I want a Roman Gladiator, but that doesn't mean my story's heroine does.

I am writing a story, which keeps growing in size, and I don't know what it will end up being; whether it will be one of those long short stories, or a novella, or a book, who knows?

I just have a habit of starting stories, working on them a while, putting them away, then forgetting about them, then picking up right where I left off for another round of good writing life. This seems like a cycle that is still in its adolescence, because I have yet to finish a story written in this fashion.

It may take years to write a good story with all kinds of stops along the way like that, but I guess it's better that way, because more often than not, the time I've spent away from a piece has turned out to be good for the piece, so I'm not worried.

But I wanted to talk about this particular story I'm working on at the moment. It is one with characters that could be written a number of different ways to make each of them more or less unique literary figures, depending on what route I decide to take.

There is one particular character, the male hero of the story, who I have written as a successful chef, with a popular TV show. So far, I've made him out to be in his thirties, living with his mother, who is bed-ridden, and whom he takes care of, and someone who is shy, almost to the point of being afraid of women. Now, at first glance, in real life, such a character would not exactly be your ideal male figure in a story where there is a romantic relationship developing between him and a strong-willed woman--a doctor, no less-- but I think that could be what makes the story all that more interesting and challenging to write.

In no way am I saying that there aren't stories with these types of characters in them mixed together out there already, but in my case, up until now, I've always written men in such a way that makes them fit to be fighting lions at the colliseum in Rome, instead of handy with a whisk. I do that mostly because I like to escape with writing, and what better escape than the kind you create yourself by writing a man the way you want him to be?

But really, writing my idea of a fantasy man isn't going to create anything but cliche-filled reading material that interests no one with a hunger for something deeper than a character profile of a romance novel hero. Alongside my sword-wielding-ready men, I also like to write women who are strong-willed, stubborn and not afraid of anything except heights. That is something I don't feel like changing just yet, but my male characters are getting an overhaul.

On top of him being a TV chef, I am enjoying making this one a house-slipper-wearing, soft-spoken and laid back individual, who does laundry and lets it dry on a clothesline to make sure the fabric stays like new. Did I also mention that he keeps a walkie-talkie handy so his mother can always get a hold of him when she needs him? That's aside from his cellphone, which he answers even if he's on the air, all for his mom. He may sound like a wuss, but behind every such man is a great woman who makes him a true man.

I don't know how fun this will end up being for a read, but I'm sure having fun writing it!

Just a thought...

It's funny.

I've been reading and reading and reading about writing, doing very little writing in comparison for years, thinking that I'm not really a writer because of how little writing I produce. I'm now in a creative writing class and though I think I should up my journaling a bit, I find that I've been living the life of a writer, after all.

How do I figure? Well, according to everyone who knows anything about writing I've come across in the last year, writers do a lot more reading than writing. That's how they learn, you see. Reading novels when you want to write them is the only way to be a good novel writer, and the same goes for all other types of writing. Well, I don't think I have to tell you that I read plenty of novels.

On top of the novels, I also read a lot about writing itself. Last summer I started a daily routine of reading blogs about writing, by writers and other people involved in the writing industry, like agents, etc. I learned a lot about the publishing world through these blogs and how those big shot authors I'm in awe of do what they do... it's nothing like the image I had in my head of someone sitting infront of a typewriter just typing away non-stop-- no. In fact, no two writers I've listened to have the same writing routine. They all write daily, which is something I need to bone up on, but the way they create their prose is never the same.

One writer I particularly idolize is a woman who wrote amazing historical novels while keeping her family as her #1 priority and had never had any training as a writer. In fact, she's a scientist... a zoologist, if I'm not mistaken. But she wrote these amazing books, each a bulky one with rich characters you can't bear to say goodbye to when you reach the last page, all while driving her kids to school, cooking dinner and having family outings. How did she do it? She would always be thinking about her books throughout the day. When her family is tucked in and off to sleep, she goes to her office where she writes at least 2000 words before turning in herself.

Others treat it like a 9-5 job, waking up, having their coffee, going down to their home office and sitting in front of the computer and forcing themselves to write until 5... even if they only produce one paragraph in those 8 hours, they feel like they've accomplished something. Others have other "real" jobs, so they wake up at an insanely early hour and do their writing then.

For me, everyday is different. I don't have a routine. I guess my only routine is that I'm always thinking stories in my head. Putting them on paper is another matter entirely, but I at least feel like I think like a writer by observing my surroundings sometimes building stories out of those, or simply daydreaming and building a story out of a daydream.

So, there you have it... just a thought.