In which a revelation makes a phone call

[katiefoolery]

Every now and then, presumably in the middle of such weighty occupations as Hanging The Laundry Out And Looking In Despair At The Overgrown Garden or Playing With The Cat Instead Of Furthering One’s Literary Career, a question strikes at me with the force of a very striking question indeed. Oh yes it does. It won’t let me rest.

And it doesn’t help that my Timothy likes to ask the same question, too.

“When are you going to do the second draft of Black Fiddle?” they both want to know.

Well, I don’t know.

Actually, that’s not true. I didn’t know, but I think I do now.

My Timothy asked that question of me last night and rather than just shrugging and responding with my traditional, “I don’t know”, I actually thought about it. The first draft took several months of hard work. It wasn’t always fun. I did push myself and learn that I was capable of more than I had previously thought, but it was still a lot of hard work for a manuscript that I think is probably quite some distance from the possibility of publication. In fact, sometimes it seems so far away from publication that it would take several train trips and at least one long-haul flight to get there.

So I told my Timothy that I haven’t started on the elusive second draft because I’m just not looking forward to all that hard work. Because, essentially, it won’t be a second draft where I fix up passages and make sure the structure is OK. No, it’s going to involve me sitting down and writing another draft FROM SCRATCH.

Which was a little depressing last night.

Then there I was this morning, dithering about with nothing much to do, when a revelation made itself known to me. “Good morning,” it said. “I’m your revelation. OK, here goes: Have you ever wondered WHY you’re not looking forward to spending a lot of time on something you’re supposed to like?”

Its job done, it gave me a crisp salute and marched out of the door.

However, it rang back later and presented me with a second revelation. “Me again,” it said. “Here’s the second-part of the revelation: Why don’t you start thinking of it as fun instead of hard work? Well, I think that’s me for today.”

So I stood there, with an imaginary phone in my hands, wondering at the import of these revelations (or this two-part revelation, whichever you prefer). All this time, I thought I was holding back from this fabled second draft because I didn’t know how to approach it or because I wasn’t sure what style of writing I should be using. In fact, I’m almost sure I thought I had a revelation about that a few weeks ago.

And then it turns out it’s been my attitude all along.

Comments

[gravityslave.livejournal.com]

Cool!
Nice revelations, by the way. I'd call them a step up from the customary end of the world and complicated creatures with wings bit, and yours doesn't sound as much a result of certain mushrooms as other revelations I could mention. Please pass on the message that they have helped me, too.
I think I may have found my voice recently and I think that bodes well for The Project that I have sworn to spend a great deal of time on this summer. It has reached the point where all my characters know who they are, the major and minor themes are written in stone, the order of occurences and several complete conversations have been decided, but everything else still has to be done.
It would seem that you will spend the next few months exploring while I spend them building bridges all over the place. I'm tired already.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Revelations are good when they're helpful. I've had a couple of unhelpful ones in the past, but this one was actually quite welcome!

It's so easy to be exhausted at the outset of a momentous project. That has been my problem for the past year or so - it just seemed too exhausting!

[silverwerecat.livejournal.com]

Playing With The Cat Instead Of Furthering One's Literary Career

Hey, I'm presently occupied with that as well!

*sigh*

Myself has been calling with similar questions as well, but so far I've left the machine pick them up...

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, I have to say, that is the cat's fault. Mine's currently standing on the desk over the keyboard headbutting me.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Pickle just tried to snuggle up in my lap while I was at the computer. I told her there wasn't room, but she still tried. Then she got all narky at me because she couldn't fit.

[silverwerecat.livejournal.com]

Awww... Mine is just sitting on the keyboard washing her butt. At least yours shows some affection. :S

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Hehe! You'll have to listen to those messages eventually. Either that, or throw your answering machine in the rubbish...

Cats are very distracting, though. Especially when they get all snuggly in the cooler weather.

[silverwerecat.livejournal.com]

Or when they demand to be fed every thirty minutes...

[tim-of-oz.livejournal.com]

Don't forget, if there's a long haul flight, you'll probably need a short car trip to get to the airport as well.

[cat-eyes-el.livejournal.com]

And to do some packing. Don't forget the packing. Oh, and hope your luggage doesn't get sent on the wrong plane and you have to wait for it, or your plane is delayed, cause that can completely mess up one's schedule :p

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Goodness, you're right! This could end up taking forever!

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, good point!

[rigel-7.livejournal.com]

Huzzah Bunne!

I too have moved on from my low point of last week and the procastination of doom combined with 'I hate all my work' itis.

It turns out I just needed to look at it from another angle as well.

There are no lost causes - only keys and tv-remotes.

:D

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

All this seasonal thoughtfulness seems to be quite productive in the end, doesn't it? But why is it that the simple answers are often the hardest to come by?