I know many of you have read books in which the characters, plots, dialogue, and scenery are so compelling, that they draw you into new worlds or familiar ones.  They grab you.  Then they hold you there, breathless, waiting for the next scene and the next, all the way to the end of the book.

     Like all writers, I admire anyone who can do that.  I often hope and pray that my books will do the same for the people who will read them.

     New writers will often ask how does so and so do it?  How do they become a wizard at creating scenery, dialogue, and building believable characters? 

     In my experience, it is through hard work and so many rewrites that the average person would quail at the sight of the stacks of printed manuscripts sent to the recycling bin.

     Although some writers are prolific and quick in their writing, it doesn’t mean that they don’t work hard as well.  It probably means they have time to write without many interruptions.

     Then there are those of us who plod along putting in a few hours here and there as often as we can.  We work hard. 

     I soon hope to type ‘the end’ on one of my manuscripts.  It is my dream that when my books do hit the shelves they will grab you.