Tuesday's Inspiration ala Flannery O'Connor - More on limitations #amwriting

Once again, this is about limitations. "There is only one answer....and that is one writes what one can." Flannery O'Connor.

When I read this I wondered what it meant and the answer I found for me was that's exactly what I do. There are some books I won't write. Horror stories, science fiction unless it might deal with ESP, highly technical action adventure. That's because my mind doesn't work in that direction. I do read most of these types except horror.

Another way this limitation works for me is that I'm most comfortable in the 50,000 to 80,000 word length. I can and have written shorter stories but they're harder to write. Longer stories, perhaps once and that's because it's a trilogy all in a single book.

The third way this limitation works for me is that I don't like dismal endings. This means that I write genre novels that can have a positive ending.

How about you, do you see your limitations as holding you back or are they for you the canvas upon which you write your stories?

Monday - July 2 - Behind and Ahead

I will admit that I usually have to persuade myself that the rough draft is fun but this time it really is. I often rough draft a book that in the end will be sixty to eighty thousand worda at about 10 to 20 thousand. Why? Many of the scenes I plan to write end up with just a few words., suck as "They make love." Fight scene goes here." Not happening this time. I'm aiming for a 60 thousand story and am prologue plus two chapters in and have 8 thousand words. Hope this doesn't mean the book will be a real epic adventure. Guess I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Sent off The Micro-manager Murder to the publisher and am waiting to hear. Have a tendency to become a bit impatient but I''ll wait for several weeks before jogging publisher's mind. The one thing I will not do is wait nearly a year to discover nothing was going on. I'm sure that's because this time I chose the wrong house to put the book out. But that's another story.

This week I will continue with the rough draft. Won't finish it until perhaps next week but so far I'm having fun. Called Lines of Fire and is part of a trilogy. If I manage to complete this there will be a 12 book cycle featuring the Guilds of a Guild House. Working on the Defender's Guild and there are problems within and possibly without. Complications are what makes a story and handing problems to the characters drive a story forward.

So how about you? Do rough drafts go smoothly or with ruts in the road? Do you have trouble waiting to hear from a publisher?