Sad But Not Forgotten
Sigh. A friend of mine sent me this at the end of an e-mail last night:
BTW is Roxy ok? Will Cam and Lori get back together? What about Roy, when's he gonna turn up and f***everything up?
I couldn't make head or tails of it. There was a "Roxy" in the show Dead Like Me which I recommended to him but he watched all the episodes and knows everything about her I do. There's a "Cam" on Stargate SG-1 but he's played by Ben Browder, who I thought was excellent in Farscape but my friend never warmed to him. I couldn't think of a "Lori" or a "Roy" of any sort, though. I called my wife over and asked, "By any chance, do you know what the hell he's talking about?"
She looked at the line, looked at me, straightened and said, "He's talking about your book." At that moment the furnace likely kicked in and I couldn't hear when she added, "You idiot" under her breath.
So I wrote this thing, tentatively titled "Some Things You Die For" (sounds awfully Lawrence Block- or Donald Westlake-ish) and for the first time I did it as a draft. In other words, I kept writing past passages I knew I needed more work. I can't do the "just write it all down, you can fix it later" kind of thing; writing on top of crap just yields more crappy writing. Still, there's a midpoint where it's roughly good and roughly correct and at least bobs along on the surface without fully sinking.
Before I went back to it, though, I wanted to do two things. First, "forget" it to the point that when I read the thing it would be with fresh eyes, so I'd naturally read every paragraph and not mentally skim over because I knew what was coming. The second thing was to do the prep work for the next book (if I don't answer certain questions ahead of time, I'll butt up to the same places in the book every time. Apparently.).
The prep work for the second book is around halfway done. It takes me a while, especially since we haven't had the babysitter since last fall. I wish this could go faster but I'm a CFS-stricken, sleep deprived, homeschooling dad propped up by vicodin and carisoprodol. Hemingway had his booze...
As for the part about forgetting the first book before I do the edit/revision work, I guess I'm about there. I was going to reply to my friend with a, "Huh? What are you doing, watching soap operas over there?" "Forgetting" the book shouldn't include forgetting who I give it to to read.
Ahhhh, mental health. Don't waste yours.
BTW is Roxy ok? Will Cam and Lori get back together? What about Roy, when's he gonna turn up and f***everything up?
I couldn't make head or tails of it. There was a "Roxy" in the show Dead Like Me which I recommended to him but he watched all the episodes and knows everything about her I do. There's a "Cam" on Stargate SG-1 but he's played by Ben Browder, who I thought was excellent in Farscape but my friend never warmed to him. I couldn't think of a "Lori" or a "Roy" of any sort, though. I called my wife over and asked, "By any chance, do you know what the hell he's talking about?"
She looked at the line, looked at me, straightened and said, "He's talking about your book." At that moment the furnace likely kicked in and I couldn't hear when she added, "You idiot" under her breath.
So I wrote this thing, tentatively titled "Some Things You Die For" (sounds awfully Lawrence Block- or Donald Westlake-ish) and for the first time I did it as a draft. In other words, I kept writing past passages I knew I needed more work. I can't do the "just write it all down, you can fix it later" kind of thing; writing on top of crap just yields more crappy writing. Still, there's a midpoint where it's roughly good and roughly correct and at least bobs along on the surface without fully sinking.
Before I went back to it, though, I wanted to do two things. First, "forget" it to the point that when I read the thing it would be with fresh eyes, so I'd naturally read every paragraph and not mentally skim over because I knew what was coming. The second thing was to do the prep work for the next book (if I don't answer certain questions ahead of time, I'll butt up to the same places in the book every time. Apparently.).
The prep work for the second book is around halfway done. It takes me a while, especially since we haven't had the babysitter since last fall. I wish this could go faster but I'm a CFS-stricken, sleep deprived, homeschooling dad propped up by vicodin and carisoprodol. Hemingway had his booze...
As for the part about forgetting the first book before I do the edit/revision work, I guess I'm about there. I was going to reply to my friend with a, "Huh? What are you doing, watching soap operas over there?" "Forgetting" the book shouldn't include forgetting who I give it to to read.
Ahhhh, mental health. Don't waste yours.
posted by Rick Ollerman at 8:04 AM
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