TITLE: Dear Writer, Are You Intuitive? (QuitBooks for Writers)
AUTHOR: Becca Syme
GENRE: Nonfiction – Writing
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
At Your Favorite Reailer (Kobo, Amazon, Apple, B&N, etc.)
Dear Writer, Are You Intuitive? (QuitBooks for Writers)
AUTHOR: Becca Syme and Susan Bischoff
GENRE: Non-fiction; writing
WHERE TO PURCHASE:
WIDE – Amazon, Kobo, Apple, etc.
If you are an intuitive writer of any kind, I highly recommend this book! Becca and her co-writer, Susan Bischoff, go in depth on what intuition is—and is not—and how writers use our intuition. This isn’t just about if you are a pantser or not, although that is covered. Our intuition is used in our sense of story and story structure, and how much we need to plan or think about the story before we start writing. It involves trusting ourselves in knowing what marketing, business models, and publishing paths are right for us. Throughout the book, Becca and Susan stress learning to trust our intuition in knowing what is right FOR US.
We all write differently. We tell our stories differently. And we approach our marketing and business from various perspectives. None of which is wrong! Becca constantly advocates for us to listen to our inner sense of what’s right for us in whatever we do in our writing and business. I really liked this. Do we make mistakes? Yes. Can we learn from them? Also, yes. We need to give ourselves the grace to learn to pay attention to our inner promptings and follow that guidance. We may be out of practice and make mistakes along the way. That doesn’t make us wrong.
One of things I loved is the explanation of the spectrum of plotting and pansting. Over the years, I’ve found my process is a hybrid. I need to just write for a few chapters, then I can do some plotting of the major story arc. I don’t always follow these, but they give me a guide, or road map, for writing the rest of the story. I learned I’m not the only one who writes like this! Becca calls this “guideposts.”
The book helped me feel better about my writing process, helped me see places where I can push myself and develop better skills or processes, and know I’m not alone.