20 Things Only a Fellow Writer Could Possibly Understand

 by Sheri Radford

 1 The concept of a good rejection letter.

 2 The contradictory emotions of envy and elation experienced when a friend gets "the call" from a publisher.

 3 How you can still believe a piece of writing is good, even after it's been rejected 46 times.

4 The truth of the following equation: butt + chair + time = writing.

5 How much a form rejection letter hurts.

 6 Wanting honest feedback of your writing, but wanting that honest feedback to be, "It's perfect! Don't change a word."

7 Ideas are everywhere.

 8 Ideas are the easy part - it's what you do with all those ideas that's bloody difficult.

 9 Writing is really, really, really hard work - even when it looks like you're just goofing off.

 10 Staring out the window for an hour is part of the writing process.

 11 Sometimes characters refuse to behave and insist on telling a story their way.

 12 Everything is fodder for writing even the juicy secret you're sworn to secrecy about.

 13 The inner critic is harsher than any outer critic could ever be.

 14 Sometimes scrubbing the toilet or cleaning the garage is more appealing that writing.

 15 Sometimes writing is more appealing than getting enough sleep or going out on the town.

 16 A first novel shooting straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list is just an urban myth.

            (It has to be, it just has to be, doesn't it?)

 17 Procrastination is a crucial component of the writing process.

 18 Sometimes bookshelves need to be rearranged, right now.

 19 Having written is far more fun than writing.

 20 There's always more rewriting to be done.

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 Sheri Radford is a member of GVC. In addition to writing romance, she writes books for kids. Her first children's picture book, "Penelope and the Humongous Burp," was published in April 2004 by Lobster Press.

 Sheri Radford's children's picture book Penelope and the Humongous Burp will be a featured title at Chapters and Indigo stores for the month of June.
During a  trip to Ottawa in May, Sheri did her first readings, for three different groups of school children. She was also the guest speaker at the North Shore Writers' Association meeting in May.

Permission to forward and/or reprint granted, with proper credits.