The Process—When to Share

Writers are challenged with so much—invention, composition, organization, style. Accuracy and honesty. Trimming and developing.  Most of us begin that process alone at a desk, with only the voice in our heads directing decisions. Too seldom do we share and seek feedback early, or regularly, in the writing process.

In his book, On Writing, Stephen King’s often quoted advice tells writers to “write with the door closed and rewrite with the door open.”

                                                         Photo by Anna Delores

We write with the door closed to the chatter of others’ ideas and perspectives. In the first-person travel essay, for example, the writer needs solitude to properly re-experience the subject of the writing. We need to take our minds back to the thwack of the soccer ball in a small Roman neighborhood, the languorous stroll of daily life in a South Pacific village, the vapors, odors, and garlicky aromas of Manhattan.

Then, when the writing is drafted—the stuff in our minds dumped onto the page—we (and each of us in our own way)—re-read and revise. But, before we alter the initial effort too much, it’s time to share with people we trust.

Most of us need first readers who can comment objectively on the writing—tell us the parts that provoke, that resonate, that sing. We need these readers as well, to point out the muddle or confusion, the parts that need clarity or deleting. Most emerging writers need someone to point out what to keep, what to dump and what to develop.

Then the writer returns to the work room, closes the door and revises—that most pleasurable of activities when we can focus on the clarity of experience and the meaning to be made of it. 

Craft, Craft, Craft—Bird by Bird

My all-time favorite recommendation for a book on craft is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. If you read just one book on craft, read this one. Lamott is very funny, creates terrific images and gives pointed advice. She models an intimate and natural  first person narrative nonfiction voice, telling stories to make her points, surprising the reader with originality. Her writing is not at all elevated; she’s right down there scratching in the dirt and finding old, valuable coins.

She has comforted beginning writers everywhere with her “Shitty First Drafts” concept.  Here’s some of her wisdom:  A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.

She’s a huge proponent of being kind to oneself—an idea that's sometimes hard to remember.