I really slept in late this morning. By late, I mean well past 12:00–noon. But then, I was up well past 2:00am finishing two more chapters in my book. Many 2s and wells there. Synchronicity?

Once I am writing “in the zone” it’s difficult to break my concentration and stop typing.

“Leave the rest for tomorrow,” is not in my vocabulary. By mid-chapter, I am driven. Forget food and water.

I’m quite content in my self-inflicted jail cell.

This driven feeling is more than work ethic or time restraint. It is emotionally based. Painful memories must be dragged out of hibernation, (often kicking and screaming,) from behind locked mental doors, convert them into word and sew them to page before they can snap back into the dark bowels of my mind like a bungee cord. It is much like reluctantly remembering a nightmare months after having had it–a struggle on many levels.

So why would I inflict such masochism on myself?

How does that saying go? “Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it.”
Your journal can become the skeleton for your book. My notes from my first battle with breast cancer helped me live through stage 4 the second time. Those journals and memories became my emotionally packed book.

My story is unconventional, but not unique. It must be told. I won't give up.

Doctors are human. Scientific tests are only as accurate as the people who perform and read them. Life is not infallible. But Inner-guidance from dreams validated in the waking world just might be.

My second book is more than halfway complete because I have my own style of cutting out my literary pattern and sewing it together with a running stitch that can be removed to make adjustments.

I write the beginning and ending of my book–then fill in the middle. This also works for blogs and articles.

By using this technique, I always know where I am and where I’m going with a story that is filled with impassioned twists and turns. It gives me a mental edge–no floundering around in the dark while retrieving dark memories. I never feel like I have wandered off the books path. Rather than holding one tread of the story’s line in my mind, I have two. This extra balance anchors my writing so I can interject humor yet not wander away from the serious nature of the main theme.

Writing a book is much like sewing a garment. 

Somewhere between the beginning and the end product, areas no longer fit. Some seams must be let out, others taken in, and extra material trimmed.

But, I always save my scraps because they could be the collar of another adventure.

Kathleen (Kat) O’Keefe-Kanavos is a TV/Radio Producer/Host of Wicked Housewives On Cape Cod™ and Author/Lecturer of the International award winning bestseller, Surviving Cancerland: Intuitive Aspects of Healing which promotes patient advocacy and connecting with inner guidance for success in health, wealth, and love, contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Dreams & Premonitions, PATHEOS Blogger and Columnist to Women Voices Magazine: SOUL and HOME, Kat taught Special Education and Psychology. She has been featured in newspapers, on CBS News, in American Express Open, and published in medical journals. Learn more @ www.AccessYourInnerGuide.com
PATHEOS http://www.patheos.com/blogs/aboveandbeyondthe5senses/
https://twitter.com/KathleenKanavos https://www.facebook.com/SurvivingCancerlandtheintuitiveaspectsofhealing

The mark of a serious writer/author is the willingness to improve. The pursuit of excellence includes any combination of 1) formal schooling, 2) seminars, 3) reading, 4) organizations/groups, 5) research, 6) writing, 7) editing. You can probably think of other avenues.

Pablo Casals was a pre-eminent cellist and conductor (1876-1973) who blessed us with music. When in his 90's it is said that someone asked why he continued to practice so many hours each day. His answer: "I think I'm getting it."

After 58 years of writing (news articles, journal articles, non-fiction, short stories, and novels), I am learning something every day. Some of it is new, some of it things forgotten.

Yes, I read, but with the sloppy way publishers are conducting business today, one must be careful. The best information comes from those who write well and share their understanding of the craft. I learn from these writers and authors, and in turn share writing techniques on a bi-monthly eFile. (I detest the word "blog". It sounds like some disgusting noises cows emit when confined to a coral.)

You are invited to Anatomy of a Story and leave comments that can help others in our craft.

http://celtic-publications-us.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-protagonist-need-for-backstory.html