Imagine the start of a new writing project, but … (drum roll, please), you already have all the words you need. You’d never be plagued by writer’s block because … you already have all the words! Your short story, essay, poem, novel already has all the words it needs.
If true, how wonderfully encouraging.
The tough part for me, though, is not just banging the side of my head until the words come out, but also remembering that they don’t always come out in the correct order.
Yup, all the words are there. Sometimes, though, it can feel like opening an Ikea box full of planks, screws and plastic doo-dads. Once assembled, it will either look like an office desk or abstract sculpture. It just depends on how you rearrange the pieces.
In my last post I mentioned the agony I suffered when I tried to come up with a one-line pitch under 20 words. Birth pains relating to creativity is part of my process. It took a while for me to find them, but in the end, all the words were there. Once I put them on paper, I thought I was finally ready for a pre-conference practice pitch session. How awesome is that? Allowing conference attendees an opportunity to try out their pitches ahead of time?
I knew it was coming up, and I was pumped. I had everything I needed except the Zoom link which would come in an email. It arrived the day before the pitch session, along with something else; these startling words: “Bring a 50-word summary and the first line of your pitch.”
NOOOOOOO!!!!!
All morning, the day before the session, I tried to shake some words loose. I even tilted my head and hopped on one foot. The words refused to come. I huffed, I puffed, I gnashed my teeth and thought mean thoughts. If I’d had ashes, I might have taken my sister’s advice and dumped some on my head. Suffering was, after all, my process.
During our afternoon walk that day, I vented to my significant other about the short notice I’d received and how it’s a scientific fact that a person’s brain can explode when it’s given limited time to boil a novel’s summary into 50 words. I finished my melodramatic soliloquy with the lament, “I hate my process!”
My partner deadpanned, “I do too.”
To which I replied, “But you’ll still let me whine about it, right?”
He laughed and said, “Sure.”
No summary ideas came to me that night. My only hope was that while I slept, I’d get a visit from the Creative Inspiration Fairy. She happens to be second cousin to the Tooth Fairy. And like the Tooth Fairy who doesn’t always remember to show up, I woke the next morning with nothing.
At 8 AM, the morning of my session, I stuffed a tiny notebook and a pen in my pocket and took a walk. Gradually, a few descriptive words came out, followed by a promising phrase or two. After the 45-minute walk I found my words. I settled down with my notes and my laptop. By 10 AM I had a 49-word summary. The pitch practice session, at 11 AM, went well. I only had to tweak one sentence.
That’s the magic of words.
They’re always there. We just need to find ways to get them to fall out of our heads, in whatever process that works. When they do come out, it’s all right if they’re not in the correct order. That’s what editing is for.
I haven’t written about my experience at the PennWriters Conference that took place May 14 – 16, 2021 yet, but during that one, I had a pitch session with an editor. I pitched a different novel to her. She invited me to submit the first three chapters and a synopsis. After my usual process, I sent her my submission. This past Thursday I received a request for the entire manuscript. After a quick proofread, I emailed the manuscript on Friday morning.
If you ever get an opportunity to attend a writer conference, please do so. It’s the perfect place to meet editors and agents to pitch your projects. All you need to do is remember …
The words are always there.
P.S. -It’s not too late to register for the virtual Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference that will take place June 24-26, 2021.