Get Out of Your Way by Terri Austin

First of all, a big thanks to Wendy for letting me hop on her blog and yak at all of you.    

I started writing when my kids were very young—both to escape mountains of laundry, but also to keep my sanity.  After all, there’s only so much Barney a person can take and remain unmedicated.  But there was one problem.  There were too many voices in my head.  And I don’t mean my characters’ voices, because that’s a good thing.  No, I heard my mother’s voice—I knew she’d disapprove of anything above a G rating, my pastor’s voice—he’d question my saggy morals, and even—gasp—what if my kids someday saw that Mommy wrote all kinds of naughty words and shook their little heads in disappointment?  I was my own worst enemy and I censored myself constantly.

Eventually, my kids started school and I was in full time Mom mode.  I told myself there was no time for writing.  I also had a couple of foot surgeries thrown in for fun.  But I always thought someday…someday I’d go back to it.  I jotted my ideas down in a journal and wished I had more time.

Now, my kids are pretty much grown—at least chronologically.  So I decided to take the NaNoWriMo challenge and start writing again.  For real this time.  No censoring voices, no holding back.  No fear.

It felt strange, this new freedom.  I used dirty words with abandon and chortled the whole time.  I wrote about sexy bad guys and missing potheads and a harajuku loli-inspired girl.  The self-imposed rules were out the window and I loved every liberating minute of it.  Occasionally, I would stop and ask myself, should I write that?  Then I would ignore myself and continue.  And if my book didn’t sell, at least I had written what I wanted.

But who was I kidding?  Of course I wanted it to sell.  I wanted everyone (except my mother and pastor) to read my book and laugh along with the kooky characters I’d let myself create.  And it turns out that my eighteen-year-old son—who wasn’t at all shocked by four-letter words and sizzling sexual tension—was my biggest cheerleader.

 

I guess if I had one piece of advice to offer it would be stay true to who you are as a writer.  Let the characters speak for themselves and don’t hold back because of what people might think.  Remember—no fear.    

I’m so glad I got out of my own way and freed myself to write the crazy that was in my head.  Turns out my editor loved my characters as much as I did.  Diners, Dives and Dead Ends is coming out July 17^th from HeneryPress.

Now I just have to break the news to my mom.