As A Writer

You are told when you first start out that you will need this special pen, this neat desk, these important advice books, this lamp and so on. As a budding new writer, one who has decided to take their scribbles and do something with them, or at least try to, you get a lot of advice as to what you will have to have, what you must have to undertake this path.

First off, most of these have to's are pure bullshit. You really only need a notebook and a pen. Really. Seriously. That is it. A good paperback dictionary is also a good thing.

When I first knew I wanted to write, I was about 9. After several years of doodles and scribbles and really awful stories, I pursued art for awhile, then returned to writing. By the age of 15 I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to write. I wanted to entertain with stories. I had no grand dream of writing the great American novel, that always seemed pompous to me. I simply wanted to tell good tales.

For many years I wrote everything in spiral notebooks and on college ruled loose leaf notebook paper. Thick three ring binders were my best friends. It takes years to learn your craft, to grow and develop as a writer. When you reach that point where you are ready to submit to an editor or agent or publisher, you need two things: a typewriter (way back then) or a computer today and a copy of Writer's Market for short stories & novels. The basic manuscript mechanics are detailed in the WM. But you can also go to your local library and save yourself $28. These are the basic tools, nothing else. With so many publishers accepting electronic submissions, you are spared the expense of postage, mailer bags, good paper and carbon for copies.

Today's new writer has it a lot easier than those of us from the 80's or early 90's had it. With the ability to keep track of submissions and manuscript copies, and saving a copy of outgoing mail in your email it makes taking writing seriously a lot easier. It still does not hurt to keep a ledger on hand so you can jot down what you sent where and to whom. I find that is a good way to keep track of all my submissions in one easy to find place. But it isn't a have to have.

Anyone tell you a whole long list of things you need, is full of shit. Your biggest tool and asset is your imagination and creativity. Learn to check your spelling and grammar, use your spell check often and consistently and you have overcome the hurdles. Oh, and try to cultivate a professional manner, it will take you farther than anything else.

The Real Work

You know it's a funny fact of life when you're a writer you go through a lot of ups and downs, joys and pains. When you are writing, you are creating, you are world building, you are developing characters, hoping they will turn into people, not just some random cardboard cut-out that you push around on the page.

After the creating, after the hard but enjoyable effort of crafting a story, you get hit with the REAL work: edits and proofs and sweating bullets. Probably the hardest thing to face is your new baby's flaws. It isn't fun, it isn't easy, but it will make your work 100% better in the long run.

This is where I have been lately. My big book of sexy romps and secret twists and turns must be faced head on and told what it needs to be put through to make it the best story it can be. I often liken this process to trimming the fat. You want to take off the excess fat, but leave enough there to flavor the meat (if you are a meat eater), because if there is too much fat it ruins a good cut, and if there is too little it will be dry and tough.

When this manuscript was put into the proper format for submission, it hit 907 pages. Eek! It also came close to 250K words. Yikes. Now this behemoth is being scrutinized, re-read and edited, trimmed, then gone over again. Honestly, if not for Cain's help on this book, it would not be ready for anyone else to see for another 6 months at least! He is a life saver, and a fair judge of what could be smoothed out or streamlined.

One of the processes we are going through, is reading sections out loud for flow and sense. What sounds awesome in your head can sound like garbled shit on the page. Trust me, I have often written some pretty shitty monkey-speech, Now it's on with the pooper scooper and (crossing fingers!) a tighter, smoother book that is not 900+ pages long!