I went out to Port Townsend with some friends for a writing retreat this weekend. It’s always good to get out and away, and in this case it was a much-needed kick in the pants for the novel revisions that I’ve been needing to start real work on.
Revisions are funny things. I would really like to make this the book that I shop around to agents, which means it needs to be as good as I can make it. i had it critiqued, and revising the first chapter gave me a much clearer idea of what I need to do to the rest of the book.
And make no mistake–there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. But I know what needs to happen and even how i’m going to be doing most of it. It’s time to spill this novel’s guts all over the road and sift through them for treasure.
Funny things happen to your brain when you’re standing on a cold beach before dawn, waiting for the sun to rise a little bit more and the light to change.
I thought about the book I’m writing, thought about an unfinished story in which the aliens look like moving pieces of grey carpet and the truly terrifying things are the people around them. I thought about giant kelp and how we used to lay it out on the beach in neat parallel lines. Not for any reason, just because it was something to do.
It was a good weekend, filled with wine and camaraderie and bellyaching about how difficult and so rewarding this life we’ve all chosen is. I really did come home refreshed and ready to work.
I hope all of you are having a good November, and for those of you working hard on beating Nanowrimo: GO YOU!
