Sea Glass & Revision

I’m entering the last phase of work on this draft and trying hard to be patient with my revision process. 


It can feel a little like hunting for sea glass on a wide beach of stone. The sparkling stuff is there, but hiding. When it reveals itself, there’s a moment of hope and excitement. What else might I find here?

 


Or maybe revision’s more like the making of sea glass itself. A slow sea-tumbling, a grinding and smoothing until there’s something of beauty left behind.



But then, I want my prose to be sharp and clear, so maybe it isn’t like sea glass at all. Maybe revision simply requires something like the frame of mind I’m in when I walk the beach. 


Part looking for something, part exploring what the world offers, part happy just to be where I am.



Trying not to jump ahead to the next phone call or errand or chapter. Trying to be fully inside my own story.



Lucky for me, winter is a good season for sea glass and beach combing. Let's hope my revisions turn out well too!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Weeds

Image
Hi loves, I hope this message finds you well and enjoying your summer. It's been an incredibly busy time for my family. We've traveled, hosted beloved guests, celebrated the end of school, and attended several fun-filled events. In fact, our frenzied pace doesn't show signs of slowing any time soon. I'm writing now from the skies, on my way to Santa Fe to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday. One of a few more celebratory trips scheduled for the next month. In between the big shiny happenings of the summer, I've been revising a novel, helping friends with their writing projects, and considering next steps in my own creative career. Not all of this has been easy. You might remember that I signed with my first agent in March 2017. It was a thrilling and joyous experience. I'm still grateful for the energy and hope that opportunity sparked. Unfortunately, our relationship didn't work out and I chose to terminate my contract this past week. It was a dif
Read more

Healing after Jun 24, 2022

Image
I probably shouldn’t attempt to write something coherent right now. I know better. I’m emotionally drained, physically tired, and psychically overstimulated.  The world, my version of it anyway, is a dire place. I could laundry list my problems, those personal, familial, creative, and professional, but honestly that all seems weak sauce compared to the national and global crises of the past few weeks and years. Since 2016. Wait, since before that. Since, I don’t know, always. It’s oh-so-tempting to throw my hands up and declare nearly everything Doomed and Horrifying. I mean, unless you’re a rich white cis het man. Then I guess you can still worry about the global climate crisis. If you feel like it.  Anyway, I’m tired and a bit snarky, but I’m here. I’m still here. I haven’t posted to this blog in a while, but I’m here. I’m guessing if we’re close enough for you to be reading this, that you’re tired too. And I want to say, very clearly: I’m with you. I am. This is not meant to be a ch
Read more

Phoebe - One Year

A year ago today I lost one of the greatest loves of my life. Phoebe Search was bright, hilarious, deeply sensitive, and stubbornly joyful. She loved to sing at the top of her lungs, preferably for an audience. She loved adventure and mischief and philosophy and psychology and pop culture and garbage TV and smut. God, she loved smut. In delightful contrast, she was her best around children, and loved all of them, including her own, with the special ferocity of a mother who cherishes every fart and runny nose. She wanted nothing more than to shelter and protect their innocence from all the hardest parts of life.   She’d seen more than her fair share. She knew loss and rejection and horrors I wish no soul ever had to endure. People she loved sometimes brutally hurt her. Physical and mental anguish were familiar guests in her body. But she was also a powerful force for survival and flourishing against the odds. She survived all kinds of suffering to live and laugh and dress up for ano
Read more