I spent an hour yesterday on chapter 1 of North Country Quest and wrote 44 words, of which 22 are going to be moved to the preface, and the rest are junk.
Why am I so slow? It's all part of the writing process. I listened to part of the tape again. I made two additional false starts and deleted them as horrible. I looked up the section of this hike on the map and read the description. I opened my mapping software and tried to find the name of a creek where I ate lunch (it has no name). I spent some time just getting the memories of that hike arranged in my head. Some were very clear, and others I had to work on.
I've had the name of this chapter, "Meanders and Undulations," settled since the date of the hike (October 2003). It's a phrase taken from the actual trail map description, and it's a perfect lead-in to the second half of my meandering journey along the North Country Trail.
But the next step, getting a catchy opening on to paper (screen), isn't that simple. I think maybe I've got an idea now. We'll see if I can get somewhere with that today.
This first chapter not only has to be an essay about the particular hike, but be an opener to the entire second volume, so it needs to be GOOD.
2 comments:
Someone long ago (maybe Tom Huggler?) shared a piece of advice with me that basically suggested I not worry about the intro to an article until I finished it. Just get something down and keep it moving. He said when you go back you often find your intro 2 or 3 paragraphs into the piece. I found this to be pretty much right on. Hang in there!
Bruce- that works for some things, but these chapters as essays each have to have a theme, and I have to have that clear in my head before I can get them going. Thanks for your continued interest!
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