What I Learned or Remembered...

...while writing "What Remains Unspoken":


1) Writer's Block is not terminal.

2) I can't call procrastination Writer's Block.

3) I can't call fear Writer's Block.

4) No matter what I'm writing, I can't get away with doing less than my best.

5) After writing for 25+ years, the writer's demons (fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of not having anything to say, fear of being seen as a fraud) are still just as real and just as seductive.

6) Readers are sometimes better at seeing my intentions than I am.

7) I can't be afraid to put my emotions (or a character's emotions) on the page. If I don't feel them, my readers won't feel them.

8) Value anything I write, even if it winds up in the bottom of the desk drawer.

9) Related to #8, don't fall too deeply in love with my words. I'll have to edit them later.

10) The muse doesn't work unless I work!

11) Deadlines (even self-imposed ones) are good things.

12) Treasure my readers.

13) Don't let an abundance of readers or a dearth of them change how I write.

14) Tell my internal critic to get a cup of coffee and take a walk around the block when she gets too loud. Often, if necessary.

15) I'm not as bad a writer as I think I am.

16) I could not have gotten as deep into the characters as I did, if it weren't for the exquisite performances of these individuals:

• Ian McDiarmid
• Mark Hamill
• Billy Dee Williams
• Peter Cushing
• Natalie Portman
• James Earl Jones & David Prowse
• Harrison Ford
• Carrie Fisher
• Ewan McGregor
• Liam Neeson

17) No idea is too crazy.


Just thought I'd share that, since I've finished my series today.

Wow, very... philisophical

true, too true.

//tells her inner critic to take a hike

Very very very true.

Every time I read one of those, something inside kept on kicking me and hissing, "guilt trip!"