and without science fiction would man have dreamed of going into space or exploring the oceans?

Over the years, there has been a mellowing toward certain characters as well.  Anne Rice took the feared vampire and turned him into a tragic romantic figure.  Stephanie Meyers took it a step further and made her character Edward Cullen a sex symbol.

So, my fellow writers, think for a moment.  Where do you get the inspiration for your books?  Share your thoughts here; inquiring minds want to know.

If You Write It, They Will Come

But will they stay until the last page?

Most of the time I buy a book because: a) it was on a Best Seller list; b) it was recommended by someone on TV or radio; c) it was recommended by a friend.  Unfortunately, a lot of those times I was disappointed by the story and tossed the book into my “to be finished much, much later” pile.  This doesn’t mean I have anything against the author, it just means I have different taste.  I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way about my books.

Do you finish all the books you start reading? Inquiring minds want to know.

A Loss for Words

I have been staring at the computer screen for nearly an hour trying to find the words to say.  Blogging used to be easy.  A thought came to me, I wrote it down, hit the Publish button and it was done.

Lately, however, I find my mind wandering.  Not the kind of wandering that one needs to panic and see a doctor about; just the every day lack of concentration.  I stare out the window and think about all the things I could be writing about, yet when it comes to writing them, the thoughts are all gone.  Sometimes they come back – usually in the middle of the night when I’m too tired to get up and go to the computer.  Sometimes it’s gone forever (this usually happens with the really good ideas).

My husband tells me that it’s a sign to slow down and enjoy life more.  Maybe he’s right.  I worked on my latest novel – Before the Applause – every spare moment I had, all the while working an average of fifty hours a week. 

So I ask you, gentle readers, how do you cope with your writer’s block?

What’s New on My Website

Image by Rookuzz via Flickr

Have you ever met someone you knew you could love forever but you never got the chance to say it? Or perhaps that someone special is not who they appear to be. Everything is a simple twist of Fate.

Follow the lives of five couples as they find their way on this winding path. The journey begins with Another Love Will Find Us. Jack and Annie meet one rainy afternoon and find that you can miss out on a chance for love if you are too cautious.

During the month of July, Taps will make its debut. Brooke meets Chris while they are in Paris. The secrets he harbors could bring their romance to an abrupt end, so he hides the truth in hope that love can really conquer all things.

In If It Takes Forever, Taye loses his heart to Cassie. Can he make her see beyond the dangerous life he leads to see the man he really is?

On the last day of her vacation, the paths of Jessie and Liam cross. Forty Shades of Green tells story of their long distance romance and the obstacles they have to overcome along the way.

Madison learns that being in the wrong place at the wrong time can have a very unusual result in Upon a Midnight Clear.

And don’t worry if you miss a part of your favorite story, the entire So Close collection will be available as an eBook late 2012.

My Idea of Perfect Weather

I have always enjoyed the late spring into early summer time best. The trees and flowers are in full bloom, and the air is warm and sweet.

A lot of times, I use the seasons to mirror the mood of the characters in my books. If everything is bright and sunny in the plot, then so is the weather. When things are not going well for the main characters,  it is raining or snowing. I find this adds a little something extra to give the story depth. After all, who could be in a bad mood when the sun is shining and the air is filled with the scent of flowers! You can see this in action in my new novel Before the Applause, available now at Amazon and Barnes&Noble online.

I am not the only writer to use this ploy. Mary Shelley got the idea for her classic Frankenstein story from the unusually bad weather. I’m not sure that I could ever go so far as to write a horror story like that, but I will definitely keep using the weather as a (pardon the pun) barometer for my characters’ moods in the future.

Do you have a favorite season? Inquiring minds want to know!

Romanticism versus Romance Novels

Interestingly enough, the modern romance novel is not Romantic in the proper sense of the word.

Much like the word Liberal, the word Romance has decayed from its original meaning to encompass something virtually anathemic to its originators.

The Romantic movement is the idealization of emotion, desire, and freedom from constraint.  It places an extraordinary value on the world we live in, and most importantly our reactions to that world.  This is embodied in a love of nature, a love of passion, a love of love.  On the surface, this could really seem to indicate a commonality.  After all, aren’t romance novels about love?

The problem is, romance novels aren’t at all about freedom from constraint, but a surrender to it.  The most important literary figure of the romantic movement is the Byronic Hero.  The Byronic Hero is a flawed, chaotic being, a sort of fatal force that compels people toward the reckless, the freeing.  By his very definition the Byronic Hero is also doomed, unable to change or redeem himself from his most fundamental flaws.  This is what makes him Romantic, the ability to be himself despite all surrounding impulse, good or bad.  There can be no happily ever after for the Byronic Hero, and yet that’s what the modern romance novel demands of him.

The modern romance is about taming the wild heart.  Pick up any romance book with some sort of warrior on the cover, and see how soon it asks ‘can she tame him’ or something of like mind.  Next, go to any publisher of romantic books, and see how long you can go until they insist on a HEA (happily ever after) or at the very least a HFN (happy for now).

Of course language changes over time, and I don’t begrudge it.  But all the same, there is a value in remembering where our words have come from.  So next time you consider picking up a romance novel, perhaps consider also finding a good Romantic one.

My Summer To-do List

Every New Year’s Day I make resolutions (doesn’t everyone?) and over the years, I have kept quite a few. Most, however, are recycled into the next year, the following year, and so on. I guess you can say that I am not meticulous about New Year’s resolutions.

What I do make and keep, on the other hand, is my summer to-do list. The list is always short and filled with things I really, really want to accomplish. This year’s list is no exception:

1. Biking.  I love biking. I feel free and calm, with the world rolling passed my eyes at a eisurely pace. I haven’t gotten to do it for quite some time due to health reasons, but this year I am treating myself to a brand new bicycle and touring the neighborhood.
2. Read a good book. I love reading, and there is nothing better than lazing an afternoon away in the garden with a good book and a glass of iced tea.
3.  Travel. I have not been able to travel like I used to (see #1 for reason), but that’s all behind me now. Long trip or short, I want to go to new places and do things I have always wanted to do with the one I love.

Do you have a summer to-do list?