Keep saying it to yourself. Writing is rewriting.
When the inspiration seems to have drifted away, or to another idea, remember: Writing IS rewriting.
Pick an inspirational font, put a fancy border around the page, and in 120-point letters type it and print: Writing ... is rewriting.
Put it on a bracelet: W I R
Whatever you do...don't forget it.
Writing. Is. Rewriting.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
The End Is Very Fucking Nigh*
Thanks to Cormac McCarthy (the greatest living American writer) I’ve been on a bit of a post-apocalyptic bender lately.
I’m reading The Road for the third time in the last two months. I’ve never read a novel more than once, though I’ve re-read parts of books, namely Walden. I’ve re-read short stories and poems, I’ve watched a handful of movies multiple times, but the time investment for a novel is so massive and there are so many books I’ve never read that the impulse to go back to a novel I’ve read simply isn’t that strong compared to the impulse to read one of the thousands of great books I haven’t gotten to yet.
28 Days Later (which I loved) was recently on television in anticipation of the release of the sequel, 28 Weeks Later (which I can’t wait to see).
Though I’m a (relatively) firm believer that there’s an impending global catastrophe on the way, I can’t say that I’ve been doing much planning for it. I’m not hording water, I haven’t collected a cache of weapons, I don’t even own one of those batteryless, hand-cranked flashlights.
The impending apocalypse has not dimmed my enthusiasm for the future, as evidenced by the fact that we recently got a puppy and we’re having a baby. Babies and puppies have a way of softening the blows of harsh reality.
What would I do if hordes of marauding cannibals or troops of zombies began shambling through the streets of the world?
Frankly, I have no fucking clue.
But I have some great fiction to offer me some suggestion.
*Graffiti on a church wall from 28 Days Later
I’m reading The Road for the third time in the last two months. I’ve never read a novel more than once, though I’ve re-read parts of books, namely Walden. I’ve re-read short stories and poems, I’ve watched a handful of movies multiple times, but the time investment for a novel is so massive and there are so many books I’ve never read that the impulse to go back to a novel I’ve read simply isn’t that strong compared to the impulse to read one of the thousands of great books I haven’t gotten to yet.
28 Days Later (which I loved) was recently on television in anticipation of the release of the sequel, 28 Weeks Later (which I can’t wait to see).
Though I’m a (relatively) firm believer that there’s an impending global catastrophe on the way, I can’t say that I’ve been doing much planning for it. I’m not hording water, I haven’t collected a cache of weapons, I don’t even own one of those batteryless, hand-cranked flashlights.
The impending apocalypse has not dimmed my enthusiasm for the future, as evidenced by the fact that we recently got a puppy and we’re having a baby. Babies and puppies have a way of softening the blows of harsh reality.
What would I do if hordes of marauding cannibals or troops of zombies began shambling through the streets of the world?
Frankly, I have no fucking clue.
But I have some great fiction to offer me some suggestion.
*Graffiti on a church wall from 28 Days Later
Saturday, May 12, 2007
I have an idea...
...for this novel. Maybe it would work better as a screenplay, or a stage play.
There's probably only enough material for a short story.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should just write some notes and see how I feel in a couple of days.
Now if I can just find a pen, and some paper.
There's probably only enough material for a short story.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should just write some notes and see how I feel in a couple of days.
Now if I can just find a pen, and some paper.
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