Unlock the Hidden Power of Your Story: Transform Words into Mesmerizing Art with Anne Gudger’s CRAFT
How did I make the story of being 28, six months pregnant with my first child, and widowed — BOOM — when my husband died in a car accident, both gut wrenching and palatable? How did I make the worst thing that ever happened to me, the thing that shattered me, into art?
First, I stopped thinking of my journals as a book. No one wants to read my journals. Instead, I thought of them as research, as raw material, but not the hard work of writing. I’d read a few entries, put it aside, and write a scene. I thought of my early drafts as a stringing together of scenes rather than chapters. Chapters felt overwhelming. I’d never written a book before and chapters scared me. But scenes? I could do that. I charged myself with including certain elements in every scene: place, dialogue, sensory details, nature, colors. If I felt lost (and, I felt lost plenty) I’d ask myself, Where am I? What’s in front of me? What’s behind me? Above me? Below me? Those questions oriented me, helped me create a map, and I’d find my way back in.
