The Magical Knowledge of Knitters

[paragraphs]

Yesterday I attended a crafting afternoon I'd been invited to, even though I am not a crafter. Not sure what I would do with myself for several hours among strangers (though one person who would be there I've known for years, and used to write-in with), I grabbed my old, original notebooks for my story, thinking I could at the very least spend some time rereading my old notes and such. The semi-dreaded event, because STRANGERS, turned into a heck of a lot of fun and very entertaining. Everyone else there is involved either as artists (milliner!) or actors/teachers of Scarborough Renaissance Fair, which I've never been to (but will now - I comped a freebie ticket to go with a solemn promise I would come next year). Through my friend who plays one of the characters there, I know a little bit about the training and devotion these people have. They were so much fun! And heck no, not interested in becoming involved - I have never wanted to act, thanks (and the TIME involved is outrageous, but they love it so), but it was fun to just listen to the stories, learn about quilting (I'm gonna!) and just...be with creative people, many of whom also write fiction(yay).

While one person worked on a costume, another worked on really cool microwave bowl holders (I want one now), others knitted. Watching one of my new acquaintances frog her entire piece of knitting because she found several errors, it truly struck me how casual she was about it. "Oh well! Happens!" Someone else stated that sometimes, you have to take a project to a certain point to realize the right path to take with it, then rip it apart and start it all over again. Her words hit me like getting struck with a case of lightbulbs.

Knitters are fearless, in other words. They know that a whole project scrapped is a bit of a pain, but only means better is to come next time. I watched not just this person, but two other people frog their work back to a certain point before continuing onward. Just part of knitting, I was told, and I had a sudden burst of envy for this attitude, then realized -- why not adopt it for myself?

And so I have. Rereading my old notebooks, all geared toward the YA I ended up merging with the big fantasy story, made me realize that it is possible I took that path for a reason -- and that it is also possible that I will be going back down that path again, armed with the new understanding of the behind-the-ya-scenes of what is happening in Aneli's world, but that I don't necessarily need to show it all. I needed to go through it, yes, I needed to knit all that information together, but to tell Aneli's story, as I had originally planned - and which I honestly, truly love -- I don't need to share everything I've written.

This doesn't mean I have deleted a thing. Instead, I made a new Scrivener, made a copy of the conjoined version, and removed everything but Aneli's storyline. I'm going to finish her storyline and then at that point decide -- keep her separate? Or go ahead and finish the other storylines and mesh together? Or, what I am feeling strongly is the right thing to do (for me), finish the other storylines for myself, sharing later perhaps on a Patreon.

Or at the very end I may decide hey to put them all back together again which is easily enough done! For now though I am excited to finish Aneli's storyline. Then we will see what happens!

Comments

[queenoftheskies]

Sounds like you had a fun time.

Rereading is always beneficial, isn't it? But, it sounds like you've made some big writing decisions based on your rereading yesterday. Hooray for you!

[paragraphs]

I will probably second-guess myself again, but been doing a lot of self-reflection over what I truly want. So we shall see! First things first - finish the book - I have about 14 scenes to go.

[annofowlshire]

In the latter half of my Seven Year Burn-out on Writing, I got into spinning yarn and then knitting (yes, in that order). Fiber arts taught me a lot about writing and process, and I believe got my head back to a point where I could face writing again.

Loving the process was a big part of it. Not being afraid to rip back and start again. ("It just means I get to knit more!" I remember someone saying.) Savoring a new technical challenge. A reminder of what real flow feels like. Doing something just for the fun of it, rather than to meet business goals.

Also, making the making of physical goods and nice tools is probably part of what got me back into writing by hand, fountain pens, etc. ^_^

[paragraphs]

Seems like so many of my writerly friends also knit or crochet - something my hands don't allow. They get too gripey. I've had the urge to make something for a long, long time, so I am excited I finally have a plan. Very cool how you found your way back - and I really and truly was thunderstruck by the nonchalant, oh well, let's do it again! attitude. LOVED it. I agree too on handwriting - this story has about 8 Moleskins of writing in them - going back through those (especially the first, which is full of how-to notes, and what-I-want notes) was something I am glad I did.

[used_songs]

That's really cool. I like the real world analogy that helped you make that shift in your mind. It's odd and cool how we make connections like that. Since I started working with ELL students primarily, I have found myself focusing a lot on helping them to make all kinds of connections between and among discrete things in order to build an understanding of history and of the language. Connections making, to me, is the most important part of understanding the world. I guess it goes back to the synapses.

I figured you would enjoy hanging with them because of the writing talk. :)

[paragraphs]

I did, and I was happy about the writing talk - what I am lacking in my life (realtime life) is just hanging out and talking to people. Shay's invited me to come any weekend they are out working and I plan to do just that. :)

Also, gave me a chance to pet a really nice cat, her tiny Maine Coonette.

[green_knight]

This comes somewhat timely - I'm rereading an older project that I didn't finish, with the hope of tying it off at least in first draft, and while the first part holds together, the second is not. I *will* have to frog a considerable number of words - some of them may be salvageable - and I am having an attack of the don't wannas.

But if I want to have a decent book, there's not much else I can do...

[paragraphs]

At least with our writing, we can just cut and put aside that which we frogged!!!!

[contrarywise]

Ha, for a moment there, I thought you were gonna say you'd joined the clan of knitters, but even though you haven't succumbed to the siren song of yarn and needles, you've picked up a good and timely lesson in process, so yay!

I know a couple of folks who used to perform at Scarborough years ago when they still lived in TX, and they tell some great stories about it. I'm sure you'll have a great time when you go next year!

[paragraphs]

HA HA nooooo not with my unhappy hands. That is why the quilting attracts me (plus, I think they are beautiful,and I found the one I want to do). Oh cool on knowing the performers! They were discussing how some groups don't put in the classes and performance training they do - my friend Linda plays a German woman and her Reichardt! (exclamation included for reasons lol) just takes her over when she practices her. It is awesome.

[theemdash]

Excellent!! What an excellent lesson to learn by watching other artists.

[paragraphs]

Yes! Half of whom also write which is awesome. Really happy I went - came home and the next day poured out almost 4000. LOL. Inspiration for sure.