Now, I am serious about this one, ladies and gentlemen and anyone who considers themselves neither a lady nor a gentleman.
I work with several writers. Some newer ones say that they dread rewriting their work. Be it a short story or a novel or even a work of tech writing, they find the dark cloud of The Rewrite hanging over them with ominous theme music.
Why?
For me, I ADORE the process of the rewrite. Many professionals say that the rewrite is the hardest part. It's tough to go back, read, edit, make changes, etc.
I say it's FUN!!
For me, it's a joy not to have to s t r u g g l e through that first draft. Push for the ending scene. Fight for connections. I've dialogued with one or two novelists that say they NEVER have to push or fight their way through a book. I say that they haven't written many novels, then. Sure, there are novels that are a breeze to write. It's EASY to find Point Z from Point A.
But often, there are at least a couple of scenes that have to be slogged through. Fought over. Talked out in one's mind until the writer is ready to kick the whole MS into the slag heap.
Which is why I love the rewrite.
Currently, I'm finishing a rewrite for a short story (almost 6000 words, for those that care) that will be seeing print this spring. Woohoo! Now, it will not be a FINAL draft by any means; it still will be read over by a few folks and I'll review THEIR reviews and change my story if I deem the reviews to be applicable to me and my story.
I love it. It's fun. It's a real kick to get to read my story again and again, knowing exactly how it ends and knowing that all I really have to do NOW is to make the story even BETTER.
It's cool. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
Make it a great weekend, one and all! I hope your coming week is productive!
Reprint @ MindSay 
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Good Friday Reprint
Christians adapt. The churches of early years adapted so that the locals didn't lose out on their parties and good times just to be a follower of Christ. That's why Christmas, the Christ Mass, is celebrated as Jesus' birthday in midwinter instead of in spring (when shepherds would have been in the fields, watching their flocks by night). It is celebrated during the time of the old festivals, like the Roman Saturnalia. Feast! Party! But...Praise God, too! It was, scholars say, an effort to be culturally sensitive.
For Easter, we have this day. A day that used to be called Resurrection Sunday. Easter is taken from the pre-Germanic word eostre (the direction from which the sun rises). It is celebrated on the first Sunday (the day of Christ's resurrection) after the Vernal Equinox. (Often, this falls at about the time of Passover.)
Today, Christians also adapt culturally in many respects. Not every culture in the world has to learn the "original languages" of the Bible in order to learn about God -- we try to translate God's message for many nations and many languages. There is no set of "righteous music" that anyone has to memorize or learn or prove expert in to be a Christian. People that have tried to impose "proper hymns" on other cultures have sometimes found them to be erroneous in culture context.
The message of Easter, though, is global. Life after death. The love of God. The hope of eternity. Today is "Good Friday." Did Jesus actually die on a Friday? I have heard excellent discussions that support and deny this. He died. When he could have saved himself, he died. As was prophesied, his bones were pulled out of their joints. Not one bone was broken in his death, he was executed with criminals, and buried in a borrowed tomb. All of this and more was prophesied about the coming Deliverer of Israel. And it came true.
After Jesus died, the curtain in the temple that separated the Holiest of Holies from the next chamber was ripped in half. Not by a man, but by God, who needed no more "special access" ceremonies to gain his presence; his Son had become the bridge between Man and his Creator.
This weekend, my family is celebrating. Not celebrating a torturous death of the only perfect man to have walked on Earth, but celebrating his victory over death. Because, on the Sunday after he was killed, Jesus appeared, alive, to many. No, it wasn't a mass delusion, but rather the miraculous reappearance of a man who was seen by hoardes to have been dead. He walked, talked, ate, showed the wounds that he had suffered, and most of all, reassured his friends that he was alive and that they had to tell the world.
And they did. All but John son of Zebedee suffered deaths that were sometimes torturous because they told others about Jesus. For a joke, or for profit, people will perpetuate a lie. To preserve their reputation or their government. But to be tortured and die for a lie that one is telling is not in the nature of mankind. These people allowed themselves to be hideously tortured as they stood for the Truth. And for centuries, people have believed their message of one perfect life given in sacrifice so that all of mankind can live forever with their Creator.
So if we celebrate a day that may or may not be named for a pagan goddess, if we color eggs, if we give chocolate bunnies to our children...if we do these things on a certain day, we have to make sure we share the reason we celebrate.
As seems to have become my annual tradition here at MindSay, I am going to post the reprint from my Good Friday post from two years ago. I still believe it, I still do chocolate bunnies for my kids, and we will still have an egg hunt for Cartoon Ranger on Sunday morning.
If you've been around long enough, you've read this before. Maybe even twice. ;)
If you've been around long enough, you've read this before. Maybe even twice. ;)
~*~*~
Christians adapt. The churches of early years adapted so that the locals didn't lose out on their parties and good times just to be a follower of Christ. That's why Christmas, the Christ Mass, is celebrated as Jesus' birthday in midwinter instead of in spring (when shepherds would have been in the fields, watching their flocks by night). It is celebrated during the time of the old festivals, like the Roman Saturnalia. Feast! Party! But...Praise God, too! It was, scholars say, an effort to be culturally sensitive.
For Easter, we have this day. A day that used to be called Resurrection Sunday. Easter is taken from the pre-Germanic word eostre (the direction from which the sun rises). It is celebrated on the first Sunday (the day of Christ's resurrection) after the Vernal Equinox. (Often, this falls at about the time of Passover.)
Today, Christians also adapt culturally in many respects. Not every culture in the world has to learn the "original languages" of the Bible in order to learn about God -- we try to translate God's message for many nations and many languages. There is no set of "righteous music" that anyone has to memorize or learn or prove expert in to be a Christian. People that have tried to impose "proper hymns" on other cultures have sometimes found them to be erroneous in culture context.
The message of Easter, though, is global. Life after death. The love of God. The hope of eternity. Today is "Good Friday." Did Jesus actually die on a Friday? I have heard excellent discussions that support and deny this. He died. When he could have saved himself, he died. As was prophesied, his bones were pulled out of their joints. Not one bone was broken in his death, he was executed with criminals, and buried in a borrowed tomb. All of this and more was prophesied about the coming Deliverer of Israel. And it came true.
After Jesus died, the curtain in the temple that separated the Holiest of Holies from the next chamber was ripped in half. Not by a man, but by God, who needed no more "special access" ceremonies to gain his presence; his Son had become the bridge between Man and his Creator.
This weekend, my family is celebrating. Not celebrating a torturous death of the only perfect man to have walked on Earth, but celebrating his victory over death. Because, on the Sunday after he was killed, Jesus appeared, alive, to many. No, it wasn't a mass delusion, but rather the miraculous reappearance of a man who was seen by hoardes to have been dead. He walked, talked, ate, showed the wounds that he had suffered, and most of all, reassured his friends that he was alive and that they had to tell the world.
And they did. All but John son of Zebedee suffered deaths that were sometimes torturous because they told others about Jesus. For a joke, or for profit, people will perpetuate a lie. To preserve their reputation or their government. But to be tortured and die for a lie that one is telling is not in the nature of mankind. These people allowed themselves to be hideously tortured as they stood for the Truth. And for centuries, people have believed their message of one perfect life given in sacrifice so that all of mankind can live forever with their Creator.
So if we celebrate a day that may or may not be named for a pagan goddess, if we color eggs, if we give chocolate bunnies to our children...if we do these things on a certain day, we have to make sure we share the reason we celebrate.
It's not about the munchies, it's about the Man.
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