This post was originally published on this site.
When I stopped writing for Harlequin after having done 80 books for the publisher (and that’s a long, long story, so let’s just say it was a painful parting, and leave it at that), I didn’t write a word of fiction for close to two years. Though now that I look back, it may have been closer to three.
And then I very tentatively stuck a toe into writing a short story. An ultra-short story — a few thousand words that I crafted and recrafted and pared down, until in its final form, it’s less than a thousand words.
It felt good to only need to please myself.
So I wrote another short story, this one a little longer but easier to craft. And then a third — with a historical setting this time, and a little longer yet. And that was really fun.
Then my writing partner (who was publishing erotic romance at the time) said, “Leigh, after all those sweet novels, you can’t write an erotic love scene to save your life.”
And I said, “Wanna bet?”
So I started writing what I thought was an erotic short story, only it kept getting longer and became a novella.
I’d always been a daytime writer, following a pattern of regular office hours — because with a contract to produce three or four books a year, I couldn’t manage the work any other way than treating it as a regular 9 to 5 job.
But suddenly I was staying up till 3 a.m. because I just couldn’t stop thinking about what these characters were doing, and why, and what might happen next.
And after all that time, and all those published words, suddenly writing was fun again.
My writing partner kept saying my sassy, sophisticated (though sadly, not really erotic) short story should be a novel. I kept saying that I’d told the story and there wasn’t any more. And she said, “Then there are more novellas!”
That was how The Mistress’ House got off the ground. (It’s three connected novellas that all happen in the same London townhouse in 1815. Oh, the tales I could tell about how those other two stories came into being…)
All of which is just to say that if I hadn’t found my way back to the roots of simply writing for enjoyment, I might never have gotten past the discouragement I felt at the ending of a career path that I’d expected would go on forever. And I might never have found my way to a different career path that’s been rewarding in totally different ways.
And perhaps that’s true for you all as well. Writing is a tough road, and it’s a tougher way to make a living. The thing that makes all the work pay off is the sheer joy and fun of creating people and situations and stories that make us feel good. If we lose that — if we let it get buried under the “need to” and “have to” and “must” that we hear so much — then writing can become just another task, another project, another checklist… just another job.
I wish for you all the joy of creativity — and the success, as well.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, your experience, your examples, your questions. Is there a topic you’d like to see addressed?
The Snarky Editor’s Softer Side is represented by author / editor / teacher / writing coach Leigh Michaels, commenting on random topics of interest to writers and readers. Leigh is the award-winning author of more than 100 books. (The Snarky Editor herself mainly comes out to play when she discovers egregious and often hilarious errors in published books.)
To find out more, check out https://leighmichaels.com
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