Back from a month on the East Coast, I'm realizing that the best part of vacation, writing-wise, was not that I kept my goal of writing a chapter a week of my WIP. I am happy about that, but I'm thrilled about some of the most important writers and readers in my life, my niece and nephew, ages six and eight.
My niece narrated a dynamite story about an alligator while I transcribed. Over a few days she adjusted words, deleted sentences, thought about it, and edited more. My nephew corrected the dialogue attributed to him. He also asked that I read him one of my WIP's before bed. I was nervous because the in-process novel wasn't polished. But he was the best audience. He kept asking for more and had questions about the characters and the plot and he offered new ideas.
The process of reading my WIP aloud was fantastic. I got an immediate sense of what to cut and how to clarify and where I needed more. I made the extemporaneous changes verbally and they've been easy to remember, because now when I edit I go more slowly, even read aloud, all the time thinking of my discriminating nephew. Remembering his voice has become my best editor.
What I learned on my summer vacation... that we all have stories in us, that our writing is meant to be shared, and that the best editor is our audience.
Do you read your work aloud? Who are your editors?
(PS - Thank you,
Heather Kelly, writing partner extraordinaire who blogged about our vaca reunion in Cambridge. Funny going to a post and finding one's own face there. A huge cheer for partners!)
Life is too short to complain. I celebrate abundance. But I'm wondering when I'll be getting back in the groove, kinda going with the flow, knowing that I'm doing enough and doing the right things instead of feeling overwhelmed.
Deadlines work for me. (Um, writing deadlines work... the shooting schedule for the next Our Spirit film keeps sliding around.) But I'll have to scramble to finish another chapter by the weekend. My writing goal has been a chapter a week on a different WIP and I'm committed to making that deadline, so it's two chapters this week. I'm a little stressed. But it's good stress.
My niece narrated a dynamite story about an alligator while I transcribed. Over a few days she adjusted words, deleted sentences, thought about it, and edited more. My nephew corrected the dialogue attributed to him. He also asked that I read him one of my WIP's before bed. I was nervous because the in-process novel wasn't polished. But he was the best audience. He kept asking for more and had questions about the characters and the plot and he offered new ideas..jpg)
Many authors specialize in recording where they live. Others travel or leave a place in order to write about it. I think Melville wrote Moby Dick while landlocked in the hills of western Massachusetts.
That's okay, right? But to support writing, other things are important (in addition to breaks and the gym): the blogosphere, industry research, email, Facebook, the business aspects of Our Spirit, the non-profit I founded. Everything is easier since I left my 9-5 job two years ago. But still, I find it a challenge to do the things that aren't writing. I like the thrill of writing. Am I a thrill junkie?
The payoff was immediate. On the North Cascade Highway, it became clear how to approach the middle section of my main WIP. During a sunset sail, I knew I was permanently shelving a novel I'd been planning for several years. In the snow-filled crags of Artist Point between Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan I understood the setting for my current second priority novel. On a boat back from Victoria, we saw three pods of orcas and the main characters and the first and the last lines of new novel popped up. In the shower I changed the main characters.
