Day 10 – How Soon is Now?

I ran into Susan Goldberg today at the school’s annual BBQ. She’s already co-edited a book And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents and Our Unexpected Families, and is currently working on a novel as well. (She also has a blog: http://mamanongrata.com/) Although we didn’t have long to chat, it was kind of cool talking with someone who is in the thick of their own book, though she is much further along than I am.

It’s always a kind of “islands in a stream” feeling though (at least for me). Kind of doing the same thing, but both doing it separately. There is a kinship between writers, no matter what kind of writing. When I’m covering sports, I talk to the other sports writers and maybe not talk style per se, but about writing in general, both the highs and the stresses (especially in journalism). It is kind of adversarial there of course, because most of the writers in any given press box are writing for competing media companies. Not sure if you’d call it a friendly rivalry or a hostile friendship. Actually, neither one works for me. Probably more of a “Good fences make good neighbours” kind of feel.

Anyway, novel writing doesn’t have the same level of competitiveness, but it also doesn’t have the same level of camaraderie either. It’s like people who drive MGs wave at each other when they pass each other. It’s nice to be part of that “club”, but the feeling that driving an MG gives you is so intensely personal that really it can’t be shared fully.

I hope I’m explaining that right. Does that make sense? I guess the upshot is that I like driving by other novelists on the road, giving them a wave, and then continuing on my own journey.

Some good writing tonight — still hunting that elusive voice again. I even put on the headphones and listened to some 80s music on YouTube. They have a feature where you can pick a whole lineup — I think people put their own “mix tapes” up that you can listen too. I was hoping I could trick my brain into skipping back into that voice again, but it didn’t work so well. Some flashes, but that was it.

I’m tempted to go back and re-read those passages where I was headed in the right direction. The only thing stopping me is that I promised myself to limit that as much as possible just so I wouldn’t get fixated on editing until I had laid down the main text. Perhaps this would be an exception though?

I have several hours to consider…

~Graham

(Novel Writing Totals)

Hours Today: 1
Words Today: 1,460
Hours Total: 10
Words Total: 14,721