A number of writers I know are also gardeners. I think it has something to do with a desire for control — or maybe it’s more of an artistic desire to create beauty. No, I still think it’s control. We take seeds, cuttings and bedding plants, tuck them into assorted nooks and crannies in our yard, add aContinue reading “Comparing gardens with messy first drafts”
Tag Archives: First Drafts
Slipping and sliding through a novel’s first draft
They aren’t sure yet. The new slide has a curve and its unfamiliarity overrides the exciting prospect of a breath-stealing rush down its slippery surface. I feel a little of that uncertainty as I contemplate a shiny new story idea. It hasn’t quite gelled yet and I hesitate to take off into unknown territory.Continue reading “Slipping and sliding through a novel’s first draft”
Time Changes Everything… in Life and Writing
An overused phrase says it all. Just like a new day, “I’m baaaaack!” After two different vacation trips to two different lakes, spending time with two different groups of our family, I’m refreshed, rejuvenated and raring to get back into routine. Sort of. I’m not quite ready to rare yet. My brain is still inContinue reading “Time Changes Everything… in Life and Writing”
The Bottom Shelf
My bedroom closet should be purged. It contains sizes I haven’t worn in a decade. There’s a dresser drawer full of sox I never wear, too. They’re in assorted eye-catching colours but I only wear black ones now. (It doesn’t matter what else I’m wearing, black always matches my shoes.) Then there are those kitchenContinue reading “The Bottom Shelf”
Plowing Through the Poop
It isn’t always this difficult. I’m talking about manuscript revision — the re-evaluation and rewriting of material that originally flowed effortlessly from brain to keyboard but now has to be picked apart and put back together again, bit by painful bit. First drafts develop creatively from ideas given free rein on the page. RevisionsContinue reading “Plowing Through the Poop”
MUSINGS 