Shaking Hands With My Younger Writer Self

By Kristy McCaffrey

I recently had the opportunity to revisit my first novel. It was with more than a tinge of dread that I approached a re-edit to ready it for a second edition release. Why the reluctance? Printed 11 years ago by a brand-new publisher, it had what I would term a 'soft edit', a predicament that my ignorance at the time didn't allow me to see. As a fledgling writer attempting to juggle numerous balls—plot, pacing, characterizations, research—I'd been excited and overwhelmed and, at times, confused. While I've had wonderful feedback on the book, I've always felt in the ensuing years that it contained weak writing. My overhaul of the project confirmed this.

But, rather than dwell on the negatives, here is what I learned.

—I have a good story, and I still like it.

—I can fix mistakes.

—I've developed a good internal editor in the years that have passed. Always keep going.

—I'm proud of my younger self for finishing a book and taking a chance to get it published. It was a lot of work.

—I was much more romantic in my younger days. I need to find that again.

—A thank you to any and all who read the book, and ferreted out the story despite the passive writing and sometimes confusing inner dialogue (there were parts even I wasn't sure what I was trying to say).

—A book is often a snapshot of a writer at the moment that it's written. Hence, I decided not to do any major rewriting. We do our best, then move on.

—And finally, the spark that drives me to write—as evidenced within the pages of this book—remains.

Reading the story again made me realize how far I've come as a writer, but it also reminded me of the sweetness involved in pursuing your dreams. It's worth it every time. So, don't let anyone keep you from your heart's desire, especially not yourself.

New editions of all of my Wings of the West series (historical western romances) will be available late September. Visit my website for more info.

The Intuitive Process Of Writing

Post by Kristy McCaffrey

I didn’t begin my writing career until I was 33 years old, when I decided to write a book (called a manuscript until it’s published—I knew so little). I’d been writing all my life, but at that moment I made a conscious decision to refine the process. The difference between a published and an unpublished writer is really the desire to trim, tighten, and tuck that mash of creativity into something coherent. Working with a story, I believe, involves a great deal of intuition. As a writer, I’ve had to learn how to trust the process, and it’s not always easy. This element of faith is not unlike a religious leaning—you simply don’t have all the answers. If you’re lucky, they come at the end of the work, but sometimes they don’t. Writing is nothing if not a learning process.

My first book (yay, it was published so went from ‘manuscript’ to ‘book’) took four years to write. The Wren, a historical western romance, features a Texas Ranger reunited with a woman he thought was murdered by Comanche as a child. The seeds of this story came to me when I was 15 years old. There wasn’t much—just a girl who knew two brothers, and a ranch (which I assumed was in Arizona since that’s where I’ve lived most of my life). The characters became Molly and Matt, and his brother Logan, but when I decided to refine the story I had to become more specific. I soon realized the setting wasn’t Arizona, and after reading an entire tome on the history of Texas (Lone Star: A History of Texas by T.R. Fehrenbach), I knew I’d found the locale. It continued to be a back-and-forth process, however, between research and following the inherent thread of the story, a thread I wasn’t always aware of. (Often this becomes the underlying theme of a work. In The Wren it was the idea of home, and the many ways we define that.) But I trusted, and this book is still the most well-received of any of my stories.

My second book, The Dove, was a bear to write, which is probably why it’s the shortest novel I’ve published. In this story, Logan, the brother, decides to track down Claire Waters, who, it turns out, lives in a brothel but hopes to become a doctor one day. Looking back, I didn’t trust my intuition enough, which I think is why I ran out of story. I tried to manhandle my characters too much, of which I had too many to begin with. I struggled to keep them all straight, along with motivations and what each of them might know from moment to moment. My editor had her work cut out for her, but helped tremendously in fixing the many problems.

My third book, The Sparrow, follows Emma Hart (sister to Molly) and her desire to enter Grand Canyon, an audacious endeavor considering the year is 1877. A Texas Ranger joins her and off they go. I wrote the first half of this story entirely on intuition. After the struggle with my last book, I knew I needed to trust the inner workings of my imagination. Unfortunately, it led me to a dead-end at the halfway point—ugh, the
vagaries and whims of creativity. It took me several years to figure my way out of this one. (I did raise my children at the same time, so wasn’t writing full-time.) The problem was that the journey Emma undertook wasn’t just physical, and I didn’t understand it until I found a book on shamanism. The light bulb went off, and I spent over two years delving into the subject. It turned out my intuition had been spot on (isn’t it always?), and I was finally able to complete Emma’s pilgrimage. As a side note, this book has received a mixed reception. Following one’s inspiration doesn’t always result in far-reaching connections with readers. However, I believe that an adherence to intuition draws an authentic voice from the author, a commitment that is important to the writer herself.

With my fourth book, Into The Land Of Shadows, recently published here at Prairie Rose, I think I finally found a balance between trusting the creative hits alongside the nuts-and-bolts research. I certainly had the most fun writing this one. Perhaps that’s what experience bestows—knowing that those dark spots during the writing of a project won’t always remain. While it’s difficult to trust those whispers nudging you in a certain direction, there’s always a bigger picture, in life as well as in stories, and a writer needs to learn to have faith and become the channel for that narrative to be born.

Be sure to stop by my website www.kristymccaffrey.com and enter my February contest!

  Happy Valentine’s Day!