Writing is not a Cookie-Cutter Science

Writing is not a cookie cutter deal

Take all suggestions to your writing as just that—suggestions.  It is, after all, your writing, not someone else’s.  This is why it is important to have a trustworthy writing/reading partner, someone who’s writing style or expertise you admire. 

            After taking writing courses at the University of Pennsylvania, I have learned to think about each comment before I start ripping my plot to pieces or thinking that the way I did things is wrong and the comment is absolutely correct.  Sometimes I consider the comment for a week or two before changing the manuscript or ignoring the comment altogether. 

Don’t let anyone tell you what you should be writing.  Write what eats away at you, what needs to be said.  That's what memoir is. Your story.  No one else's.  Writing is not a cookie cutter deal.  Oh sure, there are tips and suggestions on how to organize your writing or what to include in the scene or plot.  Just look at how many books, blogs, and magazines there are on the subject.  But in the end, you need to be true to yourself and to your story.  It is what's in your heart that needs to be said that counts.

I'm like a stick stuck in the quagmire of life. I'm not likely to budge unless an editor loosens me with a legitimate view or suggestion for my manuscript.  Of course I'm not always sure that's the correct attitude to take, buy hey, it's me.  How do you handle any feedback you receive from beta readers or critique partners?

Writers know what they want to say.  Occasionally they need a fresh pair of eyes, someone they respect, to make sure what’s on the page is what’s in the writer’s mind.  Don't ever let anyone slow you down or stop you from writing.

            Two months left in my Write Your Memoir in Six Months course.  I have close to 45,600 words and three more chapters to go to have the first draft complete.  Then the revising process begins.  Wish me luck!  Thanks for stopping by.