By Kathleen M. Rodgers
Writing is a messy process. After nearly forty years of
writing for publication, I’ve learned to trust what works for me. Every article
I sold to Family Circle Magazine, Military Times, and many other
publications, started out like this: first thoughts scribbled on whatever paper
was at hand.
Sometimes I use legal pads or journals given to me by family
members or friends. I joke that my first novel, The Final Salute, was cobbled together using sticky notes
and index cards.
In 1998, I signed my fifth contract with Family Circle Magazine to write a 2500
word article about attention deficit disorder. Even before I pitched the
article to my editor in a query letter, I’d accumulated hundreds of notes on
every form of paper available. Once the ink dried on the contract, the pressure
was on.
With notes fanned
out in front of me on my living room floor, I attempted to puzzle together a
story that I was getting paid a lot of money to write. For me, the only way to
bring order to chaos is to wade through it. I did what I always do. I took a deep breath and plowed in. After several revisions, “Driven to
Distraction” appeared in the October 1998 edition of Family Circle Magazine,
where it was read by millions of readers around the country.
For my second novel, Johnnie Come Lately (Camel Press February 1, 2015), my first thoughts were
captured in a spiral notebook for a novel writing class I took at Southern
Methodist University. Once I got a few words down, I moved to my laptop.
Throughout the six years it took to write and revise this
novel, many of my best lines were written in the margins of church bulletins,
school programs, grocery store receipts, napkins from eateries, and the
occasional paperback I happened to be reading at the moment my mind wandered
from the path of reading to writing.
About eight months
before I finished the manuscript, I dumped my work onto my kitchen table and
attempted to organize the chapters. I’m old school in that I need to see the
physical pages of the manuscript as I work. Holding each scene in my hand
helped me see where I needed to revise an opening line or create a better
transition from one scene to the next.
I’m in the middle
of writing my third novel, and once again I am learning to trust the process. Now
that my children are grown and I no longer have the need to go hide in my home
office, I find myself back at the kitchen or dining room table, attempting to
create characters that people will care about. Each night when I go to bed, I
place the current scene I’m working on in between my alarm clock and my TBR
pile. Having the physical pages close to me before I drift off to sleep is a reminder
that my characters are depending on me the next day. Just like my young sons
depended on me when they were young. They trusted that I would be there for
them each morning when they woke up.
___________________________________________________________________
Kathleen M.
Rodgers is a former freelance
writer for Family Circle Magazine, Military Times, and
many other national and regional publications. Her first novel, The Final Salute (Deer Hawk Publications) has been featured in USA
Today, The Associated Press, and soared to #1 on Amazon’s Top
Rated War Fiction. Her second novel, Johnnie Come Lately (Camel
Press), has been featured in Southern Writers Magazine, Stars
& Stripes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and The
Authors Corner on Public Radio.
Author’s website: http://www.kathleenmrodgers.com
Kathleen Featured in Southern Writers Magazine: http://www.kathleenmrodgers.com/page.html
No comments:
Post a Comment