In November we asked you to tell us why you're thankful to be a writer.

D.J. Matthews sent this winning entry:

Why I’m Grateful To Be A Writer - By D.J. Mathews

I read in “The Writer” magazine about a young man who was inspired after reading John Steinbeck’s autobiographical Martin Eden, which talks about the complexity of writing, especially layering, where you get many views across at the same time in your story. The book inspired him to write after struggling for a year, working 20 hours days, to make it as a writer. He subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown. Reading this book helped get him back on track.

Illness also affected my writing, though it wasn’t about how I wrote. It was about what I put down. I had always kept some kind of a journal. It became even more important than ever when I received a horrendous diagnosis: breast cancer.

Learning I had cancer was scary, a shock. I needed a way to relieve the anxiety and fear. Since I knew no one around me going through this same thing I needed someone to talk to, and found it in a small journal. I could pour my fears and frustrations into that book without scaring my family. My husband was made aware of my frustrations with my less than supportive oncologist, but writing it down made it seem more relevant for me.

My last mammogram came back clear but still, the future is uncertain. I couldn’t have made it through cancer treatment without my journal, without the ability to write down my thoughts and release some stress in that way. For that I am grateful.

Whenever you read the “Acknowledgments” page in a book it’s always the same thing - they thank their families, friends, editors, etc. They thank the people who support and inspire them. This is wonderful and I hope I get the chance to thank the loving people in my life when my book sells.

However, there are a few people in my life who are genuinely mean and negative. They don’t want me to succeed. They don’t believe I’m capable of being a successful writer and basically don’t like me for whatever reason. It wouldn’t be so bad if they kept their comments to themselves, but when they come right out and say it to my face, they might as well have physically slapped my cheek.

When you allow this negative energy to affect your writing and your belief in yourself, you have a big problem. They always say you must have a “thick skin” to be in this business, but you must also have rubber skin so the mean comments bounce off you and back onto the person who spewed forth the cruel words.

This past year, one person in particular, decided they were going to try and dampen my spirits and they did a good job of making my life miserable and making me feel inadequate. In turn, I made my family and my best friend miserable by complaining about it so much that they eventually, but politely, told me to shut up. They told me I could either keep complaining or do something to put an end to the situation.

This left me thinking about how I could turn this around without getting arrested for assault (just kidding) and I decided I would turn this ugly situation around and use it to bolster my determination and self-esteem.

I’m a bit stubborn and don’t like to be told I can’t do something. Well, I decided I wasn’t going to let anyone keep me down and challenged myself to finish my book in a month. I wasn’t expecting polished prose. I just wanted to complete my novel. I went into a self-imposed exile and pretty much lived in my office. The dirty laundry piled up, the sink was full of dishes and some days I stayed in my pajamas for two days in a row. The only time I left the house was to get coffee and take the kids to school. At one point I stayed up for twenty-seven hours straight when I was on the last stretch. I cried a couple of times and fell asleep with my face against my keyboard. It wasn’t pretty around here. I wasn’t pretty; in fact, I was scary to the point that when I did emerge from the office, my beloved dogs growled and barked at me as if they didn’t recognize the hand that feeds and pets them.

When December 1st rolled around, I had written a 351 page manuscript. I had met the challenge and succeeded in accomplishing something in a month that at one time would have taken me a year or more. It was draining. It was exhausting. But when it was over, it was one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt. I was pumped and exhilarated.

Who do I have to thank for this accomplishment? The mean people in my life! Yes, I want to thank them for their inspiration. Without them, I wouldn’t have become upset enough that I had to neglect my family and my personal hygiene for a month to prove them wrong. Without their cruel words this first draft wouldn’t have been possible. If they hadn’t directed their negative thoughts my way, I wouldn’t have picked up on the positive, subliminal messages.

Wow! Mean people don’t suck, they rock.

In all seriousness, please don’t ever allow anyone to make you feel so bad that you want to give up on your writing. Take all the negative comments and use them to your advantage. You don’t ever have to speak a word to the mean person, just go about your business and write from your heart. Don’t give mean people the power of believing they’ve succeeded in bringing you down. While they’re happy in making you unhappy, they’ll never be aware of the power they’ve given to you and the inspiration they’ve infused into your creative soul.

After the holidays, I’m considering going back into a self-imposed exile and revising and editing the first draft. But instead of being locked inside the house, I’ve asked Santa to bring me a new laptop so I can go to the local coffeehouse and work on the edits there.

