I Could Write a Book. Maybe. But Not Now.

writing badge
I’ve felt a little out of place since I learned that I’m the only member of my writers’ workshop who isn’t working on Writing A Book, and it’s made me re-examine just why I signed up for it. I know I was fueled by my enthusiasm over Beth Kephart’s writing instruction, as conveyed through Handling the Truth, at the time (and that I wanted some sort of proxy for a class with her), but my main motivation was that it felt like a necessary next step in my development as a writer. On further reflection–which was actually required by our second-week workshop assignment–I’m not sure that I had any other motivations:

“I signed up for this because I’ve never really been part of a writing group, and I hope to learn just as much, if not more, from reading and responding to everyone else’s work than I do from writing my own.

“My primary goal for my writing is to Do It Better. Along those lines, some of my sub-goals pertaining to this workshop in particular are somewhat technical in nature. I want to be more expressive, sometimes in fewer words. I want to be more concise when it’s appropriate. I’d like to learn more effective ways of writing objectively without falling into the passive voice. I’d like to work on making my writing sound like me without necessarily making it about me. And when it IS about me, I’d like to be able to say it in a way that fosters better connection with the reader.”

We’re halfway through our fall session now, and we’ve progressively narrowed our focus from broad consideration of the Writing Process to the elements of crafting a piece–drafting, revising and structuring, trying not to lose sight of what our our leader/coach Jane calls “The Big Four” of writing:

  • First and most important, there must be some purpose to what you’re writing.
  • Second, that there is an audience for your writing.  Not some amorphous They Out There, but real people (even if they exist only in your imagination) that you are writing to. 
  • Third, there is a message that you are looking to get across to that audience.  
  • Finally, there is your persona as a writer, the you that comes across on the page, your Voice for that particular piece of prose.

“Purpose, audience, message, persona: they are woven together, are often interdependent, and the successful realization of them usually determines the success of the particular piece of writing. You may not think of The Big Four every, or any, time that you’re writing, but if you get stuck, I guarantee you that one of them needs attention.”

I have lots of short-term writing end-products (blog posts, book reviews, that sort of thing), but no large-scale grandly ambitious end-product. Perhaps the small ones will build toward a big one–a Book!?–someday, but right now I’m not seeing it, and the Big Four have helped me understand why I don’t:


  • Right now, I don’t have a purpose/mission that requires a book to convey it
  • Without a purpose, I can’t get a sense of whether there’s an audience at all, let alone whom it might be
  • My message depends on why I want to put it out there and who I want to read it
  • I need to know what my message is in order to find the appropriate persona to deliver it


I’m not yet in a place, as a writer, where I’m ready to apply those considerations to anything more than several hundred words at a time. I’m not sure I ever will be, and I’m not sure I ever have to be.

My purpose in writing that here is to help myself accept that this is OK, and to share that with you, my readers. I consider many of you my friends, and as my friends, I thought you might be interested to know how this project is going. It is feeding my development as a writer, which is what I hoped it would do–but right now, it’s not going toward Writing A Book.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,318 other subscribers
(Semi)Wordless Wednesday: Costume Party

(Semi)Wordless Wednesday: Costume Party

The prompt for the Wordless Wednesday Linky Group this week is “Halloween.” I confess that I’ve never been a very big fan of Halloween, but at my relatively advanced age, I have grown to enjoy the fun of dressing up in costumes. These beauties are not mine–they were worn by Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love–but they wouldn’t be out of place at the RenFaire. This gown and riding habit could be yours for a minimum bid of $5000 […]

(Audio)Book Talk: FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL, by Sheri Fink

(Audio)Book Talk: FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL, by Sheri Fink

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital Sheri Fink (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by Kirsten Potter Crown (September 2013), Hardcover (ISBN 0307718964 / 9780307718969) Nonfiction (social science/health), 576 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Random House Audio (September 2013) ISBN 978-0-8041-2810-0; Audible ASIN B00EF870X8) Reason for reading: Personal interest From the Prologue: “For certain New Orleanians, Memorial Medical Center was the place you went to ride out each hurricane that the loop current […]

