#WEP DECEMBER CHALLENGE WINNER PAT GARCIA WRITES FOR US! #HOW TO BECOME A NOVELIST

 Hello friends of #WEP, your foremost online writing challenge site. Pat Garcia blew us away with her beautiful rendition of THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE, a heartfelt tome of love, as our judge Nick Wilford said. We could all do with a positive love story at this turbulent time and Pat has delivered. 

Pat has sent her article which we proudly present below. An excellent way to begin the New Year here at WEP where I'm sure many of you have made resolutions to write more. Writing 6 times a year for WEP must surely improve our craft.

#HOW TO BECOME A NOVELIST

 

 As a kid, I was always writing something. I didn't have any direction, but the desire deep within me was to become a novelist. I discovered reading, which strengthened my craving to be a writer, but I didn't know how to become that novelist with the deep voice I wanted to have until I met Dorothea Brande in her book Becoming a Writer.

I had enrolled in a Writer's Digest class, and an instructor offered to look at 250 words of each individual's manuscript and tell us what she thought.

At that time, I thought, "I got this" until she returned my snippet. I was so devastated that I didn't see her last sentence, "You've got potential."

To make a long story short, this tough lady, who was passionate about writing and had worked in several of the top publishing houses as a consultant in their merger and acquisition departments, had shot my baby (my story) and left me depressed.

 I finally pulled myself up and sent her a note during the last week of class. She recommended that I read Becoming A Writer by Dorothea Brande and get back to her if I still wanted to be a Novelist. And that is precisely what I did.

 The book challenged my thinking on the first pages. After reading them, I knew I didn't want to be a one-book writer, an occasional writer, or an uneven writer.

I also liked how she explained that having all the technical writing books on my shelves (and I had plenty of them) would only make me a successful writer once I knew how to work as a writer.

Brande connects the writer's vision with their willingness to become vulnerable to themselves. It reminded me of what Socrates said, "Know yourself." She talks about the child in the writer, and I thought of William Wordsworth's statement, "the child is the father of man."

 I only knew then what to think about her book once I realized that I had to cultivate my writer's temperament and that it didn't happen overnight. Slowly, I began to grasp that writing is like painting a picture.

 With each chapter I read, I recognized that I had a lot of work to do within me and that I didn't have any guarantees about the outcome. But I knew this was the type of development I sought, and regardless of the cost, I would do whatever needed. Since then, it has been and still is a risk I am willing to take.

 I am continually learning to be vulnerable or aware of the voice within me to write good fiction.

 

Shalom aleichem,

 

Pat Garcia

A writer, singer, and musician, Pat Garcia, lives as an Expatriate on the European Continent. She is a voracious reader of literature from all genres and loves knitting, playing chess, playing her piano and watching Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes films.

A multicultural writer, she writes stories that encapsulate Romance with a mainstream touch, a sense of suspense, and fantasy.

As it was the Movie Poster we found

most inspiring we'll be starting off

in February with

"GONE WITH THE WIND"

Remember, it's all about what inspires you:

GWTW can be the springboard for a million ideas- civil war, love, the definition of beauty (‘Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful but men seldom realized it..’), racism, slavery, strong women, gun violence, plantations, breaking conventions, the bond between fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters, the love for a piece of land, a lament for a vanishing society…alternatively, even an essay on the stars or the film director or the author Margaret Mitchell or some aspect of the making of the film...endless opportunities for creativity.

Post-February 15 to the 17th 2023

#WEPWINNER #How to become a writer  #guestpost https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-december-challenge-winner-pat.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser
@pat_garcia #amwriting #writingchallenge

 

#WEP #How to become a writer #guest post  #WEPwinner https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/01/wep-december-challenge-winner-pat.html @DeniseCCovey, @YolandaRenee, @LGKeltner, @OlgaGodim @jemifraser
@pat_garcia #amwriting #writingchallenge

Please read and enjoy Pat's post. See you in February 2023 with your entries inspired by Gone With the Wind. 

Denise, for