Another Day in the Life

Greetings Gang of Thirteen,

Remember what I did ’bout two weeks back, going to Staples and printing out my first novel? Well, now, I’m going back, this time to get a hard copy of my second one, The Whale of Cortary. After about sixteen hours of work this week, I finally finished the third draft of the novel. I’d been putting it off forever because it needed a major re-write. Particularly the ending, which was, in the unanimous, separate opinion of three readers, kinda long and meandering. So I trimmed it down from 40 pages to 13, and in the process wrote 5,200 words yesterday afternoon.

I am bushed.

Still have a few more things to do with it, then it’s off to Staples again with the Little One in tow. It’s been chilly and rainy here yesterday and looks to continue again today. I have my father-in-law coming in for a visit with the girls, and we all may hit an arcade or a pizza parlor or something later this afternoon. So the remainder of the day should be fun and relaxing.

Should be some interesting posts approaching the near event horizon. Still have to do a review of Tarnsman of Gor, a book you may or may not know has a certain controversy attached to it. I also want to speak about my initial responses to Lord of the World, a book I’m thinking is as prescient as Atlas Shrugged is today regarding our socio-political climate here in the U.S. Of course, writing in 1907 about a future which is approximately our present day, Benson gets a lot of the details wrong. But he’s nailed the philosophical climate we live in down perfectly. It’s uncanny. But more about such things later.

Maybe I’ll post some of the summaries of the stories I’ve been working on and plan to work on, too, in a short post later in the week, so you all can see and maybe comment on LE as a long-form writer. I’m a tough self-grader, too. One thing I learned being a musician for ten years or so: I’ve known when I was bad, I’ve known when I got good, and I know the exact point where I made the transition. With writing, the same thing. I made that transition, I think, around 2006. I “found my voice” as they say. So, of my two novels, Kirana was written in 1999, pre-voice, while Whale was written in 2006, at the time of voice acquisition. While I’m pleased and satisfied with both finished products, I think a reader would be able to note this simple fact.

Anyway, my stomach churns when I read writers blah, blah, blah-ing, me, me, me-ing, I, I, I-ing in articles. Contrary to what it may appear reading this blog, I dislike navel-gazing. Unless, perhaps, it’s of an anonymous or semi-anonymous sort. (Wow, I’m even navel-gazing as I’m decrying it!). So enough of that, and I’ll see you tomorrow.