What no one says often enough is that writing a book is more re-writing than it is anything else. It’s a continuous act of tearing down and dismantling what we’ve built. We ruthlessly eliminate the unnecessary so the necessary can speak.
It hurts to let go of words we worked hard to put onto a page. There’s no way around it. We have to do it.
My protagonist, Emerson Page, deserves the best, truest, and most honest version of her story that I can tell. That takes time, and my first instincts in her story are almost always wrong. And I’m not alone.
Any writer who tells you that the book just poured out of them like silk off a spool is kidding themselves. Writing and re-writing is a massive labor of love. If it were easy, everyone would write books all the time. We don’t do it because it’s easy. We do it because we must, because a story is so urgent and eager to be told that we must keep at it until it’s done, until it’s as good as we can possibly make it.
My role now, at this point in writing Emerson’s second book, is to be the chief deconstructionist, to literally pull back the sheen and write truly and deeply about what hurts, and then to heal that hurt with love and bravery and grace. To make every single word count.
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About Christa Avampato
I make a living in business and I make a life as a writer, artist, and yogi. I use my business and storytelling skills to build a better world. My first novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, will be published in the Fall of 2017 by Thumbkin Prints, a children's and YA imprint of Possibilities Publishing Co.
My creative career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, and financial services. In every experience, I have used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, program, and events to help people live happier, healthier lives.
A recovering multi-tasker, I am a proud alum of UPenn (BA) and the Darden School at UVA (MBA). When not in front of my Mac, I’m on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching.
I am proud to New York City my home, and I've been called the happiest New Yorker by friends and strangers alike. They're right. Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
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