Winging off the Printed Page
NaPiBoWriWee has come and gone, and while I have to admit that I have not even one completed picture book to show for my efforts, I do have a few new ideas in the works.
In the meantime, I’ve been working on a revision of another story, and I think it might finally finally (!) be getting closer to being finished. (Notice I did not say it is finished!)
Revision is a tricky thing. Even - or I might say, especially - with picture books. I’ve been going round and round with this one particular story and because it’s been on my mind for over a month now, it’s especially important to me to get it right.
While it’s true I can’t hurry the process, I also know that revision requires my undivided attention. Since I tend to spread myself thin, uninterrupted time is often hard to come by. *Sigh*
It’s a problem of my own making. I know that… Why I spend so much time working “around” a particular story rather than attending exclusively to that one story until it’s finished to my satisfaction is anyone’s guess. But the bigger point is that unless I make myself sit down and wait and think and brainstorm until I’m onto something, I’m almost guaranteed no progress.
I suppose it might be argued that all of my fits and starts are part of the whole revision process. But, however it works, I’m happy for a bit of uninterrupted BIC (butt in chair) time this evening.
Jane Yolen in her poem, “Revision Takes Wings,” likens revision to a bird that “wings himself right off the printed page.” I will be glad when my current revision does just that.
photo credit: *L*u*z*a* return to nature
