I hit a wall. And I have to say, it seemed insurmountable. As some of you already know, I’ve been writing a memoir called Going Viking. It’s the often very funny story of an American (me) struggling to carve out a new life in the hard to understand culture of Sweden. At the same time, the book also includes the tales of a passionate traveller (me, again) on adventures in Australia, Iceland, Italy, China, South Africa and more.
Over the last six months or so, I wrote new chapters for my book that I was really happy with and I needed to update the book’s proposal accordingly. (To get a book published, you have to create a business proposal for it to entice an agent and thus a publisher.) I wrote all the major sections – the competitive analysis, my marketing platform, the book summary and so on – but when it came to finishing the revisions on my chapter summaries, I got stuck. I procrastinated and took care of other writing projects instead.
You need to know that for over two decades, I’ve worked on magazines. I’ve been the editor in chief of six different magazines and countless one-time publications and am used to writing quickly and meeting regular deadlines. I know how to edit and slash my own work. But I’m human. And somewhere along the way to writing my book, I got lost in all the hundreds of pages of text.
Finishing that last section of the proposal loomed over me like the grim reaper. I skyped with my fellow magazine writer, editor and longtime friend Bryn of Writes4food yesterday. We have bi-weekly meetings about our writing projects and goals and she was telling me of her plans to do something she had been meaning to do for a long time: learn how to improve the photography for her blog. I was so proud of her.
And I knew then that I needed to do some tough love in terms of my own work. I printed out the 40 or so pages of copy I needed to revise, spread them out on the much larger than my desk surface of the dining room table and started doing some old school, hardcore revising. Quickly, I figured out the problem – I couldn’t let go of some writing that I loved, but that no longer was relevant to the book. So I began chopping. It felt good.
I’ve got more work to do, but I’m on my way. I’ll be taking a brief break on adding new posts to the blog, but I will share a few old favorites to make up for it. Now I’m back to the dining room…
{ 13 comments }
Yay for you!!! I’m glad we’re each other’s ‘kick in the pants.’ At your suggestion, I’m going to experiment with the north light in my upstairs bedroom as a potential photo setup. You rock!!!
Thanks for my kick Bryn. And what can I say, but you also rock!
Oooh it’s so hard! But when it feels right it encourages you to keep going. Glad you feel you are back on track again!
I look forward to reading it when you’re done. 🙂
Sandra, you’ve put it out there and this day is all that you needed to make that final step forward. I especially appreciate your honesty and forthright attitude. Get the eye of the tiger girlfriend!! Woohoo!
Maria xoxox
Andrea, Susan and Maria, Thanks for all the words of encouragement. I appreciate them more than I can say!
When I paint I start out with a first throw down of paint and often very magical things happen because it happens with pure energy and delight but as I keep working those precious parts become a problem to overcome rather than the feature. It is then that I must be brave and ‘killing the darlings’. Seems to be true in your art as well as mine.
Glad to hear it’s all coming together! Sometimes, just stepping away from the book for a few days, even a full week can ben rejuvenating.
Debora, Killing your darlings is indeed key to being a good artist in just about any medium, I think. It’s one of the hardest things to teach beginning writers…
Well if you’re chopping stuff, maybe we can read it here? Good luck!
Lola, Thanks for the encouragement. As for the writing, a little space from it often does wonders for my perspective.
Impressed! That’s the hardest work to do. Congrats to you for revving it over that speed bump. Happy cruising!
Thanks Marty. It has been so hard. It’s not done yet, but it is getting there!
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