What Say You Writers?

An accurate self-description at this stage of my writing career would be a writer in training and a lifelong word-nerd. For three years I've written daily, racing to keep up with the constant urge to write. To date, I've written ninety-five blog posts, five magazines, a 65,000-ish word manuscript, and have begun a second book.

On this day, I sat on a bench to write under my favourite tree at the Airpark. It wasn’t my usual place to write. However, words, sentences, and phrases were pouring out of my head, compelling me to write before my 30-minute walk was done. Mavis, the tree, nodded her branches in approval, then added, keep going. I walked past the cafe as bacon-fat assaulted my senses, or was it the grating din of ride-on tractor lawnmowers, or both?

Down the path and around the corner, away from civilization, I take in the flowing river currents and a small flock of bird skimmers darting down and out of sight. In the middle of the river, two eagles were toying with a lone duck, dive-bombing it in tandem while the duck held its “ground,” protesting in loud squawking honks. Fumbling with my phone’s zoom feature to capture the sight, I missed it, capturing the tops of tall evergreens instead. Just paint a word picture; you’re a writer, aren’t you?

On the other side of the path, yarrow blooms nodded in synchronized motion with the chirping crickets. I wonder if the other walkers think I’m daft? I'm surrounded by incredible beauty, yet I’m wobbling down the path buried in my phone, texting what's streaming out of my head. That’s not even the half of it. Does anyone remember that expression? Merrium Webster says it’s a noun phrase “used to say that a situation is even worse than one would think it is or than it seems to be.” 1.

The "even worse" situation was the constant editing of my manuscript. Every Writing Intensive Workshop offered by the FBCW (Federation of B.C. Writers) was an invitation to edit my manuscript again; I’ve attended six of them, I think. Professional editors edited too, yet every time I learned something, I edited. I learned about passive voice and juggled chapters after discovering my story's structure couldn't stand upright, and my story arc resembled faint wispy clouds. Is that worse that wandering in a disorderly fashion down a straight path?

Think what you will, writers. The real question is, what say you about the process I find myself in now? I’m editing again, this time going deep to find opportunities to share emotions with my readers and describe details that seem to give this memoir the depth it deserves. Engaging readers is a good thing. Yes?

No, I want deeper, even spiritual insight. I want readers to feel the mystical transformation unfolding in the peaks and valleys of my life. Everyone's familiar with transformation. I spent six months transforming my body from flabby to fit. My mystical transformation takes place inside and involves reconnecting to my soul, loving myself, and finding the purpose that ignites my heart.

I yearn to translate into words why I shared my life in book form, and pray my words trigger a ripple of waves that leaves the reader further along the path to more love, even peacefulness. Am I that wise? I'm an ordinary person, maybe a bit quirky like many word-nerds, but I'm old enough to remember a long life and wise enough to keep learning.

In my book, my journey begins as curiosity encourages me to find out what the whispers and dreams meant. The whispers drove me batty as I wanted to hear what they were saying, but I couldn't understand them at first. I dreamed detailed lucid dreams, remembering them as if I'd lived them in another world. They spoke of a distant future. Lucid visions received in a half-awake, half-sleep state spoke of the future on a path I couldn't see yet.

Rabbit holes were different. I could imagine them just fine because my name is Alice, and I was familiar with Alice in Wonderland stories from a very early age. Rabbit holes, in my world, were for concentrating, figuring, following, escaping, and hiding. Paths were "up there" in real life.

At some point, though, I must release this book, and am counting on knowing when it's time for its birth into the book world. So, enough about my manuscript. By now, if you're a writer reading this, you’ve figured out I’m a pantser, not a plotter, and because this is my first book of any length, I’m learning the hard way. For non-writers, a pantser writes by the seat of his/her pants and organizes afterwards. A plotter plots and pays attention to a predetermined storyline or an outline. Most of us use a bit of both.

Whatever camp you're in, what say you writers? Has anyone done an edit to add depth and spiritual insight? I'm not talking about spiritual as in religion. All of us have a spirit and a soul which, when accessed, enlighten and guide us. I'm asking if this is de facto a part of writing a book, or if it's a newbie writer's inexperience? What about non-writer readers? Are you interested in a memoir that offers a deeper, more spiritual reading experience?

I'd love your feedback because saving some self-editing energy and passing a well-worked-on book to a professional editor are my goals for the next book. This writer tends to look like Einstein and feels like Phoebe from Friends after too many revisions, and the bags under my eyes scare my family! So, if you feel like taking a minute to share your thoughts, my family and I thank you!

My walk was almost done. As I watched the last of the mudflats disappear behind the tall grasses and trees, I paused. A lone Canada goose, proud and free, stood watching. My heart swelled with thanksgiving that I would live to write another day.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” 

Rumi

1. Merrium Webster Dictionary definition of "the half of it" HERE.