I love this article that came out today about an 86 year old woman who has self-published a steamy romance novel. Â It just goes to prove you’re never too old to write! Â Not only that, but it’s a great exercise for your brain. Â Personally, I have to make myself lists not only in my writing but in my day to day activities. Â Writing causes a person to constantly reorganize and re-evaluate work.
I write several drafts and as I go through each draft I make little notes that will have to be addressed in the next draft. Â For instance in the book I’m working on now my notes look something like this:
*Where is the dog? Â Write him in! Â For goodness sake, you have a whole book dedicated to him and he can’t score a single scene in this one?
*Give Leo’s mother more lines. Â She’s melting into the background.
*Make sure you haven’t mentioned this fact before scene 2.12
And on and on and on. Â I really do take on the “character” of an editor in my notes. Â If I feel snarky about something, I just go on ahead and write that too. Â If I don’t constantly” laundry list” what I need to do, then I end up wasting precious writing time rethinking what is wrong with my manuscript. Â Sorry to have to tell you, I ALWAYS find something wrong. Â Maybe it’s perfectionism, but all you have to do is look at how I load a dishwasher to know I’m no perfectionist! Â I just don’t always get it right the first time.
I hope to be writing at 86. Â I know I’ll still be making mistakes, but that’s just part of the journey.
Just a reminder-my book Burnout will be free on Kindle from August 26 to 30! Â If you don’t have a copy, save the date!
love this! As I am writing a rough draft now, I will use your technique in my revisions! May we be rockin’ writers at 86. Ha! Sorry for the pun, but not really 🙂
Great! There’s hope for me yet! *LOL*