Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery by joining pieces back together and filling cracks with lacquer mixed with gold. It highlights the flaws in the repaired item. In our world today there seems to be no end to the broken pieces of our society and we are all a part of it in some way. But these pieces can be put back together again and be made stronger than before with work on our part.  I am reminded of this when I look at Kintsugi. It turns into a beautiful piece of art.

Accepting our flaws is a fundamental part of the writing process as well. No author writes a perfect first draft. It reminds me of one of my books written years ago that just never quite hit the mark.  I ended up tearing it apart, section by section, and rewriting it at least three times. There was a point when I had almost given up on it altogether and considered scrapping it completely.  It was very disheartening and left me wondering why I was even writing it at all.

I’m not one to quit easily, so I took it as a challenge, and reworked the entire story so that it became a cohesive plot filled with much more exciting actions and a richer storyline. As a result of fixing the flaws, it became a much fuller narrative that I was pleased to publish – Tinker Smith & the Conspiracy of OZ.

A group of ten genetically altered children are attempting to save the world

from a technological, power hungry scientist,

the self proclaimed Wizard of Oz,

who is determined to control the world with a computer virus.

Johnny and his father meet Tinker, one of the ten children

and together  they forge ahead in the hope of survival

in a strange world of machination and espionage.

None of us are perfect, and in the artistic process of writing it sometimes means tearing apart our ideas, then putting them back together again to be stronger and more engaging.

It’s much like Kintsugi. From imperfect to amazing!

Happy Reading to everyone!

Solitaire

www.solitaireparke.com