tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post6433370221593548606..comments2023-12-26T23:07:08.005-08:00Comments on TOMORROWVILLE: You Ought to Have Your Head Examined, Part IDavid Isaakhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-62641442345061737512007-04-16T22:28:00.000-07:002007-04-16T22:28:00.000-07:00Well, the plus about having to care about those ir...Well, the plus about having to care about those irrelevant things like friends, family, health, volunteer work, and potted plants, is that you can steal lots of material from them. (Yes. Even the potted plants.)Jake Jessonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06834903087805267419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-37117745669796785992007-03-24T07:51:00.000-07:002007-03-24T07:51:00.000-07:00I would say though that some of the earlier revisi...I would say though that some of the earlier revision of the book was in, let's call it, pondered response to comments made by editors who turned it down. there was a general consensus that one part simply wasn't needed and eventually I let myself hear it.Charles Lamberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18074227813367594283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-90629958539426139072007-03-23T09:59:00.000-07:002007-03-23T09:59:00.000-07:00A good editor is the best thing that can happen to...A good editor is the best thing that can happen to a writer. Unfortunately, to get one you typically have to have written a book they want to publish...which would have probably been a better book had they asked their questions earlier...David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-59251752464805187552007-03-19T11:57:00.000-07:002007-03-19T11:57:00.000-07:00Right now I'm working on the final draft of a nove...Right now I'm working on the final draft of a novel that's due out early next year. The original version was something like 125,000 words long. The final one will probably be around 73,000. I haven't thrown away almost half the book by myself; I've had the help of an extraordinary (no irony intended) editor, who's asked me exactly the questions I should have asked myself, but didn't, because I was too in love with my writing to imagine who might be reading. <BR/><BR/>It's taken me so long to sell the book that I'm no longer emotionally dependent on every deathless word, and I'm actually enjoying removing entire chapters that caused me both anguish and joy as I wrote them but are now, I have to face up to it, redundant. Editing yourself is hell, but you can learn so much from the work another person (a very good <I>reader</I>)does on your writing.<BR/><BR/>Believe me, I'm not normally this humble.Charles Lamberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18074227813367594283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-50701576933066652022007-03-18T19:00:00.000-07:002007-03-18T19:00:00.000-07:00Well, Mr. Thayer, that's about the most rational r...Well, Mr. Thayer, that's about the most rational reason I've ever heard for writing. <BR/><BR/>But wouldn't it be faster and easier to dig a pool with a teaspoon (or your fingernails) and then plaster it yourself with limestone hand-hewn from some ancient waterchannel in a far desert? Keep it simple, I say.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-76958633305206084622007-03-18T17:30:00.000-07:002007-03-18T17:30:00.000-07:00It dawned on me while reading your post that I rea...It dawned on me while reading your post that I really want a pool. Not an inflatable either but a regular pool with tile and ladders and a deep end. I will float on this pool regardless of the inclement weather until surrounded by manuscript pages before sinking beneath the waves (artificial waves).<BR/>That's why I write. I want a pool.David Thayerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02914916959957388178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-80437229062084101812007-03-18T11:22:00.000-07:002007-03-18T11:22:00.000-07:00Hi, Cate!You raise an interesting point. Maybe wri...Hi, Cate!<BR/><BR/>You raise an interesting point. Maybe writers aren't made crazy by writing, but can tolerate it BECAUSE they are already crazy? I remember Ray Bradbury asserting that they great thing about writing was tha it gave his mood swings somewhere to go.<BR/><BR/>As to why we write...ooooh, I'm not sure I want to go there just yet. Even if it IS Sunday. <BR/><BR/>Why do you think you write?David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-42999350019485215272007-03-18T11:10:00.000-07:002007-03-18T11:10:00.000-07:00Hi DavidI absolutely agree with all this.However, ...Hi David<BR/>I absolutely agree with all this.<BR/>However, I think writing has helped keep me sane and helped me deal with the shitty stuff that happens in life a lot better, (though of course I can't prove that) but it's the being creative that's the important thing.<BR/><BR/>I do writing workshops in mental health situations sometimes, and just giving people permission to be creative, proves enormously up-lifting... whether it's something they make up, or whether it's something true a memory or whatever... though of course what we make up is often as revealing as... and also I agree that it's only a book, even if it did spring from something in our lives... why do we write anyway? Is it to get attention? Or to impart something about life to other people? Oh God, it's Sunday isn't it? I always get philosophical!<BR/>Keep on blogging!<BR/>Catecate sweeneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17252667817332240354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8371628584376797540.post-5634447970977263172007-03-18T10:21:00.000-07:002007-03-18T10:21:00.000-07:00Well said. Writing = the definition of insanity. S...Well said. Writing = the definition of insanity. So true.Jeremy Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11254147824518501318noreply@blogger.com