Dani Greer is a Story Circle member, co-mom of SCN's Lifewriters Group, and a founding member of the Blood-Red Pencil. When she isn’t
knitting, drawing, reading, or writing, she finds time to edit a couple of mystery
or history novels each month. She and her husband made a stunning (and much fought-over!) contribution to the Silent Auction at SCN's recent conference, Stories From the Heart V. In this post, "The Sole of the Writer," she tells us about it.
Recently, my husband and I collaborated on a silent auction contribution for the
Story Circle Network Conference held in Austin, Texas. We called it the Sole of
the Writer Sock Box and here’s a picture of it.
He carved the conference logo on a wooden box styled to look like an old library
card catalog, and lined the three compartments with aromatic cedar. Tabs on the
three divider cards had Dewey Decimal System numbers related to the three stages
of creating a book. What are the three stages, you might ask? Let me tell you my
thoughts as I knit the three pairs of socks that went into the box.
The
first stage in any writing project is getting the words down on paper, without
regard to form, grammar, punctuation, or anything your inner critic might find
to pick apart. This is where the writer dreams with reckless abandon – or in the
case of a memoir - remembers without reservation. The sock yarn I chose was a
bright multi-colored self-striping yarn, and though we don’t necessarily write
only happy, playful stories, the process itself should feel unfettered – like
child’s play, never knowing where exactly the story will lead. I call the socks
Beautiful Dreamers with a mantra knit into each stitch that said, “wake unto
me.”
The second major step in writing involves revising and editing. This
is where we examine the holes in our stories, and as editors, poke in a few more
before the author hunkers down to the business of repairing the flaws. I chose a
lace pattern for the socks, because it’s not my favorite sock to knit. In fact,
it can be downright frustrating, much as editing one’s own work can be
maddening. But even with a few mistakes when finished, the end result is usually
quite beautiful. The socks, of course, had to be red. What else for a queen of
editing?
Finally, and particularly in today’s publishing environment,
comes the third major component of the writing life – marketing. One cannot get
around it. If you’ve ever attended a writers conference, you’ll know what most
suitcases contain – dark mix-and-match basics that are wrinkle-free and can be
dressed up or down with ease. I thought about knitting socks in black or navy
wool, but then found a lovely dark money-green yarn with a few specks of color.
The color of money was just too hard to resist, and truly there is nothing wrong
with working a healthy payback into your writing equation. The mantra as I knit
these? Sell, Mel, Sell. Okay, maybe that could be more poetic. How about “I am a
money magnet”? No. Perhaps the words from Fiddler on the Roof: "If money is a
curse, may God smite me with it, and may I never recover!" Yes, now that has a
nice ring to it.
May whoever wears these socks enjoy all the joys
of the entire writing process including fame and fortune. What about you? Are
there any special talismans you wear in your writing life to give you that
little extra edge at every step?
Dani, thanks so much for allowing us to republish your post. It's a delight to read, and definitely too true. Joyce Spurgin won the socks, and has warm and beautiful feet! Generously, she gave the box to Peggy Moody.
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