Yesterday I had a new washer and dryer delivered, and I wrote the opening scene of what will be my sixth Paladin book. Guess which one of those two events has me feeling buzzed and on the brink of a great adventure?

I guess that’s really a no-brainer. As much as I love a good spin cycle, starting off on the journey of discovery with a group of characters has to be one of the greatest thrills in life. Sure, there will be rough spots along the way as the story unfolds, but that’s just part of the process.

Right now I’m playing with that all important opening scene, trying to set the right tone in order to draw the reader into the story. I can see it all so clearly—the hero setting off on his journey, one that will bring him pain and hopefully joy. For now, the heroine remains blissfully unaware that change is coming her way that will turn her world upside down.

I’m also considering which secondary characters will be necessary for the story. I tend to write large ensemble casts, and I often bring back characters from earlier books in the series. Even so, each book has its own requirements. This one may have some feisty, little old ladies—just what a big, tough Paladin needs to keep him on his toes, right? But a few familiar faces will be crucial to the story development.

I love getting to know my characters through the unfolding of their story. I always know some things about them going in—like this hero drinks tea, not coffee—but I don’t really KNOW them until I’m well into the book. Sometimes that means taking a few unexpected left turns while writing the book. Luckily, I like surprises.

So, I’m off to start another load in my shiny, new washer. But while I’m adding detergent and pushing all those cool buttons, my mind will be elsewhere—following my hero and seeing where the adventure takes us both.

I’m excited to share that SHADOW MAGIC made the USA Today bestseller list! :o)  Thanks to everyone for your help in SM making the list!

(It’s her shoes. That’s what did it. ;-)

With a little help from two of my most troublesome best friends, the monster child Calvin & the much smarter but imaginary Hobbes, I’ll share with you all something every writer-supporter should know–

THE TOP TEN MOST IMPORTANT THINGS for

The Care and  Feeding of Writers:

10. An editor, an agent, and a critique partner who can deal with a frantic author
9.  A daily nap with a tiger named Hobbes to snuggle with

8.  Wireless internet to waste time while procrastinating writing the next scene

7.  A BlackBerry to check email at a cafe to procrastinate some more

6.  Butterscotch martinis when brainstorming

5.  Starbucks lattes while writing

4.  Do not interrupt for any reason unless it involves blood or the fire department

3.  Stay. Away. From. The. Computer.

2.  Buy her lastest book. And several copies to hand out to friends.

1.  Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

As I’ve said in the past, I keep a spiral notebook of upcoming books that I MUST buy on the day they are released. This past Tuesday I was at a local bookstore, bright and early, to buy Keri Arthur’s THE DARKEST KISS and Jeaniene Frost’s ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE. I have already finished reading one of them and have plans to curl up in my chair to finish the second one this afternoon. I love the characters and the worlds that these two authors have created.

Interestingly enough, these two stories have a lot in common–at least on the surface. The heroines are both half-breeds. In Keri Arthur’s book, the heroine is half vampire and half werewolf. Jeaniene Frost’s heroine is half human and half vampire. Both work for agencies who police renegade vamps and other nonhuman species. Both women have loved and lost someone.

Despite the similarities, these two authors have taken a common mythology–vampires–and made it uniquely their own. The world building in both cases is rich and dynamic, pulling the readers in and holding them hostage until the last page is turned. Amazing, simply amazing. One of the many things I love about paranormal romances and urban fantasies is all the creative energy writers put into building the worlds that serve as the backdrop for the stories.

I love vampire stories–always have and don’t see that changing anytime soon. I’m sure this fascination with all things fangy is in large part due to the alpha male heroes and equally kickass heroines that populate the stories. But as a writer, I also love to see what each author does to make their characters come alive on the page, if that’s not an oxymoron considering we’re talking about the undead here. Think of all the vampire stories you’ve read and how different they all are.

That’s one reason I’d never written a vampire story myself. I’d yet to come up with a new twist on the old themes, something that would make my vamp world different from all the others. I think I finally did that with the short story I have coming out in August in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF VAMPIRE ROMANCE. Writing a short story was a new experience in and of itself, but the real challenge was creating my own vampire world and making it distinctive. I think I succeeded, but only time will tell.

