Fun day today. Went to a writing meeting with my fellow SMRW members. We had a great guest speaker, Kim Law from Nashville Music City Romance Writers. She showed us how her wacky brain works and how she figured out how to successfully write a book. She’s a mathematician so she is big into numbers, spreadsheets, breaking things down into percentages. She blew our minds away and left some members feeling lost, but because this system works for her doesn’t mean it will work for everyone and she told us that. I even assured the panicky members that they didn’t have to do it. That not everyone does. But I can see where they are coming from. We’ve had two months workshop on character arcs and plotting, deconstructing books which can show a writer really fast where their weaknesses lie. I have tried to move away from being a pants-er and tried to plot more, but it is hard. Frankly because I feel that if I think the process too much then I stifle the creativity. I know I wrote more and had loads more fun writing before I learned so much craft. But learning craft is what gets you published.
I did develop a migraine today. I felt it coming on and it got worse as the morning wore on so I had to skip out on lunch and come home, but at least I got to see my writing buddies for a few and share with them.
Leanne Tyler 