Love Thy Writing

The most important thing is you can’t write what you wouldn’t read for pleasure. It’s a mistake to analyze the market thinking you can write whatever is hot. You can’t say you’re going to write romance when you don’t even like it. You need to write what you would read if you expect anybody else to read it.

And you have to be driven. You have to have the three D’s: drive, discipline and desire. If you’re missing any one of those three, you can have all the talent in the world, but it’s going to be really hard to get anything done.”
—Nora Roberts

This is legitimate advice: Love Thy Writing. Whenever I read a book that I love, it lingers...days after I've finished, weeks after I've finished, months after I've finished, and yes, years, sometimes. I'll catch glimpses of it in my mind at various, unexpected moments. It'll shoot waves of comfort through me, no matter if what kind of situation--pleasant or unpleasant--I am in.

I know I love my own novel, because it too, catches me in the midst of my day. I see the images, I feel the characters, and I sink into the setting. Sometimes it's as if it were another person's work, not my own. I imagine that this is a good sign; after all, I've written a novel that I adore, that I cherish. I've formulated such a story that if I were to ever come across it in a bookstore, I'd pick it up, take it home, and devour it. I'd long to spend Saturday night at home with it. I'd read it in days, or maybe even hours. Upon completion, I'd press it against my heart and wrap my arms tightly around it. OK, maybe not so dramatic-like, but something to that effect. Either way, I'd feel the ripples of the tale undulating throughout my being. And in a small, but significant way, I'd be forever changed.

Is this to say that my book has this kind of mega power? It can magnetically grip all who treads upon it? No, sadly, I don't believe that's the case. My wish, my life goal though, is that someone will...love my book that is. Of course by someone, I mean other than me. I know it's not perfect, and frankly, in writing, nothing ever is. I'm aware of the work it needs, and I plan on seeing that through. But it's comforting to know that I do, in fact, love my book. I love it. So much. That fact alone makes all the painstaking revision, all the doubt, all the self-torture one-hundred and fifty percent worth the while.

Any intrinsic writer must enjoy his or her story. It comes with the territory. I used to wonder if musicians or singers loved their own songs. I imagine they must, they have to. At least the ones who write the songs themselves, anyway. I just can't imagine the process being any other way.