Thursday, August 24, 2017

Word by Word


I sometimes wish that every time I sat down to write that the words would flow effortlessly and be as beautiful as I can make them.  I have had moments like this but far more I have writing projects that were wrenched word by word onto the page.  Those days when my words have balked and stalled and caused me to despair used to be frequent.  I still write slow but I don’t fret as much.  I sometimes have to be satisfied with sentences and paragraphs that I know will not end up on the final draft.  It just is.  I’ve done this before, and I will again and in the end I will be satisfied.  I recognize that word by word is maybe more valuable to a writer than the effortless flow.  Steady work will get me further than any sprint.  I get it.  But I do like the tumble of ideas, the leaping of connections, the phrases that sing, the flow.