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Saturday, June 16, 2007

First Scribble

Here I am, staring at this little posting window wondering what in the world to write... and I'm a writer. Hmmm. How do I start? "Dear Blog", "June 12th, 2007", maybe "(hem) Hi... PLANET"? Blogging is new and bizarre for me: a marriage between the ultimate in private written expression (my diary) and the ultimate in public written expression (the World Wide Web). Whoa, I think I just felt a shiver.

And on that note, I guess I'll jump right in.

So, OK, I'm working on two separate projects at the moment. Long term, I am attempting to finish my first novel. It's a unique experience. Somehow, what I know about the writing process seems to fall right out of my head when I open that particular file. "Get the words down, fix it later." I think with the novel I may have developed some sort of weird allergy to this very basic rule. Never before have I so obsessively re-written segments. It's gotten so bad, my goal (not the one I set on my calendar, but the real one that lives in my darker thoughts, the one I try to ignore) is to finish before 2008.

Short term, I'm working on a collection of short essays, all memoirs. Most of them are childhood memories. This project is so much easier, because it's less daunting. The pieces are short and the information is at the tip of my fingers. No research, just an indulgent trek to the past, getting feedback from my writing group, and adding it to the pile. Done.

Short pieces are very motivating. As for the the novel, as with all things, a little faith and a whole lot of persistence will pay off... even if it takes another six months.

1 comment:

Thanks for the comment!

A L E R T

The NONEXISTENT Rockway Press Short Story Contest

Rockway Press never actually posted the winners of the 2007 contest. Their site has entirely disappeared, and they're on the Preditors and Editors list.