This week I have done very little writing because I have been decorating instead. Now, as creative endeavours go, sanding down woodwork is not my favourite, but at least it has a finish point. This doesn’t happen with writing, and this week I’ve thought about why.
As with lots of writers, the issue is when to stop working on something. This came up during my last writing course and I thought it was worth revisiting.
All the writing I have sent off has been assessed in some way – as coursework, competition entries or for the body of a magazine. So it’s been important to get them ‘right’. But writing is like any other art form – it really is a personal matter and what one person thinks is excellent, another will dislike. Beauty, in artistic endeavours, really is in the eye of the beholder.
I’ve said before I have a reading group and this brings it home to me how different responses can be to characters, plot points, language and subject matter. So as a writer, when you have written the first draft, and corrected all the poor plotting and grammatical errors, you have a finished product. Only with self-belief will you be able to take the next steps, but let your writing guide you – if you have given it time to cook, and subsequent changes are not making any improvements, it’s as done as writing will ever be.
So how does this tie back to the decorating – well, if you think of the sanding as the plotting, and the first coat of paint as the initial draft, you keep adding coats until it’s done. When you are only patching pin-sized holes you know you’re nearly there!
In other news – Other than decorating, this week I helped do some flower arrangements for a wedding. Flowers are not my natural habitat, but this is another creative outlet for me to explore. There’s something really great about making something for such a joyful occasion – I hope the couple were happy with them! I am writing a piece for a ceremony next year so will keep in mind these flowers as I do it – I think they are a brilliant anchor for those feelings of promise, expectation and excitement.
Also – a note on awards. I know I said last week I’d do something about the award this week, but part of it is about other bloggers. This has led to me spending far too much time looking at other blogs when I should have been writing, so it’s going to have to wait until my travels with a sander end!
I’d be a hopeless Oscar judge, I’d get sidetracked by all the films I didn’t see that year…
Happy writing
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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