My own good advice for writers part 2

I woke up this morning with a article on my mind ( or should I say sitting on my head, but more about that in the next post).

Before I even had a cup 'o joe I was scribbling in a note book. On and On and On it flowed, like a huge river, meandering all over. Branches going this way and that, here and there. Some branches of the river became torrents with whitewater and whirl pools and an twisty turning run to the sea. Other branches of the river ran slow and steady over varied terrain and eventually became small streams meandering to and fro and then little trickles that lost their way in a dead end.

(It was kinda like Bogart and Hepburn and the African Queen, "where the hell- sorry sister- is that passage".)

All these thoughts are part of the story and they all illustrate concepts that are important and entertaining and this leads to that and twenty seven pages later...
If you have ever seen me speak in public, you know I can go on and on and on. Apparently I can do so when I write as well.

For me writing is not so much about what to write as it is deciding what not to write. Staying close to the true story is the hard part.

so, my advice for writers part two:
1. let it all out.
2. now focus on the true story and decide what not to write.
3. keep the scraps for later, you never know when they might add to a torrent in the making.