Imaginary Landscapes

[cathschaffstump]

Thanks to Paper Golem, I now have a story in a hardback book. Cucurbital 2 has been published as a hardback. That's kind of nifty. You should go buy the book, not so much for my story, but to see the interesting ways in which people combine watermelon, turtles, and sex workers into something viable.

***

I've been working hard on fiction, which is minimizing some of my commentary here. And now, the truth about why I write. The real honest, full on, maximum mileage truth.

When it works, it's better than crack.

***

Right now, ARvBSF is working. Oh yes, it's not a be-all-you-can-be draft. It's hardly ready for sending off. This is draft 2, where we pull out all the dead ends, and we make the structure work. Where we see what actually worked. Where we get to relive our favorite pieces of the draft. And when, if the draft is working, we fall into the imaginary landscape.

I can see the houses. I can feel the characters. I can live the risks.

***

I know. It's not fashionable to suggest that writing is other than hard work. That there is something at work greater than yourself. Maybe that's because there's so much baggage attached to the artistic side because hard working writer really wants to be recognized for hard work.

Look, it probably does all come from your self-conscious, which means you can still take credit, but if you can just put the old ego aside for awhile (and God forbid, the super ego), and you can ride the coaster, you get to live in the imaginary landscape.
And if I can share that with you, pull you into the imaginary landscape, make that character real for you, I feel like I've done my job.

My name is Catherine. I write because I like to pretend. I don't want to be in every story I write. But when I cry because Oliver Toddle can't see himself in a relationship with a mortal, or a girl has to decide whether she's going to be a fox or a girl, and I can feel those things, that's why I'm here.

***

This weekend--time to get all haggis-y for Robert Burns' birthday. Be there or be a sassenach!

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.