Lara D. Elliott - Inspirations

I've been struggling for a while with my position in the writing world. When I first started writing novels, I found a contest run by a Christian writers organization. The fee to enter was cheaper for members, and it seemed like there were other benefits of membership, so I joined. I didn't place in the competition, but I learned a lot. I wrote my second novel for NaNoWriMo and then found critique groups in the Christian writers organization. The feedback on my work was both positive and constructive. I enjoyed swapping and giving my feedback to others on their work. Not only did I get to read other stories, but I practiced looking critically at what I was reading and saw ways to improve my own writing. But then we get to chapter eight. Spoiler alert: the main character has sex. Actually, that happened in chapter seven. I put a note in the email where I submitted the chapter for critique, warning potential readers that there was slightly sensitive material. Now, it didn...

Good job! You're awesome! You get a gold star! Display it on the fridge. A plus! Honor roll! Top of the class! Graduate with honors. Get to work. Be on time. Repeat tomorrow. Here's your paycheck. I do a good job Day in, day out With no recognition. Where's my gold star? This piece was written at 3:00 in the morning, after a couple hours of sleeplessness, stress, and tears. The problem with caring too much about grades and praise from teachers is that you don't get that in real life. I get appreciated in thank you cards from my students. But I'm in a position that doesn't make it easy to receive any professional accolades. Many of my friends in the same field as me have earned professional accolades. Their position makes it possible and they've done a great job. I just wish that doing a good job in my position could get some recognition too every once in a while. Like this poem? You might like this other poem about the struggles of wo...

Writers have often been warned not to let their writing turn into purple prose. Language that's so flowery and ornamented that the meaning is lost. It is the written equivalent to acting's melodramatic. However, writers still are praised for prose that is poetic without going to this extreme. Many of the writers I follow on Twitter like to post their best lines using whatever hashtag is appropriate for the day. They often pick their most poetic. The most metaphorical. The prose that paints the most extravagant picture. I love poetry. When I was younger, poetry was my writing outlet. The dream of writing a novel was too distant, too huge a mountain to climb. But poetry was a way to be creative. To play with words. Fitting text into a meter and a rhyme scheme was like a logic puzzle that I enjoyed solving. But when I became a novelist, somehow my love of poetry didn't cross over. A year ago, I was depressed about the prose in my novels. I wasn't even close to purple...