Working on a 2nd Draft

By Jen Leo | Permalink | No Comments | August 16th, 2006 | Trackback

Sitting down to rewrite an intro for a piece that has already been accepted, my memory calls up a time when a friend in a writers group said to me, “maybe you’re not meant to be a writer.” Sometimes I think about that and ponder the question. I’m actually thinking about it right now, and writing this post instead of the intro. Natalie Goldberg called that “monkey mind” or something like that in Wild Mind. Labeling the editor in your head, that devil that sits and tells you to rewrite sentences because they are not perfect.

As I’m thinking maybe I’m not meant to be a writer, I also recall Anne Lamott’s passage in Bird by Bird when she was talking about how we can do the dishes, pay our bills, anything accept for actually typing on the keyboard—and that it’s all part of the creative process, I rest a bit easier.

Rewriting is part of the process folks. Whether you do it on deadline, or ahead of deadline, welcome it. My editor liked what I wrote before, he actually really liked the piece, the intro just needs a different setting. it’s not the end of the world. I’m also quick to remember that I can do anything that I set my mind to, and with that I’m going to get back to it. And maybe, if you are in the middle of rewriting something now, or even starting on a new piece, take heart and remember why you like writing. For a lot of us, it’s just a part of who we are. Good writer, bad writer, it’s just in us and we have to get it out.

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