Wow how time zips by. Shadow Magic is here!

 For fun, here’s an excerpt.

Excerpt from SHADOW MAGIC by Cheyenne McCray
© Copyright Cheyenne McCray, 2008.
All Rights Reserved, St. Martin’s Press

Paybacks are a bitch.

And Hannah Wentworth would see to it that Ceithlenn, a dark goddess from Underworld, paid. Big time.

Banshee, Hannah’s falcon familiar, made a soft cry and gripped her shirt tighter in his talons, reminding her of where she was and why she had come to this secluded pond deep in the forest.

Those . . . feelings she’d been having.

Ever since she’d been forced to leave San Francisco, Hannah’s instincts had told her things were about to get worse. Impossibly more dangerous.

Whatever was coming, Hannah wasn’t about to face it blind or unaware. She would find out what she could, or die trying.

Hannah knelt on the damp grass beside the pond and dropped the pack she held. She dug through the leather bag until she found her scrying mirror then drew it out and settled it on the grass in front of her.

Smells of moss and rich wet earth mingled with the scents of evergreens and wildflowers as she focused on the mirror. A breeze ruffled Banshee’s feathers, and stirred her dark hair and the shock of blond that swept down one side of her face. A night bird began its evening song, and Hannah thought she heard Fae voices joining in.

Her grandmother had given her the scrying instrument after Hannah left her socialite mother to live with her father. The strength of Hannah’s innate talent for alomancy, using the mirror and sea salt crystals to scry, had astonished the high priestess of her D’Anu Coven, and Hannah’s power over this form of divination as well as her connection to the Dragon Elementals grew greater as time passed.

The ornate ebony wood frame was a fashioned of two Dragons, each biting the tail of the other so that it was a never ending circle. Hannah rubbed her thumb over one of the intricate carvings. Ebony was the most powerful magical wood and was associated with all of the Elements—Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and aided her in her communication with the Dragons.

They were her totem and always had been. Even her falcon familiar was the living embodiment of Dragons in her world.

Hannah tried not to grind her teeth at the thought that she and her Coven sisters had been forced to flee their homes in San Francisco for Otherworld, just days ago.

No time for that now. Deep breath. We are going to figure out how to toast that goddess-bitch.

She gripped the soft grass in her fingers as she looked over the mirror. Only Hannah could “see” in the black glass within the ebony frame when she scried.

Hannah pulled a vial of salt crystals from her pack and tugged out the cork before setting the cork aside. She leaned forward so that she looked directly over the mirror, her hair swinging forward at the sides of her face. The mirror didn’t show hers or Banshee’s reflections.

She concentrated with everything she had, pushing out all other thoughts to still her mind and prepare herself for the vision to come. Silently, she asked for the aid of the Dragon Elementals and the great Druid Ancestors, and she called on Banshee’s powers to strengthen her own.

The falcon’s magic joined hers as it flowed through her body.

Come on . . .

Her heart rate picked up as it always did before she scried something monumental. The world closed in on her until all that remained was her, Banshee and the mirror. The forest’s sounds and smells vanished and it was as if she floated outside her body.

Time slowed. She tilted the vial and studied the patterns of the salt crystals in the air as they spilled out of the vial and onto the mirror. The vial slipped from her fingers, dropped onto the grass, and rolled away as she braced her hands to either side of the mirror and analyzed those patterns, too.

The pounding of her heart grew even more rapid until it felt as if her entire body throbbed.

Images appeared in the mirror and she tumbled, tumbled into the vision, all five senses, body and mind and soul, as if the events she visioned were truly happening. As if she were truly there.

Her heart nearly stopped beating.

Rain pounded down so hard it soaked her to her skin, chilling her, and she had difficulty seeing. But through the downpour she made out humans fleeing from a San Francisco tourist pier. Their terror flooded Hannah so deeply she felt it in her bones. Blood and death and the acrid odor of fear mixed with the rotten fish stench.

Fomorii demons.

Magic sparked at her fingertips as she caught sight of malformed shapes attacking humans. A scream rose in her throat.

You can check out another excerpt at CheyenneMcCray.com and you can find Shadow Magic in all stores and also on Amazon.com. 

