CATCHING UP....
Recently I caught up with a friend. A good friend, a friend of a good many years. And even though we live physically close to each other it is hard to catch up when one works days and some weekends, and the other works nights and other weekends.
But we managed a time and place (mine)- and Miss A and I had a good few hours catching up. Over a meal and a biscuit...or three.
It's funny when you do catch up with people you haven't seen for quite a while.
Often there is that awkward phase. After the initial 'hello' and hug and 'have a seat'. You try to fill in what has been happening since you last met. News about this child, this grandchild, this other child. Work, hobbies, reading.
Sometimes there is that long pause. Sometimes this pause is good, it's a comfort pause. It's a 'we-know-each-other-so-well-that-this-silence-doesn't-bother-us' kind of pause. That's the kind Miss A and I shared.
But it's that awkward pause when you catch up with someone and you are desperately trying to remember why you were friends in the first place. And then the memories come flooding back and you realise you never wanted to catch up again with this person...and all the reasons why.
It's a lot like looking back on a piece of work. We are all told, repeatedly, to NEVER send out a piece of writing until it is ready. To work on it, edit it, then put it away for a while. A week, a month. Sometimes longer. Then look at it again with fresh eyes.
This is like catching up.
Sometimes you look at your short story/ poem / novel / play/ essay/ nonfiction article and wonder what the hell you were on? You are positive you never wrote anything as bad as that.
You turn page after page trying to find all the good parts you remember so vividly. Where is the humour that made you laugh out loud while writing it? Where is the part so poignant it made you cry? What happened to all that clever and witty prose that danced off the page?
Other times it is like catching up with a really good friend.
It's as if no time has past at all. You are back in the zone. You remember why you liked this piece so much...and yes it is exactly as you remembered. It may need a bit of polish, a bit of tender loving care, a bit of give and take - but it is good.
Reading old work is often very nostalgic.
Ah, I wrote this when child A was leaving home.
This was written after that horror of a weekend away.
Often it is the memory that holds the power, not the writing itself.
Reading with fresh eyes is often very enlightening. It makes you cringe as well as smile...makes you wonder how you ever thought it was worth continuing with and it makes you realise that yes you are on the right track.
So here's to catching up. Whether it is with friends...or with your work.
Vicki
But we managed a time and place (mine)- and Miss A and I had a good few hours catching up. Over a meal and a biscuit...or three.
It's funny when you do catch up with people you haven't seen for quite a while.
Often there is that awkward phase. After the initial 'hello' and hug and 'have a seat'. You try to fill in what has been happening since you last met. News about this child, this grandchild, this other child. Work, hobbies, reading.
Sometimes there is that long pause. Sometimes this pause is good, it's a comfort pause. It's a 'we-know-each-other-so-well-that-this-silence-doesn't-bother-us' kind of pause. That's the kind Miss A and I shared.
But it's that awkward pause when you catch up with someone and you are desperately trying to remember why you were friends in the first place. And then the memories come flooding back and you realise you never wanted to catch up again with this person...and all the reasons why.
It's a lot like looking back on a piece of work. We are all told, repeatedly, to NEVER send out a piece of writing until it is ready. To work on it, edit it, then put it away for a while. A week, a month. Sometimes longer. Then look at it again with fresh eyes.
This is like catching up.
Sometimes you look at your short story/ poem / novel / play/ essay/ nonfiction article and wonder what the hell you were on? You are positive you never wrote anything as bad as that.
You turn page after page trying to find all the good parts you remember so vividly. Where is the humour that made you laugh out loud while writing it? Where is the part so poignant it made you cry? What happened to all that clever and witty prose that danced off the page?
Other times it is like catching up with a really good friend.
It's as if no time has past at all. You are back in the zone. You remember why you liked this piece so much...and yes it is exactly as you remembered. It may need a bit of polish, a bit of tender loving care, a bit of give and take - but it is good.
Reading old work is often very nostalgic.
Ah, I wrote this when child A was leaving home.
This was written after that horror of a weekend away.
Often it is the memory that holds the power, not the writing itself.
Reading with fresh eyes is often very enlightening. It makes you cringe as well as smile...makes you wonder how you ever thought it was worth continuing with and it makes you realise that yes you are on the right track.
So here's to catching up. Whether it is with friends...or with your work.
Vicki
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