So True … So True
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
“They only let you get but so far before they take everything away from you.”
Archive for the ‘Piece of Mind’ Category
So True … So True
For My Son to See
Thursday, March 12th, 2009
Maybe the best experience in my writing career came in October 2007 and, like the momentary brilliance that’s felt when the words are seamless and beautiful, my satisfaction passed quietly, without being shared. My brother and I stood on a corner about 12th and Walnut, among the cold-metal and glass high-rises, near a pizzeria with checked tablecloths and pulled an Urban Times magazine from a display box. We were on our way to our first concert at the Sprint Center and my article about stalled plans for a light rail system in Kansas City graced the cover. I was in love with the cover. I’d been given a preliminary look at the cover art work weeks before. I remember sitting down to write the story only a few hours before it was due and feeling immense pressure to live up to the billing on the cover and the thousands who would be reading it solely because it was so prominent and so beautiful. Then I managed to write and write furiously, a transference of rail scenes and how everyone else saw the failing initiative. In a few hours, I pounded out the 1,400-word story, the technical language, the commentary from expert sources and city officials I’d spoken to. (more…)
Writing from the Dead
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Alive or dead, I would imagine the honor in a novel or article being accepted for publication would be equally as flattering. Posthumous works are published on name alone (no one decides to publish a piece lying around in an office written by an unknown writer simply because he or she is dead). This month, Time Magazine offers a history of posthumous works from the biggest names in literature: Dickens, Twain, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Austen, Dickinson, and so on. Undoubtedly, the flattery from readers’ clamoring to see more works would be overwhelmed by the letdown in the final piece itself. (more…)
Drafts from the Heart and Head
Sunday, March 8th, 2009
The first draft is written from the heart. The second draft is written with thought. When the heart is uneasy, there is only stunted paragraphs, ill-conceived ideas, and over-beautiful phrases authored by a writer who is trying with force to color his paper with black marks. Words from the struggling writer might as well come from another person – one who has never considered the world, exposed and loved its flaws and has never been discouraged by its most brutal ones, then wanted to tell about it. The mind, then, is reliant on the heart to attach itself to a subject so the words can be unstopped, assuming the writer does the most important step, which is to write. The mind but it still tries to rise when the heart is at work. All that matters in writing begins with the heart. (more…)
Posted on Present
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
Seldom do I go back and read my own work after it’s been printed. Once I am finished with a piece, I leave it behind for good. Any mistakes made by editors and designers, or worse, anything overlooked by the writer that makes it through proofing can ruin a feeling about a story a for me. Yesterday’s post mentioned a story that I reworked for Present Magazine. The link to Power of One was posted today. The page was barely loaded before I clicked to another. The first words in the first paragraph seemed sound – as I intended them, and that was reason enough to assume the rest was flawless. Writing should be about the act; the finished product an afterthought – a coincidence that results from the work and is evidence time was invested. (more…)