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt!

Chey

True to form, life hath served me my Friday post. Last Wednesday I was at a signing for for Elizabeth Lyon and saw some of my old writing students; we chatted a little bit about this very thing. And I’ve been reading f-listers’ thoughts about this particular issue all week. A lot of people seem to be struggling with it, so I’m going to give my two cents.

Coffee? Check. Comfy chair? Check. Idea firmly in mind? Check. Settle in, dear Reader.

Here’s what I want to say in a nutshell: It is perfectly okay to write dreck.

Continue reading.

Shhhh! Don’t tell anybody, but I just found out one of my favorite guilty secrets is out in DVD. I don’t know how long this particular series has been available, but I heard about it this morning. In fact, I just printed out the information and will be leaving it where my family will find it. Mother’s Day is approaching, you know. If they can’t take a hint, I will take the matter into my own hands.

What’s the guilty secret you ask? Okay, I’ll share—GARGOYLES. I don’t know if anyone else watched this dark, wonderfully intelligent cartoon series, but I loved it. Tragic dark heroes, condemned to live as stone, betrayed and cursed. What’s not to love???

In a completely different vein, I ordered a DVD of another old favorite for my brother for his birthday. Have you ever seen EVIL ROY SLADE, starring John Astin? OMG, it is a hoot of a western parody filled with bad one-liners, puns, and some just plain funny jokes. For example: The school marm is trying to educate Evil Roy (who was raised by wolves, I think). She asks him, “If you have six apples and your neighbor takes three, what do you have?” His answer: “A dead neighbor and all six apples.” A groaner, I know, but I did warn you he was evil.

I love the movie SOLDIER with Kurt Russell. Granted, I love almost any movie with Kurt Russell, but this one really appeals to the romance writer in me. Talk about your tortured alpha hero. All he knows is duty and the obligation of a soldier to fight, but he learns so much more. I love dark heroes who are the big bad, but that children instinctively trust.

Finally, I just added the DVD of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL to my collection. I had it in VHS, but worried about only having a copy in the old technology. The movie came out in the early 1950’s starring Michael Renny and Patricia Neal. By today’s standards, the special effects are more than a bit hokey, but the message still rings true today.

So there’s my confession for the day. Anyone else have some guilty favorites they want to ‘fess up to? I still have room on my shelf for a few more.

 It was wonderful to meet so many of you at the convention! What a terrific time. I can’t even begin to recap it and do it justice, so I’m going to let some other bloggers do it for me.

There are a couple of blogs with a lot of negative comments, the negative comments mostly by people who weren’t at the convention. I’ll give you some blog posts by people who were at the convention and have pictures *and* videos to share!

Barbara Vey’s Publishers Weekly blog

MURDERATI

Gennita Low’s  A Low Profile

Even Redheads Get the Blues

The Rebels of Romance

Judi’s Journey

NakedAuthors.com

Fangs, Fur, and Fey 

You get wonderful, funny insights on what went on at the convention and the pics and vids are too much fun.

And you get to see the ray of sunshine, Michelle Rowen, and me when we got to meet up.

Enjoy! 

Cheyenne

Cross-posted to Fangs, Fur & Fey.

The trouble with each Friday post isn’t finding something to write about, it’s more choosing among the plethora of things to say about writing.

This week, for example, there’s three things I’m thinking about, each of which deserves a big long post of its own. However, I’m in an abundant mood (and all my brain cycles are taken up with finishing the rough draft of the YA, which is two scenes away from being a Whole Corpse Ready For Surgery) so I’ll just touch on each of them. Besides, everyone’s at RT this weekend anyway, so bite-size pieces are probably better.

Continue reading.

About a year ago I decided that DJ Clayborne, one of my Paladins, needed something to do to help keep him out of trouble. In order to keep an eye on him, I gave DJ his own blog on my website (www.alexismorgan.com) and gave him the assignment of blogging on Monday mornings. He kicked, he screamed, but in the end he did as I asked (I had to remind him that it was up to me if he ever got his own book.) I have to say, it was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done because DJ has built himself a nice little hangout on the internet. He even talked my webdesigner (Glass Slipper Web Designs) into drawing him his own graphic. Because of the demanding nature of DJ’s job, he occasionally even has one of the other Paladins step in and blog for the week.

