Delights and Frustrations

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

I'm reading Nora Roberts new book, "Angels Fall". I have to say, I'm loving every minute of it -- and, in a new twist for Nora, she isn't head hopping! In any case, it's a mystery, so the timing for me was good as well. She's shown me how there can be a murder, but that the book is first and foremost a love story.

Her characters are so rich and real, too. Different, funny, and they pop off the page. She's done what some other writer said to do (I can't remember who, sorry) -- take one or two phyical characteristics and make them BOLD then forget about the rest. I know our heroine in this story has long dark hair and is way too skinny. Otherwise, who the heck knows what she looks like? Still, I feel like I'd recognize her if I met her on the street.

Reading a book with such well rounded characters delights me as a reader and frustrates me as a writer. I want to do that! I know Nora has written a gazillion books, and her first books weren't so hot. So I should give myself permission to not be absolutely perfect right out of the gate. But that's tough to do.

Still, I write. And I read. And hopefully, I improve.

In other news, I've broken 10,000 words on one WIP, and managed just over 2,000 on the edit/rewrite of the other. Yay me! My new WIP isn't going in the direction I had planned (*&%$^ characters), so I've slowed down again. But once I figure out what they're trying to tell me, I'll be moving right along.

Have a wonderful day!