Writing Wrongs

March 08, 2005

You know, it�s a good thing Anne Lamott is always around when you need her, at least on the internet. I realized that I�ve been sidestepping those �small assignments,� and neglecting to fill that one-inch picture frame she talks about in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.

It reminds me that all I have to do is to write down as much as I can see through a one-inch picture frame. This is all I have to bite off for the time being.

What I�ve been doing is jumping to the fun stuff, which is okay, up to a point. Fun stuff is only going to get me so much of a first draft. I know this from experience. There are some scenes I simply have to hack my way through.

And while I�m hacking, I�m convinced it�s the worst stuff ever. Sometimes it is and sometimes I�m shocked when I go to revise. I�m all geared up for a major edit and Surprise! There�s not much I need to do. On the other hand, I�ve written scenes that I thought were terrific that later were clearly not.

On my desk is a picture frame. It�s larger than one inch and it isn�t empty. It�s a Christmas present from Andrew. The frame is decorated with mod-podged tissue paper in rainbow colors. Inside is a photo of Andrew taken at school. In it, you can tell he has my mouth, and Bob�s chin, complete with cleft. Beneath the left eye are the telltale remains of a black eye, the result of him taking a fall rather than landing on and crushing his puppy.

There�s more, the artwork of fishes in the background, the orange shirt he�s wearing, the fact his haircut is fairly recent. It isn�t a stylized photo, but I like it better than something you�d pay a studio several hundred dollars for. It has a story. From now on, it will be my own personal reminder.

All I have to do is fill in the frame (and not crush the puppy in the process).

Charity Tahmaseb wrote at 12:57 p.m.

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