lede

Gifts of the Boneyard

In my own work, there is nothing I have struggled with more than the repeated need for revision. I have put aside a nascent novel for months at a time because I felt overwhelmed by what was required to get it into shape. Part of the difficulty is that we must be both the creator and the physician of our writing, which are quite different skills and require quite different states of mind. The expressive exuberance of creating is what gets me to my desk. But the humble, open, unknowing that I must bring to the work of revision is where I find my strength. In the boneyard. Let me explain …