Thank heavens, I have a husband who knows how to a) hold his tongue and b) not gloat. But he did tell me so.
THE DAY
So it was back to the drawing board.
I wish that writing that didn’t feel so much like defeat.
I have mercifully forgotten all the other books I’ve written and how none have come easily (except one, which wasn’t easy so much as one for which I didn’t need an outline). I had done an outline for the current book, but I did that, oh, months ago when it was a totally different book. When I got back from Oregon and began to rearrange and reimagine it…I did not replot the thing. When I scratched all that fifty-three days ago and started over by reimagining the whole thing…I didn’t do an outline.
The husband says it was at that point that he bit his tongue and said nothing. He’s lived with me long enough to understand and observe my process, and he knows that I always write better and best to outline. I always have. As an experiment, I didn’t do much of an outline for DICKENS MIRROR. Truthfully, I spun my wheels a lot, killed over six hundred pages, and flailed around a lot before finding the meat of the story. If I’d done any outline…who knows? Yes, I have friends who “write into the dark” and one who’s pretty said what I do is a waste of time. Well, good for them and good for him, and that’s his opinion. Call it whatever you want: writing a first draft; looping back; writing outlines and then writing the draft that you know you will have to revamp . . . whatever. We all rewrite in various ways and more or less. This into the dark stuff doesn’t work for me.
In any event, as I said in yesterday’s blog, I’ve been denying the growing, nagging feeling that the book was stalling because I simply didn’t have a direction or drive. No ticking time bombs, nothing to propel the narrative. This is not a literary book. It’s a YA sf thriller, which means it has to move, move, move–and it wasn’t.
So…yesterday, I thought. Last night, I admitted defeat. Early this morning, I couldn’t sleep. Over coffee and since the husband hung around a bit, we hashed things out–or, rather, he listened to me hash things out and then was his usual supportive self.
Then, he left, and I got started with a new outline.
The premise is the same but bumped up, with a lot of the action I envisioned coming down the line being up front and center, from the get-go. I’ve added a character (which means coming up with a life for her and figuring her out) and revamped another character to be much more active and doing something completely different from the previous book.
I figure to give myself a week. Try not to get myself too torqued over the research to be done, though most of it is stuff I kinda sorta know. Hammer the damn thing out and then try again.
That was the morning. Did battle with contractors, then gymed, and afterward met up for tea with a few folks from the local library. Then, back home where I just spent the last three hours writing a talk that I’m scheduled to give (several times over) on Friday, which means I travel Thursday-Saturday. I’m taking a computer; I can surely get some work done on the outline. The plane rides are long enough.
Blah. I know this had to happen, and there are days when I wonder what the hell. But, blah. De Niro is right:
The only thing that doesn’t apply: I rarely–if ever–procrastinate. I show up for work. My boss is a bitch that way.
The rest…all true.
WRITING OUT LOUD
Dark Side of the Moon
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500 Day 21: 1800 Day 31: 745
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500 Day 22: 0 Day 32: 0
Day 3: 3011 Day 13: 1000 Day 23: 2700 Day 33: 4000
Day 4: 2652. Day 14: 3700 Day 24: 3500 Day 34: 2800
Day 5: 3210 Day 15: 5630 Day 25: 1500 Day 35: 4500
Day 6: 3450 Day 16: 1060 Day 26: 0 Day 36: 4800
Day 7: 0 Day 17: 130 Day 27: 0 Day 37: 0
Day 8: 2756 Day 18: 0 Day 28: 380 Day 38: 450
Day 9: 4580 Day 19: 3000 Day 29: 390 Day 39: 1000
Day 10: 2670 Day 20: 2600 Day 30: 380 Day 40: 2500
Day 41: 2600 Day 51: 1000 Day 63: 4800 Day 73: 1500 (edit)
*Day 42: 830 Day 52: 1600 Day 64: 3300 Day 74: 250 (sick)
Day 43: 3600 Day 53: 2600 Day 65: 2500 Day 75: 3000 (edit)
Day 44: 5000 Day 54: 3600 Day 66: 1200 (edit) Day 76: 2500 (edit)
Day 45: 2600 Day 55: 3200 Day 67: 1000 (edit) Day 77: 2500 (edit)
Day 46: 3000 Day 56: 4000 Day 68: 3000 (edit) Day 78: 2000 (edit)
Day 47: 2800 Day 57: 1200 Day 69: 1000 (edit) Day 79: 2000 (edit)
Day 48: 2500 Day 58-60: 0 Day 70: 1000 (edit) Day 80: 4300 (edit)
Day 49: 1000 Day 61: 3500 Day 71: 1500 (edit) Day 81: 1000 (edit)
Day 50: 4600 Day 62: 3000 Day 72: 2500 (edit) Day 82: 2000 (edit)
Day 83: 1500 (edit) Day 96*: 800 (outline)
Day 84: 2700 (edit) 900 (talk)
Day 85: 1500 (edit)
Day 86: 0 (travel)
Day 87: 0 (travel)
Day 88: 0 (travel)
Day 89: 2500 (edit)
Day 90: 2400
Day 91: 1300
Day 92: 2200
Day 93: 1300
Day 94: 0 (dang taxes)
Day 95: 0 (dang brain on
overdrive)
Blog Post: 880
***
What I’m Watching:
The Newsroom. Fast running out here.
***
What I’m Reading:
Rez Life by David Treuer; Nine Years Under; assorted articles on Ojibwe burial practices.
***
What I’m Listening to:
Trump at his rambling and self-congratulatory best; announcers going from stunned into acceptance; Sanders harping on his revolution which, if he gets the nomination (G-d forbid), means that we might have a President Trump. They’re both populists, only one wants to turn this around the old-fashioned way and the other wants to raise taxes and the wealthy simply will not stand for that, no way, no how.
