'Everyone is able to write, perform the actual action. However, the activity of writing - thinking, choosing, structuring, styling, giving the right details, being able to speed up and slow down, being able to choose the right perspective, writing a good dialogue - for those kind of things you need knowledge and skills.'
The above is a free translation of a paragraph in '101 Writing Tips of Your Writing Coach' by Mireille Geus, writer of several awarded children's books. Good point, but... do I have all that?? Knowledge is something you can gain and developing skills is a matter of 'practice makes perfect'. So I guess there is hope! And so what, if my first book will not be a literary masterpiece! For me it is the creative process that counts. Except for the book of Mireille Geus I have bought, I found out some really interesting, helpful and surprising tips on writers forums yesterday and put them all together. Started on top of the list this morning: I have written the synopsis of the story of my book and set myself the goal to write an average of a 1000 words a day. Gee, how good I felt at the end of the day! Love, M.
