Shelley Munro Blog

When I first started writing, I learned there were specific rules to follow. This puzzled me because I couldn’t find a definitive list of these rules anywhere, yet fellow writers and contest judges were quick to fill me in.

No Rock Stars: I learned this one after I’d completed a story called Follow That Dream. I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t have a rock star hero. No sports settings. Hmm, I had one of those, too. Evidently there are several occupations on the no-no list. Politicians and artists, please step this way.

The hero and heroine should meet in the first few pages. This one made a little more sense if the book was a short story or category romance, because we want the hero and heroine center stage. But what about a 100,000 word novel? Surely it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t meet straight away?
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Things are pretty busy in the Munro household at the moment. I’m busy with writing–someone please tell me why I thought it was a good idea to sell three books before I left on holiday, because after sales, the edits arrive. I worked on edits for most of the weekend. Mr. Munro had to work for part of one day and went off to play golf for the other day. He arrived back home with a meat pack and was very pleased with himself. Today I worked on my current work-in-progress. I’m not following any of the “so-called” writing rules, and I’m having a ball. Writing for the sheer joy of it is so liberating, although it’s not always practical when it comes to selling the manuscript. Sales equals income. I always need to factor that into the equation.

This year I’ve done a lot of soul-searching when it comes to my writing. I’ve analyzed my strengths, my weaknesses (I swear my commas move around like loose cannons every time I hit send), and I’m working to a plan of attack. I’ll let you know this time next year if it works.

I’ll leave you with a video of an ad, which I love. It’s about success and was filmed in New Zealand. The beach in the first and last frames is in Auckland and looks out over Rangitoto Island. It’s one of my favorite views.