First Draft Dilemma: Celebrate or Get Working?

  • By juni
  • •
  • 01 May, 2019
  • •

From Raw Material to Something Beautiful

The exquisitely woven rawhide bosal shown here was crafted by a true artisan. Most people who tackle the challenge of creating rawhide items get to the four or eight strand level, and call it good. And it is good for what it is, because it's an art that takes years of dedication to learn.

Kind of like writing. I'm in that half-empty or half full state this morning, having spent from 10 PM last night to 4:30 this morning finishing a first draft of my second novel. I remember well, the day I hit "save" on the first edition of my first novel.  I can see the dining room table at the home of a treasured friend in Arizona, where I blocked out the world and finished that very first full length first draft. Notice I didn't say I finished the book. It was far from finished.

The rawhide artisan begins with a hide, usually a cowhide. It's stretched and dried, the hair is scraped off, and he or she begins to form the rawhide into something workable. Much like a writer thinking "I think this might make a good story."  When the braider is learning, the strips are a quarter inch in width. And then, as the skill is carried forward, the strips become increasingly smaller, so the intricate patterns can be executed. The right amount of moisture in the leather makes those iron-like strips of dried hide flexible. Too much, the result looks puffy and soggy. Too little, the strands break.

I liken a first idea of a book to that stretched hide. The first attempts to get the story rolling might look more like half or quarter inch strips, and they may be inexpertly woven, or if the weaver (of story or rawhide) already has skills, the first run might look remarkably good. Which is not to say, that's where the artisan stops. Artisans whose souls are fed by creating are a hungry sort. They crave to create something better than they did the last time. There is no perfection: but what there is, is the skill to recognize that something can be more beautiful with more work.

And here I am, now with a new first draft to begin editing. I'd say that while my first draft of my first book looked more like a 4 strand weaving, this one resembles an 8 strand work, with a smoother look and feel.  Parts of it might be twelve.  Just the experience of learning to edit, and then working with a great editor was better than any class or workshop I could have attended.

And by the time it's been edited and revised a dozen times, I hope I'll have a 32 strand story. The artist who made this piece of rawhide art truly inspires me.

Motorhome Blues

By Juni Fisher • September 12, 2021
A touring singer, songwriter, and author gets a jolt when her motorhome is grounded.

Catching Scammers is FUN

By Juni Fisher • June 27, 2021
Yours truly sets her sights on some bull-puckey, and warns others where it is.

A New BOOK?

By Juni Fisher • March 10, 2021
I know the question is well meant. "Oh, you're writing a new BOOK? When's it coming out?" And I'm thrilled people ask. But the answer is not when a book in the first stages of writing will be out, but when that first draft will be done. (Oh, and the answer is "when it's done" and there's a lot of editing and revising and re-editing and re-revising between the first draft and a "pitchable" draft. )

The part about pitching comes next. We take that novel we've written and write a query letter, which conveys the essence of the story into about 300 words, and we see what literary agents or publisher might be interested. Most say no. It's just the way it is. But when some stars align, an agent or publisher who loves the idea of the story asks for a full manuscript, to see if the manuscript delivers what the query promises.  "When's it coming out?" is still the question, and there's not a solid answer yet. 

But some stars aligned in December 2020, and a cool publisher loved the query letter (one page) enough to read the synopsis (three pages) and upon reading those, asked for a full manuscript (300 pages) and read it, and loved it. Then they offered a contract, and we struck a deal. So, the NEW book, INDELIBLE LINK is signed to a publisher.

What's it about? A trapeze artist. That's about all I'm allowed to say right now.

"When's it coming out?" When they're done doing what publishers do. But you can send me an email here:  author@junifisher.com  and I'll make sure you get news when they're ready to release it.

While you're waiting, if you haven't read GIRLS FROM CENTRO, you can get it on Amazon : https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Centro-Juni-Fisher/dp/1683131754/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&am... =  or from my website (and I can sign it!) https://www.junifisher.com/book

Meet Dixxy Diamond

By Juni Fisher • February 28, 2021
How do a songwriter and author, and an illustrator, magazine editor and author decide on a look? It was the haircut.

The High School Jock

By Juni Fisher • February 9, 2021
Some horses have that "it" factor.

Finding Your Way

By Juni Fisher • January 17, 2021
What's that? You wrote a book? Great. Now slow down and do the next part right.

Zippy, Best Little Car Ever

By Juni Fisher • December 28, 2020
In praise of the best little car ever.

Things That Work

By Juni Fisher • November 19, 2019
Author Juni Fisher makes observations on a photo full of examples of things that work.

The Toolbox Rule

By Juni Fisher • October 19, 2019
When I was little, I played with the tools my father carried around in his truck. But there were rules.

Stardust

By juni • August 14, 2019
The earth lost an angel about a month ago. Her name was Audrey Griffin. When I went to a friend who'd delivered a touching eulogy at Audrey's memorial service, though, I saw that Audrey had not left us after all. The shining torch had been passed. That torch was passed to Kristen, who spoke with tenderness and honestly about what Audrey had meant to her, and gave us all a vision of what we were to do with that torch of shining light Audrey had left us.

Audrey gained her first taste of the spotlight as a roman rider. On a team, then a trio, then a quintet, and a sextet of white horses, she rode galloping patterns in rodeo arenas in the 1950s. She raised a beautiful family of daughters. She was a sailor (something I didn't know until her memorial service) and she was a horseman to the very last light. Folks would see her truck and trailer all over the Santa Ynez Valley, and say "There goes Audrey," and smile. She'd be hooking up her trailer and loading a good horse at the drop of a hat if there were cattle to gather or move, or sort or brand. She was first to raise her hand when it came time to lend a hand, because she just plain loved horses, and riding, and being a dang good hand, and that she was: a hand.

I first met Audrey about 10 years ago when I met an old friend, Art Green who's managing the Alisal Ranch cattle operation outside Solvang, CA, for lunch in Santa Ynez one day. He brought along my friend and hero Sheila Varian, and this beautiful, shining woman with the most magnificent blue eyes you ever saw. Sheila wanted to know if I could go move some cattle with them the next day. "If you can mount me, I've got my saddle in the camper," I said. True to Sheila fashion, she said "Audrey can!"

Now, I am very very sensitive to people's horses, and I turned to this woman I'd just met, laughing and said, "I'm so sorry, Audrey. You don't know me from Adam, but it was sure nice of Sheila to offer your horse." Audrey Griffin, member of the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, never missed a beat.

"You can ride my bridle horse, I'll ride my filly tomorrow." And the next day, I jogged out across the morning mist with Cowgirl Hall of Famers Sheila Varian and Audrey Griffin on either side of me. Slice of heaven right there. The thing was, if Sheila said I was okay, then I was okay by Audrey too. The other thing was this: Audrey Griffin just plain loved everybody. She'd hug you and look into your eyes and you knew that if there were angels on earth, they had silver hair, a cowboy hat, sparkling blue eyes and their lipstick was the perfect shade. That was Audrey.

When she passed, she was sitting on a good horse, dressed to the nines, moving cattle. That was how she always said she wanted to go: to be on a good horse and have her lights just go out. God was listening. And when Audrey rode off into her last sunset on earth, she left some stardust on all of us. Thank you, my beautiful friend. You left plenty of stardust for everyone you ever touched.


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