Digging Deeper

I'm back from the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and ready to finish revising "Revenge of the Soccer Moms" and make millions. Or at least enough to finish the basement. This year I didn't have the "OH MY GOD, NOW I KNOW HOW TO WRITE" moments I've had in years past--I'm hoping that's a good sign. Now it's time to dig in and put what I've learned into practice.

"Digging Deeper" was the subject of a talk I attended--that excellent writing is about digging deep beneath the surface of an idea and getting down to the real meat, the reason it's worth writing about, the reason it's the story I have to write. Even with my funniest stuff, I can see that this is the difference between success and failure. There are cheap, easy jokes, and there are the funny, poignant moments that make you laugh and cry at the same time. Or soon after.

That's my goal as a writer--I listened to a reading years ago by an Indiana writer who writes about a fictional small Hoosier town filled with interesting characters. He read a chapter about the quirky town librarian that had us all laughing during the first half, and tearing up during the second. I sat there wondering, how the hell did he do that?

Now I know.