![]() The biggest secret I ever kept from my husband was that I was writing a novel. We've been together close to 15 years and I'm sure from time to time I'd murmur something about 'having done some writing today' but I never talked much about the content. I guess at some point he knew I was working on a mystery of sorts, and maybe that it was set in seventeenth-century England, but really, that was about it, until a few years ago when I began to write in earnest. I didn't set out to keep my novel-writing a secret. The truth is, I wasn't writing every day (I do have two young children and well, a whole other career), but I also didn't view myself as a writer, let alone as an author. Sure, I "author" academic publications, but to call myself a "writer" felt somehow pretentious, even precious. I also felt that if I talked about my story, I would somehow lose it, that it would slip into the ether. And I still feel that way! (Case in point: my husband has now read the second book in the series, From the Charred Remains--the only person who's done so-- but he's yet to read the entire other novel I wrote while A Murder at Rosamund's Gate was out on submission to agents). So when I was writing Rosamund's Gate, I never really knew any other writers...or so I thought. I wasn't taking writing classes; I'd never participated in a critique group; and I hadn't yet encountered the vibrant online writing community that I now know about. So I've been pleased and surprised to discover, when I finally started telling people that I had written a book, how many other people were thinking about--or were actively engaged in--writing novels too. Childhood friends, neighbors, family members, colleagues, parents of my kids' friends, random acquaintances at the coffee shop--sometimes I wonder who's NOT writing a book. So what's YOUR book about? And I'm just so curious--what stage are you at? Brainstorming, dreaming, plotting, most of a draft done...or even further? I'd love to know!
16 Comments
6/25/2012 11:59:35 am
It's can be hard to admit to writing a novel to some people. It took me a very long time to tell my colleagues at work, who knew when I was hired that I wrote, that I was actually writing a novel and what it was about. I've been writing since I was a teenager, and even then I felt that if I told someone about my novel, the inspiration would disappear. These days, I've finished a novel, which is going through one last edit before it goes to my readers, and then will make the rounds with agents. It's a historical novel set in Victorian England, with an eccentric noblewoman trying to save the man she once loved from being hung as a traitor. It was immensely fulfilling to research and a great pleasure to write. And the nice thing is that I've learned to speak quite comfortably with my colleagues about it. My husband is also a writer, so he knew about this from the start--well, once I finished the first draft. I tend to be secretive about projects until I've completed a draft. Perhaps there is something to be said about excess conversation about a novel draining ideas . . .
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Matt
6/25/2012 12:50:13 pm
Great blog! How ever did you keep such a secret for so long?!? Another whole book as well. Can't wait to read everything!
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Vas
6/25/2012 10:15:10 pm
Great insight into the world of the writer! Could be a book in and of itself!
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Debbie
6/25/2012 10:26:23 pm
I'm at the "I-want-to-write-a-novel-but-I-can't-come-up-with-a-cogent-plot" phase. I've sketched out characters and have a fairly well conceptualized setting, but the story has yet to reveal itself to me. Considering I've never thought of myself as a writer, I have allowed myself the luxury of not getting too worried about it. It will come or it won't. Still, I know what you mean about keeping it under wraps. This is the first place I've ever admitted my ambitions publicly. For now I'm content to just keep reading.
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Debbie, maybe you're a "pantser"--you write first and figure it out later. I definitely did that for my first book (of course, there's probably a direct correlation between my following that method and the fact that it took me about ten years :-) Many many rewrites go with that method!
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10/3/2013 05:30:46 pm
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10/22/2013 02:11:48 pm
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1/28/2014 12:35:08 pm
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2/24/2014 06:21:44 pm
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3/3/2014 09:56:39 pm
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3/4/2014 04:23:32 pm
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Susanna CalkinsHistorian. Mystery writer. Researcher. Teacher. Occasional blogger. Categories
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