Look and Listen

Biography

It sounded so simple - bang out romances at the kitchen table (this was before typewriters had gone the way of the dinosaur) between trips to the mailbox to collect royalty checks. That was over 20 years ago. I've learned a few things since then. Books don't magically pour from my head onto the page. There's a lot of sweat and research and joy and hair-pulling involved. I tell my students to "just start writing" because it's easier to fix something that's actually on the page rather than floating around in your head. But sometimes that's easier said than done. Sometimes it's easier to throw another load of laundry in the washer or take the dog for a walk. The stories are still there, though. Haunting, coaxing, begging to be written. There's nothing quite as exciting as wringing a tear or a laugh from my readers.

Inspiration

I've noticed in my years of teaching professional writers' workshops that it's the younger students who usually drop out. They've come into the classroom with delusions of whipping out a book on their laptop in a couple of months, then collecting the six-figure royalty check waiting for them in the mailbox. When they discover writing a book is hard work, that sometimes it takes years to complete and years more to market, I never hear from them again. It's a pity. They'll never know the joy of bringing people to life on the page and putting them through a tidalwave of emotions, dropping them into impossible situations, letting them speak for themselves and sometimes take over the story.