CREATE: An Author’s journey

On my word processing app, Scrivener, I choose a new project and click Create. It is daunting. New characters, new setting, new plot. What’s the tension? What’s the twist? Who is my protagonist? Does she have unique features? What does she want, and what gets in her way? What genre am I writing? Is it paranormal like my upcoming release “GRAVE INTERVENTION” or a medical thriller like my debut, “EMERGENCE”? What do my readers want to read? What do I want to write?

From experience, I know creative inspiration strikes when I am open to it. I hear this from other authors as well. It’s not up to us; it’s up to the character that must be heard. I listen patiently. Waiting for her to whisper her stories. In the meantime, I read. I read a lot in all genres. If I buy a book, it’s from the independent local bookseller, Novel. Recently I’ve been ordering books from the Memphis Library System. It reminds me of childhood, though the branch I went to has since closed. I’d read a book a day as a child, immersing myself in the magic of others’ creative powers.

Goodreads is an app I recommend to other readers as a source for reviewing and sharing novels. My recent favorite books are THE AUTHENTICITY PROJECT by Clare Pooley, THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig, and COME CLOSER by Sara Gran. If you do pop on over to Goodreads, please follow me, and I will follow you. We can create our own book club. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20423970.Shira_Shiloah

Writing is a privilege, as is reading. I tell myself as I struggle to create that character arc, muddle through the murky middle, and build that tension. It is a privilege to have the time and resources to devote to art. I stare out the window waiting for that whisper to come.