Are you writing?
Reading?
I spent the last week or so in Reykjavik.
There, I was told that the word “to vomit” is…the same as the word for writing a first draft…? I’m no expert, but the locals seemed in agreement on this.
Groft uppkast, they said. Rough draft.
Uppkost, (umlaut over the “o”) they said, is vomit. But it’s the same.
Isn’t language beautiful? Ha! From now on, I’ll keep in mind that the rough draft is the vomit draft, and one shouldn’t go on vomiting too long.
It’s not a pretty word, I know, but a good way to frame it and to push any instinct toward perfectionism aside, temporarily, while sketching out the big gestures and discovering the interesting details along the way.
I have half a novel drafted—uppkast—and half or less to go, soon as I get back home…
M
I mostly finished an uppkast a few weeks ago. Can only get to about 85% before I have to double back and revise to figure the rest out.
Wrote a couple of new beginning chapters, skipped ahead and revised a section thats halfway in. Plus I wrote a couple super short pieces, and after waiting for years, Chuck gave me some feedback on one of them. Submitted it to a publication this morning.
I’m hard at work on regurgitating my cruise ship idea. About 65 pages in so far and according to Sean, John and Matt it’s not all terrible so far.