If we ever met in the street you'd shake my hand...

So fellow writer Yvette Carol alerted me via facebook to this juicy post about writing about writing perhaps not being the best thing to write about (in my blog), and it has me thinking. I'm thinking this person has a point. There is only so much you can say about writing. And what many people want from writing advice is the penny dropping moment when they get what they need to do, write or say to make all their writing dreams come true. Which doesn't happen. Like magical diets or exercise equipment or fitness regimes (Zumba anyone?) nothing works like eating less and exercising more. Its the same with writing. Write more, and follow the rules of good writing. The magic has to come from inside. Its in there already. Its growing from the seed planted by the way you felt when you read that book that you loved. That book you loved that made you think "I want to do that too". And its getting in touch with that magic that I reckon makes all the difference. So maybe telling you things about writing in general isn't the best use of my blog?

So okay I do think its good to share the ups and downs of the writing to publication journey sometimes. When you are on that road it can seem endlessly long (are we there yet?) with no glimpses of the destination. And to know you are not alone on that road can help you place one foot in front of the other and keep going. And writing is not all I am and think (okay it is mostly) and...and...okay actually I'm thinking that link is a little cynical and I don't write this blog just so I can find readers and sell my books to them. My blog is me thinking out loud, forming my opinions, sucking it to see. And in this current publishing climate when things are changing and morphing and evolving faster than you can say dinosaur, its good to surf the internet and find out what's happening, how it's happening and how people are responding and share what I can with y'all. Its good to try different things, maybe even new things, and realise that mistakes and failures are not the worst thing that can happen and actually if one book dies a death or never gets to see the light of day, maybe even because I did the wrong thing, I'm still breathing air, my heart is still beating and my brain is still thinking oh my god how young did Daniel Craig look in Lara Croft Tomb Raider and I am so going to buy the latest Vanity Fair with him and George Clooney and Matt Damon on the cover... And I hope that reading this you nod your head, or laugh out loud (no loling here thanks) or think you'll keep writing a bit longer or search a little harder for that magic, or think if we ever met in the street you'd shake my hand or give me a hug and laugh with me about things like old friends.