The effect of DJ blogging has been twofold. Fans of the series are enjoying the extra glimpse into the lives of their favorite Paladins during the long wait between books. But almost more importantly, it’s been an excercise in character development for me. I’ve had to learn to think of my characters beyond the pages of the books, reminding myself that their lives go on, they grow, they have experiences. Time passes between the inciting incidents that generate the books in the series, and my characters need to reflect those ongoing lives.

DJ has even interviewed characters from other peoples books–a demon, a vamp, and the ghost from a haunted bordello. Again, those interviews were great fun to do. But entertainment value aside, as my friends and I wrote those interviews, we all saw our characters through new eyes and gained new perspective.

The icing on the cake for me came this last week when the nice ladies over at Simply Romance Reviews invited DJ to guest blog. He and three of my other guys showed up bright and early last Friday and carried on very entertaining conversations with each other and the people who left comments for them. It was fun watching the boys hassle each other, again revealing new sides to their characters.

Am I recommending that everyone set up an official blog for their characters. No, I don’t think that’s necessary. However, putting on my reader hat here for a minute, I personally love the character interviews I’ve read done by such authors as Suzanne Brockmann, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and JR Ward. But whether or not you decide to publish such interviews to share with readers, I do think taking the time to write out conversations for continuing characters set in different environments can be a great learning tool.

Meet Lyra, my Faerie Princess Writing Bear. :o)

On Saturday, my youngest son and I had a “Matthew & Mommy” day where we did whatever he wanted. He insisted I needed a writing bear. So we went to Build-a-Bear and here’s Lyra. I named her that for two reasons–one, Lyra is the hero in my novel CHOSEN PREY, and the other because she’s the heroine in the “His Dark Materials” series that I happen to be listening to on audio book in my SUV whenever I’m driving around. Her name was the first thing that came to me, I love the name, and here she is sitting on my desk. She’s extra special because my son picked out pretty much everything for her, including the bear herself, and his favorite color is yellow.

We also did the kid fun thing of going to a place called Dave & Buster’s (or Buster and Dave’s) and ate and he played an endless amount of computer games. I’ve never had the attention span to sit down and play games so I mostly watched him. I eventually did sit in one of the booths around the bar in the center of all the craziness and put my leg up because by then it was killing me. The Mai Thai helped, though. ;-)

Spending this time with my son was very special and helped me to remember that writing isn’t the only thing in my life. Deadlines have me so strangled that just taking a day off is difficult. But I need to do it. I *need* this, and more importantly, my family needs it. It’s very easy for me to become obsessed. Well, it’s more a fact that I *do* become obsessed with writing and everything else in my life slips by as I rush toward that deadline.

Right now I feel like I’m missing out on some important things. Like the fact that Matthew is on the cusp of puberty and he’s not likely to want a “Matthew & Mommy Day” much longer. We’ll have to think of something else. He’s still so cute!

While you’re reading this note, I’m either in the air winging my way to Pittsburgh, or already at the Romantic Times Convention–I postdated so that this will post while I’m gone. I hope to have pictures to share with you when I get back and hopefully have managed to recover from what is always an exhausting but fun convention! Not to mention jetlag. :o)

I’ve made some changes and have turned over some of the responsibility of moderating three of the 5 paranormal panels I am captain for–a big step for me. But with my injured foot and the amount of walking that needs to be done, I need to give myself a break now and then. Not an easy thing for a Type A personality.

I hope you’re having a great week and I know I’ll have a fantastic time meeting readers, booksellers, and other authors while you’re reading this!

Lots of hugs!

Chey

In the same vein as yesterday’s rant about doing the damn work, I thought I’d approach what I see as the single biggest difference between real writers and people who just like to call themselves writers for a variety of reasons. I call it discipline, but it’s really something simpler. It’s Doing It Every Day.

You absolutely cannot hope to come up consistently with a readable product if you don’t write every day. You also can’t expect your discipline to tide you over if you’re not in the habit of doing it every day.The conventional wisdom is that it takes ninety days to make (or break) a habit, and habit is what your sitting-down-to-write must become.

