I have taken this week off to do some needed research and to try and figure out a writing schedule that would allow me to earn a comfortable living and to continue with the amount of material I have come accustomed to writing for this blog. What I have found is there isn't enough hours in the day (no surprise) so every other day will be a blog and every day will be work! That is moderation to the best of my ability and on the off days I have time for the writing of my novel on my other blog http://uncherishedastory.blogspot.com/ so here we go with the new material and schedule!!
Faith Baldwin
said, "Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations." I don't know about you, but editing is not my favorite part of writing. I missed the lesson in editing class where we were taught that editing is to dig deeper and learn more than we do when writing. As I go through my chapters line by line experiencing the feelings over and over again until I get to the truth of what it is I wanted to say all along I am editing. Editing hasn't always been about the truth for me; editing use to be a way for me to cover up the truth in my writing because I was still in that place of worry and fear of what other people might think.
Albert Einstein wrote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." When I go back to edit now I am not rewriting to cover up the truth of what I think or how I feel. I am rewriting to make sure the emotion, the sentiment, the experience is raw and filled with feeling. I write because I have an agenda. An agenda to be as honest and truthful as I can about me so others can peek out from behind the curtain and be truthful and honest about whom they are. I write for fellowship, for identification with others. I do not compare for comparison paralyzes.
When I write knowing I am in unison with others not able yet to write with freedom I embrace editing instead of hating it. Writers and non-writers alike walk parallel paths and our writing whether in our minds or on paper is enhanced by the movements of sifting through words to get to the truth. For the non-writer every word of truth written brings you closer to a whole sentence, a paragraph, a chapter and a completed novel. For every writer the truth brings new acceptance and freedom once experienced can never be forgotten and becomes all we seek in future writing sessions.
The writer’s greatest demon is perfectionism
. If we edit for technical perfection we can lose the truth we started out with. Every writer starts with a blank page. If we forget where we start we will never be able to reach the end. It is only because I feel I am no different than Atwood
, Fitzgerald
, King
, White
, Austen
, Woolf 
and all the other greats that I am able to assemble the courage required to write the truth of my life as I feel it.
To edit is to willingly acknowledge our writing is not a perfect tour de force in terms of technique. Every writer knows the true tour de force is really the rawness of imperfection in writing our experience and feelings as they pour out on to the blank page. By acknowledging error in technique we are not saying there is any error in our feelings or perceptions of our world, our reality as it forms around us. From editing I derive gratitude today simply because I view editing as an opportunity to clarify what I feel as I reflect on the experience I have written.
Writing is a process. As I edit I learn, I grow, I share myself at a deeper level without fear. I restructure words and sentences so readers may identify with clarity and value the art of writing. I pour out my soul in my writing and in order to sift through the pain of living I must edit and clarify my technique allowing the real truth to be revealed. Writing is letting time have her way with my writing making alterations of my perceptions. Going back to a piece of writing after some time has passed brings clarity. Clarity allows me to make necessary changes in my own self-discovery that reaches far beyond the technical task at hand many writers including myself view editing
to be.
Published writers are not always the most gifted, but they are the most courageous. What separates writers and non-writers is determination. The three Bronte sisters
we read were more determined and courageous than their brother who we have never read. Branwell Bronte 
believed to be the most talented writer in the Bronte family never sent his writing to a publisher simply because he lacked the courage and determination of his sisters.
John Berryman believed 20% of writing was talent and the rest was persistence. This week I was asked how do I continue to write as much as I do. First, I write because I like to eat and my persistence to earn a living off the written word has provided me a life of feast or famine and I prefer feast. Second, I write this blog and pulled out the manuscript from the drawer because to live with regret is one thing, but to die with regret is another and to live as if I have died with regret is yet another thing altogether.
It wasn't until I had a teacher appear in my life who was chronically ill that I was able to feel the difference between living with regret, dying with regret and living filled with regret as if I were dying. Three very different feelings I experienced through my teacher, my once upon a time friend.
Fear is a leach attached to our dreams, desires and hopes. Fear sucks up the very breath our life depends on. When I was in the mental and emotional state of being afraid of the truth I was living in a state of regret. It wasn't until my fear identified with my teacher’s fear that I was able to feel by living with regret I was actually living a dying person's life. I had become the very thing I wanted to write about.
I will always be grateful for my experience with my friend, my teacher for it gave me the courage to be the writer I always wanted to be, but was too afraid to become. From finding the courage to face my fears of clicking publish I have developed my own sense of will, determination and persistence. I write as I feel, as I reflect and as I interpret my experience regardless of what the ramifications are for those still afraid to tell the truth about their own lives. I wish them well, but I must leave them behind without looking back. To look back would be to turn into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife in the Book of Genesis. I determinedly write for a future derived from the past.
