Writing With a Broken Tusk
Writing With a Broken Tusk began in 2006 as a blog about overlapping geographies, personal and real-world, and writing books for children. The blog name refers to the mythical pact made between the poet Vyaasa and the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha who was his scribe during the composition of the Mahabharata. It also refers to my second published book, edited by the generous and brilliant Diantha Thorpe of Linnet Books/The Shoe String Press, published in 1996, acquired and republished by August House and still miraculously in print.
Since March 2024, Jen Breach (writer, VCFA graduate, and former student) has helped me manage guest posts and Process Talk pieces on this blog. They have lined up and conducted author/illustrator interviews and invited and coordinated guest posts. That support has helped me get through weeks when I’ve been in edit-copyedit-proofing mode, and it’s also introduced me to writers and books I might not have found otherwise. Our overlapping interests have led to posts for which I might not have had the time or attention-span. It’s the beauty of shared circles.
Unraveling, That is to Say, Revising
Sometimes when you start to knit something, say a sweater, you think you know how. And maybe in a way, you do. You follow a pattern. You choose the right needles. You try to do it right but for some reason it doesn't quite work. The pattern, you find out along the way, is all wrong. It's too boxy. The neckline will look misshapen. It's longer than it should be. And you can't see all this until you have knitted two-thirds of it. The yarn is still good. And you still have that vision of what you're after. But you need a different pattern. Maybe no one's actually got that template all ready for you. You need to make it up.