The Best Laid Plans

So far, the process of this blog, and with my more recent short story efforts, can best be described as 'iterative'.  This means, for all practical purposes, you try something, you think it's, well maybe not brilliant but at least pretty good, and then you discover that while it's in the right general direction, or at least one of the possible right directions, it requires just all kinds of changes.  

Sorry for the long sentence.  Art not a science.  Art not a science.  Art not a science.

For this blog, I had originally hoped to be in a position to lay out my experience in a, you know, at least moderately orderly fashion so that you could have a sort of step-by-step unfolding of the early experiences of a newish writer.  Unless the universe begins to unfold very differently than what it has demonstrated so far, this is definitely not to be.

Last night, I took my "Head Hopping" insights back to my gentle and supportive writing group and every last one of those experienced writers said - "Oh, I would not have gone back to correct it, I would have just kept moving forward.  You can always correct it later." Then I heard the example of a 'really good' writer who has been working on the same novel for, it sounded like decades, because she keeps correcting it.  So she has never published this worthy work.

In the end, I did receive a kind of footnoted advice from the group that I needed to do what I really felt I needed to do, regardless of their earlier counsel.  A sort of "A writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do."

There were many other insightful results from the group that I never would have had the chance to consider if I had been working only in splendid isolation.  For instance, when I spoke my defence out loud it sounded a lot less convincing than it had in my head.  And, I was able, with their help, to uncover why I found not having a new entry to read to the group that week so frustrating.

I received two reactions.  The first was - "Well, so you didn't have anything this week.  So you will next or the week after, don't worry about it."  What a great thought that was.

The second was - "You mean you don't have a continuation of that story tonight?  One main reason I braved an April snowstorm to get here tonight was to hear Part Two."  What a great feeling it was to hear that.