Human beings are creatures of habit–I’d go so far as to say we specialize in it. It’s such a powerful tool that we must be careful of it, and learn to use it consciously–or, I firmly believe, it will use us. Habit can be a best friend (when you’re tired and you need some other motivation to sit down and bloody do the work) and worst enemy (when you’ve gotten into the surfing-for-just-a-few-minutes trap.)

I can’t leave the question of habit without talking about timesuck. Timesuck is a habit run amok, something that keeps you from what you should be doing. My big timesucks are CatLOLs, Smart Bitches, and my f-list. (There. I’ve admitted it.) Easy bite-sized chunks of stuff that add up to hours per day–if I’m not careful.

There is a very simple, easy way to help a good habit settle in and keep a bad one in check. You can even buy it at the grocery store.

It’s a kitchen timer. No, seriously.

I consider cheap, portable kitchen timers God’s little gift to writers (along with commas and italic type, but that’s another post.) Set it for a short amount of time and give your chosen timesuck your full attention. That way you won’t feel deprived when it rings and you have to go back to working. Set it for a slightly longer time and write. No day is so busy you can’t find ten minutes to write, and the timer relieves you of the responsibility of watching the clock. It also teaches you to sit down, cut out the sh!t, and produce.

But there’s that critical component called Doing It Every Day. Sadly, there are no “tips” or “tricks” for this one. It must be sheer bloody-minded stubbornness. You have to want to do it, and want it badly enough that you will sit down and bloody well write even when you’re tired, or not feeling well, or when you just don’t want to do it again. The prospect of getting a paycheck motivates people to show up for their day jobs. You don’t have that prospect in writing, really–or you have that prospect so infrequently as to be a laughable excuse for motivation. So the motivation to write has to come from somewhere else. I don’t care where you find it, but you’ve got to find it somewhere or the whole experiment is doomed.

And you must, absolutely must, do it every day. Like anything else, writing demands practice. It’s that practice that hones your craft. (Along with reading, but that’s a different blog post.) Doing it every other day or once a week will not wash. If you do it every day, several things happen:

* You give yourself the clearest possible signal that this work is not going to go away, and that you are committed to it.

* You bolster the habit of just sitting down and putting your hands to the effing keyboard.

* You give yourself the opportunity to practice hard enough and long enough to start producing readable product.

* You give your writing a priority to match other priorities in your life.

This last one is where my sticking-point is. Too many folks who call themselves writers allow other parts of their life to put writing on the back burner, and that cannot happen. They say they need quiet to work, and as soon as they get that quiet place they’ll Produce A Masterpiece.

Bullsh!t. If you can’t work with distractions going on around you, you’re never going to make it as a writer. I work with two home-schooled kids under twelve underfoot all day, the doorbell ringing, phone calls, and a kid to drive to college three times a week. Plus there’s errands, volunteering at the bookstore, cooking dinner, laundry, and a whole host of other things.

I figure I could work in one of those seventies-era movie newsrooms. You ever watch All The President’s Men? Remember the phones ringing, people yelling, distraction pouring through the air? Yeah. Like that. If you do not exercise your ability to focus through those distractions, you won’t make it. Your time to write will expand in proportion to the importance you attach to writing and the gods-honest priority you give it.

It really comes down to a simple question. Is writing important enough for you to make it a priority and spend the work and time to do it every day through the distractions? If it is, great, sit your butt down and do it. Set your timer. Chain yourself to your chair if that’s what it takes.

If it’s not, great. Find something else to do with your time. Gods bless you on your journey.

But please don’t call yourself a writer. This is hard work, and if you’re not going to do it…well, you don’t need that title.

‘Nuff said.

This will be short because I’m semi-buried alive right now. I’ve got a book due fairly soon, I’m trying to eke out the chapters for a proposal for my agent, and I just got the page proofs for my August release. Not only that, but my editor just emailed me to say she’d finished reading my February book, details to follow. I know she’s been enjoying the book, but it might be revision time on top of everything else. I’m not complaining mind you. Even if I’m busy, it’s all good stuff.

