I love the definition of "process". A quick online check has it as "1. A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result. 2. A series of operations performed in the making or treatment of a product." You know, like the writing process.
I'm not writing this blog to bore you on the divine and difficulty of writing. I'm writing it to share my personal thoughts on what has happened, is happening and hoping to happen with The Charity. Recently my thoughts have been about its process. What I've done to this book - my series of operations and actions - and, now, what I realize this book is doing to me.
When I first wrote this book, it was like an unripened peach. Beautiful, full of promise but rock hard and with a heart of stone. It ripened under my desk, gathering dust and cobwebs. No, wait. That's wrong. I ripened. A process happened to me, something ripened in me. I could take out the manuscript and slash through it with a red pen and not feel as if I'd just slashed off my hands. I read the words written so long ago and realized there was more to Jessica's world than was on the pages. More importantly, I read it with a different heart and took the time and care to breathe a deep life into its characters.
You see, third definition of "process" is "3. Progress; passage." This book has made its passage into your world but it has done so through me, through my ripening. As you know, good things only ripen so fast and can't be rushed.
