Friday, November 6, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to the new Durham Write-On blog!

Here we will be posting minutes of our meetings, links to interesting articles and events that relate to the world of writing, editing, publishing and more.

3 comments:

  1. I'm calling this 'My Catch-up Day' and have a long list of things to do--some enjoyable, some not. Of course, this is one of the enjoyable tasks. Last Tuesday's meeting was great. Thanks to everyone for the critiques you gave me on Chapter 31 of my novel. I try not to stop writing to make revisions, but it's hard for me. Must be the editor side. The writer side tends to get pushed away too often, but when I do sit down to write and the words flow, (as Chapter 31 did) I love the process!

    The other day, a friend(Fran)recommended a book entitled: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma. She said it was better than The Secret, which we've both read several times. Couldn't find the recommended book at the library or at Chapters so I've ordered it from Amazon.ca. Has anyone read it?

    I have great aspirations to finish my novel and find an agent. Of course, I must finish it first. I think it's more than a third written and I'm pleased with what I have. I wish I could just sit down and write a quick first draft, but I tend to keep going back to revise this and that. I should take Allan's advice and make notes on the page instead of actually revising, but a first draft manuscript is too rough to read to others, so I polish my work before DWO's meetings. Chapter 31 was a second draft and it was much better than the first draft. When I sat down to write chapter 31, I ended up jotting down the conversation between Gordon and Annie, and later went back to add setting and beats. I did it on the computer this time. Usually I write things longhand before trandsferring it to the computer. It saved a lot of time and wasn't too painfull. Time is something we must find to write. We all have busy lives, but writing is in our blood and we shall continue to write and share our work.

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  2. I just finished reading a review of a newly-released compilation of Ernest Hemingway's
    notes and first drafts of stories that were later published. This was apparently put together by his son and grandson, although the reviewer had doubts about the grandson's contribution, apart from monetary. Hemingway apparently agonized over word structure within sentences, paragraphs, etc. and would have been embarrassed to have his raw "firsts" exposed. In his own words,"the first draft of anything is shit." Couldn't have said it better myself. And think how many scribbles Einstein had to make to whittle his theory down to a simple equation. There's nothing simple about anything we value. Be it our own creation or cultivating friendships we cherish - they all require attention and effort in order to blossom.

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  3. I tried to add a post but I can't find it


    Doreen

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