Mar 15, 2010

Enjoy the Process

By: Rebecca Irvine

Writing is somewhat of a strange experience. It is very much a head game where parallel worlds of drama and action take place--all unseen by the human eye. Most of what my family and readers see is simply the end product or things that take place after the fact. However, by the time a work is published it has already evolved and matured through a lifetime of changes.

Some ask me about being excited to see my work published, which I heartily agree is satisfying.

But, just to myself, I know being published is not the end all and be all of writing. In the past I have wanted my work to come together with the speed of light. I balked at all of the layers of effort a good piece of writing requires. However, over the years I have come to recognize that the part a writer really has to enjoy in order to keep writing is the process. I have learned to appreciate the time it takes for ideas to hatch and eventually fit into the bigger picture. And then the countless hours of editing and rewriting. Although I do not love them yet, I fully recognize their inherent value. I have become more patient with the words, as well as with myself, as time has gone forward.

So this is my two cent piece of advice today: Writing is a process. Enjoy the ebb and flow of ideas, the evolution of change, and varied efforts it takes to truly write well.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you. I've been editing a monster of a manuscript and I so want to fly through the initial creative zing but I do need to learn to enjoy this part more.

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  2. Thanks Rebecca...great advice, and so well said!
    hugs~

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  3. Sometimes Rebecca as a writer myself I look in the novels I read for the scene that I'll bet the writer loved the most. You can usually tell. And when they are interviewed, it's great to hear them confess oh yes such and such was my fav and know I nailed it.

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