Nope, not this guy:
Although he seems interesting. If a bit simplistic.
But I'm talking about words, you know, like knob, knack, kneel.
Once when a crit partner told me that the "K" in J.K. Rowling stood for nothing, I heard, "Knothing". Silent, (albeit made-up) K strikes again.
Which brings me to what was bothering me during my MG revision. What was wrong with the story? Why couldn't I move forward with it? Knothing. A big freakin' silent K. My very own silent Killer. It was that big quiet thing that made me know that my project wasn't ready. Might never be ready. I couldn't revise it away, couldn't move forward. I was a hostage to the silent K.
Once I found that silent K, I decided instead of digging it out, word for word, and instead of abandoning the project (still a possibility), that I was going to rewrite.
I'm enthused. And. I'm getting rid of my silent K. Curious about what my silent K was for this project? Well, I'm not going to say. Because I'm pretty sure that each writer, each project, each novel, *could have its own particular silent K. I've found this one, and I'm working forward. Have you found yours?
*not to say that each project does have a silent killer. but mine did. :)
Love this! The silent K! And you are so right. A lot of times when we're stuck and we think it's writer's block or something it's really the unconscious realization that something isn't working.
ReplyDeleteLaurel--oh, man. You're always so spot on. :)
ReplyDeleteI was wallowing for such a long time in this one...Yay for break-throughs!!
This is great. I love the analogy--good luck moving forward!
ReplyDeleteYou hit the knail on the head!
ReplyDeleteI (k)now what it is! hehe
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, you can do it. It doesn't matter if it's full speed around or not. You can (k)nock it out of the park! Or at least your Lucky can.
I hate knowing there's something wrong and not being sure of what it is! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSo cool, H! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteI think I've got silent ks I don't even know about. Great post! See you tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteOh, have I got a case of the (k)nothings. I'm glad you're excited about rewriting! Always a great feeling to get motivated again.
ReplyDeleteThough, I thought the K in J.K. Rowling is Kathleen for her grandmother?!
I just wanted to stop by your blog and I like this post about the letter K being silent. The funniest thing for me is that my boyfriend can't spell and silent letters always trip him up.
ReplyDeletehttp://icecoldpenguin.blogspot.com
Teresa