I just finished reading about 6 books in the last two weeks. It’s kind of a low number for me, not to brag or anything. I think I need to renew my library card so my wallet doesn’t feel the pain quite so much, or my bookshelves considering I still love to read a paperback instead of the new electronic versions. I am warming up to the idea of those e-readers.
I needed a mental break from my writer’s block, which happens a lot. I am not someone who can easily spit out a 5 novels in a year. I am amazed at some of these authors that just continue to have series after series come out every year. How do they finish them so quickly? Considering how quickly I read, why can’t I keep up with them? Granted it’s usually the wallet that can’t keep up, because I love to buy my books and read them over and over till it looks like they’ve gone through ten different households. But still, how do they do it? How do they keep the words flowing? I don’t have a shortage of ideas, and sometimes I will start another idea before I’ve finished thinking through the previous one and as a result, I probably have at least ten book ideas that I would love to write, but know realistically will probably never happen.
I do tend to notice trends in these authors books. They have a slightly different story line, but the trend is the same. So I’ve been focusing on pulling my inspiration from authors that give realistic but unlikely stories and responses. One of the books I finished reading was by Kristen Heitzmann, “Breath of Dawn”. I love her books. They have layers upon layers in her stories and I fall in love with her characters every time. I was hesitant to read this one book because of what I read on the back. It was a sequel to my favourite book she had written and I didn’t like the idea of where she was going with it. I won’t spoil it, whether you read her books or not, but I gave in and I read it. I found myself enjoying it regardless that I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to like how she drastically changed the life of one my favourite characters she has created, and then she surprised me even more. She threw a hook into the book that I did not see coming, not just for the story but for her style of writing too. It seemed to come from left field this hook she threw in, but as I thought about how ridiculous it was, I realized that it still had the possibility of happening. That’s what I love about her books. She gives unlikely, realistic stories that have you hoping and waiting for more. She creates characters full of depth and mystery that you still wonder at the end if there was even more to them then she revealed in her book.
It’s discouraging sometimes reading her books, because I don’t feel like I could ever compare. Yes, I know that I’m not going to be writing the next great American novel, but I still want to write something with depth that will touch someone else’s heart and soul. I look at my current novel “Storms” and feel it falls short of everything I wanted and hoped it to be. I’m even questioning the title right now, and all I can see right now is the big brick wall in front of me taunting me to climb over it and make this book what I dream it will be. The wall is telling me to just forget about it, you won’t get it published and it sure won’t change anyone’s life.
Do those authors who release five books or more a year ever struggle with that same wall? How do they overcome it? I don’t know, and I don’t know how I will overcome it, but I am going to throw a rope or a ladder up that wall and try and scale it one step at a time. Who knows, maybe I’ll make it the top and see the other side of a finished story that I can feel proud to call my own.
alisabarnim 