Every writer needs a community!
Community helps to network, offer support, brainstorm, and collaborate.
The most crucial of this is support.
The best way to save a writer is to tell them they can before they tell themselves they can’t.
-JBHarris
One of the things which push writers to say something meaningful is (frankly) we want it to age well! We want to say something which matters!
In order for it to matter to the world, it has to matter to us first.
-JBHarris
You must be your own first fan!
In the ruckus of criticism and doubt you need to have a depth within you to be your first fan!
You must be able to cheer YOU on before anyone else can…or will.
-JBHarris
At my lowest point: there was writing.
At my highest point: there was writing.
This craft has been an anchor and a grace.
The story—your story!—needs to be put somewhere.
-JBHarris
✓ Writing cultivates passion. It invokes and evokes thought, power, which encourages us to invest more in our talents, abilities and proclivities.
Writers, at our core, care.
-JBHarris
Some of your best work will come from things you may have to wrestle with, or have wrestled with.
In the possible wreckage of those things, are the most amazing things.
In the ruins…is the remarkable.
-JBHarris
Toni Morrison said, “The story you want to write, you may have to write it.”
There is no time like now (right before the pace of the holidays!) to imagine the story you want AND write it.
Where is your story? Will you find it?
-JBH
It is 2022!
This year is going to be revolutionary! Why? My goal this year is to remind you, dear writer, that all you are as a writer is needed! And absolutely necessary!
This year long series will be broken up into four quarters:
Quarter 1: SELF (January, February, March)
Quarter 2: EXPERIENCES (April, May, June)
Quarter 3: AWARENESS (July, August, September)
Quarter 4: HOPE (October, November, December)
For this year, my goal is to remind you that your writing and YOU as an individual, are important!
Let’s get to it!
–JBHarris
Character development: How are you going to develop them?
Just like you must have an idea for the structure of you story, the same goes for your characters, their settings and even the scenarios they find themselves in. The key thing to remember is watch out for troupes what will limit the growth of your characters; stereotypes that will stunt other characters and not give them depth; if you are writing cross-culturally (a white writer writing Black character for example), make sure that you have invested time and effort into seeking out someone from that culture/ethnicity/background to read your work!
Why? Blind spots.
You don’t want a work to be offensive to other people when it does not have to be! Having someone read for cultural sensitivity will allow for feedback in a safe space where you can ask questions, get feedback and revise as needed! Your characters are brought to life your imagination—and that imagination may represent a real person. Write wisely.
Note: For sensitivity read-throughs, contact Anette King through her site, The Blurb Diva.
Give yourself grace. You need it.
That grace will allow you to create at a pace that works for you.
Breathe. Write. Keep going.
With Love & Ink,
JBHarris
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