Wednesday
Apr092008
She Makes a Way
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 01:07AM
"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."
- Oscar Wilde
***
I've finally caught a bit of a wave with my writing this week. It's been one of the more draining periods of my life, just busy, busy, sleepless busy, and trying to find the time to write has been tough. Trying to gather my thoughts and let them take their course to the melodies hasn't even stood a chance.
But it's starting to happen now. Like all the good periods seem to do, I worked and worked and worked and nothing was good, then a song popped out in a half an hour that was good. Then tonight I slaved over revisions, building and destroying intricate choruses until I gave up and went downstairs to work out. I came back upstairs later, listened through the work tape and the chorus I was wanting just showed up. Actually, it wasn't what I was wanting, it's what the song was wanting.
I'm learning that, in this process, what I want to happen in a tune is very rarely the thing that needs to happen. Sometimes it's immediate, sometimes you have to exhaust every option, but at some point the elusive thing shows up. And usually it's so simple. It was right there. You just had to stop looking for it.
- Oscar Wilde
***
I've finally caught a bit of a wave with my writing this week. It's been one of the more draining periods of my life, just busy, busy, sleepless busy, and trying to find the time to write has been tough. Trying to gather my thoughts and let them take their course to the melodies hasn't even stood a chance.
But it's starting to happen now. Like all the good periods seem to do, I worked and worked and worked and nothing was good, then a song popped out in a half an hour that was good. Then tonight I slaved over revisions, building and destroying intricate choruses until I gave up and went downstairs to work out. I came back upstairs later, listened through the work tape and the chorus I was wanting just showed up. Actually, it wasn't what I was wanting, it's what the song was wanting.
I'm learning that, in this process, what I want to happen in a tune is very rarely the thing that needs to happen. Sometimes it's immediate, sometimes you have to exhaust every option, but at some point the elusive thing shows up. And usually it's so simple. It was right there. You just had to stop looking for it.
Reader Comments (2)
I always say that process is like having a baby... you carry it around for a long time, you can take petosin if you want, but in the end, it comes when it wants to.
Anne Lamott talks about this in "Bird By Bird" with respect to writing fiction. Sometimes what you had planned for your characters to do is not what they want to do, and until you stop and listen, you (and they) might never be satisfied with the result.