Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.
Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.
From one of Kelly’s readers: What keeps you motivated on tough writing days, and is there a moment in your journey so far that completely surprised you?
That’s a very good question. I suspect that my answer may be a familiar one.
When I first started writing, I was doing it strictly for myself. It was a way of getting the thoughts and ideas that I’d always had out of my head.
At first, I wanted nothing more than to hold a paperback of a story that I’d written in my hands and metaphorically wave it at all my teachers.
They were the ones who had told me I was stupid and useless and that I’d never be able to do much, let alone write a whole book. I’d already proved some of them wrong by getting a degree and commanding a ship, but the English teachers had been the most vociferous about my inability to string words together in any sensible order.
I achieved that aim in 2013 with my first novel, Freefall and rather hoped that would be the end of it. Nobody was more surprised than I when a second novel, Ribbonworld, appeared in 2015. I nervously showed it to an author whom my wife knew. She persuaded me to carry on and write more.
She also suggested that I shouldn’t keep what I’d written to myself.
So, here I am.
Whenever I’m feeling negative, I remind myself that I’ve achieved it all despite everyone telling me that I wouldn’t be able to.
I suppose you could say that I’m writing through the tough days for no other reason than to prove to myself, and the ghosts of my teachers, that the first novels weren’t a fluke. I can do it and keep on doing it.
So there!
I’m in the fortunate position of not having to rely on making money from writing to pay the bills. I have no targets or deadlines for my novels. If my mind is a blank today, I’ll go and do something else. When I’m in the zone, I’ll write a few extra blogposts and save them for the quiet days.
The continual surprise is that, occasionally, someone will leave a good review for one of my novels. It still astounds me that I write what people want to read.
Prompted by a reader, I entered one of my novels for an award and was amazed to get this accolade.
I wonder what my teachers would say about that? No doubt they would have some snarky comeback about how people’s standards had slipped.
It has to be my finest moment. So far.
What do you think about this week’s subject?
Let me know by leaving me a comment.
While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.
I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.
I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do. You can join my newsletter for a free novella and more news by clicking this link.
Leave a Reply