Random Musings

A quote in Julia Cameron's Walking in This World hit me as so appropriate for writers and readers.

This is from Shakti Gawain, "We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open." This applies to readers as well as writers. Rather then be lemmings we are better being ourselves because -- who will be us if we aren't and for writers who will write our story if we don't. No one can interpret it better then we can.

There is another quote I can't remember who said, I paraphrase here - Other people's opinions are none of our business. A bad review, a bad critique, a Top Ten Book List - these are someone else's opinions. We should write the book we want to not because it's popular. We should read the book we want to--not because some one else said we should, but because we want to.

So When we as writers interview one of our characters to make them come alive to our readers - we are in that skin. We are that person at that moment. In Small Town Secrets, due out next month, Chaneeta Morgan is the owner and operator of a cafe as well as the town chairperson of this small town. She is a composite of many people I know or have known, but then aren't we all? We are the experiences we have lived, we are the people whose lives have brushed against ours. So in allowing Chaneeta to just come to life, I hope readers will find bits of themselves in her, or at least bits of people they know.

I live in a small town, I work at a small town cafe - the town chair person here happens to be a man, but it could have been Chaneeta. I'm sure this small town of Amberg, Wisconsin has affected this story in ways I'm not even aware of myself.

I say look for the author and her life whenever you read her books. Whenever you encounter a hero looking evil in the face you'll know what kind of hero you are by your own reaction. If something makes us uncomfortable our escape is a good read or a good writing session. That makes us all connected.