On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
British author Lucy Mitchell has a delightful blogging voice that brings a smile and a thought-provoking pause to my day. I have bookmarked several of her posts for future reference. Here’s one of my favorites:
Book ideas are strange things. Some turn into books, some disappear during the drafting stages and some act as a catalyst for something else in your life. I believe book ideas come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. The job for you, the writer or author, is to work out which one you are dealing with.
I can put all the book ideas I have had over the years into the following camps.
Book ideas that come into your life for a season.
This camp is full of the ideas I have had for books over the years which have not gone anywhere. Let me tell you this is a busy place. They all flew into my writer brain at high speed and left pretty much after I’d tried to get to know them. My writer relationship with them was frantic and passionate. However, they were simply creative flings.
Book ideas that come into your life for a lifetime.
This is a tough camp to get into. These are the ideas that became actual books. They are a hardy bunch who managed to stay with me through the months and years of painful drafting. There were times I wanted to delete them and run away but these ideas were persistent and never gave up.
Book Ideas that come into your life for a reason.
Now, this is my favourite camp. This is where things get interesting. As this is a busy camp, I have split it out into 3 sub groups.
The book idea that acts as the catalyst for a life change.
This is the book idea which comes into your life to spark some sort of life change. The act of writing the idea triggers something deep inside of you. These ideas are like inner keys to parts of you which have been locked up for years or have never been opened. In this camp we have book ideas which come into your life to help you become a writer and follow a new creative path. Book ideas which come into your life to signify a relationship or friendship wasn’t working. Book ideas which come into your life to show you that maybe your life is heading in the wrong direction. I have experienced a lot of these.
The book idea that teaches you something about writing.
Some ideas for books come to teach us something about our writing. A lot of the time these ideas don’t bring success. Failure is a great teacher. There are always lessons to be learned in failure and it’s because of these ideas. We now know who to blame. Ha ha! They were sent to teach us that our plot sagged, our characterisation could have been improved, there were no laugh out loud moments and our attempt sucked.
The book idea that morphs into a brilliant book idea.
These ideas are the unsung heroes. They come into our writing lives, lead us down one path and then transform before our eyes. Suddenly you realise they are showing you something else. Something bigger and better.
If you are struggling with a book idea at the moment figure out the reason why it has come into your writing life.
Joanne Guidoccio 