Overheard
Overheard this morning at the Village Inn.
A woman said to her children, “Do you want bananas or fruit?”
“Mom,” said the youngest, “bananas are fruit.”
“I know. Which one do you want?”
Neither child answers.
The mother tries again. “Okay, they have bananas, fruit, and strawberries.”
Running into the Ground
If I’m good at anything, I’m very good at running a topic into the ground. Over time I’ve learned to grab myself by the collar and pull myself back, although I often let go and keep running.
For instance, I could ramble on about my panic over my novel for days. Weeks. Possibly months. While that is probably better than the endless rambles I could go on about men back in my young and single days, it still causes that glazed look in others. I would see that my audience was hoping I would, well, shut up, but in the back of mind I couldn’t help but think that they’d want to keep talking about it as soon as they realized this one more important facet of the topic that we’d missed. See! See! We haven’t quite talked about this way, yet, have we?
Soon I fear I may start running this blog into the ground. Or considering the name of this blog, perhaps I’d be draining it dry. Hard to say. So, I’m trying to think of new topics or themes or questions to write about–as long as they have a writing angle, of course. Any suggestions? Pretty please.
Badgering–The On the Road Edition
And where do you happen to be?
There is the literal answer to this question. You are sitting at your computer in your living room, let’s say. Or sipping on a latte and staring at your laptop in some coffee shop that may not be named.
Then there is the other answer. Where are you in your novel? How far in the plot? Are you lost? Are you on the road you started out on? Found a better path perhaps? At a crossroads?
Well, keep going. Why not? What’s the alternative? You don’t want to go back. You don’t want to throw yourself on the ground and cry. Maybe you think about it, but you know you want to get to the end of this road, and when you get there you can turn around and say, “Wow. Look how far I’ve come.”
The problem is–you don’t have a map. But hey, neither does anybody else. That’s the beauty of the journey, really. You wouldn’t want to go down this road if others had taken it the exact same way before.
Anyway, stop listening to me and go write.Wherever you are now, I expect you to be further down the road next time.
The “And-Then” Syndrome
How is it that a reasonably intelligent person can, say, triple check an email for typos, hit send, and then realize a huge mistake? Or that person might spend time composing a beautiful, thoughtful letter, only to drop in the mail slot and then realize some terrible was referred to? Or maybe that person strutted across a crowded room sure that all that time in the bathroom primping was paying off, and then discovers her skirt is stuck in her pantyhose?
That instant of realization is forever, and it plummets to depths you didn’t know your stomach had.
So, I sent my novel off to be read in a brace-myself-for-tearing-apart kind of way, and one kind friend makes one nice comment about the few pages she has read, and then it hits me. An entire thread of my plot is missing. I mean, the plot I wrote is there on the page, but something I introduced in the beginning, something so obvious, something so, well, OBVIOUS, that I may have to chain myself on the other side of the room to keep from trying to dig into cyberspace and tunnel back through time and take the novel back.
NOOOO!!!
But even as I moan and shake my head and self-obsess, I know every writer needs to let the work go. It’s just that it is hard to keep foolishness in perspective. If it is someone else’s panic attack, they’re overreacting. If it’s my panic attack, it’s the whole–and no one understands.
no gets left behind when no one moves forward
Reading and writing help us make sense of the world and find other ways of living. Art in all its forms entertains, saves, infuriates, bores, inspires, and surprises. Everything is contain in creativity. But creativity is not contain in a bubble. If it were, that creativity would hardly be released by poking it with a number two pencil.
Today I was inspired and frustrated by reading this.
Wasn’t going to, but…
I made a few teeny-tiny changes to the chapter over there. Just a few. But now I’m really going to put it away for a while. Really.
See the Obvious
Every artist must face that moment of putting work out in front of the world. Some compare the experience to sending one’s child out alone for the first time, but the child analogy doesn’t always work. I’d hurt someone who hurt my child, but if that someone tears apart my work, well, there’s more work and maybe when I make it again, it really will be better and stronger and all those wonderful things.
The comments I’ve so far received on chapter one have been kind and helpful. The points that need working on I agree with and wonder, of course, why I didn’t see them the first time around. But there you go. The obvious is only obvious when you’re standing in the right place, and who knows where that place is?
Thank you everyone!
Must Run Screaming
Why do we write and try to publish? Why do we put ourselves through this kind of lunacy? Why do we say we want to publish and then have panic attacks over anyone actually reading what we wrote? I’d write more but I’ve got to run screaming out of the room now. What are you doing?
Your time here will not cost 4k–but you get what you pay for…
The problem with wanting to be published is being published. Only a fool exposes herself to the world like that. Or hey, if you’re going to expose yourself and expect to be paid, consider a gig that pays four grand an hour.
On second thought, keep your four grand and read my story. Not as satisfying maybe, but it won’t ruin your career.Well, not the entire story (no money is exchanging hands after all), but chapter one. Over there in the sidebar, trying to be coy and demand attention at the same time.
And it will take less than hour.
Fat Ants Will Work for Fame and Fortune
Sometimes a writer might look at her novel and think, “Wow. I did it! And it isn’t even bad.” Other times that same writer might look at that same novel and think, “Fat ants jumping on my keyboard could’ve done a better job.”
The fat ants will make more money, too.
They’ll get interviewed by Terri Gross and make a movie with George Clooney.
Get on Oprah to cry about their relationship with Grasshopper.
Be denounced by Tom Cruise. Or somebody on TV somewhere…
Correction: That same writer will look at what she has written and know that she needs to go to bed.
