I’m typing this while the sun is shining, but it’s bitter cold. There’s a mountain of laundry yet to be done. The bathroom upstairs needs cleaning. I just finished scrubbing the stove. I have reheated my coffee twice, vacuumed the crooks of the couch. Swept. Swiffered. Punched pillows back into shape.
I have gone to bed early for the last three nights in a row.
I like a clean house and a good night’s rest, but let’s be realistic. I am totally avoiding that one thing: revisions.
It’s a story, it’s a novel, it’s an essay. Whatever, it’s the draft I don’t want to open or consider, because something about it isn’t working. So, I straighten and fluff and scrub and grow cranky in my writing restraint. Then, I find comfort in someone else’s essay, like Andrew Porter’s “If There’s Something There” in this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin:
…never give up on a story out of frustration.
Losing interest is different from losing faith. Take a break, he says, but get back at it. Because obviously–if you’re frustrated?–you’ve got something to work with and a good story to tell.
What are you scrubbing like a mad woman?
This post first appeared on christicraig.com.