Ask the Author: Liz Lee
Answered Questions (6)
Liz Lee
First, I don't really believe in writer's block. It's an excuse brought on most often by fear of getting it wrong. Here's a secret: the first draft will be wrong on so many levels but it will also have magic if you give yourself permission to write crap. Write crap. Get something on the page. Repeat. When you get to the end of that first crappy draft, you'll know your characters, your conflicts, your setting...all the basic building blocks of the story. Then you can go back and start creating something wonderful.
Sometimes "writer's block" is actually creative exhaustion or physical exhaustion. When that's the case, I refill the creative well. When I start to feel like I can't write another word, I set a timer for ten minutes and say I'll just do that short time, or I say 100 words. I can do 100 words. Or I say ONE PAGE. Just one page. I do whatever the tiny goal is and sometimes it gets me through the exhaustion. Sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, I hit the goal and then go read or watch Netflix or go for a walk or go take a nap. If you can end knowing where you want to go the next day and then shut the computer and walk away, your brain can percolate subconsciously while you do other stuff. Usually the next day you come back refreshed.
I did The Artist's Way several years ago, and Julia Cameron gives LOTS of advice about this. I HIGHLY recommend working through that book if you find yourself in that place of fear or exhaustion OR if you think you want to write (or partake of any other art), but you're just not sure. When you finish the workshop, your creative soul will NEED an outlet. :)
Sometimes "writer's block" is actually creative exhaustion or physical exhaustion. When that's the case, I refill the creative well. When I start to feel like I can't write another word, I set a timer for ten minutes and say I'll just do that short time, or I say 100 words. I can do 100 words. Or I say ONE PAGE. Just one page. I do whatever the tiny goal is and sometimes it gets me through the exhaustion. Sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't, I hit the goal and then go read or watch Netflix or go for a walk or go take a nap. If you can end knowing where you want to go the next day and then shut the computer and walk away, your brain can percolate subconsciously while you do other stuff. Usually the next day you come back refreshed.
I did The Artist's Way several years ago, and Julia Cameron gives LOTS of advice about this. I HIGHLY recommend working through that book if you find yourself in that place of fear or exhaustion OR if you think you want to write (or partake of any other art), but you're just not sure. When you finish the workshop, your creative soul will NEED an outlet. :)
Liz Lee
Taking a blank canvas and creating a whole new world with characters who surprise the heck out of me. Finding the perfect word or phrase to capture a moment. Falling in love all over again.
Liz Lee
READ everything. If you want to write, you've got to study the craft.
Write. Work on developing your voice. Don't wait for "the muse."
Listen. Find someone whose writing you love and try to make contact. Look for their blogs, twitter, Facebook fan page or find them here. Then ask them questions about their process, their favorite books on writing, their best advice. Most writers are happy to share with others. Some won't answer, but if you don't ask, you'll never know. AND if they don't answer, it's not like you lost anything since you started with nothing. :)
Write. Work on developing your voice. Don't wait for "the muse."
Listen. Find someone whose writing you love and try to make contact. Look for their blogs, twitter, Facebook fan page or find them here. Then ask them questions about their process, their favorite books on writing, their best advice. Most writers are happy to share with others. Some won't answer, but if you don't ask, you'll never know. AND if they don't answer, it's not like you lost anything since you started with nothing. :)
Liz Lee
Patty and Sam's book (It Started in Texas, Book 4) will debut in September. It's tentatively titled The Real Deal. It's a Second Chance romance, and it's hot. :) It's done other than the author's note.
Becky and Jeremiah's book (readers meet Becky in book 4) debuts in October. I'm working on final edits of it right now.
Meg's book debuts in November.
Becky and Jeremiah's book (readers meet Becky in book 4) debuts in October. I'm working on final edits of it right now.
Meg's book debuts in November.
Liz Lee
Spotify and Bose headphones. I try to find a soundtrack for my books. Music that fits the mood of the story so every time I turn it on, it snaps me back to the characters and their emotions. Eliza Jane Miller is a small town girl trying to shake that persona. Country music fit her. She's still a good girl, so Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood and others worked.
Sometimes, though, it's not about inspiration. Sometimes it's about perspiration. I had this AWFUL condition called frozen shoulder when I wrote To Risk a Heart. I couldn't move my left arm without it feeling like it wanted to fall off. I didn't write for eight weeks, and it was driving me crazy. One of my former students recommended Dragon Dictation. I used it and hand wrote in a spiral notebook old school style. It wasn't easy, but it was awesome to give voice to my story. I always tell my students you can't wait to be inspired to write. You write and the inspiration will come. As Nora Roberts says, you can't fix a blank page.
Sometimes, though, it's not about inspiration. Sometimes it's about perspiration. I had this AWFUL condition called frozen shoulder when I wrote To Risk a Heart. I couldn't move my left arm without it feeling like it wanted to fall off. I didn't write for eight weeks, and it was driving me crazy. One of my former students recommended Dragon Dictation. I used it and hand wrote in a spiral notebook old school style. It wasn't easy, but it was awesome to give voice to my story. I always tell my students you can't wait to be inspired to write. You write and the inspiration will come. As Nora Roberts says, you can't fix a blank page.
Liz Lee
To Risk a Heart debuts Monday, August 25 on Amazon. It's the third book in the It Started in Texas series. Eliza Jane and Grady were great fun to write, and it was the first book my DH actually helped me plot. I knew Eliza Jane and Grady belonged together, but I had no idea how to make that happen. Grady was so blind where Eliza Jane was concerned in Close to Home, I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew he needed to pay. :) Bits and pieces of scenes came to me. I knew Eliza Jane was working to shed her small town girl persona, and I knew Grady was working as a behind the scenes investigator because of To Trust a Prince. When the plot idea hit, I ran with it. I had a lot of fun with this story. Grady never expected to be attracted to Eliza Jane, and Eliza Jane never expected Grady to fall for her. LOTS of steam in this one. :)
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