I Really, Really Need to Find 1000 Words of My Own Writing That I Don’t Despise.

by Little Miss Attila on August 21, 2010

Now would be good; the reading party is tomorrow.

Let me guess—many of you find this to be a high-quality problem.

And it is.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

vanderleun August 21, 2010 at 4:33 pm

You want I should lend you some? I’ll never tell.

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vanderleun August 21, 2010 at 4:37 pm

And by the way, one always despises one’s own writing. You have to get bigger and know that only you know all the ways it *could* have been better. Your listeners don’t. The trick is to read it somewhat more slowly than you think is slow. That way it has impact. If it has impact, they’ll like it and the only thing you need for IMPACT is to read it somewhat more slowly than you think is slow.

Trust me on this.

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retriever August 21, 2010 at 5:52 pm

Good luck! It’s corny, but it’s analogous to that bit in the L, the W and the Wardrobe where Aslan asks Peter if he’s read to be King, and Peter says “No”, and that’s the proof that he actually is. I don’t know any writers I like who think their writing is great. Most brood, and flagellate themselves. Clean out their closets or go see somebody they dislike, anything to avoid the muse. Won’t let anyone see it even when they do write something, and are so close to it they see nothing good in it.

I think it’s (groan, feminine metaphor) like needlepoint (which I am too impatient to persist at) where the part you see is the knots, and cut-off ends, and bloodstained wool from where you keep pricking your finger on the the needle as you try to get the blanketty blank thing thru the mesh. A mess. The wrong side. But your readers only see the right side, from the right distance. And admire.

You’ll do great!

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