What are your writing goals for March?

You can't see or feel it, but time is slipping away.

February has all too quickly become March, so take a moment to evaluate the progress you’ve made on the writing goals you made in January.

I have discovered that if you don't take a step back once in a while, months have a way of disappearing without any visible progress. Before you know it, December has arrived and your book still isn't finished.

The best way to make sure that you make consistent progress is to cultivate two habits:

1. Track your progress at the end of each month.
2. Create deadlines for finishing specific tasks for the next month.

It's easy to do both of these things if you list your accomplishments during the previous month on a sheet of paper and hang it on your wall where you can glance at it (often) and feel good about what you’ve accomplished. Likewise, commit your upcoming month’s writing goals to paper and hang them on the wall next to your accomplishments.

How you do this is up to you...use a calendar (online or printed), type out a list or jot it down on the back of a napkin. But make sure you keep them so you can look back at the end of the year to see how far you've come.

Don't let 2011 slip by, take control of your goals now.

Leave a comment and let use know how you stay on track with your goals.

Back to School

It's Back to School time!

No, not that kind of school.

I thought I was finished with school when I finished college. Hah! The more I write, the more I find myself in search of instruction. Whether it's an introduction to something new - a class on writing for magazines, for example - or brushing up on the basics, it seems I am always on a quest for knowledge. No matter how much I've learned or how much I've written, I want more.

What about all of you? Are there any writers out there that feel the need to take a class or two? Are you brushing up on basics or learning something new? Whatever the reason, there is a class out there waiting for you. So today, we'll explore some links to online classes that can give you the knowledge you've been in search of.

This list is just a sampling of what's out there. Fiction Flurry and it's contributors do not endorse nor do we have any relationship with any of the listed courses.

Writer's Digest - Classes such as Fundamentals of Fiction Writing and 12 Weeks to a First Draft will help you on your way to finishing that novel.

Absolute Write - Several workshops are available and are being taught by published authors - always a good thing.

Writers.com - Writers.com has been offering online writers classes since 1995 and bills itself as the first writing school on the Internet. The list of course offerings is extensive.

The Writers Workshop - Although based in Seattle, this workshop has many online classes as well. Introduction to Travel Writing and Introduction to Poetry are just the beginning.

Holly Lisle - Holly is the author of over 30 novels and her site has huge resources to help aspiring authors. How to Think Sideways and How to Revise Your Novel are the two major courses, but there are more - as well as many freebies.

Dramaquill's Weblog - in what could be called kismet, Dramaquill's Weblog just posted a marvelous piece on FREE online courses. There is lots of information here so be sure check it out.

If you are looking for a class, hopefully these links will point you in the right direction. And, of course, do your research before giving anyone online your hard-earned money.

Has anyone taken an online writing class? Did you love it? Hate it? We want to hear from you.

More Online Resources

Last week Colleen shared some of the online resources that she uses and I want to continue that theme this week. These links are about the basic, nuts and bolts of writing. I don't know about you, but when I'm stuck in the hell of writers block, I start back at the beginning. Many times, reading about the basics of writing will un-stick my brain and let me get back to business.

Writing World - giant resource of how-to writing articles

Caro Clark -  this author wrote a series of articles for the online publication NovelAdvice

Randy Ingermanson - a physicist and author with a unique voice and lots of information. He has a second page called the snowflake method which showcases his writing method.

Brenda Coulter - she is a romance author and therefore her tips are skewed toward the genre, but I think there is something here for everyone

Writing Tips article - this article is long but has some good advice

Wild Rose Press - a publisher of romance but the writing articles could be for any genre

Liz Fielding - a romance author with some great tips

and, if you are still stuck - or if you are more of a visual person - take a look at this page.

Inspiring pictures - you are guaranteed to find something here that will inspire your writing


What are your online resources? Websites? Blogs? References? Tell us why you like it and how it's helped you. Don't forget to add a link.

Online Resources for Writers

It seems there are endless websites, blogs, and online communities to assist writers in getting their work published.  Many Fiction Flurry Followers have very helpful blogs of their own that you might want to browse.  Magazines like Writer's Digest regularly publish feature articles highlighting the best websites for writers.

