Random Writing Thoughts
I’ve been working on a new proposal and revising a manuscript I completed a couple years ago. Between the two activities, I’ve been thinking a lot about what constitutes a story and how we grow as writers.
The first few pages of the completed manuscript made me cringe. I couldn’t believe I wrote those words. . . and sent them out to an editor!! The writing wasn’t completely horrid but when I reread parts of a book that had been published around the same time, I couldn’t believe the difference. I don’t know if I was off those months when I was writing or the story just had a different feel in my head. Whatever the reason, I’m enjoying the chance to revise extensively and I love the way the new plot is coming together. We’ll see what happens.
The proposal is taking me in another direction. While I was working with a somewhat finished product on the completed manuscript, I’m creating a new world with the proposal. New characters, new situations, new possibilities. A blank page each time I sit down to write. My mind is constantly turning over ways to bring the characters together and then pull them apart. I have this great Robert Frost quote taped to my computer that my mom had on hers: “No tears in the writer,no tears in the reader. No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” I love having tears drip down my cheeks while I’m writing or that lovely ‘aha!’ moment that comes when my characters do something totally unexpected. My family may look at me funny sometimes when they pop in to ask a question but it means the words are working. And that’s what we authors strive for every time we write.
Happy Reading and Writing!
