It won't.
There's a lesson here for us writers. Especially those of us struggling through revisions at the moment. Our impulse is to beat the words to death, to knead them, sit on them, stir them up endlessly in the pursuit of excellence. Yet, sometimes they just need to be mixed up a bit and slipped gently into the oven. Every writer I know has re-written a book to death, or at least within an inch of its life. Not always to the best results.
It's fear, I think. Fear we don't have the talent we used to (or weren't sure we had in the first place). We can't bring ourselves to trust the process, God's gift of words, and the strength of the story. So, if you are an aspiring writer and you can't stop kneading your story today, or there's something you can't bring yourself to turn in to that editor, contest, or crit partner, learn from my bread-maker: Go. Back off, step back, and realize that it might just be done and ready to bake.
Like Arthur William Radford said, "half of art is knowing when to stop."
As for the banana bread? Give me a few hours and I'll let you know.
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I hear ya, Allie! I've been guilty of both writing to death and beating a recipe to death. Hmmm, maybe I should write murders in my stories??
ReplyDeleteAs an analogy, I watched an Irish woman, who runs a bed and breakfast in Ireland, demonstrate making scones on TV. She said you must use one hand to make light scones, if you use two hands, you'll get stones! She put the flour and other dry ingredients in a bowl, made a well, then poured in most of the cream. With one hand, fingers splayed, she gently moved her fingers around through the flour until it started to come together. She poured more cream in and continued, so very gently, and turned out the dough onto a board and formed her scones. Eureka! that's why my scones were dense, not fluffy! Same with writing. If my story is flying off my fingertips, I rarely need to even edit. If I work it too hard, it is flat. :-) Sherry
Very interesting, Sherry. I'll try that when I do muffins. Mine never look like the pictures.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that bread, Allie!
I want to know how the bread turned out. As for revisions, I'm doing them right now. I'm always afraid that I won't quite do what the editor is asking, even though I've discussed it with her.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the insight and am waiting to see how the bread turned out.
ReplyDeletewhere I cleaned yesterday there was a boy visiting who cant have glutten and he had glutten free banana bread although he said they didn't use a banana turns out it was some sort of banana extract.
Believe it or not, the bread turned out great. I'll do it again, and not worry about banana assault practices. Still, it's a good lesson for someone in the midst of revisions (like I am). Never force it...nobody wins.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear it turned out!
ReplyDeleteFor me, the book is never done. I have to have it peeled from my hands at the post office. LOL
Oh, Allie, if the bread turned out good, I'd like to have the recipe. I have a bread machine and am trying different bread recipes to see which ones I like.
ReplyDeleteplhouston(at)bellsouth(dot)net