I find I'm always torn between what I want to write and what I think other people would like to read. Always part of me is trying to anticipate what the reader would like. Do any of you feel like that? How do you get the focus back to 'your voice' as it were? Or does that just take time?
This is one thing my writing coach has helped me a lot with -- he says that when you write a first draft, you don't even need to think about the reader -- it's just about getting what's in your head down on paper/in pixels. Then, as you edit, you start thinking more about the reader's experience of the piece. I like this way of thinking about it because then you don't have to choose -- you just do one then the other. :)
Cheers Madgeylou! I really like that idea.
How are your writing projects going?
I'm struggling a little bit, to be honest. I've been working on this book off and on for 5 years! Jesus! And I have a first draft. But I'm struggling with this idea of how to tell the story. I've been trying to tell MY story, and ask questions and invite the reader into my experience to see if it resonates with them ... and to offer suggestions on how to move beyond the limiting parts if it does.
My editor has suggested that I should focus more on the reader's problems and how I can help solve them. THEN go into my story, to build a sense of authority and 'yep I've been there and can help you out.'
So I'm having a hard time with this. The topic I'm writing about -- how to give up self-defeating patterns around love -- is very tender, and I don't want to come on too strong and make my readers feel like there's something wrong with them that only I can help them with. I want it to feel more like an exploration of where we are, and how what we've been taught can limit us, and how we can move beyond that.
So ... yeah. I'm on this awesome writing retreat in Mexico and feel like I'm filling pages and not really getting anywhere. Blah. Nothing to do but keep going, though. I do have faith that I will eventually crack it, because I always do.