Wednesday, November 15, 2006
A Killer Lurks
This morning at the gym I gave into the inevitable and committed murder before the disbelieving eyes of the few poor souls there between 5 and 6 am. Wielding a weapon cleverly disguised as a red pen I whacked 3 chapters of Scandal. (which is why it's a great idea to have your draft MS printed on 3 hole punch paper. It fits in a binder which can then be carted to the gym or anywhere else you need to go to carry out acts of heinous editing.)
I don't believe anyone at the gym understood the importance of what I was doing. I heard no gasps of disbelief, no cries of "For the love of God, not
that paragraph!" I just did it. Exactly like the commercial says (does Nike still say that? I don't really know since I haven't been near a T.V. in about 10 years.) With malice aforethought, I deleted stuff that didn't fit any more. I should have realized it much much sooner, but actually, until I started the paper read-through, I didn't see it as clearly because I've been working more on nailing the opening chapters.
I feel so much better. Well, except for the part about being depressed about having written a lot that had to be whacked. Other than that, I feel better.
So in case anyone missed the point here it is: Being a writer is about being a ruthless assassin. I heard the pages crying for mercy
save me! save me! but I offed their little paper @sses anyway. I was tired of them hanging around messing up my story. They had to go.
OK, I'm done for the night. I have more reading for school tomorrow and then a long day tomorrow during which things may or may not be resolved. Should be. I'm waiting for that, too.
