La Courage

First of all big Congrats to the gals - Ella and Tamaria - why not treat yourself to a new book, here!

I've been thinking this week about all sorts of things - the main theme or word that keeps popping up for me is courage. Someone posted a phrase on Twitter or Facebook that went something like, 'cowards will always find an excuse'. This has stayed with me all weekend - it has really made me think about what kind of person I am.

The bigger the disguise I have on, the braver I am. Last week, I felt very brave about writing quite a personal blog - which I was going to delete after an hour of having it live - the response was so touching that I have left it there. You can read it if you like here (see, that's me being brave again - yikes).

And then, I found this quote today from Toni Morrison (one of my ultimate favourites) "People say to write about what you know, I'm here to tell you, no one wants to read that, cos you don't know anything. So write about something you don't know. And don't be scared, ever."


It was a great quote to find today as I am writing a novel right now, where the lead character goes from being fairly submissive in her life to switching that over to being dominant, forthright and powerful. Now, I'm not saying I'm submissive, well, maybe it comes more naturally to me to write from that viewpoint - so now, I'm leading up for the switch and I guess, that goes some way to explain my sudden (if small) bout of courage. Perhaps, I need to push my own boundaries in my personal life to enable it to come through in my story telling. For now, I am utterly delighted to revel in the fact that I don't know anything, and that that lack of knowledge will make for a better story! And I will keep saying to myself - "Don't be scared, ever."


So before I ramble out of control, I am going to leave you there. If you are a writer, do you write what you know?


Till next week


 T x x x  and ps - I am a total coward at most things... and I have no excuse, just that I am.