Faith Baldwin
said, "Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations." I don't know about you, but editing is not my favorite part of writing. I missed the lesson in editing class where we were taught that editing is to dig deeper and learn more than we do when writing. As I go through my chapters line by line experiencing the feelings over and over again until I get to the truth of what it is I wanted to say all along I am editing. Editing hasn't always been about the truth for me; editing use to be a way for me to cover up the truth in my writing because I was still in that place of worry and fear of what other people might think. Albert Einstein wrote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." When I go back to edit now I am not rewriting to cover up the truth of what I think or how I feel. I am rewriting to make sure the emotion, the sentiment, the experience is raw and filled with feeling. I write because I have an agenda. An agenda to be as honest and truthful as I can about me so others can peek out from behind the curtain and be truthful and honest about whom they are. I write for fellowship, for identification with others. I do not compare for comparison paralyzes.
When I write knowing I am in unison with others not able yet to write with freedom I embrace editing instead of hating it. Writers and non-writers alike walk parallel paths and our writing whether in our minds or on paper is enhanced by the movements of sifting through words to get to the truth. For the non-writer every word of truth written brings you closer to a whole sentence, a paragraph, a chapter and a completed novel. For every writer the truth brings new acceptance and freedom once experienced can never be forgotten and becomes all we seek in future writing sessions.
The writer’s greatest demon is perfectionism
. If we edit for technical perfection we can lose the truth we started out with. Every writer starts with a blank page. If we forget where we start we will never be able to reach the end. It is only because I feel I am no different than Atwood, Fitzgerald, King, White, Austen, Woolf and all the other greats that I am able to assemble the courage required to write the truth of my life as I feel it. To edit is to willingly acknowledge our writing is not a perfect tour de force in terms of technique. Every writer knows the true tour de force is really the rawness of imperfection in writing our experience and feelings as they pour out on to the blank page. By acknowledging error in technique we are not saying there is any error in our feelings or perceptions of our world, our reality as it forms around us. From editing I derive gratitude today simply because I view editing as an opportunity to clarify what I feel as I reflect on the experience I have written.
Writing is a process. As I edit I learn, I grow, I share myself at a deeper level without fear. I restructure words and sentences so readers may identify with clarity and value the art of writing. I pour out my soul in my writing and in order to sift through the pain of living I must edit and clarify my technique allowing the real truth to be revealed. Writing is letting time have her way with my writing making alterations of my perceptions. Going back to a piece of writing after some time has passed brings clarity. Clarity allows me to make necessary changes in my own self-discovery that reaches far beyond the technical task at hand many writers including myself view editing
to be. Published writers are not always the most gifted, but they are the most courageous. What separates writers and non-writers is determination. The three Bronte sisters
we read were more determined and courageous than their brother who we have never read. Branwell Bronte believed to be the most talented writer in the Bronte family never sent his writing to a publisher simply because he lacked the courage and determination of his sisters. John Berryman believed 20% of writing was talent and the rest was persistence. This week I was asked how do I continue to write as much as I do. First, I write because I like to eat and my persistence to earn a living off the written word has provided me a life of feast or famine and I prefer feast. Second, I write this blog and pulled out the manuscript from the drawer because to live with regret is one thing, but to die with regret is another and to live as if I have died with regret is yet another thing altogether.
It wasn't until I had a teacher appear in my life who was chronically ill that I was able to feel the difference between living with regret, dying with regret and living filled with regret as if I were dying. Three very different feelings I experienced through my teacher, my once upon a time friend.
Fear is a leach attached to our dreams, desires and hopes. Fear sucks up the very breath our life depends on. When I was in the mental and emotional state of being afraid of the truth I was living in a state of regret. It wasn't until my fear identified with my teacher’s fear that I was able to feel by living with regret I was actually living a dying person's life. I had become the very thing I wanted to write about.
I will always be grateful for my experience with my friend, my teacher for it gave me the courage to be the writer I always wanted to be, but was too afraid to become. From finding the courage to face my fears of clicking publish I have developed my own sense of will, determination and persistence. I write as I feel, as I reflect and as I interpret my experience regardless of what the ramifications are for those still afraid to tell the truth about their own lives. I wish them well, but I must leave them behind without looking back. To look back would be to turn into a pillar of salt like Lot's wife in the Book of Genesis. I determinedly write for a future derived from the past.
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