And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the
magic of beginnings. ~ Meister Eckhart
This
explains why, although I have only nine-going-on-ten published books and just a
few old and forever-unsold manuscripts, I have a virtual drawerful of Chapter
One through Chapter Threes. Some of them, it must be said, I regret not
finishing—Molly Linden’s story still wakes me in the middle of the night
occasionally with an insomnia-inducing “what if you did this instead of that?”
mantra.
Most
of those beginnings, though, shouldn’t really have happened. They are what I
did when I got to Chapter Six or Chapter Eight of the work in progress
and...oh, crap, it wouldn’t go anywhere. It is the occasional plight of a
pantser, when the whole flying by the seat of said pants runs out of gas and
you’re grounded because you have no conflict. Your hero lacks oomph. You have
no black moment—not even a dove gray one that will darken the horizon before,
voila, the sun of the happily ever after starts struggling up over the land
line.
A
reason I’m here—aside from the fact that I really love writing blog posts and
Brenda said I could come and take her day—is that my editor just called the
other day and offered a contract for my next book in the Harlequin Heartwarming
line. I spent the afternoon zipping around like one of those battery bunnies,
meeting my husband at the door with “guess what!” and planning (several times)
how I would spend my advance. This was my behavior on the first sale—why should
the 10th be any different?
I
don’t have a release date yet, and goodness knows my title of The Winter of Letting Go, probably won’t
stick, but the word “contract” gives instant birth to the word “promotion.” So,
by all means, remember I have a book coming out...er...sometime with the title
of...er...something, and I hope you enjoy it a lot. Oh, and here’s my whole
backlist at a glance: http://ow.ly/Hqpd3
Okay,
commercial’s over—back to beginnings. The book I just sold was shockingly
difficult to write. It took ten months or so, not a
really long time for me, but it seemed longer. Because I had trouble with those
things I listed up there: the conflict, the oomph, the black moment. Because
one time I closed the file and mentally consigned it to that drawer of beginnings.
Well, not exactly one time—it was more like a dozen times.
But
every morning, I opened the file again. And there is a lesson in this. Not for
everyone, but definitely for me.
Beginnings,
as the starting quote of this post says, are magic. When it is the right time.
When the reason for the beginning is that yesterday or the day before or last
Friday at midnight, there was a finishing. When I only begin a new story
because writing the old one has defeated me, there is no magic in that, only
desperation and more than a hint of self-pity.
Maybe
it is time to empty that drawer (except maybe for Molly Linden’s story—I so like her) and just start a new story
when the last one is finished. When the time is right and the beginning really
is magic.
Thanks for having me here today. I wish you
all magic beginnings and happy endings!
Retired from the
post office, Liz Flaherty spends non-writing time sewing, quilting, and doing
whatever else she wants to. She and Duane live in the old farmhouse in Indiana
they moved to in 1977. They’ve talked about moving, but really…30-some years’ worth of stuff? It’s not happening!
She’d love to
hear from you at lizkflaherty@gmail.com
or please come and see her at:
22 comments:
Liz, When I started with a small press in 2007, I was given the chance to finish those first chapters that had never been finished and possibly rejected by traditional publishers. Today I count 20 books to my name. I think there's only one idea unfinished from back in the day. Sometime I'll get around to it too.
I love the title. Hope you get to keep it. I read every word of McGruffey's.
Great post, Liz.
I love dusting off my old stuff just to see what was on my mind at the time and thinking if I can find the fix the story needed that I couldn't realize way back when I wrote it.
: )
Have a great day.
Happy writing,
Deb
Congrats on the contract, Liz! I have a couple of unfinished books but only one that came to a grinding stop after a couple of chapters.Maybe one of these days... Except, there are too many new beginnings out there calling!
Writing may be the hardest form of art, but the most fulfilling. Guess I'm biased. Good luck with your story.
I think Molly may be trying to tell you something, Liz... :) Congrats on the new contract. I do love my beginnings and have my own folder/drawer full of 'em. Someday...
I have a few manuscripts hidden away that consist of a Chapter 1 to 3. But there's a reason for that. Mostly that they had no place to go. They were a cute meet. The end. So I doubt I'll ever dust them off and try again. For me, it's better to start new.
Congratulations on your new contract, Liz! Now I'm no longer embarrassed to admit I have several "beginnings" tucked away. When I first started writing, I wrote one book then moved straight to the next. When I finished that one, I moved to the next one, etc. Then I had a crisis of confidence. I wanted to try a better-selling genre so I left one partial behind. (I still love that story and may finish and self-pub it one day just for fun.) After I published my first romantic suspense, I started a second in the series then a new contemporary series, just in case the RS didn't do well. You see where I'm going with this. I still intend to write all these books if I don't run out of steam. I just need a better plan and more FOCUS!
Hi, Liz. Congrats! again on the new contract. I don't have any beginnings in the drawer, but I have some really awful manuscripts. Ha ha. I'm sure some of them started in the wrong place because back then I wasn't into slicing and dicing and every word seemed important. One day, if the new stories
ever dry up, I'll take a look and see if anything is salvageable.
Jan, most of mine don't have that much merit (other than Molly and one other that I can think of). It's only ego that keeps me from permanently deleting them. :-) I'm so glad for you, though!
Ah, Pam, thank you so much! The very sweetest words to a writer's ears.
It is fun to do that, isn't it, Debra? I know that's why Molly Linden's calling to me!
That's what I was discovering, Jannine, but I wasn't finishing. :-( It was definitely a wake-up call for me. Thanks for coming by!
Thanks so much, Cotton. I love it a lot, too.
Thanks, Kristi. I'm hoping for an opportunity to listen to Molly. :-)
That's what mine end up being, Jana--cute meets. So cut it's hard not to use them, but if there's no story, there just isn't. Sigh.
I still have trouble with that, Roben--starting in the right place, I mean. The few I had that never sold really were...awful. Then there was the one I kept thinking I'd remember to back up and 200 pages later, the computer crashed. I'm sure, of course, that one would have been a bestseller! :-)
LOL, Alison--I have confidence in you!
Congratulations on the contract! This is such a great topic!
I have one of those drawers too - well, more like a plastic bag shoved in the back of my darkened wardrobe. I'm never sure if I should resurrect them or not.
Oh, you should, Louise--just in case you ever doubt your own growth!
I'm late to this conversation--work has returned and my Internet time is less frequent. Great post and yes, yes to having a drawer full of beginnings--or in my case, a box full of notes and beginnings. Sometimes an idea may have to stew for several years and pulling those out every so often can be surprising. One day, that beginning could go somewhere.
Glad for the work coming back--I know you were worried. See you soon!
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