One of my favorite romance authors, Barbara O’Neal, has some wise words about showing up at the page day after day, slogging through no matter what. Check it out.

I’ve posted before on the same topic, but I always find it refreshing to hear that an author I admire and respect experiences the same frustrations, the same months of maddening story frustrations, that I do. It helps to hear other writers talk about their process, and her process sounds very similar to mine. If you find yourself second-guessing your own writing process, I recommend reading what other writers have to say about theirs until you find someone who matches yours. Then you tell youself: “See, you’re not crazy after all. So-and-so writes exactly the way you do, so stop agonizing about it and get back to work!”

Writing a novel is an act of consistency, for the most part. Being religious about showing up day after day after day after ever-loving day, getting a little work done each time, is what gets a novel written, revised, polished, and ultimately done.