Romaniacs, Wonderbras and Spanx

Seeing as Laura started the underwear theme yesterday, I thought I’d continue it …

Think of a Wonderbra and its virtues – uplifting, supportive, helps show your best bits off.  Now think of a pair of large Bridget Jones style knickers – comfy and reassuring. Then there’s the pants with the tummy control panel – makes you streamline, smooth and keeps  the unappealing bits out of public view. All very discreet, secret pieces of underwear that no-one knows you’re wearing once you have your clothes on.

What has this to do with writing? Well, being a Romaniac is like having these secret pieces of underwear on. There’s always support when needed, there’s reassurance and there’s comfort, there’s advice and wise words, all of which gives encouragement to keep going along the sometimes tricky and difficult road of writing and often life. 

After reading everyone’s posts about their WIPs, I realised that I had learnt a lot from my fellow Romaniacs. Their posts have been a great source of support and advice, as have the replies.  Here’s what I learnt …

From Celia, that if you’re going to write something a bit more racy, as I intend to, then having a pen name is a pretty good idea. It avoids any embarrassment for yourself, friends or family both professionally and personally.  So when I eventually get round to writing that hotter stuff, I won’t have to worry about my Mum or Aunty finding out. Of course, I can’t tell you what my pen name will be, just in case either of the  aforesaid Mum or Aunty happen to be reading this! [Chocolate, Superheroes, Sex & Seaside blog]

From Lucie I learnt that, I’m not the only one who has ended up with names for characters starting with the same letter. My heroine has the same initial as another leading character, trouble is, I really like both names. I suppose though I could change one, he was given his name, purely so my male protagonist could call him a derogatory nickname. [What’s in a name blog]

From Liz, I too have butterfly tendencies. Funny how an idea seemed so good three months ago and now I’ve gone off it. I am now back with my WIP that I had called a halt to just before Christmas. I have fluttered back to it with renewed enthusiasm, realising where it was going wrong. Well, it was plodding rather than going but at least I now know how to fix it and only 35k words in that shouldn’t be too difficult – should it? [Writing like a butterfly blog]

From Jan, that sometimes the best ideas can come from the most unexpected places. Maybe I should dip my toe into areas that are outside my comfort zone and see where they take me. I’ve always said I’m not very good at those workshops where they put you on the spot and say, ‘Right you have 5 minutes to write about a shoe box.’ [or some other equally mundane item].  Perhaps though, I should stretch myself and not be frightened of the outcome, after all, if I don’t like it, I can always press the delete key and no-one would be any the wiser. [Special Assignment blog]

From Catherine, that I really should get the essence of my novel down in a couple of sentences so when I’m asked, I can rattle it off word perfect. I too am fluent in falafel and if that fails me, I’m quite good at ‘Well, erm, it’s about the woman, well, this man too and, they, well, errm…’ [Subliminal Messages blog]

From Debbie, that you can’t give up. Everyone has these patches where it is difficult but giving up isn’t an option. Determination will win the day. Once you break through that block, you’ll be flying again. [Dear Writers blog]

From Vanessa, that I’m not the only one to go through that cycle of emotions and self-doubt. It’s reassuring to know that lots of others feel exactly the same too. [That Friday Feeling blog]

From Laura, it most definitely will be to banish the inner editor, or at least have a go at it. I am terrible for going back over what I’ve typed the previous day and editing it before I can start writing the next bit. This quite often means that with my limited time, I don’t actually progress the story much, if at all. [Constraints of Time & Underwear blog]

So thank you to my lovely Romaniacs and to everyone who left a comment – support like this is invaluable – as are Wonderbras and Spanx. 

Sue. x