Hello Dear Readers,
Snip! Snip! Snip!
Have you had the satisfaction of editing out stuff? I am currently doing it for my manuscript, and in between editing rounds, I plan to contribute to our household decluttering. All of us have our hoards to work on.
For a writer, the editing process is fraught with heartache since Marie Kondo’s advice of keeping what gives you joy often does not work. Sometimes, a paragraph, sentence, or word that gave you absolute happiness while writing might be incongruent with the rest of the story. Like furniture that might be an epitome of beauty as a standalone piece but sticks out like a sore thumb, overpowering the overall aesthetic of your decor.
Eventually, though, a cleaner piece of writing, a decluttered house, and a quieter mind lead to the most beautiful thing. They allow light to enter, and clarity follows.
Where there is clarity, there is depth and better understanding.
I have several writing projects in various stages of progress, and I am trying hard not to add to them. The truth is, the more I write, the more ideas I get, and my project list grows.
As of now, I am focusing on
My latest novel - a mystery spin-off from The Serpents of Kanakapuram (there, you have a clue now)
My weekly newsletter (the one that you are reading right now),
My weekend short stories on Substack (here is the link to the latest) and
An occasional (long) post on my WordPress blog, The Plausible Mind. The latest post is about the books I read in the last quarter.
Regarding my weekend short stories, I finally decided to put them all behind a paywall. Doing so makes it easier to keep my weekly newsletters free, not because the Substack subscriptions pay for my newsletter (I wish!) but because the settings in Substack do not allow me to create a paid subscription for a section, in this case, my weekend short story section.
Creating a paywall allows me to send a mail with a preview for free subscribers so they can still read at least a part of the story.
I am keeping my stories under a paywall because as I did before, I’ll compile all of my weekend short stories in a collection, publish it as a book for readers to buy online. It would be unfair for the book readers to pay for a copy while the Substack readers get it for free.
I edit and rewrite my short stories before publishing as a book. Substack readers who pay for subscription will get to read the final versions of the stories, as soon as I update them.
That reminds me that I ought to update you about the last book I finished reading— Marginlands by Arati Kumar-Rao. The book is a journalistic work on Indian landscapes embroiled in environmental conflicts. The language is simple and poetic (staying true to the beauty of the land), yet it introduces us to the vocabulary necessary to protect our diverse ecosystem.
Phew! I feel more focused now that I have listed all I post for my readers online.
These are just some of the things I work on. I have a few other things on my project list. I track all of them via a project plan in Notion.
I learned about Notion through a podcast, but I saw how it can be used only when I saw my daughter’s schedule and project plans. Until then, I was using the good old to-do lists and, to a small extent, Excel sheets.
Notion allows me to compile notes and arrange them as per my usage.
For instance, here are some things I use Notion for -
Creating reading lists of books and articles that I think I should read
Listening notes - important points from podcast episodes
Reading notes
Journal entries - random thoughts and ideas for further expansions
Project planning: Random ideas that develop into projects get a deadline in my planning template, and I break them down into phases/stages, e.g., ideation, research, first draft, editing, final draft, etc.
Household to-do lists (rare entries; I mainly use Notes for these)
It is often said that creativity is spontaneous and cannot be forced upon or from someone. However, after the initial periods of spontaneous combustion of ideas in my brain, I have realised that it all boils down to a systematic creative process.
The age-old wisdom of sharpening your pencils, thousands of strikes with your axe, chipping away every day, make absolute sense if you want to develop any skill.
But most importantly, as you keep adding, you must also learn to keep subtracting.
Snip away the excesses, trim the extras, and let the light through.
Until next week, happy reading, and work towards peace and calm.
Sudeepa
My problem is that my writing is lean so I have to add stuff instead of cutting down in the final stage!