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| photo by ladybugbkt |
This week at our writing critique meeting, one of the WWWPs had a problem. A sticky wicket was in her hands. She was faced with a dilemma.
One writing piece that could be sent--in its entirety--to a literary magazine (it was that mind-blowing) and then if she chooses to use her mental scissors and glue and red pen, she has at least two other pieces.
One is dark and delicious, like the Grimm brothers on crack? meth? loads of Nutella? and the other is frothy and feminine and sweet (but not even on the same continent as syrupy).
As writers, we need to get as much mileage as we can out of our writing. Not long ago I got my head caught in the sink at work (I was washing my hair, trying to save the $5 shampoo fee when I got my hair cut after work). True story. It was published by the Publishing Syndicate's Not Your Mother's Book On Being a Woman.
Because that story had a pathetic ending in real life (I ended up looking like Christopher Walken with $5 in his pocket) I rewrote it, with a horde of hunky firemen to finish up the story...Muuuuuch more satisfying...A happy ending. That story was published by Mozark Press (A Bad Hair Day).
To ensure you don't run out of gas, to make sure you don't sputter and shudder and have to pull off to the side when it comes to your writing, try to get the most mileage out of each piece. Rewrite it from a different perspective. Make a nonfiction piece fictional. Change it from prose to poetry.
Just keep moving forward with your writing...
