Chasing the Tail

I remember chasing around this peacock trying to take the perfect picture of his  beautiful tail. Poor thing. I’m sure it thought I was a nuisance. What you do not see in this picture is the second peacock walking about and sticking his head or feet into the picture. I had to shoo the other one away. But I was determined to get a good picture. I took a lot of pictures. This picture wasn’t exactly the one I wanted as the little beastie would not fan out his tail, but it was the best picture of his beauty. By the time I got this picture we all were exhausted.

Writing is like that for me – chasing that beautiful, perfect tale. I crave it, don’t you? The story first presents itself fleeting in my mind. Just little scenes that seem to be important, but are not fully fanned out. I struggle to follow the tale around, trying this angle and that, until finally it comes into focus. Just when I think it is planned out – another character pops up, or the tale takes off in a direction that I didn’t expect. There are lots of drafts and rewrites. All that chasing around! Sometimes I just want to stop and try to catch my breath, but the story can fly out of my mind if I tarry too long. It takes persistence, but eventually the story – the tale – comes together. However I am often exhausted by the time it is done. But it is a marvelous feeling realizing what I wrote was not the story I first envisioned, but an even better one.

The writing process is like this for me. Is writing like that for you?