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but I keep a spiral notebook at my desk where I keep track of release dates for books by favorite authors. I’m pretty compulsive about hitting the bookstore on the Tuesday if a book is supposed to be on the shelf. I’ve been known to ask the clerks to go root through the new deliveries to find a copy for me. >:-D

One I had been waiting for came out recently and I immediately rushed out to scoop it up. The title is MAGIC BURNS, it’s the sequel to MAGIC BITES, by Ilona Andrews. If you love urban fantasies as much as I do, you might want to give this series a try. I love the heroine—Kate Daniels is strong and doesn’t take anything off anybody. Not even the leader of the shapeshifters, Curran can intimate her and he’s pretty darn intimidating! I love the energy between them. The world Ilona has created is very different—Atlanta where technology only works between waves of paranormal energy.

My other bit of news is that my Paladin D.J. Clayborne will be guest blogging at http://simplyromancereviews.blogspot.com this Friday. D.J. has his own blog on my website, and he’s been invited to take his show on the road! How cool is that? He has promised to bring along a couple of the other Paladins to answer questions, too, so it should be fun. Stop by and say hi!

I reached my 4/1 deadline. Yay! But I have 5 single-spaced pages of things I need to go back and fix during revisions, like more character development. Boo! I put the 5 pages at the end of the manuscript and told my editor to promise not to read those pages before she had a clean read of the ms. I hope she did that. :o)

I’ve *never* had that happen before–where I had to turn in a book with so much work left to be done. It’s not a good feeling. I like sending in solid work that I feel good about. Not a book that I *know* is lacking in so many areas. But I knew when I turned it in that I’d have at least a month to revise, and I’ll make it the best damned book I can. I had another project that interrupted this one and took two months away from writing this book, so I had to write it in 4 weeks. And on top of that I hit “voice” 1/3 into the book and had to go back and revise all the chapters up to that point.

But it’s done. It’s in. And I know I’m in for a hell of a rewrite. In the meantime I’m going to chill. I did have a novella due 5/1 but that got changed to 8/1. TG TG TG TG!

I crashed so heavily after that deadline. My psychologist friend said “what goes up must come down.” So I revved for at least the last 6 months on manic power, and when I hit the deadline, that was all she wrote. Literally and figuratively. :o) I’ve been blogging about what’s first and foremost in my mind. Stress, coming down–I find it difficult to let anything else enter my poor little brain when it’s so overwhelmed. I have nothing  pithy, meaningful to say. Just how life is now.

I’ve made appointments to catch up on all the doctor appts. I’ve been putting off. I’m on crutches now because I’ve somehow managed to hurt my left foot and am having a real difficult time getting around. X-rays aren’t showing anything, so who knows. All I know is it hurts like hell.

I just went to the Desert Dreams conference this weekend and had a wonderful time–when I wasn’t crashed in my room. I had just come down from that deadline, and when I wasn’t on a panel or helping out in other ways, I slept. And slept. After 6 months of doing nothing but writing I think it was a wonder I was able to come out of the room at all. :D

I’m feeling more human now. That’s a good sign. Next week is the Romantic Times Booklovers convention in Pittsburgh. I captain the paranormal panels but this year I’m delegating moderating for 3 of the 5 workshops to help keep me off my feet. I have a couple of erotica panels to be on, and the Faery Ball, dinner with St. Martin’s and lunch with my editor. And various and sundry events.

I actually packed for RT last night. Can you believe it? I don’t leave for the conference for an entire week! I’m getting my luggage down to ONE suitcase, a backpack, and a shoulder bag that will cross my chest so I can maneuver (I hope) while on crutches, if my foot doesn’t decide to get better.

Now here’s the big question: do I pack one of each shoe I’m planning on wearing? LOL. I’ve never had this, er, problem before.

If I round this off to my topic, I guess it comes down to needing that break before we break. I could feel myself ready to snap and that’s not good. I did snap in some ways–did some things I would never have otherwise. I spoke with a woman at the conference who really had a gift for seeing inside you and where you are in your life. One of the things she said was that the depth of the darkness that I was writing about was coming through and was one reason I acted out differently than I normally would have. I found that really interesting. The intensity of what I was going through was magnified by the deep, dark, horrible subject I’ve been writing about in relation to the contemporary suspense.

