WITH APOLOGIES TO THE TREES. Maybe it’s because I was teaching myself to write fiction, and wasn’t very good at it. Or I was just a perfectionist. Or I was unable to see what I needed to see on a computer screen after so many years of editing others’ work on paper. But as this photo shows, there were a lot of drafts before your copy of Between Tides came into being. Once I’d typed my handwritten work, came the laborious process of revising. I’d print out the day’s work, and then read it aloud. That’s when the cadence might or might not seem right, or a word would sound wrong. Then in blue ink, I’d strike through or scribble over or add to that effort. Usually the next day, I’d type those changes, or discard them. That would get me back into the rhythm of writing, the movement of the story, so that I could take off again, find my characters’ voice, and start anew.
APOLOGIES TO THE TREES
