Sometimes I am amazed at how the universe seems to work, delivering things to me at exactly the right time. I'm currently reading Wintering, and have felt equal parts awe and shame; awe in that your writing to me is akin to sitting on the couch with a hot chocolate, and shame that I feel I will never be able to achieve that same depth abd warmth with my own writing. To hear you say that you struggle with feeling good enough as a writer reminds me that most writers who care, who love their craft, must feel that way. It is the reminder that I DO care and therefore that writing matters to me, something I had been questioning. So thank you for being so honest.
I nodded yes through this whole thing. All of it, especially the second third being like dragging a corpse uphill. As I’m working on a murder mystery, this is even more apt as there is an actual fictional corpse involved.
I, too, feared my first time through that there wouldn’t be enough words and that was what separated “real” writers from the rest of us. Oh well — if we’d known how much more there was to it, we might never have started, and what a sad thing that would be.
First drafts as inventing the clay that we shape in later drafts is always how I’ve seen them-
what a treat to see that you hold that Image, too.
That analogy of sculpting clay will help me through those difficult writing days. I’m also feeling much less bad about not being able to see full versions (of writing and art) in advance - I’m so glad I can now be okay about just seeing parts. So looking forward to reading your next book!
"A persistent pull on consciousness...an irresistible cluster of ideas that seem to magnetically attract everything you encounter towards them." I love this.
I wonder: I know you’ve said before that you often look back over your work and don’t know where it came from—that you feel you don’t have access to the part of you that writes. That certainly feels true for me. It's hard to approach the next project with confidence when I can't grasp how previous ones came to be.
Sometimes I am amazed at how the universe seems to work, delivering things to me at exactly the right time. I'm currently reading Wintering, and have felt equal parts awe and shame; awe in that your writing to me is akin to sitting on the couch with a hot chocolate, and shame that I feel I will never be able to achieve that same depth abd warmth with my own writing. To hear you say that you struggle with feeling good enough as a writer reminds me that most writers who care, who love their craft, must feel that way. It is the reminder that I DO care and therefore that writing matters to me, something I had been questioning. So thank you for being so honest.
I nodded yes through this whole thing. All of it, especially the second third being like dragging a corpse uphill. As I’m working on a murder mystery, this is even more apt as there is an actual fictional corpse involved.
I, too, feared my first time through that there wouldn’t be enough words and that was what separated “real” writers from the rest of us. Oh well — if we’d known how much more there was to it, we might never have started, and what a sad thing that would be.
First drafts as inventing the clay that we shape in later drafts is always how I’ve seen them-
what a treat to see that you hold that Image, too.
Thank you for such a boost today!
Yes! A persistent pull on consciousness. So lovely. And looking forward to all that comes from this journey for you!
That analogy of sculpting clay will help me through those difficult writing days. I’m also feeling much less bad about not being able to see full versions (of writing and art) in advance - I’m so glad I can now be okay about just seeing parts. So looking forward to reading your next book!
"A persistent pull on consciousness...an irresistible cluster of ideas that seem to magnetically attract everything you encounter towards them." I love this.
I wonder: I know you’ve said before that you often look back over your work and don’t know where it came from—that you feel you don’t have access to the part of you that writes. That certainly feels true for me. It's hard to approach the next project with confidence when I can't grasp how previous ones came to be.