Meta-commentary helps my revision process.  When I write about my work, I discover what it’s truly saying, hear its heartbeat.   

Lately, my writing / life shuffles uneasily at a cross roads. I have raw material, but what should I do with it?  Should I abandon fears, develop my character? Can I change my setting (already changed so many times)? I want to choose humility over self-pity, and give this story the generous depth it deserves.

I can start by focusing on moments of wonder that punctuate life.  Here are a few I captured these past two weeks, including a portrait of myself taken by a friend:

“Ours is the century of enforced travel of disappearances. The century of people helplessly seeing others, who were close to them, disappear over the horizon.” 

-John Berger

“Bring me a coffee too,” he ordered in perfect French. And specified without noticing the double meaning, “Italian style, strong enough to wake the dead.” He drank it without sugar, in slow sips, and then turned the cup upside down on the saucer so that the coffee grounds, after so many years, would have time to write out his destiny.” –Gabriel Garcia Márquez, ”Bon Voyage, Mr. President”