Dear Readers,
Today, I saw a post that revealed it’s the last Tuesday of summer. I let out a big sigh.
This summer has been a blast.
Two amazing concerts.
A trip to Lake Michigan.
A trip to Chicago.
A visit to the Obama Presidential Center.
Exploring a new city for the first time.
Enjoying our new cat, Mabel, and helping her and Emerson work out their relationship.
Seeing Maria Bamford at the Comedy Attic.
Coffee and walks with friends.
Exploring the art museum with my daughter.
It’s always hard to let go of summer.
Summer is an expansive season. I’m a big fan of long, sunny days, wide-open landscapes, bright red tomatoes growing in the garden, and progress I can see.
I already miss the hummingbirds, and they haven’t even left yet. Fallen leaves are gathering on the ground.
It’s time to say goodbye.
Fall is about letting go.
And that brings me to writing.
Generating a first draft is like summer: full of potential, sunshine, fun, and adventure.
Revision is more like autumn.
Ripening. Picking. Pruning. Shaping. Dropping. Darkening.
As I revise my novel, I’m letting go of several things: scenes, lines, and the illusion that this would be easy.
Revision can place us in the trap of control. And that’s where perfectionism comes to feast.
My best writing comes when I’m feeling a strong emotion and channel that emotion onto the page. When I let go and let the words bypass my brain, my writing carries a visceral feeling that can captivate the reader.
Raw emotion is harder to conjure
when editing a fiction manuscript.
This is the construction and reconstruction phase. There are choices to make. Problems to solve. Things to strengthen. And when I’m trying to make something better, it’s hard to bypass the brain.
So that brings me to a question:
How does a writer bring a sense of expansiveness to the revision process?
How do I bring the spirit of summer into the autumn of this book’s development?
I don’t have an answer yet.
But I’m going to carry the question with me into this season of my writing.
.
Thanks for sharing your insights Kim! Happy re-visioning ❤️💜