Do blondes have more fun? Having had two or three other hair colors over my lifetime, I should be a good judge as to whether a blonde has more fun than a brunette. However, I haven’t been able to see any difference. I do know when confronted with something beyond my immediate understanding, I can point out that I’m blonde or say I’m having a blonde moment. I am always granted a smile and unbelievable understanding and patience. The truth be told, I tried to make it as a brunette, but it just didn’t work because people expected me to know things.
To be honest, this blonde writer’s ignorance doesn’t have to do with hair color as much as the fact that I’d never befriended an author and hadn’t a clue of what being a writer entailed. Without a writer’s group in the early years to steer me along, I had to learn things the hard way.
I set out to write the perfect inspirational book. I had a hard time thinking about changing anything I’d written as it came to me upon inspiration. Which is all well and good, but was told after my first critique that people didn’t want to be preached at, they wanted to be entertained. I believe I paid $400 for that information. Now I know a more subtle approach would be a better way to go about getting a message across. I’ve also learned not to pay for a critique. Once I got over that inspired writing thing, I learned that each free critique partner since has had something important to impart to me about my writing. I believe it does take a village to write a great book.
In those early years I thought that I could only write when I was stress-free, because that’s when the inspiration would flow. Then one day a writer told me that the book her fans liked the most was written during a very stressful time in her life. I wish she had added that I would never get any writing done if I waited for a time without stress. Is there ever a time without stress? What I know now is that writing has taken my mind off of stressful events, such as my mother’s recent death and moving to another state.
I joined Romance Writer’s of America and watched others do a book-in-a-week or month (i.e., writing for a specific time line without stopping to edit), but I didn’t believe I could do that so instead, I partook the only way I could: by editing the first chapter over and over and over, before I could move forward.
Finally, I attempted to set up a writing schedule while attending to a full-time job. I can’t believe all the writing I’ve gotten done since implementing a routine. With a schedule in place, I started to rethink the book-in-a-month. Where I once thought I could never simply write and not go back and edit, I decided to try it. While writing, I didn’t know if I could salvage any of the story, but later when I read through it, I found much of it usable.
I deny that the years have made me older, but I am wiser. I think I may be starting to think like a writer. One would have to agree I’m finally on the pathway to being a successful writer. Perhaps now, I even know enough to be a brunette.
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