There are times, as a writer, when words are my friend. Other times, I can’t fish the one I want from my brain that will make the sentence or paragraph or scene what I want it to be. I also know that sometimes a slight interruption breaks the chain of words, and I can’t get back the sentence I was writing. Some famous writer has a quote defining writing as putting the right words in the correct order. Another quote from someone else states that writers make countless decisions while penning a book. One of my current projects has over 15,000 decisions in it so far.
The first draft of The Found Gift is done. It’s typed, and I’ve corrected all the underlined typos. Today, I started the rewrites and got through the first four pages. Because this story has two lives—the first one I wrote and the second one to fix all the missing and confusing pieces from the first—I need to find the right places and insert the right words so it’s more cohesive. This is what happens when too much time passes between fiction projects.
In the online writer’s group I’ve been meeting with most weekdays, one of the authors has been editing. She’s asked for feedback on the name of a gallery in a small town in Arizona and shared a critique from a friend who asked about a few of her word choices. I know that when I’m editing, I think of a word or phrase, insert it into a sentence, and then the very next sentence says what I just added! I’m glad that the story is the same, the words similar, whether it’s the first draft or the last round of edits. Writers do have all the words. If we’re lucky, and well practiced, we can usually get most of the right words in the correct order. But fishing for those right words can sometimes be tricky.
Part of the time I’m online with the group, I’m writing new fiction. I’m finding it fun to write flash fiction and very short stories for My Voice Volume 2, which I hope to publish in April. I can also imagine myself cruising along with the next novel or novella in one of my series while sharing virtual creative space. And that gives me encouragement and momentum, because if I can find most of the right words with little stories, it’s really good practice for my next project. What is something you practice that gets a little easier each time?
0 Comments