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.
