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Thursday, June 02, 2011

Cooking Up a New Story


You may be wondering about the food photo for this post. Believe me, I haven't left writing for cooking. No, the photo represents my state of being for the last six months: I've been marinating. Yes, marinating. A marinating writer who set herself aside to soak up her creative juices, preparing herself for writing again.

Here's the short version of a long story: After several of my clients began working on their second, third and fourth books, I realized I had yet to benefit as a writer from my own good advice. Yes, I did publish 4Ps to Publishing Success and created many info-products around it, but the novel that I had written right before I began my consultant journey was sitting in a box. Moving it into a file drawer didn't advance the revision process; it just brought the manuscript closer--a constant reminder of my unfinished and unrealized dream.

Can I tell you how to move forward when you're stuck? Yes. Can I advise you on how to make time for writing in an already overloaded schedule? Yes. Can I do it for myself? Apparently not. Truthfully, it wasn't that I didn't know what to do or how to do it. I just wasn't ready. I needed to sit and marinate for a while. I had let my own creativity (for fiction, that is) dry up and I needed a good, long soak in creative juice to bring my novel (and the others dancing around in my head) back to life. I also needed to conjure up a business plan to help support my writing until it supports me.

I'm happy to announce that I'm finished marinating and ready to put myself on the grill. In fact, I'm ready to be smokin' hot. I'm setting deadlines (a hold-over from my publishing and advertising biz days) and moving into my new space. Stay tuned for updates on the new blog, new biz, new work, new Wordy Woman.