How to Make Me Cry

As an author--still unpublished, yes; have to finish that synopsis first, but that's beside the point--I find it difficult to look at books the way I used to. I have always devoured novels, picking them up and finishing them in one sitting, but ever since I started writing and learning the tricks/tips of the trade all I seem to notice are the errors.

There are, however, books that I don't find any errors in, that I love from start to finish, that make me depressed and ecstatic all at the same time. My most recent reading--Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater--is one of those books. From the first few lines she had me, by the last few lines I was bawling like a baby.

Why did I cry? Well, part of me cried because the love story was so tragic and yet so happy and part of me cried because my self-doubt started building while reading the book. Every author experiences these range of emotions. We start writing thinking we are awesome, then we doubt, then someone says they like it and we get excited again, then someone critiques us and we crumble. The same thing goes when we read a book we feel we're not worthy of. It's a disease I swear!!

*Sigh. I'm going to pick up Linger today and probably stay up way too late again tonight to finish it. Then I'll return to writing the sequel to Wilde's Fire.