Working with Clay

I am currently revising my manuscript for Book 3. I love revising! Of all the tasks that go into writing a book, this is the part that I love the  most. I feel like I  have this lump of clay before me and with each revision, I refine the object I am trying to make. A little more clay here, a little texture there, smoothing needed over here, lots of clay to be dug out over here. (That last is my usual m.o. I always overwrite!)

For some people, it’s the invention of the clay that is the fun. (Okay, the metaphor starts to fall apart here, but it’s leading to something else, I promise.) This is not true for me. The invention part of writing–getting those first words, first chapters on paper– is almost physical labor, akin to hauling the clay from the riverbank where it’s formed in to the studio. Sometimes this work is painful for me. And I still have a little bit of it to do. The final scenes of this book are not written yet. For now, I’m enjoying the refining process. But in the next couple of days, it’s back to the riverbank with my shovel and wheelbarrow for a final haul of the materials that I can then craft with my hands,head and heart.