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Tree and writing
Dec. 6th, 2010 10:09 amWe got our Christmas tree up this weekend. PMB, who is only two and is too small to remember any past Christmases, thinks Christmas is all about having a pretty tree. He's thrilled. Okay, so he was freaked out when we slid the tree in next to him in the car. We only found one place selling Christmas trees and they were all the same size (huge) and a lot more than I wanted to pay. But we didn't know where else to go. (Naturally yesterday a neighbor was talking about driving up into the mountains somewhere and wading through thigh-high snow to find one. Okay, so that's not what I wanted to do, either--but surely there is a third, better option?) Anyway. It's decorated with lights and whatever balls survived the hard wood floor last year. The Harry Potter decorations are near the Narnia wardrobe door, and most of the rest of the decorations are Chinese/Korean/Thai souvenirs. We have never been to Asia, but nevertheless have quite a collection! They are mostly red and make fabulous Christmas decorations.
Today I'm at the point in my draft where they're about to find--and lose--what they've been searching for. So, the last big push before the climax. Which means that instead of typing, typing, typing, I need to sit down with paper and a pen and work out the details of just how it's all going to play out. This is the part of writing (one of many) that is just plain WORK. But hopefully soon I'll be back to flying through the writing part. I love first drafts. I'm alone in my little world where everything is wonderful and I'm writing the story I want to read and I can throw in all the heart I want without anyone saying it's dumb.* No one can tell me it's unsellable, no one can throw it in a stack and forget about it for seven months, no one can toss it out because the query pile got too high to look at. For one brief moment it's alive and I'm right there inside it.
*While much revision happens afterwards, I also don't think we should underestimate the value of no-holds-back writing as it comes straight from the heart. I have a book that has undergone so many revisions that there is hardly an original word left. Except for the emotional climax. It is virtually unchanged from when I wrote it, and it's one scene that seems to resonate with everyone who's read it. So sometimes you do get it right the first time.
Today I'm at the point in my draft where they're about to find--and lose--what they've been searching for. So, the last big push before the climax. Which means that instead of typing, typing, typing, I need to sit down with paper and a pen and work out the details of just how it's all going to play out. This is the part of writing (one of many) that is just plain WORK. But hopefully soon I'll be back to flying through the writing part. I love first drafts. I'm alone in my little world where everything is wonderful and I'm writing the story I want to read and I can throw in all the heart I want without anyone saying it's dumb.* No one can tell me it's unsellable, no one can throw it in a stack and forget about it for seven months, no one can toss it out because the query pile got too high to look at. For one brief moment it's alive and I'm right there inside it.
*While much revision happens afterwards, I also don't think we should underestimate the value of no-holds-back writing as it comes straight from the heart. I have a book that has undergone so many revisions that there is hardly an original word left. Except for the emotional climax. It is virtually unchanged from when I wrote it, and it's one scene that seems to resonate with everyone who's read it. So sometimes you do get it right the first time.
