Back to Basics

Last Sunday I decided to put all the pressures of "trying to be a writer" aside and took my mini-laptop to the coffee shop to write away from the distractions of home. There was no reliable Internet connection either, which was a good thing. I've been trying to write online hoping to actually earn a little bit from my writing. But I needed to step away from that, get back to basics and break through the next barrier in the novel I was working on.

I sat in the comfy chair with my flavored Iced Americano and wrote on my current novel while my battery drained from 100% to 10%. I went home, recharged, and rode the momentum and extra caffeine until I had written over 2000 words. During the week, I wrote every day on the bus on my way to work. Not much, but it added up. Last night, I got an extra hour or so in before heading to a reading at the Loft, and this morning I was going to write on the novel for just a little bit before starting my blog. And here it is afternoon. My running total for this week's novel progress is over 5300 words. My total word count just passed the 50,000 mark. I'm less than half way done. I'm hoping to complete the draft this year. Despite a relatively prolific week, I tend to be a slow writer. I actually started the novel a few years ago, taking several hiatuses to write shorter fiction, poetry, other articles, and sometimes not much of anything.

One of the things that pushed me into my writing frenzy was attending a reading promoting Christopher Meek's new novel. The Brightest Moon of The Century. Meeks began his writing quest with mostly short stories (which are very good) but the agents told him he needed a novel. He began the process by stringing stories together, and found a way to connect them into his novel, which I have yet to read but will get to eventually.

In nearly every reading the topic of the writing process usually comes up. Writing in the morning is common, and works best for me as well when I can manage it -- but with my daughter's clock radio blaring at five a.m. my weekday morning quiet time is limited. Elissa Elliot mentioned in her recent reading of her novel Eve that she is diligent about her schedule, and following her outline.

My "rules" are far more scattered, but do work for me when I make a point to follow them. I don't make formal outlines. The current, in progress novel, Almighty Whispers in Our Souls the prequel to my novel No Sensible People, has a loose outline of sorts embedded in that book as the characters make some references to their past.

Since the books are connected I have to make sure I stay consistent. But for the most part, I simply work an idea into it's proper frame. Depending on the scope of the idea and conflict, the complexity of the characters, the completeness of the desired resolution and impact you hope to make on the reader along the way. If a short poem is a wallet sized photo, Almighty Whispers is on it's way to becoming at least an 11 x14 portrait. No Sensible People as a shorter novel (about 200 pages), and is more like an 8 x10. In the case of my novels, the idea comes before the frame. In some of my other writing -- such as my blog, my poetry, and some of my shorter stories I aim for a topic that will fit the frame.

Like any writer, after all the advice and examples, I have to decide what makes writing important to me, how much consistency or variety I need, and in the end what basic elements of the process leave me fulfilled. Meeks said one thing about his schedule that I took away. Like me, he balances his writing with a "day job." But he said, " I give myself my best hours." Such a basic concept. Such a basic rule. No matter how many hours we spend on other things, taking time to give ourselves our best makes a huge difference.

In the effort to market No Sensible People, and get my name "out there" through various Internet articles, attempting to earn a little chump change in the process I lost sight of some of these basics. Most importantly, the joy of creation.

There are no vampires, dragons or wizards in either of my novels, which probably means any future profits will be low -- if they exist at all. But this week I had the satisfaction of being truly surprised and inspired by characters born in my own mind, one of the main reasons why I've been serious about writing since I was seven years old. It's those moments of surprise and inspiration that I have the most faith that perhaps others might be find a little inspiration from them too. You can't put a value on that.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin's Blog is syndicated weekly on

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