Saturday morning, we woke to ice-coated decks and trees. The temperature was right at freezing and rising. I knew the ice would melt and drip on Heathcliff and me during our morning walk, so I donned my rain jacket. What I was not prepared for was the sound of melting. The entire forest roared like a rushing stream.
Large drips pelted us as we trotted down the mountain road. I pulled my rain jacket’s hood over my head, and Heathcliff shook periodically. About half way down, we crossed the freeze line. The sound of melting was replaced by the loud silence of solitude.
God time.
I’d given my editor/writing coach a draft of my faith memoir before Christmas and asked her to review the manuscript. Two months went by, two very productive months for me: four guest blog posts written—two published, two pending—two flash essays and one long essay revised, submitted, and pending. Seven pieces. When my editor/coach’s review letter arrived, I read it quickly then set it aside along with the marked-up manuscript until I submitted the last piece last Friday morning.
That afternoon, I read the letter carefully and reviewed markups in the manuscript. Some chapters worked well; several did not. The beginning needed to establish the threads more clearly; the middle was too slow, the end too fast. Those words pelted my thoughts in Saturday morning’s silence, and the fact that I had an appointment with my editor/coach for lunch in town.
Heathcliff and I turned to walk back up the mountain road. The loud dripping began again, but further up, closer to home this time. I knew the ice would disappear soon and sensed my resistance to the what needed to be done would, too.
The sound of melting.
My editor/coach recommended that I identify the tension points, look at the chapters and sections that were working, then borrow “the recipe” to revise, craft, and shape the manuscript. Welcomed marching orders.
It was in the mid-fifties and sunny when I got home mid-afternoon, a good opportunity to give the dogs their monthly showers. We had freezing rain again yesterday, and it’s going to be cold this week. But the overall trajectory is for melting.
Followed by the loud silence of God time and productivity.
I love the sound of that: God time. Such vivid imagery of the melting places.
All the best on your rewrites.
Glad you enjoyed the sound of melting. And thanks. -C.D.