We Now Return To Our Work In Progress

"If you hear a voice within you say "you cannot paint," then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." ~Vincent Van Gogh

Before we do anything today, I am going to encourage every single one of you to head over to Chiron O'Keefe's blog, Write Soul, read today's entry, and Visualize The Reality You Want To Create. I suggest you do that visualization every day and revisit her post as often as necessary, until you see yourself as a writer!


"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested." -- Sir Francis Bacon

And some are to be hacked up, jabbed, cut and pasted, rearranged and...

Yes, it is time to enter the world of editing and revision *ear-splitting scream*!

Don't worry! It is going to be OK. We are going to take our own sweet time with this. We are going to break it down into manageable pieces and embrace editing, relish revising.

If you wrote your first draft with flying fingers and pantalones flambé, then it is time to hit the brakes and take a deep breath. Revising and editing are beasts of a completely different nature and speed. This process is slow and tedious. It is time to embrace your inner tortoise and kiss that hare good-bye.

We are going to start by carving out a chunk of time (or several smaller ones). Then sit down, take a deep breath and read. That's it! NO - don't touch the keyboard, put down that red pen...just read. Get reacquainted with your characters, get a feel for your first draft, watch the plot flow (or not). Yes, you will probably find pieces that make you cringe, but you will also be pleasantly surprised to find places where the words flow together beautifully, evoking poignant emotions, delicious dialogue and compelling conflict.

So, I am going to leave you with this task for a few days. Sit back and read! Then on Wednesday, we'll have som fun with this week's word wizard, Lynda Hilburn.

Let me know what you find as you wander through your first draft!