Day 850 – Doing Some Ironing

Smoothing out the wrinkles I created over the past few days. Taking longer than I thought, though this chunk does represent 15-20% of the final word count, so it is no small thing. Should finish tomorrow, and then insert back into main manuscript (Draft 2i — this edit is designated as Draft 2ie, for those keeping track).

It occurred to me yesterday that the secret to writing a great novel would be to take the thing that scares you most, the thing that brings you the most happiness, the thing that brings you the most sadness, a person or action that you admire most, a spiritual symbol that touches most, and then somehow string them together in a narrative. And to not back down when telling it, just balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face writing that slaps you across the cheek like a big, wet fish.

~Graham