Saturday, January 27, 2007

Lost and found

Remember in Little Women, when Amy is trying to get even with Jo, and she throws her manuscript into the fire and Jo has a very dramatic melt-down?

When I was younger I could never really understand that. I mean, for pete's sake, it came out of her own head. How hard would it be for Jo to just write it down again?

And now, that I try to write myself, I cringe that I ever thought like that. My ideas are so fleeting that I can't remember from yesterday what I intended to write today. My kids sometimes will say, "Mom, whatever happened to that story you told me about..." and I can't believe I didn't keep going with that story. Or I will look through old journals with ideas jotted down, and think "Hey, I'd like to read that book, why didn't I write it?" Unfortunately, even if I did pick up these threads, they would never be what they would have been if I had kept going.

Even this blog thing frustrates me. I can't duplicate a post that was lost. A comment that is not accepted and gets lost drives me crazy. The muscle memory in my fingertips doesn't even help.

Sometimes, though, what comes out second is okay. A comment comes out better, a post more thoughtful. Maybe even my stories, when I get around to them, will improve at a second go-around. Jo's did.

6 comments:

bobbie said...

that is true about the second time, but i have taken to copying my comments (control c) so that i can (control v) them if they don't register. it is so frustrating to me. my own posts are one thing, but the emotion that moves me to comment on someone else's blog is usually lost by the time the comment gets lost... i just found this was simpler. hope you find those threads and weave them into a wonderful manuscript! :)

Paula said...

You are a wise grasshopper.

Sarah Louise said...

i am out of words, having just spent them all at my own blog, but I heartily agree with this post and the two (so far) comments.

And truly, what is up with my computer thinking it knows my vw? I type in ra and it gives me 5 former vws to choose from...

Amy said...

I think that is so true. When I blog, I just put it down, but sometimes I go back and edit it and tweak it so. I've learned when I write something that I hope is meaningful, to write it, leave it alone and go back to it. I almost always re-write it and it's much better the second time.

Sarah Louise said...

Yes, but.

I find that generally this is true, but I have also found that on occasion, if I've just read gold on other people's blogs and I finally have figured out how to write something that's been in my heart for weeks, I can barrel it out in an hour. This is rare, but it does happen.

~ej said...

i still blog via email, though i do go back and tweak later. and catch all my typos that i always miss!
it's an up or down thing with me, depending on the intelligence of my day ;)
and i also copy (control c) all my replies to comments. just in case....