One drawback to the ease with which this vast amount of writerly information is available is that the web can suck you in, stealing time that should be used actually writing.  (I'm terribly guilty of this!)  Nonetheless, I'm going to offer up a few online sites that I find particularly useful, and I encourage all of you to do the same in the comment section.  What sites do you find useful to your writing?  Here are a few of my faves:

http://querytracker.net/
Query Tracker allows you to search for agents who are acquiring for the kind of manuscript you have written.  You can keep track of your queries and the responses (or lack thereof) from agents.

http://www.duotrope.com/index.aspx
Duotrope's Digest offers a free database of publishers of fiction and poetry.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/
National Novel Writing Month is November...get ready to write 50,000 words in one month.  Even if you don't get to 50K, you still get a lot more written than you would in a typical month. 

http://christinakatz.com/
This writer specializes in helping writers who are also moms (like me).  I'm thinking about taking one of her online classes.

http://community.writersdigest.com/
This is a place where you can find a group of people interested in your genre, you can get critiques of your writing, ask questions, establish relationships.  There are a bunch of great writing communities, but this is the one I've settled into.

What are your favorite writing websites?

Writing Critique Groups

This Fiction Flurry blog was birthed from the labor of a writers critique group in Marysville, Ohio.  Our little group has been meeting every other week for a year and a half, sharing successes, rejections, and or writing.  In the process, we've developed friendships and sharpened our writing skills, I'd like to think.  If you are not part of a critique group, let me explain why you should be.

The act of writing is a solitary endeavor, introspective and thoughtful, until you're finished.  What then?  If you write for yourself, that's it.  You lock it away, perhaps re-reading it yourself from time-to-time.  If you're writing for an audience, you had that in mind during the writing process. Who should your first audience be?  What's the best way for your manuscript to dip its virginal toe in the publishing pool?  You could have your mom read it, but come on.  She's going to love it even if it is a steaming heap of dung.  Do you want an agent or editor to be the first to read it?  Hardly.  What about all those errors you missed?

A writing critique group, preferably one that meets in person, provides the perfect coming out party for your manuscript, short story, essay, etc.  This group of writers doesn't care if your writing has a few blemishes.  Your critique group's very existence is centered on finding those pimples on the otherwise flawless skin of your manuscript.  But  the group doesn't point and laugh at the huge zit on the nose of your writing.  Your group will offer suggestions for ways to get rid of that unsightly flaw, assisting you in making your writing the best that it can be.

But enough with the puss-filled metaphors. It's best that you find a writing critique group that meets in person.  Online critique groups are better than nothing at all, but your online partners might not have the sensitivity that your in-person group will have.  Just as unintended "tone" can come across in e-mails, the same is true for online critiques of your work.  We writers can be a sensitive lot.

A relatively small critique group works well.  You want to have enough people to get a variety of perspectives and opinions, but not so many that it's overwhelming.  A group of eight to ten people is a nice size, at least in our experience.  If you can't find a local writing group, start one.  Put up flyers in your library, book store, or church.  Post something on an online community website.  You'll find that there is interest.

If you live in Central Ohio and are looking for a critique group, let us know.  We'd like to add a few people.  Do you already have a critique group?  What value has it brought to your writing? 

Who Inspires You?

How many times have you "discovered" an author? Someone you had heard about but never read before or someone you've never heard of but can't put down. Somehow you end up at 3 am trying to finish the last chapter so you can finally get to sleep. And before you know it, you're on Amazon ordering their entire backlist. For me, this has happened more times than I can count.

I received my first Nancy Drew book for my 7th birthday and I was hooked.  No, not on reading - that came at a much earlier age. For the first time, I was hooked on an author. I read every Nancy Drew book I could find in the library - eventually reading them all. Ok, so it wasn't until years later that I learned those books were written by several people under one pseudonym, but I think the point is still valid - once you like an author, you read everything they write. I'm pretty sure the entire publishing industry counts on this.

But beyond a few hours of escape into the book-world, I find that my favorite writers - those that I read again and again - inspire me.  Now, I'm not saying that I want to become the character in the book (although at age 7, I seriously wanted to be an amateur detective). It's that I'm inspired to become a better storyteller.

For example, the way Janet Evanovich is able to take seemingly random events, knit them together and make them an integral part of the plot leaves me stunned every time. I realize that every action counts - from where Stephanie Plum parks her car to the doughnuts she eats. I can see that there is no room for filler and that inspires me to make every action in my story count.

