Hey, boys and girls!

This is Sue Grafton, just checking in to see how you're doing. I've
been thinking about you often and I hope your work is going smoothly.
In the event that it's not, I wanted to assure you that I get bogged
down all the time. Someone asked me once if I ever got writer's block
and I said, 'only once or twice a day.'

For reasons absolutely unknown to Science, many writers begin their
novels with a burst of enthusiasm. There's a measurable outpouring of
time and energy. I experience this myself. At the outset, my optimism
rides high and my hopes are boundless. This book...this book, I say to
myself...will be clever, inventive, fresh, original, witty, and
profound. My characters will be complex, textured, and amazingly true
to life. My prose will sing. The pacing will be relentless, yet the
story will ebb and flow in a manner that will produce both thrilling
surprises and quiet moments where the reader can reflect on what's
gone before . My descriptive passages will be evocative, bringing
scenes to life in a way that will later translate into a movie sale
with all the attendant fame and glory and big bucks. (Personally, of
course, I'd never sell my character to Hollywood, but you get the
point...)

This hype, this glorious feeling of Omnipotence sometimes continues
unabated until Chapter Two. By then, most puzzlingly, I might notice
something is amiss. You may find yourself in a similar position at
this point in the game. Whether you've written a thousand words or ten
thousand, you may find yourself faltering. A little note of doubt may
creep into your consciousness. This, I assure you, is not about the
merit of the work you've done so far. It's an artifact of your own
insecurities. You're probably beginning to wonder what your mother
will think of those steamy sexual passages. Perhaps you're suddenly
uncertain your immediate family will appreciate your rendition of
their annual drunken Christmas antics that result in all those
accusations, renunciations, and slamming of doors. You might suspect
that your mate (and let's not even talk about your kids) might take a
dim view of what's visible through the little window you've opened
onto your soul.

This is my advice. Disregard the nagging voice piping up from the back
of your brain. You aren't stupid. You won't fail. You won't humiliate
yourself (that much) in front of all your family and friends. The
important point is to keep up your momentum regardless of the fact
that you might stumble now and then. Most people you know have never
written a novel at all, let alone pounded one out in a jam-packed
thirty days.

Look at it this way; you're not compelled to show your manuscript to
anyone, right? In fact, I'd advise you do the opposite. Keep it under
lock and key. Guard it with your life. This is your opportunity to
express yourself, safe from the opinions of the dolts around you, who
don't know ba d literature from good. If you're smart you've kept your
mission a secret, but suppose you've already blabbed your goal to
anyone who'd listen. What was the initial response? Did your loved
ones and colleagues scoff or pretend to be supportive while making
faces behind your back? Either way, if you bravely soldier on, you can
make them eat their words. You can throw their skepticism back in
their faces and laugh yourself silly that they had so little faith.

Believe me, getting from beginning to middle to end is an incredible
accomplishment in itself! Literary quality is in the eye of the
beholder and who's to say your novel won't be right up there among the
greats? All you have to do is work. All you have to do is push. Focus
on the job at hand. Ignore the urge to second-guess yourself. This is
not the time for introspection; it's a time for charging on. Believe
in yourself. Be determined to keep the promises you made when you
first began. Your commitment to do th is will see you through, even
over rough ground.

So. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and write. You said you would
do this so nod your head and say, "I will do this. I will do this. I
will do this." And then do this.

Sue Grafton

--
Sue is the author of the bestselling Alphabet Series, which began with
1983's A is for Alibi. The latest in the series, T is for Trespess, is
due out in December. For more on Sue, visit www.suegrafton.com.