Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Look, I Know This Is Boring, But....

I know it's boring when I post while I'm writing, but it actually helps me to keep plowing ahead. Makes the writing less alienating and lonely and all that. It also means that I'm taking breaks that keep me thinking about the task at hand, rather than, I don't know, doing something totally disconnected.

The revision today got off to a bit of a bumpy start. First of all, I hadn't realized that I'd actually gone through the draft and made actual notes for revision at some point this spring. This was a help, ultimately, but it was a bit disconcerting to encounter a marked up draft that I hadn't realized I'd marked up. Second, I really hadn't realized clearly until today how right the Mean Reviewer was about some problematic crappy theorizing I was doing. I've done what I think is solid revision of the first six pages of the draft, and I do feel like I'm getting into a groove. The problem is, I do think I may need to cut massive portions of the essay in order really to polish it, and I am really resistant to doing that. There's a reason why I wanted to write about all this shit, yo, and I'm really reluctant to cut whole portions. Don't worry: I'll do it ultimately if it's necessary, but wow do I not want to do so. I do think that the reworking of the first six pages was some of the hardest work I'll have to do - and in fact I'd probably make my life a whole lot easier from this point if I just forced myself to cut some sections in their entirety. Gah. I hate when I fight with myself this way.

The problem is that I'm trying to talk about four novels in the space of one journal article. Now, I'm only talking about a teeny tiny piece of the four novels, so this did make sense when I originally decided to do it. It's just, now, I don't know. If I flesh out all the shit that I just skimmed past, I don't know that there's room. But the part that would be easiest and most reasonable to cut is the part that really is the most interesting and original, if only I can get it right. Maybe I need a snack. Yes. I think a snack, and then two more solid hours of work, and then I'll call it quits for the day.

1 comment:

Bavardess said...

I enjoy reading about your writing process - it helps me feel my writing quirks are quite normal. I, too, have never been successful with the standard advice of 'writing for an hour every morning', or 'writing 15 minutes a day'. Having to cut is always painful. I hope the muse visits and you're able to bring things to a satisfactory conclusion!