Clicking Our Heels - As Writers, What's Difficult or Easy to Address

Clicking Our Heels – As Writers, What’s Difficult or Easy to Address

Jennae Phillippe – Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about representation in fiction; while I want to be inclusive in my writing, I am terrified of being insulting or stereotyping, and yet I want to write about people other than cisgendered straight white women. I tend to rely heavily on my friends and their experiences, but I also feel a bit like a story vampire, sucking their experiences from them to make my own characters live. I am fortunate enough to have friends that are willing to share with me.

Bethany Maines – As in life, in writing addressing emotions and complex moral decisions are the hardest things for me to address. The easiest is action – getting from point A to point B is so much easier to consider than grief or justice.

Paula Gail Benson – The most difficult is writing onstage, in front of the readers’ eyes violence. The easiest, happiest, and most wonderful is thanking fellow writers and readers for their support and kindness.

Kay Kendall – The hardest thing I do is to write the first draft of a manuscript. The easiest is to write the conclusion. I also love working with an editor and perfecting things. Pulling out the first draft, thought…UGH. Major ughs.

Paffi S. Flood – The most difficult thing I address as a writer is slowing down a scene to allow the reader to become fully engrossed in the emotional aspects of it. The easiest for me is coming up with a premise. I have tons of them.

Kimberly Jayne – The biggest challenge I face as a writer is time; I don’t have enough of it. So many

things need to be done when you’re a writer, and most of those things are not even about writing. They’re about marketing. For the writing, itself, the challenge is keeping at it (butt in chair) even when you’re too beat to type another word. Distractions and stressors from all aspects of my life can create general fatigue that wears you down over time, and making myself go into my writing space and do the work is sometimes asking too much. So, finding ways to re-motivate, re-inspire, and re-energize is key. I guess the easiest thing is editing. I do it enough, all day every day, that it’s quick and easy for me. I also enjoy plotting with story boards – that’s pretty fun and easy to brainstorm.

Linda Rodriguez – The most difficult thing for me in writing is plotting - that’s why I had to research and teach myself a way of plotting that worked with my strong points. The easiest thing for me in writing is character development. I can hear a name or see a stranger in a coffee shop and begin developing an entire life, personality, and background. I love to go deeper and deeper into characters.

Debra H. Goldstein – My biggest difficulty is writing if I don’t have anything to say. Until an idea crystallizes, I’m not inclined to sit down at my computer. Once I have the triggering idea or phrase, words flow. They might not end up in the final manuscript because they’re dull, were written to get through a moment of blockage, or are repetitive, but there is an ease and joy as they fill the page.

Cathy Perkins – Right now, the hardest thing for me is time management, which rather baffles me since I’ve always been the “get ‘er done!” person. Rocking the exploding day job and building a custom house might be a factor in that J. The easiest? I love making up new characters and seeing what kind of trouble I can get them in – and out – of.

Sparkle Abbey – The most difficult is time management. It seems like there are simply never enough hours in the day! As far as the writing itself, we both plot out our stories before we write them and although we love that process, we’d have to say it never seems to get any easier. The most fun part for us is the revision/layering part once a first draft is complete. And, of course, meeting readers. Meeting readers is awesome!