Was searching for this Hemingway quote so long! Thank you!
Came across a hint to it by “Bird by bird” but never find it in there when I look …
It’s my opinion, that rewriting makes the difference between an amateur and a real writer.
Amateurish as I am, I stuff cardboard boxes with my “turds” of stories – never truly attempt a second version. And not, because I would think they are high quality and can stay this way!! They are barely readable – not even by myself … Why I write them nevertheless?
Thinking up the first version is fun – it’s “seeing the movie on my inside silver screen” , new and fascinating. (Sorry, have to leave the “shit”-image here – you would not want that kind of head cinema here – oops, too late).
Taking that first version apart, WORKING on it – no – work is no fun. Or to stay with the shit-image: Using that dung just does not come with the scent of roses.
That is why I keep dung in my boxes when I should work with it, dig it under and have something useful nourishing from it. That is one point where the amateur me falls short of a real writer. (That – and things like regular writing exercise or knowing my mistakes and how to handle them. Or even knowing more of the theory and not just the basics. Or just a professional attitude.)
First drafts are shit – but shit is not waste, shit is useful. but you have to overcome your own squeemishness (which I never manage) and dare to use it. That is professional. I am an amateur. I still like Hemingways quote a lot. Even if I look at my boxes know and feel a little – well you know what follows, don’t have to write it, do I?