Sue’s News

Digging Deeper

May 19th, 2008

Oftentimes, when I’m writing, I cobble together things I’ve imagined, seen, or heard… And though my experience colors what I write, the majority of my manuscripts aren’t my experiences.

I did write a scene that was partially a direct experience, a memory from when I was a very young girl, of not going to the wedding taking place in the backyard of the two family home we rented.

I didn’t realize how much the memory, and the decision a young girl made, had affected my life, and didn’t realize how good it would feel to let go of it. I have Landmark to thank for that revelation.

Well, since I let go of it and moved on in my own life, I thought it would be easy then to incorporate that into this scene, a scene I had written about a year ago… When I read the scene the other day, it just didn’t sit right… and I thought it was a problem with my writing.

The problem was, it was still a little too close to home. I realized that today when talking to a friend and relaying the story to her… When I hung up, I knew the re-write I did today wasn’t necessary. I also knew that I needed to leave in that memory, even if it was still tender to the touch…

Remarkably, or maybe not so remarkably, I soon started doubting if the entire play was any good… I found myself wanting validation that I was doing the right thing, or that the scene (and play) were good. Then I came back to the same revelation: Go for it anyway!

So I did… I’ll let you know how it goes…

–Sue

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