Quick Hits No. 6

In my posts about writing, I have been focusing on getting started: think about it and get it on paper. Ask yourself some questions, answer them in your head, then get the words on paper. Today I'd like to share this with you:

“When you write a story, you're telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” ― Stephen King, On Writing

At my first writer's conference, I heard "writing is rewriting." It has stayed with me to this day. Trained as a journalist, I am used to the notion of get it out, get it right, but get it out. Writers without daily deadlines, once they get whatever it is they want on paper, treat those words as if they belong in a museum. That's a good way to never get anything done. The next step is just what King says: "(take) out all the things that are not the story."

Every word you write won't be a part of the final product. That's OK. It's not the words you start with, but the words you end with that count.

See you next week.

Shed load

In common usage among my peers, to shed load means to get rid of something. In British usage I've learned that it means a large amount. In some technical fields it means to ration power. All three definitions seem to be in the back of my mind today. Over the past few years, after reaching a noteworthy age, things that once held my interest have fallen by the wayside. Perhaps not so much fallen by the wayside but do not hold my interest they same way as before. What remains is my interest in writing, the pursuit of writing, devoting my free hours to it in a way that did not hold my interest at an earlier age. I read something within the past few days that has been the partner to shedding load, a phrase that goes something like this: "Rewriting is found to be an excuse for not going on." John Steinbeck said that.
The vast majority of my time these past four years have been devoted to rewriting. For many years I used rewriting as an excuse for not going on, laying aside a project for years  as other things held my interest more than the effort of putting pen to paper and saying something.
As the years passed, I shed load, and now what is left is rewriting. And rewriting some more.

Stay tuned for Chapter One of my detective novel.