Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Word Scurge—Dirge?




Read over your compositions, and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
~ SAMUEL JOHNSON


Wordy-Gurdy.
Not so sturdy.
How does your rewrite go?

I'm cutting more than I'm adding. I switched my prologue to a scene either in the first or second chapter, and have cut my first two scenes and replaced with later scenes from the beginning of chapter two and a new one written. Plus, the two I've cut (well, one of them anyway), contain value, and I'd like to see if there's a relevant place before I relegate them to "outta here", and well . . . it's getting confusing.

I'd anticipating axing blah scenes and truthfully, I was ready. Just not so soon. Oy.

I'm an organized, tidy person. Really. But at this moment I have four piles on my desk and five piles on the floor by my desk. That's not counting the printed material sitting in my printer tray which will form a brand new pile.

I had the French doors open earlier because that's my habit when the temperature is fabulous (we're having an unusually cool summer in Colorado) and totally lucked out that a brisk breeze didn't find its way in.

My fear has been released and replaced with mad-cap/mad-dash craziness. Which is kind of creative. At least at the moment.



CR: The Dead Whisper On by T.L. Hines

It's all better with friends.

4 comments:

  1. Somehow I just keep adding in my rewrites, but perhaps that's what I'm doing wrong.

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  2. LOL, Sheila. That was the plan. To ADD words.

    I keep telling myself that I'm just getting started. And I need to believe whatever I tell myself at this point to keep going.

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  3. It sounds like you have your right (left?) editing brain on, Peg, and are seeing things soo clearly. I am in awe. I never know any of this is necessary until someone tells me so. Keep going!!

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  4. I'm not that smart. Normally, when I submit something to my critique partners, there are already things that bother me. I'm just not crystal clear on what they are.

    They are the ones that help me put my finger on those things.

    And the really cool thing? They make me find extra fingers to put on things I'd never considered.

    What is it about NOT being able to see these things in your own writing?

    Sheeshkabobalino.

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