I was reading through some of my old writing journal entries, and I found this quote from Carolyn Chute [quoted in Bird by Bird] which says,
“I feel like a lot of time my writing is like having about twenty boxes of Christmas decorations. But no tree. You’re going, Where do I put this? Then they go, Okay, you can have a tree, but we’ll blindfold you and you gotta cut it down with a spoon.”
Can anyone else relate to that? I have all those boxes. Some of the decorations are dusty and I can't see them completely clearly, but they're definitely there. My tree? I have it in my possession--except it's a put-it-together-yourself-piece-by-piece fake tree. I've got the bottom up in a stand, and I've actually already started decorating it. I have the top of it all fluffed out and ready for ornaments, but all those fiddly bits in the middle still call for me to sit down and work them out one by one. I can see them all there, laying haphazardly on the floor. But I don't know what order they need to go in and how big each piece will be when I put it on the tree.
Since I'm participating in JulyWriMo (copyright Megan), I guess that will all work out soon. The goal is to write--write! I'll inevitably count some of my research I'm bound to go back and do and my character journals as writing. In fact, I'll probably painstakingly number my words so I can legally reach my count, but I do need to focus on free writing. And by free writing I mean writing creatively, binding those middle parts together and making a complete, freestanding tree.
Have I taken this metaphor too far? I feel like I can smell plastic pine needles and dusty tree toppers, so I'll take that as a yes and stop for now.
What does your tree look like?
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