So there it was. The perfect phrase. Astonishingly simple, yet brilliant in scope (ok, I'm probably pushing it a bit...)
And oh, how I wanted to use it.
I did, at first. But then the more I played with the paragraphs and tried to make everything fit that one phrase, the more that one phrase needed to be deleted. Oh, I tried to make it work. I moved sentences around, played Pinball for awhile on my laptop, went back to the page and wrote a few more words...but in the end, I was stuck. And - it was because I was attempting to fit a square peg into a round hole.
I bit the bullet, highlighted the offending phrase, and hit the Ctrl X button. Then I promptly pasted it to the end of the page because as we all know, deleting a good phrase is simply not done. I have a hard time deleting anything I write anyway, because you just never know when you might need it.
The laptop calls...
Have a great Wednesday!
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Living in the Land of "I Don't Wanna"
I'm currently at war with myself. The "you should be..." committee is fighting with the "I don't wanna" committ...
LOL, I put things like that in a file called Out Takes. You know, that way it doesn't hurt as much as deleting them...
ReplyDeleteYeah - I save phrases and words all the time in a separate file, so I can use them elsewhere. Doesn't often happen, but somehow it makes taking them out of the story much easier :)
ReplyDeleteRe: knitting. There's a great book, Teach Yourself Knitting Visually, ISBN: 0764596403
I so feel your frustration. I've been there.
ReplyDeleteI have lots of perfect phrases that I have cut and pasted into a master document of things I can not use in my books but I love!
ReplyDeleteI think that's part of my problem- I mostly write great phrases, but can't build a story around them. :-D
ReplyDeleteKacey - Out takes! What a great title
ReplyDeleteTess - Thanks for the heads up on the book. My concern is that I won't have the patience to learn (or the time!).
Travis - It is frustrating, isn't it? Only another writer can understand.
Ell - I'm glad I'm not alone in keeping a master file. ;-)
Wordvixen - If you can write great phrases, you can definitely build a story around them! Have faith!
:-)
I can't delete anything intentionally. ;) Ctr-X is my friend.
ReplyDeleteI save them in a file called "scraps" -- although since my Dickens Challenge stuff is still in first draft form there are a bunch of them still waiting for the scrap heap :)
ReplyDeleteAnissa - Strangely enough, I used to do the cut and paste the old fashioned way - by going up to the toolbar and selecting cut then paste. It wasn't until my last job that I learned the beauty of shortcuts!
ReplyDeleteLisa - Scraps! Another good name for the folder!