The Writer Writes

by Sandra Conner


I think I’ll write a poem …
Type, type, type …
Words, words, words …

‘Twill have to be a story …
Type, type, type …
Words, words, words …

No … I guess a novel …
Type, type, type …
Words, words, words …

A saga will be better …
Type, type, type …
Words, words, words…

A trilogy is called for …
Type, type, type …
Words, words, words …

My editor now reads it …
Delete, delete, delete …
Delete, delete, delete …

I have a two-line stanza.

5 thoughts on “The Writer Writes

    1. So true. And the two people who actually do a lot of editing for me — at my own request — got a real kick out of this poem. One of the people is truly the best “cutting editor” I’ve ever known in my life (for prose – not poetry). Any time I’ve written something that HAS to be extremely short, and I have struggled to cut it just as far down as I possibly can, I then take it to her. Inevitably, she finds places to cut it further — and it actually does still sound as good as it did before, if not better. Both of those people are real treasures, but at least neither of them has cut me from a trilogy to a 2-line stanza —- yet.

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