Ain't we lucky we got 'em?

[pjthompson]

"Art feeds our insides, our jobs feed our outsides—and both can starve."

—Lucille Clifton, NPR interview


The sole purpose of this quote popping out of the quote file on this particular morning seems to be to remind me why I am happy to be working. I like to eat. And have a roof over my head, even if it is owned by someone else.

good times

WHITEWmy daddy has paid the rent
and the insurance man is gone
and the lights is back on
and my uncle brud has hit
for one dollar straight
and they is good times
good times
good times

my mama has made bread
and grampaw has come
and everybody is drunk
and dancing in the kitchen
and singing in the kitchen
of these is good times
good times
good times

oh children think about the
good times

—Lucille Clifton


Writingness of the day: I think I've figured out my psyche's relationship to the Muse of Short Stories. It can best be summed up as, "There! I've written a short story! Are you happy? Leave me alone! Don't make me think about it anymore!"

(Yes, there really are all those exclamations marks in my head.)

"Making better" is painful to me when it comes to shorter pieces. I don't have anything like that attitude when it comes to novels. I put on my hip boots and wade right in. But with shorts, I'm afraid to even put my little toe in.

This strikes me as very, very odd. But maybe that's changing. The last two stories I've done revisions on haven't been nearly as painful. Perhaps I have finally gotten over myself. At least where short stories are concerned.

Nah, that couldn't be it.

Comments

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

It could be that you know the novels have worked themselves out, and you'll still have pretty much the same story after you've waded in that you had before.

Your shorts, however, seem to like to grow. And when you wade in, you're just giving them another chance to convince you they should be a novel.

[pjthompson]

Your shorts, however, seem to like to grow.

That's for sure. They definitely want to wear long pants.

But seriously, work on "Loose Dogs" and the latest Eudora major rewrite were seriously okay. I didn't feel that sense of impending doom I always feel from shorts, so I think that must be progress. It could also be that I've accepted that shorts will never be my forte, so I've relaxed about it and will let them just be what they'll be.

[merebrillante.livejournal.com]

That's for sure. They definitely want to wear long pants. Lucky you. My shorts seem to grow horizontally rather than vertically.

[pjthompson]

Mine seem to go wide in the hips, too.

But I'm doing a major rewrite of eudora and it's going pretty well. I'm thinking maybe my minimum "subjectivity angle" on shorts must be five years because that's how long ago I wrote the first draft of both Loose Dogs and Eudora and it's only now, apparently, that I have what it takes to slash those suckers.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

No impending doom is always progress. Yay for that!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

"Making better" is painful to me when it comes to shorter pieces. I don't have anything like that attitude when it comes to novels. I put on my hip boots and wade right in. But with shorts, I'm afraid to even put my little toe in.

Strange but I have this exact same attitude toward novels and shorts. I'm perfectly willing to chisel, smooth, layer, and expand my novel; perfectly willing to spend years at it as the evidence proves. However, once I get a short out of my head, I'm loathe to touch it. I'm not saying I can't do mild revisions, but once it gets to the *done* stage for me, and I'm happy with it, I have the hardest time seeing what could be bettered.

[pjthompson]

For me, making it better usually involves ripping it up in some major fashion and doing it again, and it takes me awhile to get to the place where I can do that. Novels are (somewhat) more tolerant of sprawl, I think, but I usually have to do some tearing up (or tearing down) of subsequent drafts to make them behave. I just don't seem to mind it so much.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

yeah, I'm with you on that.