Jonathan Kellerman inspires my writing in other ways. As I'm swept into the world of Alex Delaware, I'm noticing how he gets into (and out of) dangerous situations. It takes a delicate touch to put a MC into danger without seeming contrived or ridiculous. Jonathan Kellerman is a master at this and he inspires me to look more critically at the situations I put my MC into.

Since I consider myself more of a romance author (albeit an unpublished one), you might ask why my examples aren't from the romance genre? Although I read a lot of romance (including all of the sub-categories), I don't limit myself to only reading romance. As an author, I believe in the advice to read as much as you can from all genres. I find inspiration in the most unlikely places.

So now you know who inspires me. Leave a comment and tell me: Who inspires you? 

"The Writing Life" part 2 - Interview with Susan Gee Heino

Regency romance author Susan Gee Heino is with us again for the second installment of “The Writing Life.” She will share some writing advice and tips with us. You can find Part 1 of the interview here. Susan has a new book coming out in August (Damsel in Disguise (Berkley Sensation)) so we really appreciate the time she is taking to be with us. Susan, thanks for joining us.

Thanks for having me, Michele. I love it here!

When and why did you begin writing? Did you just sit down one day and say “I’m going to write a book to be published?”
I’ve been writing fiction since I was a little kid. Seriously, I love stories and I love make-believe. But I hardly ever told people I wanted to write novels because I thought it was something so far out of the realm of possibility that talking about it would only lead to disappointment. Still, it was a dream that just would not go away. In college I studied theatre and turned my focus from acting to playwriting. I had some success with that, but not enough to pay the bills. After graduating, I went out into the real world and got a “normal” job, but just couldn’t shake the writing bug. I took correspondence classes, I wrote plays for church, I submitted short stories to magazines, and I filled journal after journal with story ideas and scene drafts. Still, though, what I really wanted was to be an author. And what I wanted to write was Historical Romance. So, I finally came out of the closet, joined a professional writers group, and put all my eggs in that basket. It was still several years of determined work, but finally I’ve seen that dream come true.

Do you have a specific writing style?
Yes, but I’ll be darned if I can define it! I think every writer has their own “voice”, or style, but generally we can’t see it as clearly as others can. I’ve been told my style is witty, quirky, emotional, unpredictable, and even farcical. Since those are all characteristics I love when I find them in other authors, I’m hoping this is an accurate description of my style! I think it’s very important for writers to understand what fires them and what they do well. Highlight those things and make sure they are front and center in everything you write. That is your “voice”.

Do you write an outline before every book you write?
I do now because my publisher requires it. Years ago I didn’t—I just started writing and let the story go wherever it wanted. The problem with this is that sometimes the story rambled into a place I like to call “Stupidville” and it was quite a bit of work and effort to drag it back out of there and carve it into something more closely resembling a readable plotline. Now that I’m on deadline, I don’t have that luxury. I need to keep things going full steam ahead without drastic detours into dumb stuff that just has no place in this particular book.

We talk about writers being either “plotters” or “pantsers”. The Plotters are the ones who plot and outline and do character studies, etc. before they even begin their book. They revel in their plans and love setting goals. These are usually the OCD neat freaks who are convinced Pantsers must be insane.

Pantsers are the ones who fly by the seat-of-their-pants, just making stuff up as they go along and dreading the idea of outlines or plotting charts. For a Pantser, the thrill of writing a book is gone if they already know details of how it will end. The Pantser usually has 45 unfinished manuscripts tucked under her bed and thinks Plotters are weirdo control freaks.

I am a recovering Pantser. I realized that 45 unfinished manuscripts won’t help me much until I can find a way to get them finished. This century. So, I’ve learned to embrace the outline. In fact, I’ve discovered that I like having an outline! It helps keep my ADD brain focused on where the story is going and I’ve actually come up with a really cool Excel spreadsheet that I use to help me with plotting and keeping track of things like Goal, Motivation, Conflict, and whatever the heck I named the butler in Chapter three.

