Sarah Gibbard Cook
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact

Dig Deeper

9/19/2022

6 Comments

 
Picture
When an aging septic system backs up into the house, metaphors for writing abound. Waste solids accumulate underground like ideas in a writer’s head. Eventually they surface. The sludge or manuscript stinks. Ernest Hemingway told a young admirer, “The first draft of anything is shit.”

To clean up the mess takes more than a scrub brush or spell check. You have to figure out what isn’t working. Even with the aid of a plumber or critique group, the answers can be elusive. Promising suggestions yield dead ends. No, last winter’s freeze doesn’t explain a blockage that recurred in August.

Fixing one problem reveals another. The digger you deep, the more likely you’ll find troubles no one suspected. Who imagined a second tank lurked deep within our septic system? Who guessed one minor character created a major plot hole, or the historical mystery revolved around a technology not yet invented? With underlying issues resolved, we’ve put off till next spring deciding how to repair our landscaping. Polishing a draft, too, must wait till the major fixes are complete. 
6 Comments
Richard Heiberger
9/19/2022 09:52:41 am

I immediately see Mickey Mouse as the Sorceror’s Apprentice pulling up bucketfulls of unwanted stuff and depositing them in the living room. Clearly you need spell check to undo that unwanted behavior.

Reply
Sarah Cook link
9/19/2022 08:40:12 pm

Pretty accurate image! Except for it being the furnace room instead of the living room. If only spell check could undo it! Fortunately for us, there are competent country plumbers hereabouts who know how.

Reply
Mary Lou
9/19/2022 03:37:32 pm

THAT does NOT look good ....!!!

Reply
Sarah Cook link
9/19/2022 08:42:35 pm

The indoor part of the adventure didn't smell good, either!

Reply
Gregg Williard
9/23/2022 03:53:41 pm

Excellent metaphor for so many things: memory, first drafts, 10th drafts, and plumbers as critics...yeah, this is a mucky, dreary business sometimes...hey, where's your novel at? I have vivid memories of different scenes, and that dyslexic scribe! Git that thing out!!!!

Sarah Cook link
9/26/2022 09:27:44 am

Hey Gregg, so great to hear from you! That novel is sitting in a box on my office floor, alongside another box with its yet-to-revise sequel. They may both stay there; we'll see. And yours?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. 


      ​get updates

    Sign up


    ​Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Writing
  • Contact