Writing Hot

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"An Itty Bitty Column on Writing" by Mindy Phillips Lawrence
From Sharing with Writers (Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
March 13, 2009
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There’s an old song called “It’s Too Darned Hot.” I think writers can get that way at times when they write. When we are so “in the zone” working on a story that we forget where we are headed – or gallop out into la-la land – it might be time to draw back a little and view the landscape.

I was writing on my book last night and was hot as can be writing the story. When I drew back a little, I realized I’d lost my bearings. Today I took some time to read what I had down and figure out where the story was headed (no this is NOT over-editing what you’ve written and stopping dead in your tracks. It’s just a caesura – a pregnant pause).

Now, I know many writers write to a hard and fast outline. I write with a sentence-based, what-if concept that probably won’t work for anyone but me. Feel free to give it a try and jettison the whole idea if it doesn’t work for you.

By all means have fun with your story. If you prefer to gallop ahead and jump over that cliff at the end, go right ahead. There might be some cool ideas at the bottom.

I think I’ll stop short of that cliff and see if I can build a bridge.