Five Writing Strengths

Last week, my good friend and critique group member, Shauna Roberts, tagged me with this cool meme about what I consider my five writing strengths. So, here you go:

1. I'm an avid reader. I don't know how anyone can be a writer if they are not first a reader. Reading remains my favorite hobby, even though I don't have as much time to devote to my beloved 'to be read' pile these days.

2. I have a sense of humor. Uh...well, sometimes I do. :P Actually, I consider my sense of humor extremely dry, but I've discovered that it tends to come out in my writing without much effort. In fact, it took readers pointing out the "funny" parts of my book for me to realize that my dramatic contemporary romance had a few laugh out loud lines. They were not by design.

3. I'm disciplined. Okay, I erased and retyped this a few times before deciding to keep it on the list. Most days, I don't think of myself as being disciplined. I am easily distracted by just about anything. However, I've found ways of getting rid of most distractions so I can concentrate on my writing. When I compare myself to others I know who make countless excuses for why their masterpiece isn't finished, I realize that I'm doing pretty okay in my effort to sit my butt in the chair and write.

4. I've learned to accept constructive criticism. My sister, along with fabulous critique group, have gone a long way in showing me that just because something is wrong, that doesn't mean it isn't good. When I first started writing back in college, I thought my work was perfect! When I wrote "The End" on my first manuscript and gave it to my sister to read, I was mad as a hornet when she started pointing out problems. These days, I include a red pencil with a pencil sharpner when I hand her my manuscript. Constructive criticism makes me better. Let me add that I've also learned to weed out what's constructive and what's destructive in regard to criticism.

5. I enjoy it! It's as simple as that. I enjoy what I do. Even on the days I don't enjoy it, there is nothing else I'd rather do.

I'm going to be a meme killer for now because I'm writing this blog while at the day job and actually have "real" work to do! Yikes! I'll tag a few writing friends soon.

posted by Farrah Rochon @ 8:43 AM Comments: 6