Finding the Pearl

Do you know what it takes to create a necklace of gemstones? Well, neither, do I. But I imagine it takes a number of things, including mining, discovery, break-through (the ugly outside of the stones), the polishing, and finally the stringing together. All of this, plus more that I'm leaving out, to create a necklace that someone will someday pay top dollar for.

It's kind of like writing a book.

For me, the mining and the discovery are the easy part. I can come up with an idea a day--an hour--if I really wanted to. The discovery for me is that initial brainstorming when you first discover if your idea is sustainable. And then later, in those moments when your characters reveal secrets to you that you didn't even see coming. Ahhh, the discovery.

The break through process is a little bit harder. It takes a few more tools, like time, patience, and preserverance. I'm at that stage in my current WIP. I wrote chapter 8 the other day, only to begin it again yesterday. It simply wasn't right. Although it wasn't what I needed, it did reveal a character's trait to me that I hadn't expected. So, even in my mess of words, I discovered a pearl.

The polishing. Our dear D'Ann is going through that right now. The rewrite. The editor's notes (lucky her!). So many writers, especially novice ones, dread the rewrite process. It's work. Hard work to try and improve on something you already thought was as good as it was going to be. But, if we want our works to shine about the others, we have to polish them until there's not a rough spot remaining.

And then finally, we are rewarded for all of our hard work. We have produced enough gemstones to string along a beautiful necklace of words. I can't wait to see all of our published necklaces.

If you had to describe your current work-in-progress as a necklace what would it be? I think mine would be odd-shaped, vibrant colored stones strung together between knots with a leather cord. Quirky and fun.