07.08.08
Try again
Who likes failure. I certainly don’t.
Yet, to do anything well, we must fail at it again and again.
It’s the most unnatural process imaginable. Hopeful and energized, we begin. Then, despite our utter sincerity and sincere effort, we are wooden.
Hopeless frustration ensues. That’s when we leave the room, often through the back door.
When I first began writing short stories in 1993, it was because I thought writing short stories was the most difficult thing possible. It gave me a thrill to think about doing something I couldn’t.
And getting that first story completed gave me a profound joy.
What’s happened in the past 15 years? True, I’ve gotten a lot better and even written some stories that may have small moments of beauty in them. Most are forgettable, though.
Now, working on this new story, I have to face this feeling of failure. I know what it is to get something right. I also know how it feels to lose the blood, the life, of a story. Without its breath, or voice, a story will never get off the ground.
Working yesterday on a story, I found myself writing with the wrong voice. Today, I’ll have to go back and rewrite that entire passage. Maybe I’ll find the right voice. Now where did I put it??
