Risky Business

Joe Moore(my co-writer) and I recently had a conversation about taking risks. That talk reminded me of something. Many moons ago, my daughter was a competitive gymnast and aside from the no pain, no gain slogan, she also had one about taking risks. Unfortunately, in my muddled mind, I can’t recall the exact words, but it was kind of the same message—no pain, no gain. If you don’t go for it, you won’t get it. You can’t win if you don’t play the game. That made good sense when she was competing, but I believe it makes great sense now as far as my writing goes. There is a bit of a rush when you take risk. It gets the adrenalin flowing and returns the thrill to our lives. I want to get better and better at the craft of writing, and I think that means I have to go to the edge and dip my toes in the unknown. Outrageous premises make bestselling books and movies. That’s pretty much the bottom line. So that’s what we are going to go for. I guess that’s what keeps us all writing. Coming up with that new idea, twisting and kneading it into a story, is invigorating. And when it comes alive on the page we understand why we write. So I’m back at it again today.