WRITING QUOTE - December 2, 2014

Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.

- E.B. White - 

Writing for me is an act of faith. I have to sit down and pause long enough for whatever is hidden to reveal itself, like a whole other world exists in the back of my mind, and I have to remember where I put the key to open the story-chest's lid. This is faith; faith that I will find the key, the lid will open, and there will be something under the lid worth seeing, hearing, touching, feeling, and tasting. 

But then, after writing, there is the editing process--grammar and punctuation. And really the editing process is more about honing the written word so it may truly sing; to tell the whole story that is meant to be known; to see, hear, touch, feel, and taste what the words describe. 

Writing and editing reminds me of going into a dusty attic and rummaging through old chests filled with memorabilia: journals, pictures, keepsakes, and letters. I sort through the chest, whichever one I've found the key for, and I pull out everything I can get my hands on. The items are dusty and dull, in need of polishing. Once I pull it all out and assemble it in a way to tell the story then I begin to polish--remove the dust and shine it up; hence, the editing process.

For me, I find faith to begin, polish and shine, and then it takes more faith for me to put what I've written "out there" in the world for others to read.