I'm a University Lecturer in English and the author of a novel, The Secret of Hurricanes (MacAdam/Cage 2002). My life is summed up by Rumi, who said: "My story gets told in various ways: a romance, a dirty joke, a war, a vacancy." Rumi's quote is the epigraph to Hurricanes. The purpose of this journal is to explore creativity and the writing life.
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Thursday, February 07, 2008
15/50
Have been worrying over the new story, reading the first draft, despairing, being unhappy with myself, reading great stories, noticing how far my story is from greatness. Decided to lay it aside and start again. Will use same premise, same characters, same elements. The new draft has a different beginning; action is more compressed, story moves more quickly, is more sensory. Language is much better. Hope to get back to it over the weekend.
Thanks much for this. The struggle is rough. Don't worry about greatness. Just hang in there.
ReplyDeleteGretchen
Thanks for sharing this, Theresa. It helps to see your process. It helps to know the stories don't fall onto the page fully formed.
ReplyDeleteThat takes such courage to start over. I hope it goes well for you. I didn't get to see Zee yesterday. Will try for next week. Gives me time to find one of her novels. (feeling sheepish) Teagrapple
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