Granted, the first draft only took two months to complete, but I've spent almost the same amount of time revising it. Any thoughts?
Another question that has been plaguing me for some time now is: when do you walk away? My mother keeps referring to my novel as a painting. Too many strokes on the canvas and it's ruined. (She's an Art History graduate - so the metaphor works for her.)
I guess the mark of a great artist is knowing the exact time to sit back and say, "Finito!" ... or something like that. How does that happen? Do the words start to glow and rise up off of the page? Does the choir of angels begin to sing? Does your computer crash and the only draft left is buried in a random file on your external hard drive?
Hmm... (imagine me pondering like Rodin's "The Thinker")
Hmmm.... how to imagine you pondering like Rodin's 'The Thinker'? Wait a minute.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know me, but I'm okay with that. I feel that I'm in your boat, or perhaps my own boat on the same lake. I'm at the stage right now, where my family and friends have forbid me to touch my manuscript without one of them around to talk me off my writer's ledge. I'm not sure if I'll ever reach an end stage, but I'm definitely not allowed to attempt it without supervision.
ReplyDeleteHa! I was so afraid TO blog because I had the same exact question ... I say do a blog once a week. Then you'll have three a month. That's what I'm going to try to stick to. Michael Varma has convinced me to get my blogs rolling....
ReplyDelete