This commitment to share something small every day is kinda scary. It doesn't give you the luxury of tucking something into your drawer for two weeks and then coming back to it to decide if it lives or dies. This is like, BAM! You have to throw it out there naked and bloody like a cut of beef freshly off the carcass that hasn't been washed or had the fat trimmed off.
So, I've come back to an old piece, a couple in fact. This one in particular is short, less than 600 words. It came out of a journal entry. I'd decided to write about whatever came to mind after taking my dogs for their daily walk. I was supposed to do that for a week or a month or whatever. I did it this one time and then forgot about it, but I felt quite inspired by where it went. That is to say that I liked it until I shared it with my significant other who was uncomfortable with the content. I'll admit that I felt insecure about it after that and put it aside. When I came back to it, I liked it so here I am. I think it might be completed but I hesitate to post it yet cause what if it's not? I'm not certain it's done being cured. How does one know for sure? Where is the thermometer to use to measure how well done it is?
I have this eagerness to post that I am learning to hold back. Oh, what a difference 24 hours can make in how I view something I've written. I may be on a kind of adrenaline high when I've been in flow and I know I've touched on something true, but that feeling can taint my perspective. 24 hours later I may come back to the same piece and go, What was I thinking? It smells like something good to eat but the juices are not yet clear. So that is where I am right now with that piece. I don't have a working thermometer and I'm not certain if the bird is cooked!
So, I've come back to an old piece, a couple in fact. This one in particular is short, less than 600 words. It came out of a journal entry. I'd decided to write about whatever came to mind after taking my dogs for their daily walk. I was supposed to do that for a week or a month or whatever. I did it this one time and then forgot about it, but I felt quite inspired by where it went. That is to say that I liked it until I shared it with my significant other who was uncomfortable with the content. I'll admit that I felt insecure about it after that and put it aside. When I came back to it, I liked it so here I am. I think it might be completed but I hesitate to post it yet cause what if it's not? I'm not certain it's done being cured. How does one know for sure? Where is the thermometer to use to measure how well done it is?
I have this eagerness to post that I am learning to hold back. Oh, what a difference 24 hours can make in how I view something I've written. I may be on a kind of adrenaline high when I've been in flow and I know I've touched on something true, but that feeling can taint my perspective. 24 hours later I may come back to the same piece and go, What was I thinking? It smells like something good to eat but the juices are not yet clear. So that is where I am right now with that piece. I don't have a working thermometer and I'm not certain if the bird is cooked!
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