Tuesday, July 6, 2010

begun but not finished

Hello and welcome to my first blog post. Hope you enjoy it and visit often.

At a recent children's literary event in Adelaide, a boy told me about his ten stories. At least he'd begun ten stories. None were completed. What could he do? Does this scenario sound familiar? How many of us begin with a white fire idea only to have it fizzle out or us lose interest? What to do indeed. It was obvious the boy had set a pattern for himself. He'd grabbed something and taken it to a point and no further. My advice - because he asked for it- was to finish at least one piece. It didn't matter whether it was good, bad or ugly. It was the completion that was vital. Without giving a piece a shape he wouldn't be able to review it, rewrite it, or decide not to continue with it. I told him about bum glue; how we sometimes have to sit tight and work through the hard parts of writing. If we get up from the seat or give up all the time, we're going to be left feeling unsatisfied. That's not to say, we can't have lots of ideas in notebooks or waiting in line on computers. That's different.
I hope the boy now only has nine story beginnings.
What do you think?

20 comments:

  1. Succinct advice- I am like that boy- lots of stories started many to complete. Yah to a blog site also.

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  2. Hi Life's a poem

    as long as you're completing something . . .?

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  3. Hi Janeen. What do I think? I think you gave the little boy very good advice and that your new blog looks lovely.

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  4. You're off and running with the blog, Janeen!
    And I'm with Katrina - some sound advice to that young writer. :)

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  5. Thanks to both of you, Katrina and Sheryl. Lovely to have you right at the beginning as well!

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  6. Welcome to Blog World, Janeen.

    It's great to see you here. I totally agree with what you've said Janeen. I think one of the most difficult parts of being a writer is working through the hard bits - and getting to the finish.

    Happy blogging.

    Dee:-)

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  7. thanks Dee. Much appreciated - on both counts!

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  8. I have a vivid mental picture of a mum somewhere calling that young man for dinner, but him resolutely refusing to leave his chair - "because Janeen Brian said!"

    Great start to your blog, Janeen. It has a lovely fresh look to it, and I look forward to seeing it grow.

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  9. Thanks so much, bookchook. I love the picture you imagined!
    I also I like the fact that there is room for my blog to grow.

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  10. Bum glue! Now that's advice a boy would take notice of - love it!
    Great looking blog, Janeen,
    cheers :-)

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  11. Ooh, good advice! And hurrah for your new blog. Congratulations. :-)

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  12. thanks Trudie and boobook - appreciate the comment about the blog (still a work-in-progress) and that you liked the advice given.

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  13. Hurrah! Welcome to the blogosphere, Janeen, and good on you for giving such good advice. I was that boy for a long time until it finally occurred to me that people only buy books that were finished. Seemed so obvious in retrospect!

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  14. Thanks Sean. Hard to imagine you were such a boy! What a good, insightful revelation though. Actually it was at the Meet the Writers festival where that incident took place.

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  15. Janeen, welcome to the world of blogging! It's decorated exactly as I imagined - so very you (colorful yet stylish). And a great beginning too - out inspiring your audience one child at a time :)

    Katherine

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  16. Hi Katherine, that's for the lovely comment! Hope your speaking engagements went well in Brisbane.

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  17. Welcome to the blogging world, Janeen. Look forward to reading more of you!
    Claire

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  18. Thanks Claire, I look forward to posting more!

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  19. Nice looking blog - look forward to reading more!
    Mandi

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  20. Good to hear from you Mandi. New posting coming up soon!

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