Another Tool in the Box

I'm reading Stephen King's On Writing, and wow, am I ever enjoying it.

This is a re-read, actually; it's been a few years since I read it last. And I can't for the life of me remember why I waited this long to read it again, because it's absolutely fantastic. And a great thing for a budding writer to read.

I'm only about halfway through it. The first part of the book is a memoir indeed; it's the story of how he came to be a writer. I quite enjoyed this bit. When someone can write about the past well, it's a pleasure to read, the more so when it is in memoir fashion. And it has set me thinking, of course... you all may get to read bits of my early writing influences, too, if I ever remember them long enough to write about it.

A big big huge ginormous especially helpful thank-you-for-putting-it-in-print bit of advice came to Mr. King from the local newspaper editor, and I think it was worth buying the whole book just for the paragraph containing this sentence: "Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open."

My rhetoric teacher has already taken great pains this summer to tell us (and me personally, many times) that good writing is all revision. I appreciate that Mr. King puts the same truth in a different way and elaborates, because I think the link I was missing is in here: Writing the first time is for yourself, but then it has to be rewritten for the readers. And all the stuff that went in for me has to come out if it isn't part of the story.

On this blog, of course, I don't really do that. You get it all, straight from my brain to the electronic page. You're welcome! But I can't do that for any of the potential careers I have in mind.

To be continued...