Authenticity the key, says Eat Pray Love author

I’m currently reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic – I like her style and what she has to say.

Her advice is practical – don’t give up your day job because you think it interferes with your writing, you have to pay the bills – well, that is me, paraphrasing her words from her Brisbane Writers Festival appearance.

In her latest book, Elizabeth Gilbert writes about originality versus authenticity – authenticity, she says, has quiet resonance.

I agree with her. I think every writer would like to be hailed for their originality but is that possible? Yet every work is original (well, unless there has been undetected plagiarism going on).

In fact, readers who have commented favourably on my first book say it is ‘authentic’ – I think they mean in its country setting, its understanding of the social mores of the day and the anxiety of wartime. The bombing raid sequence over Germany is carefully researched, for example. I have a shelf of Bomber Command books.

I’m really pleased when I get such feedback.

I’ve dropped the price for the Kindle and Amazon.com editions of The House of Secrets: Julia’s Story – Kindle is only US$3.71 – link here if you are interested in checking it out.

I haven’t given up my day job to live on the royalties! Maybe that’s some happy day in the future to look forward to, when I have several books out there. But I enjoy the writing and the creating and that’s what is important to me.

Most of all I respond to Elizabeth Gilbert’s advice to be authentic in my writing – and in my life. I enjoy feeling a part of the writing community, especially the big online writing community.

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