Writer Cherie Strikes Again!

I know writers have some of the same fears, fear of not being good enough...well...that's the main one.  Fear of overexposure is not something all of us 'undiscovereds' have to worry about..except maybe my writer buddy, Cherie.  Her talent abounds all over the web lately.  I guested on her blog, but got the dates wrong, so I didn't post her post at the same time.  That and the fact that I was still in utter shock that I would write a short story and put it out there for just anybody to read.  Since I've recovered from my shock, I needed to return the favor and post what she sent me.  Since she was on A.M.Supinger's blog Inner Owlet on Monday, I decided to wait until to today.  Cherie has the coolest blog and always finds ways to tie in anything to writing.  You can check her blog out at Ready.Write Go and on twitter at @writercherie.

I didn't give Cherie any guidelines or a picture to write from, so she had free reign to write what she wanted.  In my opinion, I think her reign is just beginning. :)  And now, here's Cherie.

First off, thanks Suzanne (a.k.a. Hottie) for having me guest post on your blog. Suzanne is such a sweetheart (how’s that for alliteration!) and I’ve really enjoyed her friendship. Now, she didn’t give me a topic because she is nice like that, so I pretty much have free reign over this babbling post. Good for me, not so much for you, dear readers. But please bear with me as I try to come up with something remotely coherent.

If you’re here, you’re most likely a writer, a reader, a blogger, or all of the above. Either way, we all have something in common: WORDS.  We write them, read them, blog about them, and occasionally eat them—figuratively, of course. Words let us explore our emotions, trigger our imaginations, and are conduits for our own brand of personal expression.

I write. I write because like Rapunzel from Tangled, “I have a dream” (cue music). But I also write because, as glamorous a published author’s life is like (I wouldn’t know, but let’s pretend it is), I have stories to tell. Now, everyone has a story to tell—just ask Uncle Bill on the next family reunion—but as writers we have this tendency to develop an intense emotional attachment to our plot/characters/scenes/whathaveyou. You can concur with this, right? Good. I am, however, going further to say that I write because I enjoy words.

Am I seeing blank stares here? I hope not.

Let me ask this question: Have you ever tried to read your novel, story, or poem out loud? Have you ever paid attention to the way words are strung together in harmony? It’s like music, a song. When I write, I take into account the inflections and tones in a sentence. If I like how it sounds, I keep it.

Of course this is not true ALL the time. Sometimes, there will be perfectly constructed sentences that are plain and nonmusical, and I would still keep them. It’s just the way life is—what was that saying? You can’t keep your cake and eat it too? Truth be told, I don’t understand this phrase. Why have cake in the first place if you’re not allowed to eat it? What are cakes for, anyway?

I digress.

The thing is, words are beautiful. Do me a favor—the next time you’re stumped with your WIP, find a poem. Look at it, read it, then read it out loud. Listen. See the music in words and maybe, just maybe, it’ll inspire you to take your writing to a new, deeper level.

Writer Cherie is a mom, a writer, a twitterer, and a great friend.  She's also the originator of the goat posse and all of it's madness. :)