August 1, 2009
Have you ever wanted to hit your head against the wall for missed opportunities to plug your work and yourself as a writer? If I followed through on this urge, I’d for sure be missing half of my temporal lobe by now!
My characters and story are in my head CONSTANTLY to the point that I should set them a seat at my table along with my children, yet I have the hardest time speaking about them (my characters not my children) to other people.
Recently, a good friend asked me what my book was about. She was genuinely interested but I became a bumbling idiot sadly resembling my first attempt at asking a boy to the Sadie Hawkins dance in high school. I don’t know if I’m worried that the person isn’t really interested and just being polite or if I just generally am too close to the whole thing to put it into words. It’s almost as if someone had asked me to sum up my whole world in a sentence or two. It’s overwhelming.
The most frustrating thing is that I know talking easily and convincingly about my work is essential to success. I KNOW that if I’m not enthusiastic and clear then neither will anyone else be.
But it is proving to be a hard nut to crack for this aspiring writer…