Reading like a writer

So about the big read. (See my February 11 blog post about this process.) I’m about two thirds through, and it’s easy to tell my novel in progress needs a lot of work. In fact, in the words of Anne Lamott in her wonderful book on writing Bird by Bird, it’s a "shitty first draft." I just don’t know if I’m clever enough to give it what it needs to turn it into a "good second draft" and a "terrific third draft" that she predicts will happen.

Anne Lamott

I’m finding little problems like lots of typos, inconsistencies, and redundancies – those I know how to fix. It’s the big problems like creating more interest in the characters and the story that is the major work. I need to describe the characters better; I need to make the story more interesting and suspenseful. In truth I need to figure out a way to make my readers want to turn the page.

This morning I read a LinkedIn conversation about whether to include prologues or not – lots of pros and cons on the subject. So I need to revisit leaving mine in or weaving it into the chapters as backstory. And then my major decision before I move on with any revisions at all is whether to change the narrative from third person to first. So my first step is to rewrite a scene or two to see if I can pull that off as well.

Another thing I came upon this morning is this wonderful quote by William Faulkner: "Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good."

William Faulkner

So even though I’ve been thinking in the back of my head about abandoning this project, I’m going to keep on for the time being. Faulkner has given me the push I need.

My writing life - still all good

Did I really say I wouldn’t be working constantly while on my three-month virtual blog tour? I must have been dreaming. Writing, revising, and refining each and every one of my articles and getting them to the blog owners in enough time for them to post have kept me very busy. 

Plus, I’ve had new several requests from other bloggers to write for them that I've tucked into my blog tour schedule  Right now I have a yellow sticky on my virtual desktop reminding me of the eight posts due in the next thirty days.

Now that might not seem like a lot to you. However, just coming up with blog post ideas is a challenge – that is unless one of the blog owners asks for something specific. In the last couple of weeks I’ve been asked to write about: 1) how I realized poetry alone was not enough to convey the story I told in my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, 2) my concept of gratitude, and 3) what I would say to someone who has just lost a loved one to suicide. These are not so simple assignments, and they need writing about.

I feel like the quote by Sharon O’Brien that I just posted on my Facebook author page:

"Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say."

However, I would put it in the present tense.

Needless to say, I’m not whining. I’m enjoying every bit of my writing life – still. I’ve gotten into the habit of staying in my writing chair for hours every day, and just before I get up, I marvel at how much stuff I’ve created. It’s all good.

My Writing Room 

(it's a little less cluttered now)

Don’t go there. You don’t need to imagine it.

When people want to know the details about my son's death, I try to avoid specifics; not to protect myself, I already know all the gory details. No, I want to protect the asker, especially if he or she has children. I want to protect imaginations from going to a place where they have no reason or need to be. People can’t help asking these questions. They feel their interest is comforting to me, but I find it more of a burden. The tables get turned, and I feel the need to comfort them. It’s happened over and over. When they say they just can’t imagine losing a child, let alone losing one the way I lost mine, I say, “Don’t go there. You don’t need to imagine it.”

I love Anne Lamott's books. And she's a great public speaker as well. That's why I decided to use a quote from her book, Operating Instructions (Anchor Books, 1995), to start off my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On http://www.LuckyPress.com/madelinesharples.html. The death of a child is a parent's worst nightmare, and she put down her fears about that so aptly:

"When I held Sam alone for the first time…, I was nursing him and feeling really spiritual, thinking, please, please God, help him be someone who feels compassion, who feels God's presence loose in the world, who doesn't give up on peace and justice and mercy for everyone. And then a second later I was begging. Okay, skip all that shit, forget it – just please let him outlive me."