A Writing Blog about Playing Around with a Story Line in Different Literary Genres and with Different Literary Tools
Hi Writers,
I heard that Norman Mailer never, ever, looked at his published books in a bookstore. He couldn’t turn to one page without finding something he wanted to change.
Writers Are Rewriters, as we all know. Rewriting is as essential as dreaming.
I was thinking of my last post on Writing Your Highlights. It didn’t really say what I felt, not deeply enough. More precise ways of expressing how I was feeling at a writer’s conference I attended flooded my mind. I grabbed them, elusive little things. Jotted them down. Good. These words were closer to the pulse of that moment. Not perfect, by any means. But closer. I may try this again and again.
Before
Writer and speaker Kate Messner’s keynote. Oh, the writer’s angst. “I’m not good enough. Everybody else is getting it right. Too many manuscript rejections. Failure.” No, no, she said. Showing up to write is an act of courage. “Fail fast” and dance on. Savor that private moment to celebrate finishing a sentence, a paragraph. I found myself wiping tears off my cheeks. Don’t be so emotional, Cynthia. But to the left of me, the right of me, in front and behind me many creative souls were wiping tears too. Kate Messner touched a deep chord.
After
Writer and speaker Kate Messner’s keynote.
Oh, the writer’s angst. “I’m not good enough. Everybody else is getting it right. All these manuscript and query rejections.”
Failure.
I saw a collective look of recognition cross the faces of many of us in the audience.
But think of this, she said. Showing up to write is an act of courage. Finishing a sentence, a paragraph, is a writing triumph. She stopped and looked hard at all of us. “Savor that private moment and celebrate it.” Celebrate it hard.
I wiped tears off my cheeks. I glanced to the left, right and in front of me. We were most of us wiping tears. We want this so much.
Happy Rewriting Everyone,
Here we are–rewriting.
