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Someone Left a Cake Out in The Rain Writing is a subjective business, a lonely, difficult, often thankless, subjective business. As author Robin Black says in her excellent post on Beyond the Margins, every time we start a new project, we have to teach ourselves to write all over again. You must check out this article; it's fantastic! ...as is Ms. Black's post on Subjectivity.
As I sit here on a snowy New England Day, the kids alternately squabbling and going Jedi in the next room, I contemplate this crazy writing thing. It could be easier, I think, to take up some more reasonable activity, bungy jumping for instance, or basket weaving or batik. Some days, I open up my document and I can see every flaw. But then I think of this one-hit-wonder:
A song so bad that it was named "The Worst Song Ever Recorded" in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. A song that is often lampooned... even more than 40 years later:
A song that was a HUGE hit.
Here's what the soggy cake teaches me: Do the best you can. Make sure you are happy with it and that you develop your skills and editor's eye, and let the chips (sprinkles?) fall where they may. And also, watch those metaphors, they can be a little over the top.
Posted by Perri at 10:25 AM Labels: Cake, Macarthur Park, One Hit Wonder, Richard Harris, Robin Black 
I used to love that song. Made no sense whatsoever but it was a great slow dance song.

February 25, 2011 at 12:45 PM 
Great advice and thanks for the links.

February 26, 2011 at 12:22 PM HowLynnTime said...

Lol - hey the cake in your picture - must be good cause even if its soggy it's almost gone! Somebody must be cake starved or its dry so a little rain can't hurt it!
Either way it's not going to waste - Thanks for the post

February 26, 2011 at 10:35 PM Laura Campbell said...

Robin Black's post is a great reminder that not everyone is going to like my work. I can't please everyone, which is difficult when trying to build a readership. I keep on writing, reading and learning to improve my writing in hopes someone will want to read it and (with fingers crossed) publish it. Thanks for the link.

March 1, 2011 at 10:19 AM Writerly or Random Related or Somewhat Related 
STATUS: Complete with constant, slight tweaks

STATUS: Complete. 3rd draft, undergoing substantial revision

STATUS: Begun first draft, but still in planning stage.
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