tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post9108644850099879176..comments2024-03-22T05:18:29.555-04:00Comments on Romance Bandits: HeartacheLoucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02217492654108300014noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-46652188260528813232007-04-20T11:38:00.000-04:002007-04-20T11:38:00.000-04:00I had a friend who was writing under deadline and ...I had a friend who was writing under deadline and dealing with martial problems. She swears the book was her worst ever and she actually wishes the publisher would pull it. Of course the book was approved by the editor so how bad could it be? She didn't even let her critique partners read it. So I'll have to wait until it's released to see if it's as bad as she thinks.Christie Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15010770086637037103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-34886971406646675602007-04-20T09:11:00.000-04:002007-04-20T09:11:00.000-04:00Great topic, Christine! I get some flak from frien...Great topic, Christine! I get some flak from friends about taking a "holiday" from writing, but I have found I must. When life is crazy with family, work, commitments, I simply can't write. When I do write, I am amazingly productive and more than make up for lost time. Then again, I have the luxury of no deadlines (other than self-imposed ones).<BR/><BR/>Friends who have contracts and deadlines must make themselves write no matter what is happening in their lives. They all say it is like pulling teeth to write through the hard times. Does it show in the finished product? I have never noticed. They can point to a scene and say, "This is when such-and-such was happening." It is a credit to them that I cannot tell it from their other writing. <BR/><BR/>Could I do it myself? I'm not sure, but I hope to develop sufficient writing muscles to be able to slog through. Life will never stop happening, so I had better!Caren Cranehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12352366686017375279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-20194764486555012872007-04-17T16:13:00.000-04:002007-04-17T16:13:00.000-04:00Hey Chris!Glad to see you got your post up and whi...Hey Chris!<BR/>Glad to see you got your post up and while I'm sorry it wasn't what you originally intended, thank you for your keen observations and asking the questions you did.<BR/><BR/>I'm afraid I have to agree with Foanna. I don't know how to write happy (or anything else for that matter) when my personal life is in turmoil. I know from personal experience. In Oct. 2005, I was told that the 'swollen lymph node' in my throat was in fact a tumor on one of my salivary glands. Having lost my mother five years earlier to cancer, and having a family history of every bump and tumor being malignant I don't mind telling you I FREAKED OUT! I also spent the next two months FIGHTING with my HMO and their ENT specialists to get the tumor REMOVED (the ONLY treatment protocol whether malignant or benign, but no one wanted to disrupt THEIR holiday to do it). <BR/><BR/>At the same time, I'd just attended a writing conference and had an editor ask for the partial of my manuscript which was about 2/3rds complete (this was the same one that went on to final in the 2006 GH). Somehow I did manage to polish up the first three chapters and send them but I couldn't write ANYTHING NEW. <BR/><BR/>Happily, I finally had surgery on Dec. 27th and on Dec. 31st received the WONDERFUL AMAZING news that the tumor had been benign. I started writing again a month later (Jan. 27, 2006) when I was sufficiently healed and off pain medication.<BR/><BR/>So, long story short, I personally can't write when something major is going on in my life and I totally understand when anyone else can't either.Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02217492654108300014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3815530646091177574.post-17355810992427791452007-04-17T14:16:00.000-04:002007-04-17T14:16:00.000-04:00I'm so very sad about what happened yesterday. And...I'm so very sad about what happened yesterday. And as you say, Christine, one of the worst aspects of it is that it's NEVER going to make sense. <BR/><BR/>Anyway, back to your comment - you know, I'm not sure we can write and separate ourselves from what's going on around us. And that's a good thing, difficult as it might be in the short term. What's interesting is that what we experience never comes out in a really obvious way, or at least I'm always surprised when I think back to a chain of events and then work out how it affected my writing. It took me five years to work out that my dad dying really fed into a lot of the darkness in CLAIMING THE COURTESAN. But maybe that's why we're writers - because we don't react to things in a direct cause and effect way. The story has to take us on the journey.Anna Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06695579361323275316noreply@blogger.com