Many years ago,
before I was a published author, I decided to write a novel.
I sat at my
typewriter (that dates me!) and wrote the first two pages - over and over and
over again. I lingered over every word, polished every phrase, read it out loud
to my cat. Some days I loved what I had written, other days I changed it. Made
it better. So I thought.
This went on for
days and, quite honestly, weeks. I could probably sit down and write out those two
pages now, I remember them so well.
Does it surprise
you to know that the novel was never finished? Never even got out of the
starting gate?
Why? It was just
plain easier to tinker with those two pages than to plunge into the unknown and keep writing.
I still struggle
with the urge to make that first draft perfect. But I have disciplined myself
to write it quickly and to keep going every day. My weekly word quote helps a lot (see
previous blog Just Do It!). A word quota makes you move on.
To keep that first
draft flowing, I try to end each writing session with a clear idea of what
comes next. I want to be excited to go back to my computer the next day. And I
tell that judgemental voice in the back of my head to leave me alone and come back
when I am ready to revise and polish - when I am finished my first draft.
I admit that's
hard for me. Sometimes I compromise and
allow myself ten minutes to reread yesterday's writing and play with it. Then I
move on!
Some advice
from James Scott Bell in The Art of War
for Writers. . .
When you write
that first draft, my advice is: WRITE HARD, WRITE FAST.
MY FAVOURITE
KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:
Tumbleweed
Skies by Valerie Sherrard
I loved the first
line: "I could tell right away that this wasn't a house that wanted me. Saskatchewan
FUN FOR KIDS:
What if . . . you had to spend your summer
with a relative you had never met? What surprising things might happen?
Next week: One Thing Leads to Another
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