This is not a bad thing. It just takes discipline. Determination.

Today I watched a documentary about Harlan Ellison, who was one of the first writers whose prose knocked me on my butt and showed me what being a writer meant. Listening to him, reading his words is much like being sucked into an irresistible vortex. He may sometimes set my teeth on edge, but I still find it virtually impossible to look away. He scrapes my writer’s nerves to the rawest envy, desire . . . and encouragement.

He once said the line that I’ve adopted almost as a mantra when I talk to new writers, when I try to explain that there are no shortcuts just because you’re talented, no easy path when you write from the heart: “Any writer who CAN be discouraged, SHOULD be.”

If you are a writer, you will write, no matter who says otherwise. And in the next two weeks, I am most determined to edit what needs to be edited and write what needs to be written – and meet those blasted deadlines.

And, Holley, thank you!

For many writers, a book is an organic creation. It grows as you write, evolving and changing as your words emerge. Sometimes, they go left when you expected a right turn. They evolve even more in the editing process. While some folks think a book emerges finished the first time, the truth is even million sellers go through a meticulous revision process before publication. The book is not WHOLE AND FINISHED until the printer gets the final files from the publisher.

When I was 19, I had a story stolen. Someone I trusted distributed it under their own name. It’s a blow I have NEVER forgotten. I first learned the word plagiarism when I was seven, and at 19 I learned it’s impact on the soul.

While what happened to Ms. Meyer isn’t technically plagiarism, it is a serious betrayal of friendship. It’s an attempt to be “one-up” on someone (“Look I have the latest Meyer manuscript”). While Ms. Meyer doesn’t think that was the intent of the original betrayal, we should all understand “the Law of Unintended Consequences.”

In this case, it may have cost a friendship and it’s denied her readers the true book she had in mind.

It’s amazing to me that many people have no respect for this intangible something we call “intellectual property,” as if ideas had no value, economic or otherwise. The bottom line goes something like this – if IP sharing makes it impossible for artist to make a living, then they will stop making art. They have to eat, pay bills, etc. So if the art won’t pay, they’ll do something else. And the books, films, and music you love will simply go away. And there will be no Stephanie Meyer manuscript to share.

If you’ve ever had a favorite writer or musician simply stop writing or recording, then you know what a gap can be left behind.

I also recently found a STAPLE for new writers, the site for Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.

And I’m completing more interview questions today. This is my “answer email, do PR, and finish that revision” day…so my butt’s going to be in the chair most of the day. Or BIC HOK TAM, as the Book-in-a-Week folks used to cry. Butt-In-Chair, Hands-On-Keyboard, Typing-Away-Madly.

More, later. I think I’ll go make some tea in my BIC HOK TAM mug, just for the inspiration of it.

Oh, and there are two links on that first line. For some reason, I can’t get them to show up separately.

Note that there’s a contest on the blog to win books.

More later….

My new site is up and email is coming in. I got two requests for a proposal on Reclaiming Daisy Doe, and one went off (the other request came from an agent who asked me to wait a couple of weeks). All sunshine.

Today, I got my revision letter for CARLY.

Rain. LOTS of rain. Basically, I have to rip the story apart and start over. I have to re-write the beginning, the middle, and the end. Some subtle explanations have to be made skillfully blatant; other subtleties have to be deleted. And if the criticisms weren’t clear (and derogatory) enough, two books came with the letter so I could “see how it’s done.”

And I have two weeks to do it.

Thunderstorm. Why do I bother? Why not pull the book and just keep the day job? Go in a different direction? Go back to screenwriting? After all, it’s pretty clear that if the book hadn’t already been contracted, if it had been an over-the-transom submission, they never would have bought it.

I’m still chaffing. Sharply. But an afternoon of thinking and perspective later, I’m calmer. The yahoo writers loop for this line is frequently dotted with such complaints. Extensive revisions. They always, ALWAYS, shake us to our core and make us doubt our skills and our talent. Make us feel inferior.

In my case, I was rejected for years in the Christian marketplace as being too edgy, too sharp. Now, in writing for this line, I’ve pulled so far back that I’m now too soft and timid with my characters.

I suspect that what I need to do is start the novel that lives inside that’s dark and light, edgy and faith-filled, but in a way no one will ever publish. But that will let me write where I want to be. work on it in my down times, when other things – like quick, total revisions – aren’t on my plate.

In the meantime, if you haven’t read Geraldine Brooks’ Year of Wonders, do so as soon as you can. I just finished it, and found myself engaged and amazed. Reading her prose was like dipping your tongue into the most savory of wines, and it was the best ride I’ve had since I finished Dorothy Dunnett’s Checkmate.

The rest is a learning experience, and I have to set my mind to it.