Spiders and Writing

Last week a horrible spider bit my daughter. The bite grew large and ugly until I took her to the dermatologist. They put her on antibiotics and ran a culture.

Surprise.

No big bad Charlotte hanging from a web in the rafters bit my girl. She had a staph infection.

Way, way worse.

Fortunately, the antibiotics kicked in, and it’s gone. But when related to writing, it made me wonder. What happens when our writing goes from bad to worse? No magic pill can make it all better. Instead, a writer is faced with the daunting task of a major rewrite.

Editing one’s work is crucial. Asking someone else to revise is wise. And rewriting it for the ninety-ninth time can redefine the piece. However, there are occasions when a small rewrite becomes a giant staff infection. Not only does a character need developing, but also the plot may be weak and subplots non-existent. It happens. And UNLIKE a staff infection, it should. Your writing is your journey.

Rewrite and make the boo boos better.

Quotes

 

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.

–Joan Didion

 

Our consciousness is fed with other consciousness.  The way we make decisions, our likes and our dislikes, depend on the collective way of seeing things. That’s why selecting the people you are around is very important.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Have you ever observed that we pay much more attention to a wise passage when it is quoted, than when we read it in the original author?

-Philip G. Hamerton