Submitted by megan on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 00:22
I've been mulling this idea over for a few weeks now, maybe a month. Told a few friends. And now I will tell you all, in the hopes that if everybody knows about it, I'll be too embarrassed to slack off and not do it.
By the end of 2009, my goal is to have something book-like assembled.
Now, I realize that this is not a particularly lofty goal. Some people might, perhaps, say "I will have a book finished by the end of 2009."
However, I have never written a book and I don't know how to manage it like that. What I do know how to do, and very well by now, is to take an image, or small event, maybe a snippet of dialogue, and turn it into a piece of short non/fiction.
So that's what I'm doing. My 20 minute exercises, my writing dates, I write what basically amounts to blog posts. Loosely based on my life, but now that I'm listening right, folding words and phrases and other people's stories.
I can do that for the next 10 months. Just write.
By January 2010, I figure I'll have enough material to start sorting it into some kind of order. From there, I'll figure out what gaps are left and what big edits need to be made, and then I will spend a good chunk of 2010 filling in those gaps and making those edits. Sending chunks of it out to the world.
Watch out world.
Comments
3 comments postedWatch out, indeed. Go, girl!
Good on ya!
May I suggest a book? Oddly enough, it's about reading, specifically, how to improve your writing by reading. But if you haven't read it, "Reading like a writer" by Francine Prose is very good.
The wikipedia link below breaks down the chapters very well (which are titled, words, sentence, paragraph etc) She goes through various writers and uses real examples. It doesn't mention that the first paragraph is her rant against the schools of literary criticism that have emerged in recent years, but that's her prerogative as it is her book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Like_a_Writer
In an indirect manner, she addresses the issue of writers block with the quote below. We chatted a bit about this before, but I think one aspect of block might be fear that I (speaking personally) will not do a good job, right from the first draft. Forgetting of course that the first draft is usually shit, and has a lot more in common with preliminary sketches that artists make for a painting. You know, in the first draft I block out the scene, develop a theme, introduce caricatures of what will become characters and so on.
The quote is:
"...the writer may fear creating "weeds" instead of "roses." Reading is a way for the writer to see how other gardeners grow their roses."
Cheers
b
Nice! I just requested it from the library. I'm also trying to read author's whose books I love, or essays that explore themes that catch me.
thanks b!
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