Hello!
As part of my ongoing series of tips and advice for writers from a writing consultant, I’m discussing pitch and putt today. Firstly, if you don’t know, pitch and putt is 18 holes of golf that have a maximum length of 70 meters per hole. So, basically, it’s golf on a slightly smaller scale.
I played pitch and putt for the first time recently and enjoyed my afternoon partaking in the game.
One of the tools that I find beneficial in teaching is the use of analogy. As a writing consultant, part of my job is to help train and teach writers. This carries over from when I taught college writing.
Pitch and putt is a great analogy for the writing process. First, one must pitch. That is, you have to write toward the general direction of your goal. Only when a manuscript is close enough to the goal (the hole in the analogy or a completed manuscript in writing) can a putter be used. This is all the fine-tuning that takes place through editing.
As you’re writing, the story may not be quite what you want. That’s perfectly fine! Just keep pitching it in the general direction of the flag of its finish line. Then, you can putt it to perfect completion.
Keep going! If you hit a tree, no problem. Just try again.
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My best to you all,
Megan