Friday, April 17, 2015

o is for open your heart

Open I say! Yes, you need your mind when you are revising (not your monkey mind but your clear thinking, non-attached mind) but you also need your heart. I feel that if there has been a subtler under theme to my abcedaria on revision it is this - revising isn't a cold-calculating art! We need to be open and loving to our ms so we can attend to the problems we are working with. If we are too removed, too above it all we won't be able to have the necessary energy to see it through. I'm having a tough time right now because my manuscript has been away from me for too long. I need to open my heart to it and contact the fellow who is reading it and ask him 'what gives?'  If I'm too cool (and yes, I do remember that being cool was one of my posts) but if I'm TOO cool it could come across as indifference. It could turn to indifference and then where would I be? More importantly where would my ms be? Ignored.

So! Open your hearts and embrace the whole messy thing. Sure you're going to clean it up - organize it so others can enjoy what you see in it - but first you need to fully embrace it. Go on! Love it.

Here is a photo I took last summer in Gros Morne National Park -Newfoundland. Isn't it so gorgeous?!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes, and a hundred times yes, Jan!! You have to be open to new ideas, inspiration, and so on. Once you close your mind, you eliminate what could be wonderful possibilities. As you say, some of them won't work at all. Your manuscript is still going to need work. But 'open' is such a healthy attitude!

Hart Johnson said...

Totally with you here. I've had a couple books I've edited into lousy because I lose my voice when I follow the rules too closely. That heart matters. A lot.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Not to mention our words and voice must reflect our hearts, and then readers will hopefully connect to what we write. Too many books I've read lately have been lacking in that one thing I love in a book...the heart and soul of the writer!