Life is said to evolve in three stages. Creation, survival and destruction. Similar to the life cycle of birth, life, death, and resurrection, these cycles should be reflected in your writing.

In the first part of a story, a character may be creating a career, a new love, a new relationship, a new home, or a new family. In the middle of the book, she is just trying to survive and make ends meet. After getting burnt out, the character might go through a mid-life crisis and walk off from a job, a marriage, or a family, seemingly destroying all she has built. But this is where the cycle of life, birth, death, and resurrection repeats itself. The character intuitively senses she has died inside and wants to reinvent herself to experience the feelings of creation again. On the other hand, you might start your story at the death cycle. That is, the point in the story that the character runs off from her old stifling life.

Have an idea of cause/effect, and understand the relationships of the different characters, and your story will fit together in a unified whole. If not, the story will seem episodic.

Your story should have layers like the concentric rings in a tree. The bark is the outer story; the inner rings are the inner life of your characters, their social/interpersonal life, and their relationship to the world.

Your novel should have branches: your subplots which mirror your main plot.

Your novel should have roots: the things that ground the main character(s) or the backstory, which motivates the characters.

Your novel should bear fruit: your theme.

Remember. The worst writing is often published, applauded and celebrated-that is, fiction that assumes no risk on the part of the writer. This type of writing makes the reader comfortable about the world he lives in and does not challenge any of his assumptions about life. Unfortunately, good fiction often deals with moral ambivalence, no pat answers. It often ends with the wrong or ambiguous choices, resulting in no clear cut triumphs or happy-ever-after Hollywood endings, but haunting, sometimes disturbing resolutions. I think of the endings of Morrison's Beloved, Song of Solomon, and Sula, and I'll never forget how it took me years to see the realism in these endings.

The theme of resurrection has always surfaced in literature. On a global level, this has translated into people reinventing their lives. This is why we're seeing so many second careers. This is what this book is a part of for me-a second career and a brand new life. This is my resurrection. Please use it to re-create yourself. Learn to write riveting fiction. May you ever be in a creative mold in your writing.

Copyright (c) 2006 Black Butterfly Press

About the Author

Dr. Maxine E. Thompson is the owner of Black Butterfly Press, Maxine Thompson’s Literary Services, Thompson Literary Agency and http://www.maxineshow.com. She hosts Internet radio shows on www.artisfirst.com and on www.voiceamerica.com She is the author of nine titles, The Ebony Tree, No Pockets in a Shroud, A Place Called Home, The Hush Hush Secrets of Writing Fiction That Sells, How to Publish, Market and Promote your Book Via Ebook Publishing, The Hush Hush Secrets of How To Create a Life You Love, Novella, Second Chances, (Anthology Secret Lovers) and Novella, Summer of Salvation, (Anthology: All in the Family,) Novella, Katrina Blues, (Anthology: Never Knew Love Like This). You can sign up for her free newsletter at www.maxinethompson.com Visit her forum at http://www.maxineshow.com

I didn't receive any announcements this month, but have listed a few sites you may be interested in.

Backspace - the writer's place, is a site that offers a lot of information to guide you through the business of publishing. It offers articles, interviews and much more. You can check it out at: www.bksp.org

This may interest some of you - it's a contest that offers the winner a consultation with a top New York Literary Agent and is sponsored by Crown Publishing. You can check it out at: Blind Submission Contest.

Grammar NOW! is an awesome site for any questions you have about grammar. It also lists tons of cool resources. You can check it out at: grammarnow.com.

The Gotham Writers' Workshop offers a lot of online classes as well as classes in New York City. I'm contemplating taking a class in the City next year. I think I'll do better if I actually have to go to the class than take one online. I'm not that disciplined. However, a lot people love online classes and this school has a great reputation as far as I know and have heard. You can check it out at: http://www.writingclasses.com/index.php

Bobbie Christmas is the "Book Doctor" and Author of Write In Style, a triple-award-winning textbook for writers of fiction and nonfiction, available wherever books are sold.

Bobbie loves to receive questions from writers and offer her expert advice. If you have any questions you need answered, please e-mail her at: Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. For the latest Q&A with Bobbie, go to AskTheBookDoctor on the CS4W site.

If you have an announcement you would like to share, please send it to: sandy@coolstuff4writers.com

Sean and I have been discussing ways to improve the site and have been tossing around ideas for new merchandise and cool features we can add to the site. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please send them to us for consideration. You're what makes this site important and possible, so your input is invaluable. Send your ideas and/or suggestions to sandy@coolstuff4writers.com

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!

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