Recently I
received a phone call from an aspiring writer who had gotten my number from a mutual friend. She wanted to know if we could meet for coffee and discuss the business of writing. Discuss the business of writing? Hah! Yeah boy, I can do that. We meet at a wonderful specialty cup cake bakery and after our selection of cup cakes and beverage we cozied up to one of the tables. In case you are wondering, I got a really scrumptious coffee cake cup cake. It was totally yummy. She told me she wanted to write a book. I remember those days. I still have them. One of the main questions she asked me was how did I get started, how many books had I written and how did I get them published. The book count is the easy part.
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That's just a number. The harder part was getting started. I've always loved to write. I remember even as a child and well into my adulthood I keep journals. I wrote about everything. I also wrote short stories and articles, however in most cases they were tucked away and forgotten and I definitely never wrote a full length novel.
It took the poking and prodding of a friend to make me see and understand my vision. One of the things she did was thrust a romance book in my hand and begged me to read it. I really didn't want too, because my book shelf housed, mystery, suspense, horror and thrillers. I was not familiar with the romance novel. Go figure. It was Felicia Mason's 'Body and Soul' that opened my eyes to the wonderful world of romance. I loved the book and I've loved romance every since. I told my new bakery buddy the best way to write a book is to stop talking about it and do it. Yes, I know, it's harder than you think. Much harder than mere words. But we have to start somewhere. Take that idea and start jotting down thoughts, words, paragraphs. Even a sentence will do.
Don't worry about editing and don't worry about getting it published. You can't edit what you don't have and you can't publish what you don't finish. It's just that easy. Okay, stop laughing. I know it's not easy. Writing books is probably one of the hardest jobs I've ever had and I've been a registered nurse for over two decades. It's not so much the putting the words on paper and as much as I hate editing, it's not even that. The hard part is making sure you don't disappoint your readers. Lucky for me I have very forgiving readers. They understand that we too have bad days and sometimes life gets in the way. and on more than one occasion me will miss a deadline or release date.
But if you don't put the words on the paper and get the paper into their hands you will never know how great it feels to have someone come up to you and say 'great book.' Thanks to Felicia Mason for writing a great book. Thanks to Margo for making me write my first book and definitely thanks to the readers for purchasing and reading my books.
Now keep reading for a snippet of my work in progress. It will be released early 2015. Sorry.
Saint's Bayou
Tyson sucked Raine’s finger between his lips. Her breath hitched when his tongue stroked along its length, when he pulled on it. He laid her down onto the bed, touched her, kissed her. He wanted this to be special. He wanted to make love to her the old fashioned way, drawn out kisses and strokes. He wanted her pliable under his hands. He wanted her gasping for breath and begging him to allow her to orgasm. And when she couldn’t take it anymore, when his body screamed for release just as loudly, he’d slid into her in long drawn out strokes, rekindling the fires that burned so deep within them that when it was over their skin would be burned from their bodies. The curtains in his apartment would go up in flames as would the mattress and sheets. When he’d finished with her she wouldn’t know her name. She wouldn’t be able to move, much less walk. When he finished with her, she would have no choice but to come back to him because without him she’d die. Pretty much as he would die without her.
received a phone call from an aspiring writer who had gotten my number from a mutual friend. She wanted to know if we could meet for coffee and discuss the business of writing. Discuss the business of writing? Hah! Yeah boy, I can do that. We meet at a wonderful specialty cup cake bakery and after our selection of cup cakes and beverage we cozied up to one of the tables. In case you are wondering, I got a really scrumptious coffee cake cup cake. It was totally yummy. She told me she wanted to write a book. I remember those days. I still have them. One of the main questions she asked me was how did I get started, how many books had I written and how did I get them published. The book count is the easy part. .jpg)
That's just a number. The harder part was getting started. I've always loved to write. I remember even as a child and well into my adulthood I keep journals. I wrote about everything. I also wrote short stories and articles, however in most cases they were tucked away and forgotten and I definitely never wrote a full length novel. 
It took the poking and prodding of a friend to make me see and understand my vision. One of the things she did was thrust a romance book in my hand and begged me to read it. I really didn't want too, because my book shelf housed, mystery, suspense, horror and thrillers. I was not familiar with the romance novel. Go figure. It was Felicia Mason's 'Body and Soul' that opened my eyes to the wonderful world of romance. I loved the book and I've loved romance every since. I told my new bakery buddy the best way to write a book is to stop talking about it and do it. Yes, I know, it's harder than you think. Much harder than mere words. But we have to start somewhere. Take that idea and start jotting down thoughts, words, paragraphs. Even a sentence will do. 
Don't worry about editing and don't worry about getting it published. You can't edit what you don't have and you can't publish what you don't finish. It's just that easy. Okay, stop laughing. I know it's not easy. Writing books is probably one of the hardest jobs I've ever had and I've been a registered nurse for over two decades. It's not so much the putting the words on paper and as much as I hate editing, it's not even that. The hard part is making sure you don't disappoint your readers. Lucky for me I have very forgiving readers. They understand that we too have bad days and sometimes life gets in the way. and on more than one occasion me will miss a deadline or release date. 
But if you don't put the words on the paper and get the paper into their hands you will never know how great it feels to have someone come up to you and say 'great book.' Thanks to Felicia Mason for writing a great book. Thanks to Margo for making me write my first book and definitely thanks to the readers for purchasing and reading my books. 
Now keep reading for a snippet of my work in progress. It will be released early 2015. Sorry.
Saint's Bayou
Tyson sucked Raine’s finger between his lips. Her breath hitched when his tongue stroked along its length, when he pulled on it. He laid her down onto the bed, touched her, kissed her. He wanted this to be special. He wanted to make love to her the old fashioned way, drawn out kisses and strokes. He wanted her pliable under his hands. He wanted her gasping for breath and begging him to allow her to orgasm. And when she couldn’t take it anymore, when his body screamed for release just as loudly, he’d slid into her in long drawn out strokes, rekindling the fires that burned so deep within them that when it was over their skin would be burned from their bodies. The curtains in his apartment would go up in flames as would the mattress and sheets. When he’d finished with her she wouldn’t know her name. She wouldn’t be able to move, much less walk. When he finished with her, she would have no choice but to come back to him because without him she’d die. Pretty much as he would die without her.
Excellent post, Denise. Yes, the advice seems simple, yet it's something both new and published writers often need to be reminded of. Stop talking, dreaming and planning and just do it.
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