Ruthless.
Wise.
Brave.
True.
These are the four words I have in my mind when I sit down to wrestle with revisions.
I heard back from my agent last week on round three of edits on the proposal. We’re not even talking book yet, I’m still stuck on proposal.
The proposal is used to sell the book to a publishing house. It is essentially 75-100 pages about the book. A lot of this is excerpts, copied and pasted, but a lot of it is not and it is astonishing how much time I can spend on three sentences, or a single paragraph.
I need to boil each chapter down to about two brief paragraphs that describe what the chapter is about, why it is in the book, how it moves the narrative forward. This isn’t an outline of what happens in the chapter so much as it is an overview.
I’m not so good at overviews, at big picture stuff. That’s what I married Tom for, but he isn’t much help here.
I also need to take the entire book and boil it down into a single sentence with fewer than, say, roughly fifteen words. This is called a hook and needs to be so perfect, so powerful, that as soon as you hear it or read it, you simply mustย read this book.
I think I am getting the hang of writing the proposal. My agent is patient and clear. It needs to be better. And I think I can make it better. No, I know I can make it better.
First off, I need to stop reading other blogs written by incredible women with massive followings. Its hard to compete with people who have more followers or hits or book sales or whatever than there are people in this entire country. Envy is probably the number one creativity killer. At least for me.
Second, I came up with those four words.
Ruthless.
Wise.
Brave.
True.
I need to slash and burn sections that are lovely but not right, or not for this book. I need to write with wisdom and insight. I need to be brave enough to face the roiling emotions of the last decade and brave enough to write them down. I need to write what is true, to tell the truth, to be true to me (to not write like others, to not want their stories or their insights).
This is my story. A lady in the desert. An American in Djibouti. A person raised in the Christian west and living in the Muslim east. Someone just trying to figure it all out. I’ll tell it as ruthless, wise, brave, and true as I can.
Anyone have another word for writers?
Brave was the one that came to my mind but you already have it (= I’m just not brave enough to write the truth as I saw/see or experience it. So great to follow you in the process. HANG IN THERE!
Thanks Steph.
Trust.
Totally.
Rachel, you ARE brave to be writing what you’re writing. I admire your abiblity to be so open and honest about your life’s journey…and to “put it out there” for the world to see. I can’t wait to read the finished product! ๐
And you are very wise to recognize the danger and counterproductivity to spending lots of time and energy comparing yourself to others. That’s why I refuse to get on Pinterest. ๐ One of my favorite lines from a Sara Groves song is, “Now I live and breathe for an audience of one.” And then a later line in the song is, “Only the Lord can say, ‘well done.'” If we keep our eyes fixed on God and stay true to what He’s called us to…that’s all that really matters. The challenge, sometimes, is discerning that calling…
Thanks Mandy. Thanks for introducing me (reminding me actually) to Sara Groves. You did a while ago through some song you likes on FB and I don’t know if I ever told you. Maggie also loves her music. She and Tom went to one of her concert’s last fall in Minnesota. Good times. I love Painting Pictures of Egypt, it is a beautiful song for expats.
[…] Do you write? On paper or keyboard or typewriter? Sentences scribbled on scraps of snotty Kleenex found in the bottom of your purse? Dirty napkins? Post-Its? Your daughter’s homework pages? Do you form sentences and create narrative arcs and craft paragraphs and intend to show it to someone (mom, blog followers, literary agent)? […]