WRITING is like….
Have you ever thought that writing is much like a carpenter putting together a building from scratch, beginning with the tree? Or maybe like a quilter assembling the pieces of her next masterpiece?
Creative work of every kind reminds me of the WRITING process!
Please meet Lynda. I have known her for many years. Since her husband’s death eighteen years ago, she has continued her life-long enjoyment of sewing.
Lynda now has a team of local women who create purses to sell. All of the money is sent to Samaritan’s Purse which reaches around the world, drilling water wells, feeding people and so much more.
Please also meet Mary, a former professional banker. I’ve never met her but I call her Aunt Mary since she is an aunt to two of my friends, is a single lady and an aunt to over 90 family members. Now, at age 95, she continues doing what she loves most — sewing! Many donate fabric to her endeavors as she creates dresses for African children through Little Dresses for Africa. She has created over 6500 dresses!
What do carpenters, Lynda and Aunt Mary have to do with writing?
Don’t similar principles apply to any art or craft?
First, The IDEA IS SPARKED — the writers, sewers, carpenters, all creative people have a thought, a spark of an idea that could turn into something quite splendid as it goes out into the world.
Second, PLOTTING and PLANNING are next. What do we want our ‘work’ to look like? Our minds are inwardly busy.
As we go about our normal daily activities, we find ourselves thinking about our writing project. Aunt Mary and Lynda experience this every day as they take the SPARK of an IDEA and plan to bring it to reality, picturing in their minds what they will create.
Third, they CHOOSE THE FABRIC OR MATERIALS that they want to use for their projects. We choose words, photos and phrases we might want to use in our piece. They choose fabric pieces.
We chose word pieces.
Fourth, ORGANIZATION is of utmost importance as we gather photos, phrases, research and notes. Aunt Mary and Lynda organize their space with thread, scissors and all that is needed in an orderly manner; everything they need is within easy reach. We need to organize well, too., keeping physical files or computer files in order, ready to use.
Fifth, we LAY OUT the work, reading over the VERY rough draft — does it make sense? Is it too short, too long, too disjointed? We include the parts we have been thinking about, the words that will eventually look like a completed piece. For Lynda and Aunt Mary, too, they lay out the fabric with the pattern, randomly at first, ready to turn into something new.
Sixth, REARRANGING words, phrases and photos comes next for us as the pieces create a cohesive flow from beginning to end. For the sewers, they get the pieces arranged to be pleasing to the eye.
Seventh, CUTTING is next! If there was no cutting, there would be no dresses or purses, just unformed pieces of fabric. For writers, cutting is a VERY important step, too. Without cutting, there may be too many thoughts, too many words, the wrong words or a jumbled mess of thoughts.
Eighth, STITCHING TOGETHER the pieces would come next. In the sewing world as well as the writing world, stitching must be even, flowing smoothly from beginning to end, without gaps, neatly joined.
The stitching together of words is an amazing creative endeavor!
Ninth, PRESSING OPEN the seams on dresses and purses would be the next important step. For writers, that may mean ‘pressing’ them into a file, letting them sit for a few hours or days until, with fresh eyes, one can go back and look to see what was created.
Tenth, it’s time for COMPLETION of the project. Is more needed — straps for a purse, buttons for a dress or more research details for a writing project?
Writing is a long, involved process, isn’t it?
When completed, your writing is all YOUR CREATION and you want it to be as perfect as possible, saying exactly what you meant it to say.
WHERE WILL IT BE SENT?
Just as any creative endeavor, it begs to be shared.
We know that Lynda’s purses go out to be sold. Dresses go to Africa. Your writing has an entire world, too, which could benefit from your words, your thoughts, your story, your poem.
Take time deciding WHERE. For our purpose, medium.com is a perfect choice!
Your words may be of help to only one person but that’s one person more than if you or I would have kept the pen, the keyboard and ‘voice’ silent.
Let’s put our ‘story’ out into the world to see what will happen.
Thank you for reading.
Julie KingGood Deb Palmer Lu Skerdoo Wire Editor Newman Walter Kahler Nancy Blackman, MASF Black Autistic Woman Thriving Chris Raymond Julie Ranson Orla K. Ray Day Douglas Lim Lee Douma Amy Faith Martin arthur al paul roemer Julie Katherine John Ross Halo Star Karen Vizzard Your NativeFriend Christopher M Bell Ann Litts Nancy Peckenham Grace Hepburn John O'Neill Diana Meresc Reed Justice Fox in the snow Oviela Gurpreet Dhariwal Ceren İzmir Milana Marsenich Rustam Seerat Jessica Epstein Aaron Taylor
