by Patience Bloom
We hope you had marvelous holidays and are ready to write some page-turning love stories this year. Doesn’t the world need a whole lot more HEA? I think so! To rev up your creative engines, let me offer a few good tips to get those ideas sparking and those pens (keyboards) flowing.
1. Tell Doubt to take a walk. It’s impossible to extinguish Doubt, even if you’re Stephen King (I’m imagining). Doubt can be good, especially when it keeps you from danger or needless silliness. But in honor of a new year and your writing, just tell Doubt, “Hey, I need to write this story. I have a good feeling about it, so please go away while I do this. Okay?” Now get to it.
2. Sometimes those resolutions to write endlessly burn out fast. It’s easy to give up on a project at the very beginning. When this happens to me, I do research related to my story. Is your heroine an architect? Read even more about designs she might like. Research pays off exponentially. You are exercising a different muscle, giving yourself a break from writing. You’ll notice writers often have fun tidbits to talk about because of research.
3. Try not to mix good writing and bad habits. Because writing takes its emotional and physical toll (from eating all the cookies if you’re me), I recommend — this may sound weird — treating yourself like an athlete. Do some kind of physical exercise, even if it’s chair dancing (and I’m not admitting I do this in an open concept office). I won’t go into all the benefits of exercise, but I like how it clears my mind. Eat well every day, get some fresh air, and smell the roses.
4. Rest assured, the highs and very low lows of writing are normal. So in essence, let that freak flag fly. You’re a writer! Imagine and create to your heart’s content. We need dreamers and writers to inspire us
5. For most, writing and publishing a romance novel is a marathon. It is a long journey and you may feel discouraged. The best way to keep writing is to focus on your love of writing, not how many books you need to publish per year in order to make a bestseller list. To write book after book, you have to love it.
We want to help you on the way and now ask if you would be so kind as to comment on issues you would like us to cover this year on our blog. We look forward to hearing from you!
