‘What will survive of us is love’
1. Finish
the day’s writing when you still want to continue
2. Listen
to what you have written. A
dud rhythm in a passage of dialogue may show that you don’t yet understand the
characters well enough to write in their voices
3. Read
Keat’s letters.
4. Reread,
rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’t work, throw it away. It’s a nice feeling, and you don’t
want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have
everything in them except the life they need.
5. Learn
poems by heart.
6. Join
professional organisations which advance the collective rights of authors.
7. A
problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long
walk.
8. If
you fear that taking care of your children and household will damage your
writing, think of JG Ballard.
9. Don’t
worry about posterity—as Larkin (no sentimentalist) observed ‘What will survive
of us is love.’
*****
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an inspirational novel about the courage to be oneself freely.
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Copyright © 2012 by THE PYTHAGOREAN STORYTELLER. All
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1 comment:
Nice list. I'll have to re-read Keat's letters and I'm interested in what you have to say about rhythm in sentences. Best,
Dy
www.dyloveday.com
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