Word count: 50,142
Writing is a way to connect with our own minds, to discover what we really think, see, and feel, rather than what we think we should think, see, and feel.
-from "Long Quiet Highway"
Yes- that is not a typo up there- I did pass the 50,00 word mark today. Three days early. But it still isn't quite wrapped up. I don't expect it to be a completely finished, polished story but I do want the dangling threads to begin to come to some kind of closure. Most of my stories do not have neat and tidy endings so that's not what I'm going for but maybe by tomorrow I will reach a point where I feel that this particular draft is done. It reminds me of a class I took where we had to write a complete short story in three to five pages and I always struggled with that. It can take me that many pages to begin to learn what the story is about. So it's like that but on a larger scale, trying to show a complete story arc within 50,000 words. I can see the benefit which is why I am scrambling to get it to a kind of closure. I want to be able to look back at the story with a fresh eye and see a story that then needs to be fleshed out. And who knows- maybe the fleshing out will take the story in a completely different direction which will then lead me to a totally new ending.
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4 comments:
Yes, I noticed that right away before I even scrolled down to your response on your previous post. Remember when the same sort of thing happened re your art school graduation speaker’s theme and our conversation just preceding it? I don’t know if it is occasional insight or just a blind squirrel finding a nut but it is pleasing either way.
Exactly right on the over thinking and self-doubt point. That is true in all individual efforts. I learned in sports that the best results are achieved by envisioning yourself succeeding and then just tearing into it. Didn’t always have the self confidence to do that but the results were usually better when I did.
I am in awe of you.
Found your blog when I did a search for "Natalie Goldberg". Just wanted to extend some words of encouragement as you continue your writing expression! ~Sharon
Dad- I have been noticing lots of coincidences lately or some kind of intutive hits. Not on anything big or real meaningful. For example, I was driving to the bookstore yesterday and it flashed across my mind that I might like to get a U2 greatest hits CD. Standing in line, I forgot about it but then turned around and there was a display of 80's music with a U2 Greatest hits right there. So I bought it.
Thanks Courtney! I am in awe of your blog. That's a lot of writing! My posts seem anorexic in comparison.
Thanks Sharon! Natalie is great. Her book "Writing Down the Bones" got me started oh so many years ago. I was also lucky enough to study with her for a week in Taos. Love your altered magazine idea. I'll probably start posting pix of my collage/altered art at some point.
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