I can’t address my shadow project because I don’t have one, so deep and thrilled I am with a very recently completed first draft. I am obsessed with it, consumed by it.
But I was fascinated, dear Alice, with your comments about your methods and processes of drafting and revising. So generous of you!
One mysterious experience I had just a few days ago went like this: How, I wondered, could one of my characters figure out the connections between two other characters which explains how one of them ends up owning the SeaBreeze, an old hotel-turned-apartment that is the setting for the novel. Then it came to me: that painting, a gift, that I described in a very early scene HAVING NO IDEA AT THE TIME THE PAINTING'S FUNCTION IN THE NOVEL!! How had that happened!? I still don’t know but am very glad and grateful it did.
You make me feel so much better about my writing! I admire your prose so much & feel I could never approach your level of talent. Then you admit your doubts, your criticism of yourself and I feel better. Like, hey, we're not so different after all. Thank you so much, Alice.
Maybe? Part of what makes us writers is that we are good observers. If we are excellent at paying attention to what’s around us why wouldn’t we be able to turn that attention to what is working for our writing? A slight wrinkle in the elite athlete comparison: they either have vast resources or are owned by billionaires; either way they can afford to hire top tier professional support to keep them working at optimum level. We have to be our own support team. But teammates help! So, go, team!
Beautiful essay. I'm glad things are good there, and that you don't have to dump air conditioning condensation water every 3 hours.....Anyway: yes. Shadow book. It's how I work, and have always worked. Sometimes feels distracting, but most of the time I'm very grateful for it.
There are always things to get used to in a new space, but I've adjusted to the physical stuff and am full steam ahead! I used to have five things at a time, and I do have a couple of short things going, but I'm always working on the main project first every day. Growth!
Yes, yes, and the supersecret shadowbook, yes. I have got to say, the carrot and the horse explanation is the most perfect touch and example of zooming in.
about those incredible flashes of zooming in: i feel like trying to figure that out (how to get more moments like that or how to get to them more quickly) is not dissimilar to the way elite athletes try to manage the variables to make it most likely they will succeed at peek levels. what did I eat and how did i sleep and what was i thinking and how many breaths did i take before i did that perfect thing (wrote that perfect paragraph). Yes to writing as an olympic sport!
Yes to everything, and thank you for this. My one-time poetry teacher Sara Michas-Martin encouraged us to "stay in the cave." I notice when scenes aren't doing enough work, there is always another more exciting conversation wanting to emerge. The one I am working this week on went from a somewhat detached discussion of Clara and Robert Schumanns' marriage to the question, important to my characters who are tiptoing into a committed relationship, "What is the balance between how one lives and how one loves?"
Love your ‘in the weeds , telescoping’, rethinking, shadow boxing, revising. I have WAY too many shadows hovering, always hovering! 😵💫 I’ll be re-reading, thinking...Thanks. Kate- new to Substack. I’m enjoying it! sullyarts.Substack
I can’t address my shadow project because I don’t have one, so deep and thrilled I am with a very recently completed first draft. I am obsessed with it, consumed by it.
But I was fascinated, dear Alice, with your comments about your methods and processes of drafting and revising. So generous of you!
One mysterious experience I had just a few days ago went like this: How, I wondered, could one of my characters figure out the connections between two other characters which explains how one of them ends up owning the SeaBreeze, an old hotel-turned-apartment that is the setting for the novel. Then it came to me: that painting, a gift, that I described in a very early scene HAVING NO IDEA AT THE TIME THE PAINTING'S FUNCTION IN THE NOVEL!! How had that happened!? I still don’t know but am very glad and grateful it did.
You make me feel so much better about my writing! I admire your prose so much & feel I could never approach your level of talent. Then you admit your doubts, your criticism of yourself and I feel better. Like, hey, we're not so different after all. Thank you so much, Alice.
My shadow project is called My Imaginary Friend. I’ve had it since the third grade.
Maybe? Part of what makes us writers is that we are good observers. If we are excellent at paying attention to what’s around us why wouldn’t we be able to turn that attention to what is working for our writing? A slight wrinkle in the elite athlete comparison: they either have vast resources or are owned by billionaires; either way they can afford to hire top tier professional support to keep them working at optimum level. We have to be our own support team. But teammates help! So, go, team!
Beautiful essay. I'm glad things are good there, and that you don't have to dump air conditioning condensation water every 3 hours.....Anyway: yes. Shadow book. It's how I work, and have always worked. Sometimes feels distracting, but most of the time I'm very grateful for it.
There are always things to get used to in a new space, but I've adjusted to the physical stuff and am full steam ahead! I used to have five things at a time, and I do have a couple of short things going, but I'm always working on the main project first every day. Growth!
I love thé idea of the shadow book. I’m calling it that too now.
Yes, yes, and the supersecret shadowbook, yes. I have got to say, the carrot and the horse explanation is the most perfect touch and example of zooming in.
about those incredible flashes of zooming in: i feel like trying to figure that out (how to get more moments like that or how to get to them more quickly) is not dissimilar to the way elite athletes try to manage the variables to make it most likely they will succeed at peek levels. what did I eat and how did i sleep and what was i thinking and how many breaths did i take before i did that perfect thing (wrote that perfect paragraph). Yes to writing as an olympic sport!
EXACTLY! Do you think it's possible? I want to teach this to my students.
Yes to everything, and thank you for this. My one-time poetry teacher Sara Michas-Martin encouraged us to "stay in the cave." I notice when scenes aren't doing enough work, there is always another more exciting conversation wanting to emerge. The one I am working this week on went from a somewhat detached discussion of Clara and Robert Schumanns' marriage to the question, important to my characters who are tiptoing into a committed relationship, "What is the balance between how one lives and how one loves?"
You’re doing the yoga of writing, staying present, paying attention to what comes up
Love your ‘in the weeds , telescoping’, rethinking, shadow boxing, revising. I have WAY too many shadows hovering, always hovering! 😵💫 I’ll be re-reading, thinking...Thanks. Kate- new to Substack. I’m enjoying it! sullyarts.Substack
I have two shadow books ... am nearing the end of my “real” project and wondering how to decide!
I can't wait for your real project and am so curious about the others.
Alice, this is a great piece !!