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Category Archives: Revision
Writers and Editors
Editors work with energy. Writers also work with energy. But the energy is different. For a writer it’s deeper, it’s more personal, it’s intimate. This is not to say that what editors do is unimportant, only that writers have relationships … Continue reading
Posted in Completing a novel, editors, emotion, Energy, fiction, Philosophy, Process, Publishing, research, Revision, Story, Uncategorized
Tagged advice, character, creative life, life of a writer, literary world, process, storytelling, writing life
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Weaving a Blue Horse
This weekend I tried to weave an image of a horse on my small lap loom. It had been a long time since I’d tried to shape a horse with yarn across tightly stretched warp, and it wasn’t coming easily. … Continue reading
Posted in creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Drafts, emotion, Energy, Exploration, failure, Gratitude, Materials, Miracles, Revision, Starting over, Story, Uncategorized
Tagged character, creative life, giving up, life of a writer, not writing, process, productivity, writing life
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Thick Skin vs. Self Knowledge
I am often asked about the ethics of memoir. Specifically, is it ethical to write about another person? Can I be sued? Should I use real names? My answers are, respectively: Yes and no, maybe, and definitely not. There. Now … Continue reading
Thick Skin, Tender Heart
Dear Lisa, Last week I received the revision letter for a novel that will be published in 2016. The notes are far more extensive than I expected. As I scrolled through initially I panicked. It seemed too much to absorb, … Continue reading
Posted in Completing a novel, creativity, critique, Day by day, depression, Drafts, editors, Energy, fiction, Play, Process, Publishing, research, Revision, Starting a new work, Story, The Muse, Uncategorized, what artists need
Tagged character, dread, giving up, Jigsaw puzzle, life of a writer, not writing, priorities, research, Starting a new work, The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson, working
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Spear Fishing
Dear Karen, Good lord, yes! The modern world is an anxious place. Every person I know swims in this sea, and as you say about art, art is anxiety in and of itself. I wish this were not so. Or … Continue reading
Posted in comfort, Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, Decisions, Drafts, Energy, fiction, fun with what we do, happiness, Maintenance, Play, Process, Revision, Starting over, Story, Uncategorized
Tagged creative life, giving up, Jigsaw puzzle, life of a writer, Starting a new work, Starting over, working, writing life
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NaNoWriMo
Dear Karen, I love that we have been about magic, particularly during National Write a Novel in a Month – also known as NaNoWriMo. It comes every November, and challenges its participants to write 50,000 words in one month. Why … Continue reading
Posted in Completing a novel, creativity, Day by day, fiction, Process, Revision
Tagged creative life, giving up, magic, NaNoWriMo, not writing, overindulgence
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Quilts and centers and five drafts in
Dear Nancy, Yesterday, you said in your last letter to me, an interviewer asked you if you were scared while writing Persimmon Wilson. You say what you remember most is being immersed in the work, being interested in the … Continue reading
Finishing
Dear Nancy: It was good to see you in Chapel Hill for our meal–our sweet potato biscuits–yesterday, and to begin then to talk about the issues from your last letter. How to know when a work is complete? The “finishing” … Continue reading
