Sorry I've been such a bad SRR author...by Kristin Wallace

I have to start off this post with an apology. I’ve been MIA for a while. The truth is I’ve also been MIA from writing for a while. First, I’ve been dealing with a terrible “brain fog” that I can’t seem to solve completely. This makes it difficult to focus in the same way that I once did. The ideas don’t’ flow, and frankly, the voices that once lived in my head have been pretty silent lately. 

 

Maybe it’s also a form of burnout. After 16 books, written while working full-time “day jobs” that also includes writing, I just don’t feel the same excitement or urge to sit down and write my books. I managed to write a Christmas novella last year, which was only 20,000 words, and even that was a struggle. 

 

I also wonder if the COVID pandemic, and all the drama, worry, crazy politics, and angst surrounding it, made writing more difficult. Just like it became less important to put on real clothes and makeup every day, it seems somehow less urgent to write about fantasy romance. (Although you’d think it would be the opposite.)

 

I hope things change at some point because I do miss creating new characters and places. I miss writing in many ways and the joy I felt as characters came to life in my head. 

 

But I WILL do better about communicating with you.

Which pen do you use to write?

I spend my days surrounded by fountain pens because that's my day job. As I've worked with high-value writing instruments pretty much all of my working life, I pay a lot of attention to the pen I use. I enjoy to touch them; I enjoy to write with them; and I don't like to use cheap throw-away ballpens you can get at every corner. I ban them from my house, much to the chagrin of my husband who hardly ever notices what he's writing with.

Understanding my passion, though, he offered me a particularly nice fountain pen for my birthday, the Special Edition Indian Summer from Pelikan which is now sold out. Its barrel shows autumn leaves as my birthday is in autumn; it has gorgous colors that make me happy even if the weather is so bland it brings me down, and it writes like a dream. I filled it with "brilliant brown" ink as the finishing touch - and now I enjoy taking notes more than ever.



Besides my fountain pen, I love pencils. They are so . . . forgiving. And flexible. I like that concept of erasing things and starting again. If you look at the tools a writer has to have, a keyboard is certainly more important than a pen . . . but we all take notes whereever we go; we all love to have pen and paper within reach to make sure our darting ideas don't escape before we catch them.



However, I can't write with rollerballs. I slant the pen too much. And I don't like to write with ball pens because you have to use so much pressure.

How about you? Do you write with fountain pens at all? Do you prefer rollerballs or ball pens? Or even pencils? Do you have a much-loved pen that you never want to lose? Or it it all the same to you as long as the thing writes?

Beate Boeker is a USA Today bestselling author with a passion for books that brim over with mischief & humor. Many of her sweet romances and cozy mysteries are set in beautiful Italy.

She's a global marketing manager with a degree in International Business Administration, and her daily experience in marketing continuously provides her with a wide range of fodder for her novels, be it hilarious or cynical.

While 'Boeker' means 'books' in a German dialect, her first name Beate can be translated as ‘Happy’ . . . and with a name that reads ‘Happy Books’, what else could she do but write novels with a happy end?

You can learn more about Beate at her website