(no subject)
"The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon." ~ Robert Cormier
When I was 15 years and 9 months old (give or take a couple weeks), I took my learner's permit test. Twice. At sixteen and some odd months, I took my driver's test. Twice.
I took the PSATs twice. The SATs three times. After I graduated high school, I tried one college, then another, then another.
My dad said something to me after my first permit test (which I was a little annoyed I didn't pass, but not too upset). He said something to the effect of "You don't like to go into something not knowing how to do it. You like to do it once to get a feel for it and do it again."
And though I hadn't ever really thought about it like that, when he said it I knew it was true. (Like a lot of things my dad says.) And yet, for some reason, I never really thought about it in terms of my writing until today.
I like writing. I enjoy learning about my story and my characters. But one of the things I like best is the fact that I get to learn as I go, that it's not something that must be perfect the second the first words that pop into my head hit the page. I can go back. I can rewrite chapter one six, seven, eight, thirty times. Granted, at some point I need to let it be. But I get that 'practice' run before I really need to do something.
I've gotten a first draft done of W&F. It's on paper, with a beginning, a middle (very long middle) and an end. And, to go back to the driving stuff, I know the parts where I'd have been kicked out of the computerized test, where it took me too long to parallel park. So next time through, I'll know to look out for those spots, and to keep up the good stuff in other places.
And even if I don't ace it the next time through, I can do it all again, until I get it right.
When I was 15 years and 9 months old (give or take a couple weeks), I took my learner's permit test. Twice. At sixteen and some odd months, I took my driver's test. Twice.
I took the PSATs twice. The SATs three times. After I graduated high school, I tried one college, then another, then another.
My dad said something to me after my first permit test (which I was a little annoyed I didn't pass, but not too upset). He said something to the effect of "You don't like to go into something not knowing how to do it. You like to do it once to get a feel for it and do it again."
And though I hadn't ever really thought about it like that, when he said it I knew it was true. (Like a lot of things my dad says.) And yet, for some reason, I never really thought about it in terms of my writing until today.
I like writing. I enjoy learning about my story and my characters. But one of the things I like best is the fact that I get to learn as I go, that it's not something that must be perfect the second the first words that pop into my head hit the page. I can go back. I can rewrite chapter one six, seven, eight, thirty times. Granted, at some point I need to let it be. But I get that 'practice' run before I really need to do something.
I've gotten a first draft done of W&F. It's on paper, with a beginning, a middle (very long middle) and an end. And, to go back to the driving stuff, I know the parts where I'd have been kicked out of the computerized test, where it took me too long to parallel park. So next time through, I'll know to look out for those spots, and to keep up the good stuff in other places.
And even if I don't ace it the next time through, I can do it all again, until I get it right.