August 25, 2010

because false starts drive me CRAZY...

i have to read quotes like this one to be reminded...

Good rewriting demands easy, unhurried tinkering with words. Each unsuccessful try eliminates another wrong solution and leads you to the right one. I can’t emphasize too strongly how important this is, the fact that writing leads to writing, that failed attempts lead to eventual success, that the solution to a rewriting problem is made up of all the attempts that led nowhere.

The trouble is that when you’re just beginning to write, you may believe that words committed to paper are sacred, fixed, immutable. But you’re not dealing with a finished, printed, copyrighted book, only with an idea, a pile of words that will change many times before they take shape as a book. ~Dorothy Bryant


do they drive you crazy?

4 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

It's a little maddening knowing what I am writing now may not live to the final product.

Michelle Gregory said...

exactly.

Anonymous said...

I often encourage myself with a favorite anonymous quote: "The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you didn't write." Writing is rewriting, and I'm always MUCH happier with a story once it's been through the proverbial wringer a few times (and is much better because of it).

Michelle Gregory said...

Milo- i am too, but it's still a pain in the butt to me.