Category: Writing

How to Cure Writing Avoidance

This Memorial Day weekend should have been very relaxing for me. I was off from my day job, and I could spend the day writing if I wanted to. So that’s what I tried to do. However, instead of popping out ten or twenty pages today, I found myself practicing Writing Avoidance.

It wasn’t a severe case of Writing Avoidance. No, the symptoms of that are the sudden need to clean out the refrigerator, basement or attic. I was only suffering from stationary Writing Avoidance, where I remained in my desk chair but found myself doing things other than writing.

For example, I would write a sentence or two, then check my email. Then come back and write a couple more sentences, then check my Twitter. Write a couple more sentences and start surfing the web for American Idol interviews. Change a couple of sentences, then realize there is a Bones marathon on, so maybe I should check out a couple of episodes (even though I own all of them on DVD).

This, dear readers, is Writing Avoidance.

I knew something was bugging me today, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. And because I couldn’t put my finger on it, the doubts crept in. I am on deadline with a book. Will I finish it in time? The editor recently read my first few chapters to better design the cover copy, and it was a nail-biter while she was reading it. But she gave me the okay to keep going. I should be over the moon, right? But the doubts had already sunk their claws deep into my psyche.

The market is tight. What if they don’t like the book?
What if they want me to rewrite the book?
I can’t seem to get those first chapters right. Why is that? Is the magic gone?
This book seems harder to write than all the others. Maybe I’m losing my touch.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Writing Avoidance or not, I needed to get pages written today. My deadline looms before me, and I pride myself on turning in my manuscripts on time. But how to get past this funk? How to convince my muse to stop sulking and get to work?

The best cure for this is to call another writer.

So I did just that, called my friend Susan Meier, who talked me off the ledge and reminded me of all the important answers to those questions.

The market is tight. What if they don’t like the book?
The editor already read it. She likes what you’re doing. Next question.

What if they want me to rewrite the book?
See #1. Also remind yourself that this is your twelfth book for them, and your last book required minimum revisions.

I can’t seem to get those first chapters right. Why is that? Is the magic gone?
This is your process. You do this with every book. You hammer at those first chapters, looking for the story, and then when you find it…ZOOM! The book spills onto the page at warp speed.

This book seems harder to write than all the others. Maybe I’m losing my touch.
Every book is harder than the last because you grow as an author with each one. If it were easy, everyone would do it. You’re not losing your touch; you’re just experiencing growing pains.

Only another writer could understand the frustration of Writing Avoidance, especially one who is familiar with your patricular process. It’s not just that the work is not getting done; it’s also that there is something interfering with your creativity. However, once you understand what is bugging you (such as, say, tension from feeling overwhelmed), you can work through it and get on with business.

This is why writers need other writers. Sometimes there is no one else in the world who could possibly understand. And it’s amazing how ten minutes on the phone with another writer can do more to cure your Writing Avoidance than an hour talking to anyone else.

Remembering Donna Hendricks

From Jackie Hyman

Regrettably, I don’t have any photos of Donna, although I spent a lot of time with her. I doubt she would have willingly allowed herself to be photographed, as she was quite private.

At first, I knew Donna mainly as the regular volunteer photographer at RWA events. She went out of her way not only to memorialize everyone’s achievements but also to give me prints for my scrapbook, in that pre-digital age.

I feel strongly that fate meant for Donna and me to become friends. After she suffered a stroke at an RWA meeting, she was taken to Brea Community Hospital (which has since been torn down), only about a mile from my home. When I visited her, I discovered that her only family was her stepfather, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. I made a point of stopping in to see her daily, bringing books and offering moral support.

After she returned home, we began meeting for lunch at a Denny’s restaurant between our homes. It was always a joy to see her smiling face and hear about her writing, which she worked on very hard. Unfortunately, she didn’t dare submit it to publishers because, being disabled and dependent on Medicare, she couldn’t afford to earn money that might put her coverage at risk.

Even when she wasn’t well enough to attend RWA meetings, Donna maintained a deep interest in our doings and rooted for our members to succeed with their writing. Our group meant a great deal to her, and her generous spirit will remain with me always.

From Betty Dempsey

Donna and I met at an OC RWA meeting at the Fullerton library. We were both newbies and formed an instant bond.

Before we left that day we were in a critique group with Bronwyn Wolfe, Kay Bryant and Geeta Kakade.

We started meeting weekly at Geeta’s place and Donna and I got to know each other well.

Our claim to fame , as a critique group was that we were all so happy when Bronwyn got published.

Besides the group, Donna and I discovered we were hooked on old movies and TV shows. We always called each other to share a piece of movie/TV trivia.
We shared a love of Chinese food. We were both Pisces with our birthdays just a couple of days apart.

I’m glad I knew Donna.

From Geeta Kakade

I got to know Donna through our critique group.

She was shy but once she got going, she would laugh and laugh…she had a great sense of humor. Writing was close to her heart and she created one of the best villians, I have ever read about. He was funny yet bad and we would all crack up over his latest ‘crimes’, each week.

We lost touch when the critique group stopped meeting. Luckily I got to meet Donna twice while she was in hospital. She kept talking of wanting to get out of the hospital bed and re-write her books and sell them.

I think somewhere in Heaven she’s writing away…each book instantly published as she finishes it. Her halo gleams, her baby blues sparkle with the essence of well being, she giggles as she creates other villians like Toby. In her spare time, she searches for editors for the rest of us down here trying to connect us with our dreams.

It sounds like the beginning of a TV sitcom but that’s the picture I want to hold of Donna in my heart.