Day Four of LiLa!!! Love Them

This is the conclusion of my interview with LiLa. They've been at this writing and rewriting and querying thing since 2008. In fact, I've blog-stalked them and wanted to link you all to their first blog post. Why? Simple. Because writing is hard, and we all come from the same place: complete fear and total lack of confidence.

But why do we do it? Put ourselves through this every day? The fear, the doubt, the ice cream or chocolate and Twizzlers ;) Because we love it. That's why.

So, with that, I give you LiLa's advice to the rest of us:

Don't be afraid to start over. We can't tell you how many words we've thrown away since we've begun writing. BUT, we never truly throw the words away because they were all such good practice. The best part about writing is you can always start again. (Emphasis mine.)

Personally, I think it's important that we remember we can start over. Because we're living, breathing organisms, so's writing. I had similar openings (and the same ending) for Duality for about 10 years, until some very wise people told me that it didn't work. And I was kinda mad. But after I got over myself, I started over, crafted a MUCH stronger opening; crafted a second and then a third ending, which still doesn't work that well BTW. LiLa's right. Every word we put on paper or in pixel teaches us something, and even if they're not the best words EVAR, they teach us where we're weakest or strongest so that we can continue to grow, mature, and improve as writers. Personally, this is some of the best advice I've gotten. What about you guys?

OK. Two more pieces of business:

1) DON'T FORGET THE CONTEST!!!!!!!!!! It closes tomorrow, and I seriously have like 3 entries. So come on, play along. Don't make me beg for your participation. On any of the LiLa posts, leave me the best lie you ever told (or wanted to tell) for a chance to win a The Liar Society gift pack courtesy of our lovely ladies and moi.

2) LiLa's book birthday is TOMORROW. The Liar Society hits shelves tomorrow, March 1st. Be sure to leave Lisa and Laura some love on their blog, k? This is a big deal for them, and we should all help them celebrate. Right? Right.

Until tomorrow, my peeps!