See the editing process as one of re-vision-- revisiting your original vision for your work and putting all your heart, art and skill into aligning what's on paper with that vision.
As you move through your piece -- whatever it is, whatever its length -- see yourself as a jeweler, delicately etching your rough stone into the gem that reflects the vision your heart has conceived and received, then lovingly polishing it until you achieve the look and texture you desire.
Your vision is the light force of your work, the life force of your work. It's the spirit that is its essence, the breath that keeps it alive. Your vision is your dream for your work, the expression of your intention. It's what guides it, drives it and propels it -- from conception to completion.
The more deeply you stay connected to that vision -- however broadly or specifically you have drawn it -- the more completely the finished piece will remain true to that life force, that dream, that intention. And the truer you will be to the work that has called upon you to commit it to paper and breathe life into it.
• For more information on how to articulate a vision statement for your work, see "Awakening Your Vision" in The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.
I'll be giving a free talk on "The Heartful Art of Revision: An Intuitive Approach to Editing" on Monday, June 9 in Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of the Writer to Writer speaker series. Click here for details.
3 comments:
Wish I was in ABQ. I could do with a bit of inspiration, MDG style. Thankfully, I've got The Voice of the Muse, and this blog.
Was thinking as I continued on a story I had put away for a while how subtle the editing pressure is sometimes. If it doesn't stop you in your tracks, make you virtually crumple up your work as not quite good enough, it drags at your heels, slows you down, creates a sort of self-consciousness that makes you question even as you type. You have to find the vision and hold on to it. I forget that sometimes, think the work is the vision, and wonder why I find myself in the midst of a dark wood of words not sure where I am.
Thanks as always for your wise words.
Hello MDG!, That was inspiring, enlightening and beautifully written.
3 KUDOS!
Hm, getting it on "paper" and then editing/honing the message: it's how I write e-mails, funny enough! Ha! I can now have the courage to write a book; it's just e-mails to a more broad public. *grin*
Thanks, Mark David: I KNEW I'd get a lot outta "subscribing"!
Hugs and bright blessings,
Suze
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