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The Seven Stages of Writing Grief
The inevitable cycle of love/hate/love/hate/surrender
2 min readDec 29, 2020
- I am going to write something that is going to be a HUGE breakthrough piece for me. It’s going to sound different from anything I’ve ever written. It is going to be epic. I will not fall back on all my tired habits and threadbare vocabulary choices and familiar tone: I am going to be reinvented. The future is MINE.
- This piece is a tad harder than I expected it to be. To begin with, is this even a story idea? Do I have any cool details to include? I was kind of expecting a little… more. Maybe I should call my editor and suggest we drop this?
- Ok, not a great idea to suggest to Editor to drop the piece. Editor feels I sold him on it as brilliant idea and I’m being, maybe, lazy. Ok. Review notes, reconsider structure, think, think, think. Think NEW. Think SOMEONE ELSE’S WAY OF WRITING.
- On second thought, maybe best to approach this the way I usually do, since I know how to do that. Also, the deadline is approaching, so let’s stop fucking around and just get something, anything, comprehensible on the page. This doesn’t have to be epic; I just need to get it done. A piece of decent craftsmanship will suffice.
- Hey, this is pretty good! Like, quite good! I mean, it doesn’t break any new ground but it’s…
