My Latest Test…
April 28, 2005 – 10:40 amThis morning I opened up my short story to print it out, only to find I had saved over it with some crap document! The last three days of work gone. Forever!
I called a writing friend. We agree writers lose journals, save over them, destroy them when hard drives crash. I’ve never saved over a document (at least one that is important to me) in my life. Now, when I am ready to go to the next level, I write over the damn the thing!
How delicious and frustrating and wonderful.
Of course I must retrieve the story. No other option exists but to continue.
The story, and all my stories, are still inside me. The whole experience feels very Zen to me. Like pain is inevitable but suffering is optional or something like that….but I am a wee bit annoyed and grateful, too.
Off to excavate the story from my mind….
[Update: 05/04/05 I've finished the story. Like a few of said, it is much better than the version I lost.]
6 Responses to “My Latest Test…”
Perhaps the version was lost in order for you to make space to create another, more perfect version of that story inside yourself.
I’m really getting into “appreciative inquiry” right now, which is a mode of positive organizational scholarship that views change through the lens of “what works”, instead of “what doesn’t work”. In that respect, I feel that the temporary loss of one representation of your story presents an infinite number of other possibilities for you to express that creative energy.
My thoughts are with you! I know you are capable of miraculous things. Go, now, and do…
By Jennifer Gee on Apr 29, 2005
Perhaps so! The story _is_ much better now. More subtle I think and detailed.
The Divine Ms. H declared: “Sometimes you get so stuck looking at the same words in the same order that you can’t see anything different.”
She is too too correct.
On with the story!
By Jay Sennett on May 3, 2005
A friend of mine who has published 11 books once told me to rewrite a story from the other person’s perspective. I protested loudly that I couldn’t, that the story was what was inside the main character’s mind. I whined and fussed and refused for a very long time. But what a difference I found when I did it. Not that it was “better”, but that it added things i could add to the original story. Interesting exercise.
By Sherrill on May 3, 2005
Sherrill,
What a great idea! After your reading your post, I’ve been thinking about the different characters in the story and how to tell their story.
Thanks!
By Jay Sennett on May 4, 2005
Jay,
I’ve actually read books that were collections of short stories or chapters that all were the same story told from different character’s perspectives.
By Sherrill on May 4, 2005
This is a great idea!
Maybe one we should try sometime?
By Jay Sennett on May 5, 2005