Over the past couple weeks, my writing prayer has been: Lord, help me grow. That’s my goal for the next four months. Not to find representation. Not to get a contract. But to simply grow. And boy, has God answered. I think I am officially going through my second growth spurt as a writer.
My first occurred last summer, after I submitted fifteen pages of Through the Storm for a professional critique. I naively believed my feedback would go something like this: “There’s nothing to critique! I’m quite shocked this isn’t already on bookshelves, actually. In fact, here’s my card. Give me a ring and I’ll set you up with one of my agent friends.”
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Okay… so maybe I wasn’t that naive. But I did live in La-La Land.
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Here’s how the comments really went: “You are bringing the reader into everybody’s head. You need to pick a point of view and stick with it. At one point, you even bring us into the dog’s head!” This is a true story. I actually wrote a sentence where the family dog could smell the wife’s grief. I head hopped all over the place, and I didn’t even know it was wrong. That critique was the impetus of my first growth spurt. I checked out a stack of books from the library on the craft of writing and completely rehauled my first two manuscripts. God used last summer to stretch me in a big way.
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And it seems He is using these four months before the ACFW conference to stretch me again. I am learning so many things at such a fast rate that I wish I could crack open my skull and dump them in at once. Only I want to coat everything in super glue first – just to make sure it all sticks. Between my contest results, recent articles/blogs, and some new people God has placed in my life – my writing muscles are stretching further than I thought possible. It’s like I have this insatiable appetite that won’t go away. I want to get my mouth around every morsel of information and digest it as quick as possible. It’s a very exhilarating time.
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As a side note: I just ordered Goal, Motivation, and Conflict online. I’ve heard is a phenomenal book.
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Question to Ponder: What growth spurts have you gone through during your writing journey? What caused them? What did you learn from them?
Debra Dixon’s GMC is first-rate.
Every time I submit something for critique, I’m always surprised to discover that the work wasn’t perfect. LOL You polish and polish and polish, but there are still things you just don’t see.
I saw a comment in here about you looking for a professional editor—do you know that you can find critique partners via writers’ conferences or, say, Romance Writers of America? And you don’t have to pay them.
The first time I got a contest entry back, the first time I got a deep critique, the first time I read Writing the Breakout Novel, the first conference I went to, the first content edit…all those firsts were growing/stretching experiences for me.
Then there was the second time I got a contest entry back, the second deep critique, the second readthrough of Breakout Novel, etc.
Most recently, I read Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker (Warning, not a CBA book!) I learned so much about showing vs. telling, characterization, and writing in the male POV from that book. I’ve read it twice now, and the sequel Resolution. Better than a showing/telling writing workshop.
Hopefully we can learn together! Whatever you learn about characters – please share! I think I want to purchase Brandilyn Collins’ book about characters. I’ve heard it’s good.
Hi Katie-
I just got my comments back from two contests and the results were unanimous: good voice, good dialogue…flat characters and settings.
So that’s where I’m heading this summer – learning to consistently use all five senses in my writing.
I very much relate to where you’re at. I’m setting my mss aside for a few months and am going back to the books: genre and craft.
I hope you learn tons!
Hey Jeannie – don’t you wish there was more time in the day? I posted a long time ago about how I wish I didn’t need to sleep. Think about how much extra time we would have!!
Jody – I decided to hold off on that for now. But I’m definitely still interested. Tiffany Colter sounds awesome, and so do a few others – like Camy Tang and The Book Therapy group. That might be something I pursue after the ACFW conference – not sure yet. 🙂
Sounds like you’re doing the right thing to prepare for ACFW! Did you find ever find a professional editor? Or are you waiting on that? I know it’s not for everyone, but I know you’d check into names, so I was curious to know if you’d decided on anyone yet!
hey….i ordered GMC online, too! sounds like a great book….i just have to find the time to read it. 🙂
I was definitely (there it is!) an adverb junkie. I still have to be on high alert to ensure I don’t overuse these parts of speech! And that’s so true about God – the more I know Him, the more I realize how messed up I am!
Oh Katie your journey sounds so familiar!!!! It’s fun but scary to be stretched. SOmtimes I look back at the last year and how much I’ve learned, and think, if I learn THAT much this NEXT year… WOW. But I think it’s kinda like growing closer to God. The closer you get, the more you realize just how much father you have to go. *grin*
Head hopping was a learning experience for me too, but even more so was the deletion of overused adverbs/adjectives. I “suddenly”ed EVERYTHING!
GMC sounds like a GREAT book. I need to order it myself, but first I need to finish the two craft books I still haven’t read that I already bought.
The learning most definitely never stops! I’m just eager to gulp it all down. I better be careful, because I could easily give myself a bellyache. It’s like I want to know everything right away, when that’s not possible. I’m choosing to look at it with the glass half full… I have so much to learn, so much room to grow! Instead of overwhelming, I’m going to call it exciting!
The more I read, the more growth I encounter, Katie. And I’m always reading. And, yes, sometimes I feel like the overload alarm is screaming out at me. I’m still trying to figure out how to balance it all.
But I do know that I never want to stop learning, but to be satisfied with the writing from what I know now would be a nice breather every now and then. But, unfortunately, when you keep learning you continually realize that there is always more ways to improve your work and so the edits never seem to stop. That’s the danger and a dilemma I need to figure out how to control yet.
GMC by Debra Dixon is a great tool, well worth studying. I’m reading through The Moral Premise right now and finding it fascinating too. Next is The Fire in Fiction and How to Write a Selling Screenplay on my self-help list. Just got them in the mailbox through amazon today. The learning just never stops.