This essay is really hard to write
May 23, 2007 Writing
I hope I figure out what I’m saying soon.
I love editing so much more than getting things on paper the first time. You know what’s helping? I told a writing friend what it was about after she commented on an earlier entry and she cheered me on.
I used to think writers were meant to be solitary but I was wrong.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Cheer cheer! And I can never be a solitary writer, either.
May 24th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Aw, buddy, I’m sorry you felt alone in this. I just chatted up a writer friend of mine after AGONIZING over a small, barely-paying piece. I wanted to quit writing forever but instead called her. She told me she recently heard fabulous storyteller Anna Quindlen say she hates to write — but she loves having written. And so it is with all of us. I’m with Susan. I could never be a solitary writer either.
May 24th, 2007 at 9:51 am
I tell my students when they are having trouble writing a paper to sit down and write a letter to a friend telling her/her ABOUT the paper. Complain about how difficult it is to write, about what you think you are going to write about it, what you think you want to say about it.
Then print the letter, allow to sit for one to two days, and re-read. I assure them the bulk of the paper is probably there.
They tell me it generally works.