Do you ever experience writer's block? If so, how do you get through it?
I really don’t get writer’s block. I love writing and I always have many, many more ideas than I have time to write them. I do, however, get very, very tired of working the same idea for months on end. Long about page 200 I’m generally soooo sick of these characters and this plotline that it’s hard to get my head into my work. How do I overcome that? By pure, torturous plugging away at it day after day. I muscle myself into my chair, I wrestle my brain into working order, and I force myself to stay away from email and Facebook. Then I write the darned book until it’s done. Then I go back through it and rewrite. And rewrite. And proofread. And edit. I think writers must have some serious masochistic disorders to do what we do.

What were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in bringing your novel to life?
I think the biggest challenge was to believe that what I was doing had value even though I had nothing to show for it. Writing is very solitary. It’s just you and your keyboard. In my early years, it seemed like the only feedback I was getting was rejections. But I’m stubborn and pretty self-centered, so I kept on writing because I wanted to and it didn’t really matter that no one was interested in buying it. I realized that I wrote for ME and that I was a better person when I was writing. I gave myself permission to continue. I learned to navigate the logistics of spreading my braincells out between mothering, house-wifing, and writing. And I had fun with it. It’s good to be challenged. It gives you a target to shoot at.

Have you ever had to put a project away because you couldn’t write it?
Yes. Some years ago I sat beside an editor at a luncheon and she told me there was a specific type of story she’d been looking for but it seemed no one was writing it. The next day, I went home and started writing that kind of story. A few months later I had something pretty good and I submitted it to her. She liked it, but requested a few revisions before she could consider making an offer. Her suggestions were right on the money and I could have easily made those revisions and sent the manuscript right back to her, but I didn’t.

The more I thought about it the more I realized I did not want to write in that genre. I didn’t write this book for ME, I wrote it for HER. Did I really want to sign a contract saying I would publish this book and then write more like it? Did I love this type of story enough to spend the next couple years at it? No, honestly, I didn’t. That very day I put that manuscript aside and began working on the one that eventually won the Golden Heart and became my first sale. Guess I owe that first editor a big thank you, don’t I?

Have you ever hated something you wrote and why?
Oh heavens yes! Practically every day. I always thought this would go away, that once I got published I would somehow magically no longer need my delete key. Wrong! But I have learned that this is just one of those things I have to live with. I am getting better at recognizing what works and what doesn’t, even if I’m having an “I hate everything I write” day. It’s never really as bad as it seems.

What was the hardest part of writing your first book?
Realizing when I made a wrong turn and deleting the stuff that just had to go. I’m getting much better at recognizing when my hero is acting out of character or when a scene I love is going to bore readers to tears, but I still find myself having to cut things I really wish I could keep. But the sad truth is that most manuscripts don’t need stuff added to them, they need stuff cut from them. Embracing that truth was not so much fun, but it has helped immensely.

Does it get easier to write the second book? Third?
As with just about any skill, the craft gets easier the more you practice. However, once you’ve made a sale and now have deadlines and contractual obligations and promotional opportunities, things get really tricky. My writing time now has to include not only writing a book that is better than the last one, but managing the business and marketing aspects of my career. That’s hard work!

Plus, I decided to write connected stories, so my second and third books all have plot elements that must fit a pre-established storyline. My characters have to fit the mold I made for them in previous books. I thought this would make things easier, but really it makes it a lot harder. Instead of a big, blank page to color on, I have to be very careful to stay inside the lines I’ve already drawn. Ugh.

Do you see yourself writing something other than regency romance in the future?
Regency is my fave, but I also have a couple really fun contemporary romances that I really, really want to see in print someday. I would totally love to write more contemporary. Also, I’m working on a proposal now for a non-romance YA Paranormal series (yeah, I know—who isn’t?) that my agent is really excited about. Hopefully we’ll see something coming from that before too long. Oh, and I’d love to see Westerns get popular again. I looooove cowboys and it would be so much fun to write one.

Do you have any advice for other writers?
I just met author Heather Graham at a conference and she said something immeasurably profound. I think I’ll steal it from her: “Read read read. Write write write. Live live live.” That’s the best writerly advice I’ve ever heard and I don’t think I could possibly give any better. What about others? What advice has helped you in your writing journey?


Susan, again, thank you so much for joining us today.

Readers, we want to hear from YOU! Tell us what advice has helped you in your writing journey. Plus, do you have more questions for Susan? She will be hanging out with us today, so leave your question in the comments section.