Flashback Friday: Casual Meets Cosplay

Flashback Friday: Casual Meets Cosplay

It is a total cheat to call this a Flashback Friday shot, since I just took it this morning…but because I am wearing a time machine, I’m taking it. The “Exploding TARDIS” pencil skirt, with its Van Gogh-inspired print referencing the Series 5 episode “Vincent and the Doctor,” is letting me sneak a little cosplay into the office today. (30 days till the Doctor Who 50th-anniversary special, y’all!) Also flashing back this Friday: Desiree Kim […]

Sign of a Tourist: Or, A Day in Hollywood

Sign of a Tourist: Or, A Day in Hollywood

When you see this sign, you know where you are I’ve lived more than half my life in places where one of the leading industries is tourism. As a teenager on Florida’s Gulf Coast, I mocked it–”tourist trap” was an insult applied to places residents wouldn’t go and activities they wouldn’t do. As a thirtysomething in Memphis–Tennessee’s other “Music City”–I visited Graceland only in the company of out-of-town visitors, but I worked at one of the […]

WW: Gourds Gone Wild!

WW: Gourds Gone Wild!

Well, these were pretty laid back, from what I could tell–just hanging out at the mall… This week’s Wordless Wednesday Linky Group theme was suggested by Susanna. document.write(”); Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address Subscribe Join 2,318 other subscribers

Book Talk: SAFFRON CROSS, by J. Dana Trent

Book Talk: SAFFRON CROSS, by J. Dana Trent

Saffron Cross: The Unlikely Story of How a Christian Minister Married a Hindu Monk J. Dana Trent (Facebook) (Twitter) Fresh Air Books (2013), trade paper (ISBN 1935205161 / 9781935205166) Nonfiction: memoir/spirituality, 144 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (October 18, 2013). Shelf Awareness provided a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review and compensation for the review they received and published. She was nurtured by one small-town Baptist […]

Friday Flashback: 7th* Anniversary Edition

Friday Flashback: 7th* Anniversary Edition

Seven* years ago this weekend, this guy and I married each other. We’re both taking the day off on Monday, our actual anniversary, to wander around town and enjoy each other’s company. I don’t think we’ll get quite this dressed up, though. 26–Happy Anniversary! Love you, 28 *edited because 2006 was 7 years ago, not 8, and this accountant can’t do mental arithmetic Florinda and PaulSaturday, October 21, 2006The Westlake Village InnWestlake Village, California Also flashing back […]

BOOKKEEPING: Reading, Listening, Watching, Writing

BOOKKEEPING: Reading, Listening, Watching, Writing

I haven’t checked in at the Sunday Salon for a few weeks now, other than that time I talked about why this reader writes, and it looks like I won’t get there this weekend either (a houseguest through Sunday night, and a day off with Tall Paul on Monday), so I thought I’d do a little Bookkeeping here today. Reading I’m performing a potentially dangerous bit of book juggling right now–I’ve got three print books […]

WW: Hot in Here!

WW: Hot in Here!

…Well, I’m assuming this guy stripped down to cool down… document.write(”); Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address Subscribe Join 2,318 other subscribers

Book Talk: THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND, by Jojo Moyes

Book Talk: THE GIRL YOU LEFT BEHIND, by Jojo Moyes

The Girl You Left Behind Jojo Moyes (Twitter) (Facebook) Pamela Dornan Books (August 2013), hardcover (ISBN 0670026611 / 9780670026616) Fiction (historical), 384 pages Source: Publisher Reason for reading: She Reads Book Club October selection Opening lines: “I was dreaming of food. Crisp baguettes, the flesh of the bread a virginal white, still steaming from the oven, and ripe cheese, its borders creeping toward the edge of the plate. Grapes and plums, stacked high in bowls, […]

WW Wild Card: Only in LA…

WW Wild Card: Only in LA…

…do fictional Realtors from TV sitcoms get bus-bench ads like real-life Realtors do. Phil Dunphy’s bench, on Franklin Avenue east of Highland “Watch a new episode of Modern Family tonight on ABC!”  If you want. Or DVR it and watch it later–that’s what I’ll do. Or watch something else. (This post is sponsored by absolutely no one, in case you couldn’t tell.) An InLinkz Link-up Subscribe to Blog via Email Enter your email address to […]