Sinking
Like a lot of other writers, I have to write. There isn't a choice about whether I want to write or not.
When I talk about that urge, I've always been talking about the desire to put words onto paper, to make up stories. It's always first drafting that I've needed.
Until now.
This week I started craving the rewriting. I had a couple of rough days at work, and the first morning it happened, I blamed that -- wanting to escape my life into my novel.
But this desire, this need, has continued, now, several days later.
Writing is running full tilt off a cliff and trusting that the wings will form to carry you along. It's flying high above fields planting ideas in rich fields. It's a mad tumbling river of words rushing out.
Rewriting is sinking, deep into the world, finding the currents and adjusting them by swimming through them. It's a very different feeling. I didn't know I could feel this way about a rewrite. I'm exceedingly happy about it. I don't know if it will continue.
One of the things that I've talked about with other writers is finding that joy in writing. It's always easy to spot those passages in the novel, they're pure, and flow so well. There are a lot of passages like that in these novels. I don't know if this joy that I'm having in the rewriting will manifest someway in the final product. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
So -- what about you? Do you enjoy rewriting? I'm not talking word polishing, that's a different level of rewriting. Do you enjoy teasing all those threads apart and rebraiding them? Or is it a chore?
When I talk about that urge, I've always been talking about the desire to put words onto paper, to make up stories. It's always first drafting that I've needed.
Until now.
This week I started craving the rewriting. I had a couple of rough days at work, and the first morning it happened, I blamed that -- wanting to escape my life into my novel.
But this desire, this need, has continued, now, several days later.
Writing is running full tilt off a cliff and trusting that the wings will form to carry you along. It's flying high above fields planting ideas in rich fields. It's a mad tumbling river of words rushing out.
Rewriting is sinking, deep into the world, finding the currents and adjusting them by swimming through them. It's a very different feeling. I didn't know I could feel this way about a rewrite. I'm exceedingly happy about it. I don't know if it will continue.
One of the things that I've talked about with other writers is finding that joy in writing. It's always easy to spot those passages in the novel, they're pure, and flow so well. There are a lot of passages like that in these novels. I don't know if this joy that I'm having in the rewriting will manifest someway in the final product. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
So -- what about you? Do you enjoy rewriting? I'm not talking word polishing, that's a different level of rewriting. Do you enjoy teasing all those threads apart and rebraiding them? Or is it a chore?