by Elizabeth Fedorko

I was thrilled when I found my writing schedule is the same as Stephen King’s. If you ask some of WRW’s current board and chairpersons, I was not the only one.

In his latest non-fiction tome, ON WRITING, Steve (I feel I can call him that given I have read everything he’s written) says he likes to write ten pages a day (2,000 words). He has good days and hard days. He eats lunch at his desk. And, no matter what, he gets ten pages written a day. One word at a time. Ten pages a day. Whether you like him or not, he tells stories, because he needs to, because he is a writer. La di da. So are you, so am I.

OK, OK, so now you’re saying to yourself, “I work at another job nine-to-five”, “I have three kids who have more sporting events every week than the 2000 Sydney Olympics”, or quite simply, “I don’t always feel inspired.” Or you could be saying, “Beth, you’re out of your mind, and I want to take my vote back.”

Before you impeach me, give a fine film, “Finding Forrester”, a look. It is the story of a young African-American man, Jamal Wallace, with a world of literary promise and a humble, but loving, home. He meets, Forrester, a cantakerous award-winning author of one great book (ala Harper Lee). Forrester “critiques” Jamal’s work harshly. The phrase “constipated thinking” comes to mind—I really wish I could use that with my critique partners, but they write too dang good. Jamal continues to write his head off despite living where handguns instead of Bic pens are more of a reality, and the constant thumping on his bedroom walls can only mean the neighbors are having a good time. I won’t expose the plot of the film, but I use the characters in it as a prime example of the need to write inherent in all of us. Why else would we be here?

If you need more convincing, I beg you to tread lightly into the mad world of the Marquis de Sade (You’re saying to yourself, “Now I really want to take my vote back.") and the extrodinary, yet disturbing film “Quills”. This man, played expertly by Geoffrey Rush, was plagued with the need to write. It kept him from taking a leap into the dark chasm of total insanity, it was his freedom, his panacea. When the proper implements for writing his scandalous 19th century novels were taken from him, he found ingeniuous and warped ways to write his stories. I’m not saying follow that example literally, but the need to write is shown in its extreme.

That great twentieth century philospher and social commentator, George Carlin said, before his seven words that shocked my mother after she heard what record I had brought home in 1976, was that “wanna” gets us into trouble. I demure. “Wanna” is a good thing for those of us who wish to express ourselves with the written word. We should embrace “wanna” and treasure it. “Wanna” gets us sitting at our computer, legal pad, quill and parchment (for those of you who write historicals), and “wanna” makes us who we are, writers.

As Washington Romance Writers enters its eighteenth year, make this your year. This can apply to everyone. We have to start that new novel somewhere. Not all of us start at the beginning. Jennifer Crusie once said at The Smithsonian, “I write all of the good parts and put them together. That’s all I write: the good parts.” Find your good parts (that didn’t come out too well, but you know what I mean), find your inspiration, find your time to embrace your “wanna”. I know that many of our authors from the most professionally successful to those vying for that First Sale pin take their “wanna” by the hand and don’t look over their shoulder, just move forward. Sometimes you write in Neil Armstrong giant leaps or Sagan’s CONTACT “small moves”. “Wanna” will be satisfied. And in the end, you will be too when your recieve your RWA Pro pin, your First Sale pin, your Rita, your Pulitzer. That’s my plan, anyway, and I’m sticking to it.


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Elizabeth “Beth” Fedorko, past president of WRW, is a full time wife, mother and writer. She dreams of being the first romance riter on “Survivor.”