Writing, Revising, and Rewriting

" I tell you, being able to create your own work, being able to indulge your own fantasies is so much better than journalism, so much more fulfilling than journalism, to me, that as long as I can continue to write fiction, I shall. "

? Oral history interview with Tom Robbins, 1984 March 3, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Tom Robbins' manuscript collection includes handwritten notebooks, typescripts, and galley proofs. His constant, meticulous reworking and perfecting of each sentence, each page is evidenced throughout these versions.

Curiously branded, "Top Flight Earthbound" spiral notebook includes Robbins' preliminary thoughts and notes.

M 90 Top Flight Earthbound notebook cover rsz.jpg

M 90 Top Flight Earthbound notebook_miscellaneous notes1 rsz.jpg

Below are a series of notebooks containing the handwritten version of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

M 90 Box 1 Notebooks 1 and 2 folder, Notebook 1 cover rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 1, Notebooks 1 and 2 folder, Notebook 1 Even Cowgirls title page rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 1 Big 39 notebook1 cowgirls rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 1 Dastardly and Muttley tablet no 3_cowgirls rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 1 Orangutan notebook cover rsz2.jpg

M 90 Box 1 Tibetan peach pie page_antelope notebook_Cowgirls rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 1 Crossed out page_Bonus Pack Notebook 4_Cowgirls rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 1 Bonus Pack Notebook no 4 rsz.jpg

The following images are samples from the various stages of Skinny Legs And All: a handwritten notebook; a corrected typescript with notes on page back; and a list of corrections and pages designated "TO REWRITE."

M 90 Skinny Legs notebook vcu mention rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 5 folder 1 Skinny legs typescript p379 front rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 5 folder 1 Skinny legs typescript p 354 note on reverse rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 5 folder 1 Skinny legs typescript_list of corrections rsz.jpg

M 90 Box 5 folder 1 Skinny legs with typescript edits_Note_To Rewrite rsz.jpg