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Blogs by Robert H Drews
Painting a House
9/6/2021 1:07:07 PM
It's a metaphor, actually
Have you painted the outside of your house? I have, three times, top to bottom, on a ladder, on my knees, squished down along the foundation, to get at the walls, trim, pipes, along the eaves, and under them. And just as important as pouring the paint and wielding the roller, brush, or sprayer is doing the grunt work, scraping off the peeling, filling the holes, and washing away the dirt and the cobwebs. Only after that preparation can you get down to business.
Writing is a lot like that, I think. Before you put down a sentence or paragraph comes the important prep work, taking notes and constructing words and synonyms and antonyms, sentences and situations and conversations in your head. It may get tedious but is never time wasted. Before I start a chapter, my desk drawer is full of scraps of paper with ideas and phrases and moods and characters and situations, likewise the notes I enter on the Word document on my computer. I don't sit and start writing without a plan or a focus. And on the days when the notes are there but the feeling isn't, I do something else, read a book, or cut the lawn, or water the garden. Writing is not easy but it should be joyful, certainly and at least the final product. My method may not work for everyone, or even for anyone else, but so what. When I finish a chapter, I can't remember a time that I wasn't happy with it, and as important, with the work and spade work that got me there.
Stay well, everyone, and God bless.
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More Blogs by Robert H Drews
• You're Healthy Until ... - Thursday, December 19, 2024
• Readers? Who Cares? - Saturday, January 6, 2024
• The Freedom of Writing and Reading - Wednesday, August 2, 2023
• Why I Write, Really - Tuesday, July 4, 2023
• Novel as an Autobiography - Monday, June 26, 2023
• The Children, Part 9 - Monday, May 15, 2023
• The Children, Part 8 - Friday, April 28, 2023
• Open End or Closed End - Friday, April 21, 2023
• The Children, Part 7 - Monday, February 13, 2023
• Shoveling Snow - Thursday, January 19, 2023
• O Christmas Tree, Our Christmas Tree - Wednesday, January 4, 2023
• The Joy of Writing - Monday, January 2, 2023
• Book Clubs - Thursday, December 22, 2022
• Why Do We Do This? - Thursday, December 8, 2022
• Happy Thanksgiving - Tuesday, November 22, 2022
• Keep the Faith - Tuesday, November 8, 2022
• Keeping the Faith - Monday, October 31, 2022
• The Children, Part 6 - Wednesday, October 19, 2022
• Home Is Where the Heart Is - Wednesday, September 21, 2022
• The Children, Part 5 - Wednesday, August 31, 2022
• The Children, Part 4 - Wednesday, August 10, 2022
• The Children, Part 3 - Thursday, July 21, 2022
• The Children, Part 2 - Wednesday, May 25, 2022
• The Children - Monday, May 9, 2022
• Reading Your Writing - Monday, April 18, 2022
• Downside of Writing - Monday, February 14, 2022
• Getting Your Legs Under You - Wednesday, February 2, 2022
• Don't Think Too Much - Tuesday, January 18, 2022
• A New Kid on the Block - Thursday, January 13, 2022
• Get Rhythm - Monday, January 10, 2022
• Good Wishes - Friday, December 24, 2021
• Why? - Sunday, December 19, 2021
• Age - Friday, December 10, 2021
• Imitation... - Monday, December 6, 2021
• A Beautiful Land - Friday, November 12, 2021
• It's All About the Heart - Tuesday, November 9, 2021
• Painting a House - Monday, September 6, 2021
• Good Books - Saturday, September 4, 2021
• Prayer and Meditation - Tuesday, August 31, 2021
• Look on the Dim Side - Monday, July 26, 2021
• Putting the Story Together - Monday, July 19, 2021
• Words - Saturday, July 10, 2021
• The Beat Goes On - Saturday, June 26, 2021
• Let Us Pause - Wednesday, May 12, 2021
• That Crappy First Draft - Tuesday, May 11, 2021
• Writer's Schlock - Wednesday, May 5, 2021
• The Obsession (Compulsion?) of Writing - Monday, April 12, 2021
• To Write or Not to Write--This Is a Question? - Wednesday, April 7, 2021
• The Risk of Writing - Monday, March 22, 2021
• Writing and Reading - Monday, February 15, 2021
• Why Do We Write? - Thursday, February 11, 2021
• The Waiting Game - Friday, February 5, 2021
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