Meandering On Monday with Janet Lane Walters

Meander 1 - Writer's Block. I have been accused of never having writer's block and that's probably true, except there was a time when I didn't write. Not that I couldn't but I didn't. This was the time when I returned to work as a nurse and spent hours going after two degrees one in English and one in nursing. Though some of the writing I did during the quest for a BA in English were creative, they weren't stories to charm and entice readers. There was the one in Milton done is blank verse that the teacher thought was brilliant but just didn't fit the criteria. There was also the one where I set out to show my favorite poet was also the author of some plays when the author of the play vanished at the same time the poet had a life changing event. I will admit I had a great time writing these papers and I did get good grades but they weren't stories designed to wow readers. But about Writer's Block. I may not be the world's greatest writer but there are stories to be told and I find that organizing and writing what I call a chapter synopsis keeps me on target and keeps the words coming word after word. Probably it's because I'm stubborn and that's something that's come with age. And somehow, there's another story to be told. Now I do write a lot of things when I'm putting words on paper like They make love or there is a fight scene here. I always come back to these scenes when I'm ready.

Meander 2 Book reviews. I seldom seek them. I have friends who live and die by them. I've seen people stop writing because someone trashed their story. Frankly, I really don't care what other people think of my stories. What I feel about what I've written is important to me. This is also a process of aging. So if you've felt comfortable with your story keep writing. Beginnings are usually easy, middles might mean some slogging and endings are tricky. The real point is to be happy with what you've written and not letting the story get out to an editor until you're happy with it. Then ignore the reviewers.

Meander 3 My writing. Am working on two stories Rekindled Dreams is evolving more every day. I've made changes in the ending that brings changes throughout the entire story and that's fine. When the story is done I'll be happy with it. Sometimes I envy people who punch their stories out quickly and I've been accused of this at times but my stories don't come all that fast. Depends on the length. Am also working on The Amber Chronicles and I do believe the opening story in the collection is strong. The Amber Orb sets up the other stories in the collection and also means there need to be some changes made to the four already written stories in the collection. I also need to start getting stories that were released from a former publisher ready to go to Books We Love where I do believe they will have a better life than where they were before.