So time to chill. This weekend my youngest son and I are having a “Mommy and Matthew Day,” which we haven’t done for a very long time. He’s on the cusp of puberty and I’m going to miss having him so cute and sweet. He’ll still be my baby, but they change. And he’s not likely to want have the same kind of day. He wants me to get a “writing bear” at the Build-a-Bear workshop. :o)

That’s enough rambling. Time for that chilling to begin!

It certainly does appear to be an age-old question. Is writing a skill or a talent? Is it something you can learn–tab A into slot A, tab B into slot B, rinse and repeat–or is it a numinous thing, a touch of mad grace from the Muse that the precious few are gifted with?

Well, it’s not really either. The answer lies somewhere in between. If you have no fire, no spark, your work–no matter how well put-together–will be soulless. And all the Great Ideas and burning “I could do that” talent in the world won’t save a book if you don’t polish your craft and strive to write clearly and well.

We have this perception of the creative that’s analogous to lightning strikes. The Talent, the Inspiration, strikes the Helpless Gin-Soaked Writer, and the book that results is the burn. It springs forth whole from the forehead of the Helpless Gin-Soaked Chosen One, who must endure Years of Battle against Naysayers and Fools to get his opus/masterwork/Great American Novel published and recognized as staggering genius.

The vice-versa runs thus: the crowd is fickle and will pick trash for no discernable reason, so you have to just figure out the Magic Formula to make them pick your trash and retire to your house in the Hollywood Hills, laughing all the way.

The first is the schtick Byron used to get babes and wannabes use to avoid work. The second gives us huge piles of technical-manual crap with no characterization, power, or grace.

The real story is something like this: you can have varying levels of talent at this writing thing. But what is necessary is the discipline to grow that talent–and everything else necessary to a writer. If you, say, practice your guitar playing every day for ten years, you may not turn into a Segovia (who had to work his ass off too, dammit) but you WILL turn into the best damn guitar-player on your street, possibly in your town, and quite possibly within a couple hundred miles.

If you practice your writing every day, refine your craft, sharpen your language and read omnivorously, you may not turn into a Chekhov or a Dickens. (Who had to work THEIR asses off, too, let it be said.) But chances are you will start turning out decent, readable product, which has a far better chance of being published than the Werke of My Soule That Do Not Neede Grammare For.

Hand in hand with that discipline must be enjoyment. Don’t do this unless you enjoy it, for Christ’s sake. A writer writes clearly and well, using grammar and language as best as s/he is able to, constantly refining their craft for the eventual reader, so the telepathy between author and reader works with a minimum of distortion.

A writer gets up every goddamn morning and goes back to the laptop or the typewriter or the notebook because s/he enjoys it. It gives her a huge secret thrill to tell a story. Because there is something cool to do, something cool to say.

What other people call “talent” I usually think of as “joy in the making of something.” Look at, say, Eric Clapton or BB King. They’re not just up on stage whaling away until they can go home. No sir. When they pick up that guitar they are having fun. Their eyes light up. Christ, look at Mick Jagger. He still loves what he’s doing, and it’s not just because of the groupies.

Yeah, I know someone will say rock’n'roll ain’t writing. But it’s close enough for me–and really, writing is such a solitary thing that I can’t tell you what any other author looks like in the heat of creation. I can tell you that I’m having a ball, though. I look forward to writing every blessed day.

Someone can be immensely talented at writing–and can fritter away that talent by refusing to hone their discipline. Someone can be incredibly disciplined, but feel no heart-in-mouth joy in what they make. Those are two endpoints on a continuum, and it’s near the middle where the writer must balance. You’ve got to cultivate every scrap of talent you possess with discipline; and you must leaven the discipline with the joy and wonder of this marvelous thing you are doing, creating worlds. Juggling lives. Making little marks on a page into a living, breathing story.

The proper question, I think, isn’t whether it’s skill or talent. The proper question is, how do I balance what talent I have with the skill I can acquire? It takes hard work. It takes discipline. And if you don’t love what you’re doing you might as well deliver pizzas or practice law or take up with the Peace Corps or something, anything other than this.

Because it can eat you alive if you don’t love it.

But that’s another blog post.