You guys rock. You didn't take yourself off o this blog after I went away for, like, a week or more. I was on hiatus, and more than a little burnt out, between SpoCon and my grandiose number of writing projects in the recent days. Suffice it to say I was thoroughly and utterly avoiding writing this time yesterday, ready to just give it up and move on to something more fulfilling, like sewing or crocheting.

Obviously, that didn't last, but it's fun to pretend to hate your muse sometimes, as long as it all falls back into place when it needs to.

This isn't about that, though.

This is about letting go.

I'm currently struggling with a nasty issue. I love everything about my first manuscript, "Tartaros". I love the characters, the world, the plot.

I think I have to let it go, and that prospect makes me want to rip my heart out of my chest and eat it. I've poured over a year of work into that manuscript, just to let it fall to dust? I don't want to do that, and I came to a conclusion. Do you want to hear it?

My problem, the reason I want to do all of this, is because I don't love what I'm doing with it now. Allow me to explain--I'm not editing it to make it a better story, I'm editing it to get it published, and that's wrong.

It's very easy to lose sight of why we write, especially when you start trying to make money at it. You lose that free soul and just want to cry when you have to work on things. Writers start writing because they love it, because they have a story to tell--not so they can be rich. This is just a reminder, for those of you out there wanting to give up and resign yourself to flipping burgers mindlessly the rest of your days: get back to why you first started writing. Forget about finding a market, appeasing that publisher, editing for New York--write because you're inspired, appease your soul, and edit for the sake of the better story.

Everything turns out okay, I promise. The universe has a way of turning things out the way they were always meant to be.

So I'm not letting go of "Tartaros". I'm letting go of the worry and pain of editing for something other than the story, letting go of the constant fear in my gut, and letting go of the voice that tells me I have no worth. To all of those things, I have three words to say:

F*ck.
That.
Sh*t.

Hopefully back on path--I need your love and positive thoughts now more than ever,
Voss

Romance Writer's Handbook

Everyone that writes loves to find resources of some kind--and a lot of times that's a book on writing. Anyone that finds and read these books usually has a favorite, too. A lot of people swear by "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. My favorite is "Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy" by Orson Scott Card (I might have the title a little off, but by God I know where to find it in my library!).

Everyone also has a real favorite. It's that one that you may or may not ever share with anyone, either because you want to hog the glory of the book all to yourself, or you're slightly embarrassed to admit that it is your favorite. Either way, I'm coming clean about it here and now.

Just let me stand up.

*Ahem* Hello, my name's Voss Foster, and I'm in love with "The Romance Writer's Handbook" by Rebecca Vinyard.

You're surprised, right? You should be. Okay, so I have romance threads in everything...every time...almost without fail...but that doesn't mean anything!

In honesty, the reason I love Vinyard's book is the fact that it's not just for romance. It has a bit for everything. From brilliant plotting advice to publishing tips and, yes, romance specific bits--what do you expect, it's a book on how to write romance novels for Christ's sake.

Now, I can't actually post any of her brilliance here for copyright purposes, but I can send you this lovely link to the site she started for romance writer's back when the internet was still run on brontosaurus oil and slave labor. I don't think it's quite as brilliant as "The Romance Writer's Handbook", but then again I don't really think anything is--at least nothing in the writing aid vein of books, articles, websites, and magazines out there.

Okay, I'll share a bit of wisdom I got from it...but just a few words.

"You can fix it."

I agree with the book--writer's need that phrase places across their homes. Painted on murals above their computers. Tattooed on their inner eyelids in glow-in-the-dark ink so they can read it every night before they go to bed. As an emergency fixer to pull out when writing starts to overwhelm.

"You can fix it."

I'll let you discover the rest of this fabulosity on your own--and give you a Purchase Link to get it from Amazon.com. Right now, you can get it for under three bucks a copy, so what's stopping you, really? Not that I have any room to talk...I haven't bought my own copy yet either...bad writer, bad!

Sadly I have to go.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight 'til it be 'morrow."

Peace,
Voss