Writing is NOT Like a Box of Chocolates: a Meme

My writing friend Dawn G. Sparrow tagged me and said I had to do a blog post on the topic she tagged me with. I guess she just wants to help me get this blog off to a good start. Well, what writer doesn’t like to take a topic and try their hand at it?

Green_Woman started this:

Writing is NOT Like a Box of Chocolates: a Meme

Forrest Gump’s momma always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” I suppose the same could be said of writing, but . . . since we’re writers, we feel compelled to come up with our own silly comparisons.
Hence the creation of the Box of Chocolates Writing Meme–in which you may compare writing to anything but a box of chocolates.
How does it work? Take the phrase “Writing is like . . .” and finish it. Post it on your blog. Tag three others to do the same. That is all. See how easy that is?
So here goes…

Writing is like sailing. (No, I am not a sailor, but I’ve always enjoyed ships, and stories about the sea.)

The boat slips from her moorings and leaves the harbor. Once out to sea, she is free to go anywhere. A course is charted, the food lockers stocked, the winds are favorable, the voyage has begun. There are so many unknowns with the voyage, will the weather hold? Is the vessel shipshape and bristol fashion or is she in need of maintenance?

The voyage may be uneventful, or plagued with malfunctions, or hindered with storms. Unexpected circumstances arise, and the crew has to overcome the challenges.

Starting a writing project is slipping from the moorings. You may have an outline, and a plan on what you are going to write, but as the characters develop, they begin to take over the story. As chapter one is begun, there is so much potential, a clear sky, wide open seas, a lot of blank pages to fill.

Will there be plot holes? Will the dialog work? How is the word count? Edit and rewrites. Find and agent or publisher. Do I e-pub? Winds, currents, storms, malfunctions can plague the voyage, and yet…

And yet it is worth it.

Starting the story is the most exciting part of all, just get out there and enjoy the voyage!

Bon voyage.

I think I’ll tag

Cate Wood
Brenda Carre
Decreed