Warning: this is a no-edit zone….
The holidays are coming fast, and like everyone else, I’m paddling hard to keep my head above water. It’s been an amazing few weeks, with a lot of unexpected events and some pleasant surprises. More on those as events unfold.
For anyone following the Diary of a Novel, I expect you’re totally confused! Well, this is the way life goes for writers. You work on one project, then you have to shift to another, and then to yet another. Deadlines and the works don’t occur in a linear fashion. So you have to multi-task and flex between them, working on whatever needs working on at the time.
In the past week, I’ve worked on four different novels, two different promotion plans for two other novels. I’ve worked on background for the new WAR GAMES trilogy, on two lectures and three workshops that I’ll be doing in the coming year. I’ve nailed down the requirements (from me) on two conferences, and spent three precious hours looking for a disk on yet another novel that I can’t, for the life of me, locate.
I’ve also been blessed with spending an entire day with my oldest amazing granddaughter and spent three terrific hours with my youngest. (The highlights of my life, without a doubt!)
It is for these two angels that I want to write the YA series of seven novels. (YA = Young Adult) I figure by the time I get all seven done, they’ll be at the right ages for them.
I know, I know. It’s not my usual fare–or so it seems. I’ve never before focused on writing for that age group. But these books, and the purposes in them, are right up my alley. So while the target audience–my grans–might be different in the work, it’s not different in the heart. They are purpose-driven stories that I hope will encourage the girls to think beyond the scope of themselves and into the world in which they live. That’s worthy, IMHO.
And worthiness, feeling a sense of purpose in the work, that’s what writing is all about to me. That’s been the case since day one, and I’m sure will remain so until my last day.
Often I’m asked how I can stick with writing–especially early on, during the hard times when nothing was selling. Well, this is how. Purpose. And love. Love for the books. Those two things carry you when nothing is going right, when everyone hates what you’re doing, when everything inside you says stop and do something else.
The flip side is that when you start selling and things are going great, you take joy in it but you also know that it’s beyond you. It’s the love and the purpose driving the books.
Some people have a problem with that. I’m not one of them. When you write, so much of your life is invested in your work. You can’t ever leave it all at the office; it’s always with you. I try to imagine what it must be like to write for other reasons–many do. But I can’t imagine it. I’ve tried–really tried–but I just can’t.
When I first realized that, it stunned me. I mean, in my books, I often put myself in others’ shoes–it’s how I develop characters. And yet this was closed to me. Then I figured out why. Writing comes from the core of a person. It envelops who they are, what they believe, why they believe it. When you write, all of that comes through in the work in a million ways and infuses it with your own unique kind of magic. It might not dazzle or sparkle, but it’s solely yours. And it’s from core level, so it’s real and honest. And when you add love and purpose to it, those things diffuse and become an integral, inseparable part of the fabric. Neither love nor purpose can later be separated out. And so to see a work without them is impossible.
I think I like knowing that. Really, I know I do. And I wish that knowing for you in your work. After all, it is such a large part of your life, and life deserves reverence.
Blessings,
Vicki
Vicki Hinze
www.vickihinze.com
12/2005 WAR GAMES #5, DOUBLE DARE
1/2006: ONE WAY TO WRITE A NOVEL
2/2006: IT GIRLS #6, BULLETPROOF PRINCESS
3/2006: THE PROPHET’S LADY
4/2006: HER PERFECT LIFE
6/2006: COMMON SENSE GUIDE FOR WRITERS
RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Romantic Suspense Novel of the Year
