Thursday, September 23, 2010

Getting it Done

Yesterday was all about this:

“Don’t get it right, just get it written.” (James Thurber)

Because really, that's what's it all about (for me).

I use the same philosophy for my blog posts and my newspaper column.

JUST WRITE SOMETHING.

Then, come back and fix it.
I usually come up short on my manuscripts because I just get it all down on the page.

And it's ugly.

Then, I come back and add all of the delicious layers to make it sing.

How about you?

27 comments:

Unknown said...

I like doing this, too. Just getting something down on paper can sometimes help creativity.

Christine Fonseca said...

HA! Amen sista!!!

Meredith said...

This is so my writing style: I make myself just put everything on the page, even if it's horrible writing or the scenes aren't connected or whatever. Then I go back and fill everything in, and my manuscript almost doubles in size. It's amazing.

JE said...

Oh, yeah. That's me! It's cuz I'm a panster. LoL.

I just need to get the story down--get it out of my head--and then I fix all those other nasty problems (which is like pulling teeth).

~JD

Unknown said...

Yup same here. I'll throw as many words on a page as possible and then go back and rearrange them.

Andrea Mack said...

I wish I could do that. It's hard to fight the urge to go back and make everything perfect before I move on to the next paragraph.

Stina said...

I'm that same. Fortunately I don't mind editing (love it, actually). It's writing the first draft that I dislike.

LisaDay said...

Yup. I struggle with the lead (first sentence) in the article, then let it flow. Then I come back and edit the bejeezes out of it.

LisaDay

Laura S. said...

Yup, I love that quote! I like just getting the story down on the page. Once I have the story built, it's a lot more manageable to decorate!

Dawn Embers said...

Great post.

When I first started doing novel length, they were coming up short. I'm not big on writing description and such, so all the extra details end up in rewrites.

My YA only had 24k in the first draft. Yikes. I'm having to more than double it in the rewrite but it's going well. The other novel I finished had just over 50k, written during nanowrimo 2008. However, since I've had a bit of practice, I'm getting longer.

The first draft I finished in April of this year ended up at 90k, where it needs to be. We'll see if the next couple novels follow the long enough trend or fall short.

Unknown said...

With fall in full effect I finally opened the very first story I'd written in January and have officially begun to re-write... why?

Because for once it felt right.

This morning I my head was getting the better of me, now I've calmed my thoughts and plan to write after work. Wish me luck :)

Matthew MacNish said...

I'm sort of the opposite. NOT in the sense that I get it right the first time, not even close, but more in the sense of I have to prune, cut, and sever entire chapters in order to get down to the good parts.

In other words I just write WAY too much the first time through.

Shallee said...

I'm the same way. I just throw up all over the page, then go back and mop it into a story. I'm just finishing up a first draft right now, and I'm happily contemplating all the crap I can now go make wonderful! I can't wait. :)

Sandy said...

Just getting it done is the problem for me, because my fingers always itch to edit the mess on the page. But I do need the mess to be there first before I can edit it. :)

Elana Johnson said...

Well, I don't call it word vomit for nothing. Mine's so messy. So yeah. I'm with you.

Amparo Ortiz said...

I usually write crap on the first run (when I say usually, I mean a-l-w-a-y-s). Unlike some writers, I love editing, and getting feedback from my crit group or betas. So yeah, fixing is more fun than writing crap :)

K. M. Walton said...

Anne Lamott calls it a "shitty first draft" and says that we have a right to a shitty first draft because the hard part is getting from brain to paper.

Stephanie Faris said...

I'm definitely not an 'edit as I go' type of person. I get it all down, then go back and gut it and redo it!

Misha Gerrick said...

I'm ALL about getting it done.

I write on paper with pens so that I can't even edit anything I've written.

It's challenging, since I have to roll with the punches thrown my way by my muse, but it also means that I get a lot more done than when I'm constantly scrolling back to edit and add in...

Nicole Zoltack said...

Me! That's so me. You can't polish the story until it's written.

Lourie said...

Git-R-Done! Sheesh. I like that. Maybe I should try it.

Maddy said...

Loving your approach!! I just put it off until I can't any longer :o/

Little Ms J said...

Timely inspiration, love. I need to get some stinking words on some freaking paper.

Unknown said...

That's how i do it. I put all my thoughts down and keep writing till i am exhausted Then, i go through it all, have quite a laugh and of course, do it right.
Great post!

Kim VS said...

Good advice for me right now. I'm going through a bit of a dry spell. I used to want my words to sing from the moment they appeared on my computer screen, but I end up changing so much of it anyway. I'm spending so much time mulling...

Sharlene T. said...

I like throwing it all down at one time, but have discovered a very big change in the past few years. I use dictation software called NaturallySpeaking and just tell my story. Somehow, and maybe it's because I'm also hearing the words, the article seems to come out much cleaner. I still have to edit but there seems to be less grammatical error. Kind of funny, don't you think?

Tina L. Hook said...

I am learning this is the best policy but not always easy to do. It takes some discipline.