World of Words

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief for Southern Writers Magazine

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could ‘twitch’ our nose like Samantha Stephens in Bewitched? Just think, we could spend days upon days writing while we put everything in suspension or just twitch and house chores would be done, family taken care of, all the meals cooked–nothing to do but write.

I don’t know about you but when I start writing I soon find myself in the story, it’s as if I am watching a movie as it unfolds. I see everything and everyone in the story. Hours go by while immersed in whatever world I have created and enjoying the company of characters who have taken on lives of their own. I do not want to leave until I see the ending. Alas, I can’t twitch my nose, and dinner has to be cooked, clothes washed, carpet vacuumed and everything dusted.

Since we have to write in the real world (without the twitch), we have to carve out time for ourselves to write each day in order to eventually finish a book.

I am often amazed when someone finds out that I write and they say, “Oh, do you also work outside the home, you know, have a real job?” My first instinct– is to ask ‘are you stupid’, however I don’t.  I know they have no idea how much work goes into writing. My second instinct is to throw the person in a chair and put them through the third degree with hot lights shining in the face. Asking questions like have you ever been inside a library? How do you think those words got into all those books? Especially if I just finished having to rewrite several pages of edits.

The non-writer has no idea what goes into writing books. The hours spent researching, editing, developing the story, plot, creating characters, scenes, etc. It occurred to me writers may be unique in that we can sit for hours using words to create stories that are published for others to read and enjoy.

Maybe next time someone makes that off handed remark I will look at them and smile knowing I am in that group that creates new worlds out of words.