What’s in Your Writer’s Closet? I last posted here two months ago. You might say I took a summer vacation. Now autumn approaches and I anticipate the invigoration of bracing evenings and new promise in the air. It’s time to get moving again. Time to check out where to begin.
An animal prepares to burrow in – out of the flow – at autumn time. Not so with humans. We are ready to reenter the flow. To shake off the humid torpor and plunge into the vitality of life. Writers are ready to plunge also. To re-engage our psyches and set loose our imaginations.
In his wonderful book On Writing, Stephen King offers good advice about that. Sit down every morning and do the work. Two-thousand words minimum. Or thousands more, if you can manage it. He is a taskmaster for sure. His career is evidence of the wisdom of the task.
Keep on writing whatever may occur. I’ve signed my own books with those words for many years. I cherish the phrase and the sentiment. I pass them on with every good wish in my heart, especially to beginners on this path. But what will you keep on writing as a new season begins?
A writer writes – whatever that may entail. Maybe not always a host of novel pages to start with. A writer may scribble ideas on notecards. A writer may fill journal pages when the morning gifts her with inspiration. A writer may stare at the wall and just imagine. It all counts.
For me the way back in led to a peek inside my writer’s closet. A writer’s closet is the place where we store the stories we gave up on. The stories we dropped in their tracks. The stories we abandoned when a shinier new idea came along. We all have a writer’s closet.
What I found in my writer’s closet was a story that hit a snag. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Supposedly. The boulder in this particular writing road was a scene that didn’t work. It didn’t fit with what came before. I could have pressed on. Instead, I walked away.
Autumn inspires us to see old roads with new eyes. The spark of potential rekindles. Maybe not a full blaze at first. Maybe only a flash of light. We see it and feel it all the same. We rediscover a path we can dance again, possibly to an altered tune. I saw. I felt. I am dancing.
What’s in Your Writer’s Closet? Take a peek. Look for a story you might dance to again. Look for a story you already tingle to tackle each morning. A spark of potential recognized anew. You see it. You feel it. Your heart jumps. Your imagination stirs. You begin to dance.
Alice Orr – https://www.aliceorrbooks.com.
ASK ALICE Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Ask that question in the Comments section following this post. Share your writer’s journey and inspire future posts.
Alice has published 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community. Her latest novel – A Time of Fear & Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.
Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!”
Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.
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Love the idea of the writer’s closet and yes, I have one. A couple almost-books and short stories. I’m planning on getting to them after I finish the two I’m working on now.
Thanks, Alice!
Hey Shirley. Gold in them thar oldie-but-goodie files. I am having a lot of fun with mine. A 6th and final addition to my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense series. The big thing is that you have probably already put a lot of work into those closeted concoctions. Work that goes to waster if you don’t pull them out and mine for the gold that is sure to be there. I hope you do have a go at that and also that you get as huge a kick out of it as I am. Meanwhile… Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. Alice
My writing closets are all over my office. In my laptop, files labeled “in progress,” in my piles of journals, in my ‘ideas’ manila folders. This tells me I give up too soon. Thanks for the prompt to grab something and work with it. Happy Fall!
Hi Linda. Wow. It’s great to find an IWWG sister on here. Sounds like you have a treasure trove to the max in your office. It may not be just that you give up too soon on a story. The distraction may actually come from having such an active imagination that new super story ideas keep coming up and luring you away. An embarrassment of riches, but do not be embarrassed. Be impressed with yourself. I am. Have immense fun with the Christmas Morning experience of opening up all of those gifts you have left for yourself to play with anew. I am definitely having a lot of fun with mine. A 6th and final addition to my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense series. Meanwhile… Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. Alice
I have a file called “archived older books and ideas” that I use for copies of things I might write someday but have no current plans for. Some are things I started, got stalled on writing, and put aside. I sometimes drag a subfolder out of there and put it in my “books” file so I can easily find it. I’ve rescued a few ideas and published them. But most things in this folder are never going to see the light of day. They were great ideas, but not worth the time to pursue them. I have so many ideas every day that I keep a running list, and when I need inspiration, I scroll through it.
Sweet Kayelle!!! Top of the morning to you. I absolutely knew you would have a motherlode of material closeted away. I get what you say about those beauties possibly not being as beautiful as what you are working with now. But have you thought of adapting elements of those older projects to the series, or individual story, you are currently working on? The object is to repurpose work you have already done rather than leaving it by the wayside. I know your work well enough to bet big time there are gems of true luster in that archive/closet of yours. I’m just sayin… Love. Alice
I have a writer’s closet I hope to get to one day but right now I have too many ideas of books to finish
Oh my goodness!!! Hi there Janet. It’s been way too long since I had a chat with you. I have no doubt that you have lots of projects in yor upfront hopper. I will just repeat what I just said to Kayelle. What about trolling those older efforts for elements you might adapt to your present work? I would be very surprised, given the richness of your imagination then and now and always, if there were not some great twists and turns and scenes and character actions and dialogue clips that are more than worth dropping into your current story where they will shine all over again. You did all of that work and came up with all those story bits. What about putting them to use? I am having a lot of fun with my bits, reworking a 6th and final addition to my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense series. Love and great to hear from you. As always… Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. Alice
Your blog about a writer’s closet really resonated with me. I’ve written a lot over the years, and fortunately some became published while others got put in the “someday” file folders. I’m in the habit of closet cleaning during the change of seasons, so this inspired me to look again at the writing pieces which I did earlier and see if I will do more with them. Thank you. Cathy
Hi Cathy. Of course you have a lot of material closeted away. It has been waiting for you to be able to say you are a full-time writer at last – ready to do your dream job like you are meant to. As if that long awaited transition were not fun enough, reacquainting yourself with old story companions is a writer’s party for sure. I am certainly having a celebration with mine. A 6th and final addition to my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense series. I cannot wait to hear about the jewels you uncover in your happy closet search and what you do with them. Be sure to enjoy enjoy enjoy. This is your time for doing exactly that and you have more than earned it. Meanwhile… Keep on Writing Whatever May Occur. Love. Alice