Monday, July 30, 2007

progress: a few steps forward and a few steps back

If any of you see my July loping down some back alley (probably looking anxiously over its shoulder), please chase it down and send it back to me. (Use force, if necessary.) It ran out before its contract was up, and I desperately need it back.

I am up early and have been writing for a couple of hours already--that’s very early for me! I’m trying to make up for a hit-or-miss writing week, one that was somehow packed full of other things: errands, coffee shop conversations (we found a new coffee house nearby!), and a cooking frenzy. (Between Wednesday and Sunday I whipped up Mexican Caesar Salad, my first batch of Pico de Gallo, Nectarine-Blueberry Muffins, French Toast, and Thai Chicken Basil Stir Fry. Yum!)

I also got a new black desk the size of Rhode Island. Dad and I put it together last night, and I’ve covered it with all kinds of knick knacks that I stare at when I can’t think: an Eiffel Tower statue, cream-colored British pitchers, a huge wooden letter E, books, journals, a French Bible, a harmonica I never learned to play, and a picture I tore out of a magazine--the woman looking at the camera is my main character.

And so, this morning, though I feel only semi-conscious, I am toasting my new work space, hoping for much inspiration and much hard work at this gorgeous new desk.

I already have need of that inspiration: Saturday evening I read through the earlier bit of my second draft, and the first chapter is horrible. I loved it (of course) when I first wrote and revised it, but seeing it again now… it’s all wrong. Too much information too quickly (we don’t care about the main character yet, let alone what happened to her three years ago!); the narrator’s voice is stiff and distant. The action diminished by the heavy narration. Rats.

So I tore it out (weep, weep) and have started fresh this morning. I know it’s the right way to go--the imagery is better, the characters cleaner, and the dialogue could actually be funny. I might laugh with it when I reread it in two weeks--then again, I might tear it out. But this is how drafts go--a little in, a little out.

Despite the miserable heat this summer, December starts to feel very close, with my deadline in the middle of it. Will I make it? Three clean and astonishing chapters, along with a full synopsis of the story, ready to send to New York editors? (Do you breathe into a paper bag to cure hyperventilation?) We’ll find out… --jl

P.S.: For those of you still wondering what to say to the testy writers in your life, I haven’t forgotten you! I’ll post more on what not to say to writers, soon. A tip to tide you over: try not to criticize them for not getting to their work like, er, me.

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/30 at 11:31 AM
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