Sunday Stories, Dry like the Arizona Desert.
When our writing is dry as the desert it is lacking in imagery, details, and specificity of, well everything, and I for one have been bad about getting the storyline down and then going back and filling in the descriptions, which is fine except when I say something like, he smelled like bourbon and oak, and I move on and don't write what that description means. He smells like those things naturally? He is a drunk? And then when I go back to the places where I THINK are the holes I realize I missed so many holes through my story because I was in a race to get down the bones.
I have been writing for years. You can find my writing on numerous platforms on and off the internet. I love to write. I love to connect with my readers and tell a story. It is like connecting a string of lights for me and when I get all the words connected all the metaphorical lights, well light up! There is an ah-huh moment and I know the piece is ready for the world.
Writing for me has always been an authentic way to share who I am, what I am about, and my beliefs in the world. I have written shorts, written a book or two, and explored places to gather research. I take in people's conversations, fill in the holes, and make a story. I have been in a writing group, lead a writing group, and talked to groups of people about writing in a public forum. I am a firm believer in the write, write, write to you get it to right. There is no space where a lot of us feel our work is ready for the world, but let me tell you, your words are written to be shared, to be given freely to help others.
Look at where you are in your writing journey. Now look ahead of you, and behind you, and see all the other writers. Some are more advanced than you, and some are way behind where you are on your journey. You can learn from the people ahead of you and you can teach the people behind you. There is always work in our writing, but there is always room to help and learn as well.
Writing is a solitary activity until it is not. Writing with others will encourage you to start a writing schedule. It will help you stay writing. Others will keep you accountable for spending your writing time, well, writing! We tend to get off track sometimes and having others writing around you pushes you to write more, edit, and revise. It helps you keep that track on the rails and your words coming onto the page.
Editing should be done at the end. True or False? Neither. You edit as you want to. Writing rules are meant to be learned, but then they are meant to be broken. Yes, you need to edit, but there is no time to do this. You can edit each sentence as you go, you can edit at the end of a chapter, and you can edit at the end. You do you! Don't let those rules keep you from writing your best pieces, and sometimes they spill out of us messy and that is ok.
Later you will revise. There are parts that don't work for you, but there are parts that do work for you. You want to add more description. This is the space where we fix plot holes, characters' flaws, and all the other inconveniences. We move chunks around, the middle works best at the start, but let me say this, a lot of us writing digitally are quick to edit and erase. Keep an extra word document or some other kind of online file you can put the pieces that you cut out. We struggle to write, but boy are we trigger happy with the delete key. Don't delete, just move those parts to another file. They may come in handle later on.
Now stop reading my blog (for right now) and go write! I have a ritual when I write. I always light a candle on my desk before I start, and as I write the lovely scent fills the room and it inspires me to stay in my office a little while longer, write a little bit more, and spend more time mulling around in the words I'm typing.
I pray my words inspire you to journal, to type, to get your story down in some way, and that you know that you can write. The first edit may be total crap, but in the next edit, and then revisions, you will get it down the way you want. There is time to fix it the way you want, I promise. I pray your words to flow like a sweet Georgia peach dripping down your chin. Now, that's a good peach, or piece of writing.
I pray your words to flow sweetly like honey, pouring out like the holy spirit, and have you writing your heart out and leaving it on the page.
Happy Writing friends,
your storyteller, poet,
Debbie
xoxoxoxo
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