Accountable to You

I'll share a secret with you.  I find that I stick to things better when held accountable to them--and that's part of the concept behind this blog.  I think that's generally true for everyone, but we don't all realize that it applies to personal goals as well as daily life.  For instance, we're more likely to follow through on a course of study when given deadlines and consequences.

Anyhow, that's how I wrote Silk--I set a word count goal and stuck to it--daily ticking off that count.  I did the same for Tapestry, though there was an interruption.  By the time I got to Homespun, I felt that I'd proven to myself that I could do it, so I could relax more with those requirements, but it took FOREVER to finish.

I heard J.K. Rowling say that she approached writing as a job.  She laughed when someone asked her about waiting for inspiration and said that no book would ever get written that way.  Well, I have heard of an occasional book being written that way, but in general I think career authors can't simply wait for inspiration if they expect to write multiple books.

Not to say that there's not inspiration behind book concepts--just that the words that flow to put it together aren't necessarily gushing forth.  They're work to pull together, to connect everything.

So, part of my design in creating this blog is to hold myself accountable to you--to finish what I start, what I decide to sit down and work on.  No absolute promises--I know better now that I've dealt with life's surprises in this last year, but I think I'll do a better job of completing whatever I tell you about here.

I've dallied with a number of resources lately, but I'll go ahead and relate one 'research' venue that I want to complete first--I plan to read the Memoirs of Sophia: Electress of Hanover once again just now.  I read them quite a while ago and they're a quick read that will put me in the right frame of mind again after having my mind twisted by claims that we wouldn't relate to the way they thought about things back then--so many stuffy books (mostly from the 19th century) seem to confirm this.  Sophia of Hanover, however, is a witty and wise 17th-century princess, and I totally relate to her, connect to her writing.  It doesn't hurt that I fancy her my ancestress (if that family tree is to be trusted!).  I don't want to be drawn into the trap of thinking I can't write from the heart, that I have to second-guess everything with cerebral logic, restrict my perspective.  Of course we have to consider their setting, but some of them were broad-minded, intelligent, fun-loving, emotional people, just as we are.

I've begun one book about her daughter-in-law, Sophia Dorothea, and another about her mother, Elizabeth Stuart, and I most certainly want to write one with Sophia of Hanover herself as main character.  Yes, a big theme for a series, though the one about her mother is a children's/young adult book, whereas the other is more of a romance... See why I need some accountability and organization?  When writing resumes this fall, I hope that this blog helps me stick to finishing one of these books before going on to another new project.  I have exciting ideas for a few other books in this series already.

Hopefully I'll stick through to the finish point, whichever it is.  I plan to keep you in the loop!