Week 6: Writing Process

The most difficult thing about writing this story is that I HAD NO IDEA WHERE TO BEGIN. I guess it might be obvious from the lede, but basically, I just decided to cut straight to the point - what would I say if I were trying to explain this story to a group of my friends, in one sentence? And...that's what I wrote. But somehow, I feel like it could be stronger...

There is SO much I could have written - if our word limit was longer, I would have been able to flesh out Sandy's character much more. She's a hoot - and there are SO MANY darn good quotes that I wish I could have included that say so much about her outlook on life, which is one that I love. Sandy: "I have my shit together, sometime I just don't know where it is" (on life in general) Or, "Natures a bitch as it is, I don't know why people feel like they need to change it" (on all non-organic farming) Or, "He's a very disgusting person. He loves this work" (on her husband, Kim).

So, basically, my hurdles with this piece focused on discerning what was ESSENTIAL and what was not...there is so much here, and so much tension that figuring out what, exactly, I would focus on as tension...(the love story between Kim and Sandy, the economic struggle of sustaining the farm, organic versus non-organic farming, etc)it was difficult to compile succinctly.

Honestly, when I sat down to write, I typed my lede. Then I went downstairs, had a glass of wine, looked over my notes with a highlighter, and just started writing what I thought was most important. I still don't feel like I did it justice...but, it seems increasingly like that is sortof what its like to write...to not ever feel like you have something perfect...