Also, check out the Tuesday Contest, where we are giving away an autographed copy of Mistress by Mistake (Berkley Sensation) to one lucky follower.

We'll conclude this series of interviews with the next segment of "The Writing Life" in 2 weeks. Susan will be discussing rejection - how she deals with it and how it's affected her writing. Check back with us then. Click here for Part Three.

Creating Characters: Encourage Reader Participation!

Last week for our “writing prompt Thursday” exercise, we discussed creating characters. If you did not get the chance to read that post, and would like to, you may find it here:

http://fictionflurry.blogspot.com/2010/06/writing-prompt-thursday.html

One of the most important aspects of creating a memorable character is to give your reader the opportunity to participate. When I am reading truly good writing, I feel as though the author and I are working together in a partnership. He or she is providing me with a breadcrumb trail to follow, guiding me down a particular path, but allowing me to stop and look around from time to time, to take in whatever scenery I might conjure along the way. The truly accomplished author does not tell me everything – nor should they. If a detail is especially important for me as a reader to be aware of, then the writer should provide that information. Otherwise, let my reader’s imagination fill in the blanks. Trust your writing enough to know that you don’t have to include every single detail.

Ernest Hemingway called this the “iceberg theory” of prose, and he discussed it in his book, Death in the Afternoon:

If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.

In High Five, by author Janet Evanovich, we are introduced to a character by the name of Randy Briggs. As it turns out, Randy is a "little person." This is a crucial fact to share with the reader, because a good deal of the slapstick humor that Ms. Evanovich is so adept at writing comes from the juxtaposition between bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and the ways in which Mr. Briggs manages to outmaneuver her attempts to capture him.

I recently read a novel (which shall remain nameless) where a potentially critical piece of information was withheld from the reader. As I began to read this particular book, I was introduced to a strong, but aging, woman executive. She was upset about being pushed out, and after a good many pages, I felt like I knew the character, and that she and I were fighting the good fight together. Then, out of nowhere, the author just happens to interject the fact that this lady is also African-American.

This character must have encountered any number of critical, life-changing moments in her climb to the top, especially as a woman of color. What offended me was not only the fact that I wasn’t told this detail sooner, but that it wasn’t mentioned again in the entire book! If this fact was important enough to tell me in the first place, then surely it was important enough to explore. But that author dropped the ball, as though adding this particular character trait was just a quaint afterthought. It’s simply not nice to play tricks like that on your reader.

As I promised, I used some of my own prompts and came up with a character introduction. In order to keep today’s post a reasonable length, I have continued with more over on my personal blog:

http://www.bethnbijoux.blogspot.com/

Feel free to visit me there and comment/share what you come up with!

As ever, Happy Writing!

Writer Beth Zellner is currently finishing her first novel

and is excited to begin on the journey to representation!

Journal Entries

Pick up most How-to books about writing and somewhere within that book you will find this helpful tip: Keep a Journal. The author will recommend writing in it every day or writing for a specified number of minutes, but the underlying message is - writing in a journal will help your writing. Goodness knows, I can use all the help I can get with my writing, so this is a no-brainer, right?

Although I admit to 'mostly' agreeing with the advice, I cannot seem to force myself to do it with regularity. At least part of the reason is that every time I sit down to journal I have flashbacks to writing in my diary around the age of 10. You know the kind I'm talking about - it has a red cover with gold edged pages and - most important - a lock! I got the diary for my birthday and in the beginning I wrote in it every day. I cataloged the events of my (somewhat boring) days as well as my joys and tribulations, with satisfaction. Here, I thought, is where I can put down my most secret thoughts and desires and no one else will know.

Ha! It took about 6 months for me to realize that the so-called lock on my diary was definitely not pick-proof. In fact, it didn't even require a paper clip to jimmy open without a key.  My older sister made this fact known to me by commenting on one of my entries - in writing. Seeing her words on the page - MY PAGE - felt like such a violation. Ok, so I HAD written about her - and NO, it wasn't very flattering. But still, the magic was gone. Knowing that anyone could read what I had written took away that secret place just for me. This is, I'm sure, where my journal-phobia began.

Over the years, I have tried journaling several times, with some success. My most recent attempt has involved using a Word document. I figure that at least on my computer I can password protect the file. I guess I'm still trying to find a place that's just for me.

