Paige Hawthorne: Blog

One of my favorite writers, Lee Child, said that in his Jack Reacher novels he has no idea what his characters will do, where they'll wander, where they'll end up.


For the start of one of his books, he wrote this sentence: "Moving a guy as big as Keever wasn't easy."


Andy Martin, who was observing Child's writing process at the time said this about the author, "When he sat down to write the first sentence, all he had in his head was a scene, a glimpse of a scene: a bunch of guys are burying someone, a big guy, using a backhoe (or JCB). He had no idea who they are, why they are doing this, or who the big guy is either, other than that his name is Keever."


Recently, I read an interview where Mr. Child said, "For me the end of a book is just as exciting as it is for a reader."


Of course when you have the talent that Mr. Child possesses, you can write any gosh darn way you want.


Damn it.


Paige.

One of my favorite writers, the late Robert B. Parker, from whose work I shamelessly crib, said that he wrote five pages a day. I don't have the discipline, nor the time, to write every day. And, once I start tapping keys, I don't have the self-control to stop at a specific spot.

Still, I found it interesting. Five pages isn't very much. A couple of months at that pace would result in a 300-page novel.

But I bet the relatively leisurely pace allowed him time to self-edit, to develop, to polish.

Hmm … mayhaps I should rethink my composition habits. Of course there's always that elusive talent thing.

Paige

I'm in marketing (don't hold that against me!) so I do my story-writing in airports, bars, hotel rooms. And at home when I can. With a certain little boy peeping over my shoulder.

However and wherever I write, my prose seems to me to be mostly peerless. So if some of the narrative does seem disjointed, blame it upon the very recent arrival of my volunteer editor, thornfoote.

"Winter's Wonderland" is finished, final chapter posted today. I enjoyed the trip and am well into Winter's next adventure. Thanks for riding along.

Paige

Several of you guys have commented on how lucky Walker is to have Winter as his mother. I totally grok that when I try to look at it from a male perspective. It's sort of like that pretty history teacher who's caught doing one of her students. The thought often is, 'lucky boy,' not 'bad teacher.'

But as a mom, with a son, I'm not so sure.

So, why include the sexy part of the relationship in my tale?

Partly because it's entertaining. I think so anyway. And partly because it's an exaggerated version of our real relationship. But mostly because my son digs on it, big time.

As Winter says, "I'm not your standard PTA mom."

Paige

I messed up my gmail account by trying to become more efficient. I deleted some stuff (like Sent Mail) that I wish I hadn't. So … apologies in advance if I haven't responded to your e-mails. Or if I've answered more than once.

Sorry, but not sorrowful,

Paige

P. S. A couple of readers told me how to check the downloads on each individual chapter. That number keeps going down. Pretty steadily. Is that the natural course in here? Or is my writing getting weaker? I'm not fishing for compliments, so please don't write to tell me I'm grand. I know I'm not, but I am curious.