Welcome back to Motivational Monday!
Writing can feel lonely at times. Although my characters keep me company, sometimes I just want to talk to another person who’s in this crazy profession. When I can’t get together with writer friends, I do the next best thing–I go visit the best writers on the planet, via You-Tube.
Just this morning I tuned into a lecture given by Carl Hiaasen (Skinny Dip, Bad Monkey). The lecture was long–1 hour, 26 minutes–but the stories he told had me laughing out loud! About 58 minutes into it, he started taking questions from the audience. At 1 hour, 15 minutes (in case you don’t want your funny bone tickled), he got down to his writing process.
Someone in the audience asked Mr. Hiaasen if he outlines his stories and knew the end before he started writing. He said, “Have you read my books?” and laughed. No, he doesn’t outline. He, like Elmore Leonard, feel that if he knows the end ahead of time, why write the book? (That’s how I feel as well.)
Carl Hiassen is just one of the hundreds of writers who have lectures on You-Tube. These are usually sponsored by universities, so they’re well-organized and very informative. Many writers even give master classes on You-Tube. What a great learning opportunity!
I’ve enjoyed listening to Carl Hiaasen, Ray Bradbury, Elmore Leonard, Stephen King, Harlan Coben and Jenn McKinlay, and I can’t wait to listen and learn from other writers in the future. We’re so fortunate to have this resource, especially since some of the greats (Bradbury and Leonard) are no longer with us.
So grab your pen and paper, because you’ll want to take notes. It’s like visiting with a writer friend–very inspirational. But a word of caution here: Do your daily writing first, or you’ll NEVER get any work done!
Happy Reading, Writing and You-Tube Viewing to you all,
Jill-Ayn
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