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Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Strictly Writing: Nothing Beats Time

I owe this blog a proper post but it's probably a good sign that I've been too busy - with writing-related doings, of course! In the meantime, I have a guest blog post on the excellent Strictly Writing blog today, where I come clean about my failure to leave a new story long enough so that I could see what it needed doing.
Finally, I wrote a 1000-word story. I was excited to have something “long” (yes, you may snicker). I was so in love with the voice and the language, I thought it was great. I gave it to my writing group for critique, they spotted places where more information was needed but didn't give any “big picture” comments. So I thought, wow, that was quick: a finished story, and swiftly dispatched it to several competitions.

Read the rest of the blog post here. Does this happen to you too?
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5 comments:

  1. Lauri3:31 pm

    I am also sometimes too quick on the gun with regrets after the send button is pressed. Off to read the guest blog....

    (Off topic- my word verification word is MATHLET- how sweet is that? That's about the math I can do nowadays, little mathlets. )

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  2. Ethel Rohan4:43 pm

    I've been guilty of this, for sure. Thankfully, I've become more disciplined. The urge to rush work out must be resisted. I never regret waiting, versus .... Time gives me distance from my work, allows me to re-see and re-imagine it.

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  3. Rachel Fenton8:09 pm

    I've done this only recently when I heard of a competition (um wonder where?) and quickly wrote a bunch of stories to add to some I already had and sent them off only to sorely wish I had waited another week or two. You live and learn. Off to read your guest blog now :)

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  4. Tania Hershman1:25 pm

    Lauri - I love MATHLET, I am finding I can barely do maths anymore, can't even add up restaurant bills properly. So much for the uni degree, eh?

    Ethel, good for you, I am impressed. You are right, waiting is not something to be regretted, and it's cheaper!

    Rachel, hmm, is it my fault? Argh, sorry! Good luck, though, you never know...

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  5. N. P. Boyce9:18 pm

    I always dread reading back anything once it's submitted, as it is at this point that I notice word repetitions, clumsy phrasing, and the odd ghastly typo.

    The problem is that time seems to have little to do with this - I think the very act of submitting somehow lifts the veil...

    I see writing as being a bit like sculpture. You have to carve your story out. For me, the first draft is there to provide the raw material for this process, and nothing more.

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