If you, like me, struggle with keeping a journal, there are some ways to make journaling a habit, rather than a miracle. For example, pick a word and write about it. Choose a place you want to travel to and write about that. Or write about a hobby / dream / problem you have. In my case, I find myself journaling about some of the issues I have about my writing - which I guess is a subject also.

Do you keep a journal? What are some of the things you journal about?

It’s all been done before. Well, kind of.

You sit down in front of your blank computer screen, and you begin: “Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy finds girl.”

No, no, no, you groan as you bang your head against the keyboard. It’s all been done before. Well, kind of. Let’s face it, a lot of what we as writers do is tell many of the same stories over and over again. What keeps the readers coming back for more, though, is how we tell these stories.

Did you grow up as a single child or in a family of five? Were your folks affluent, or did you learn the value of a penny at an early age? Inner city or Marysville, Ohio? Go to church every Sunday/only on the “high holidays”/or never? Move on immediately to college or drop out of high school?

As you can see, every writer’s journey is different and therefore every story we have to tell is different. Sure, the plot may have been around the block a few times, but it’s in the telling – your own, unique perspective – that the work really gets its wheels under it and speeds the reader off into exotic unknown, or else reassuringly familiar, places.

Back in the mid-1500’s an Italian writer by the name of Matteo Bandello was penning novellas (never mind that he lifted his ideas from French, Eastern and classical tales before him). One of these pieces caught the eye of English poet Arthur Brooke, who figured he could give the piece a spin, and so he loosely translated Bandello’s work into a little ditty he entitled, “The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet.”

Now, I just bet you know where we go from here. Along comes this cat named Shakespeare. Like a master chef, he takes a smidge of Bandello, tosses in some comedic relief and a couple ne’er do well sidekicks and you have a Romeo and Juliet soufflé.

But it doesn’t end there! Not even close. Fast forward to America about four hundred or so years later. In this incarnation, a writer by the name of Arthur Laurents revisits our friends, Romeo and Juliet, only this time, it’s the 1950’s, the feud is with newly immigrated Puerto Ricans, and did I mention it’s all set to music and danced (thanks to the vision of Jerome Robbins). Voila! West Side Story.

Been there, done that? Hardly!

What does your version look like? Is Romeo bald? Ride a Harley? How about your Juliet? Does she resemble the barista at your favorite coffee house, piercings and all? Maybe smoke clove cigarettes? Where do they meet and fall in love? Is it at the bowling alley? Or maybe on a cruise for Senior Citizens? (Hey, I kind of like that last one…)

In the end, interpretation is often just as important as idea. So is “boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy finds girl,” the end of the story? Nope, it’s just the beginning.

Happy Writing!

Wednesday Writer's Tip

Today we start a new weekly feature called Wedneday Writer's Tip, where each week we'll be posting our favorite tip on how to improve our writing. This week, my tip is about writing with passion.

“He submits to be seen through a microscope, who suffers himself to be caught in a fit of passion” - Johann Kaspar Lavatar, Swiss Theologian

From the tone of this quote, Mr. Lavatar implies that passion is something to be rooted out and willed into submission by any means possible. Of course, as an 18th century church deacon, I guess that was part of his job title.

However, I would propose that, as a writer, being caught in a "fit of passion" is part of my job title. To be a writer is to expose a part of yourself to the world. To allow strangers to see into your soul and judge you - good or bad. Perhaps the scariest thing for a writer to do, since we spend our time locked away, alone in our writing cubbies, with only the cat for a critic (no wait, that's just me).

I know my personal journey towards publication is as much about being validated as a writer as it is about the story itself. I want people to see my work. I want to shout "I'm a writer" from the rooftops, while holding my hot-off-the-press hardcover aloft.

But in order to get to that point (I'll be sending out invitations for my rooftop foray, don't worry), I have to write. And I have to write with all of the passion I have. I can't worry about what others will think of my writing - only what I think. I write my stories for an audience, so sure, the readers are on my mind as I put words to paper. But I write for me. I write because I have to. It's not a choice, it's a passion.

I'm okay with being under the microscope, as long as I know that my writing conveys my passion for the story. I encourage all writers to be passionate about their writing - and not to worry who's looking.