Welcome to Stuck to the Page, a blog from a writer trying to finish her first novel.If you’re here, you’re either lost in cyberspace or in the same boat as me (you’re getting stuck on that darn book). Or, maybe you enjoy watching people suffer. I don’t know and I don’t really WANT to know if it’s the latter - that’s just TMI, man.
Anyway, I’m at that all-critical point where most of my novel is done, but the last few chapters stink. I’m losing steam, my creativity is failing and none of my inspiration songs are working anymore. Even my cat, the muse called Boo, is casting critical glances over my shoulder when she thinks I’m not looking. She does it with this really smug look on her face, like she could do so much better. At first, I sneered at her, reminding her of all the toil I’ve undergone to become the writer I am today. How could she possibly best me?
But the critic inside me got to thinking. Maybe she COULD finish my book. She’s been immersed in the classics since a kitten (she loves to sleep on an open book), is immune to criticism (she’ll just start licking her butt) and spends at least 4 hours a day alert (which tops my average this week).
This should make me feel worse, right? That a cat (and a lazy one at that) could finish my novel. But I feel better after writing this. I should learn from my muse that the reason I’m having trouble is that I’m too worried about being perfect. I’m too worried about what agents and editors are going to think. I’m afraid of criticism I haven’t even heard yet. I should think like my cat, though I will respond a little more professionally to that criticism once I get it (I’m also not that flexible).
Got a disturbing mental image now? Good, let it inspire you; I’ll bill you later.
So, back to the point. I’m starting this blog to share the writing tips and tricks I’ve learned in two years of putting together 100,000 words. I’m hoping this will help me and you so we can both publish our awesome novels.
After all, we owe it to the world, eh?
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