Wisdom--Drivel--Whatever

First of all, I'm doing a give away of Wrangler in Petticoats today. Hopefully that's enough to make you read on. And for our birthday month, all month long, all your comments will be put in the hat for a drawing to WIN A KINDLE. So get involved, check back everyday because we're havin' a month long
BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR SEEKERVILLE!!!!!!!

The theme of this month is our Writing Life. Each Seeker will tell you what her writing life is like.

I'm in the middle of a terrible struggle here.

Do I tell the truth?

Or do I make this entertaining.

Oh, yeah. I can hear it now, TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH!

But really, is that what we're here for? Seriously?

Okay, the truth. Hmmmm….

I seem to write sort of compulsively.

The thing is, if you write for ten years and have twenty finished books on your computer and you get a book published, people say you've got a great work ethic. They say you're persistent, you pursued your dream, you're dedicated.

If you NEVER get a book published, they say you're got obsessive compulsive disorder and stage an intervention and try to get you into therapy, if not a psyche ward.

So I got published. Phew!

I look back on all those years of writing, writing, writing and I just don't know what possessed me to do such a thing.

My writing life is born of some kind of natural love for putting words down on paper. Add in I just am passionate about reading. I can remember reading my first Mary Higgins Clark book and closing it and staring at that book and thinking, "How did she do that?"

How did she make this book into a roller coaster ride? What does it take to write like this?

I remember her, Walter Farley and Clive Cussler when I write. They have a gift for dragging you right into the middle of the action and absolutely refusing to let you escape.

So, wait, that's not my writing life is it. Rats! Okay, I write 1000 words a day. Every day. Seven days a week. I let myself off the hook if I miss, no big deal. I'm a Christian, the concept of forgiveness and starting new each day is alive and well within me.

But still, I write 1000 words a day seven days a week. Sometimes more. Rarely less. I'm not particularly finicky about my environment. I can write in an airport. I can write for ten minutes, get a phone call and talk for ten minutes, then turn right back and write some more.

I can write early or late. In quiet or noise. That's my writing life.

I think maybe it's pretty boring. I mostly stay home. I work five days a week at a day job. I'm an insomniac and to some extent writing helps me keep my sanity. (and why, oh why, do I know Ruthy will have a 'keep your sanity?' remark to make.)

I really don't think of writing as something I DO. I think of writing…being a writer…as something I AM. I look back and see I've been writing all my life. Scribbling always, everywhere. I'm surprised I haven't written on my walls.

The one thing I remember so vividly is when I began writing Petticoat Ranch, which ended up being the first released book of my published life, I knew what I wanted. Vigilantes. Romance. Cowboys. Comedy. Action.

I remember staring at that blank computer screen...I've always loved starting a new book...I remember thinking...Remember everything you know. Apply everything you've learned. I focused on that screen and I knew I had to explode my beginning. I had to show instead of tell. I had to dump the backstory and weave it in slowly. And I started typing. That's my writing life.

I write.

That is pretty much 100% of it.

So, do what you will with all this wisdom (drivel—whatever).

Now, to pretend like this was interesting--and the way I pretend is by racking up a bunch of comments, I'm giving a signed copy of Wrangler in Petticoats to one lucky commenter. (lucky is the spin I'm putting on it, let's all join hands and go with that, huh?) And your comment today gets you in the drawing for the end of the month KINDLE drawing, a Kindle loaded with Seeker books.

Leave a comment and tell me about YOUR writing life. And if you leave multiple comments you're going to get more chances to win.

I apologize for that pathetic ploy.

And I'm sorry...I should have gone for entertaining instead of truth.

Mary Connealy