Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Drafts, Lake and Trees


In the third draft of the book in progress, I ruthlessly cut a hundred pages and made the pages messy but the story neater. Yesterday I printed out a clean fourth draft: so nice to have clean margins and pristine pages.  Now I'm going through this draft slowly, seeing if is whole yet.

Meanwhile, the outside is calling, calling:

Gorgeous out there!  So I work for two hours and then go outside for a bit.


The dock is out, but the kayak is merely resting, waiting for me.

Back inside, I work for another couple hours and then dare to look out the window:



Guess I'd better get back out there. Maybe those trees and leaves and lake will make their way into the story. Maybe the Deep Significance of the story will come to me as I'm paddling the kayak. Or maybe not.



10 comments:

  1. I'm trying to figure out where you are on the lake. I used to live on Maple Bay (Ashville). Went to school at Southwestern.

    Cutting out 100 pages! That was a brave thing to do.

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  2. That's why editors work... they sometimes make it better by cutting out what we think we 'love'. What a downright BEAUTY of a place write near. ps I'm choppin' too--- wood! hahaha

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  3. Your pages fell away faster than the autumn leaves. I'd love to come along and rake up the pages you shed, mound them into a deep pile and dive right in.

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  4. Autumn is a source of inspiration indeed!Wonderful post!
    Léia

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  5. I can't wait for your next book. I always love hearing about the writing process, so I enjoyed seeing glimpses into your process. I also often share comments such as these with my students. Thanks for sharing about your writing and the beautiful pictures.

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  6. I'm having trouble continuing some writing I began before I got pregnant. Three months to go 'til my baby comes, so I'm thinking I should get myself outdoors and look for some inspiration like you did. Thanks for the "tip!"
    -Stacey

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  7. Frankly, I don't see how you get anything done seeing where you live and work!

    And cutting 100 pages implies an incredible security about what you really want to say.

    Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on our blogs!

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  8. I am beginning to teach 6th graders about WRITERS NOTEBOOKS...and I wanted to get as many authors as possible to be in contact with me to share with them that you guys are human and pretty dogone nifty...is there any way you could drop me an email and explain how you might use a writers notebook in your writing? I would SOOO totally appreciate it!! :)


    Tamara Cosby
    jtcosby@gmail.com
    www.cosbyfamily.wordpress.com

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  9. Those are some incredible views. I'm jealous of your vivid autumn colors. It's still pretty bland around here. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

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