One Down for Now, Plenty Still to Do

Sent off Chance to Eddie the Agent Wednesday and feel really good about it. Tori provided some valuable feedback and it's in really good shape. It's not perfect and Eddie will no doubt have some thoughts on how to make it better. I look forward to his input.

But right now I have to put that out of my mind – it's Eddie's problem for now – and get back to work on other stuff. Most importantly, time to pick up Scurvy Dogs! for it's last draft. I've let a little time flow and now it's time to give it one more whack, make it a rollicking adventure. My style tends to get a little serious, and I want, well "rollicking."

And there's the movie treatment. It's a great story, but it's coming to me in bits and pieces and I don't want to rush it. I was crazy to think I could knock it out in a couple of weeks as if that's just what I do.

I've also got a file I need to keep updating, ideas for other stories. Sometimes you wrack your brain for an idea when the well's dry. Other times they flow like the storm drainage canal up the street during a big rain. You don't want to lose a promising idea, but it's too damn easy to get sidetracked. So I write 'em down. There's two on the list that date back years – one that dates back more than 20 years, but it's stilla damn good idea. The only problem is, it's gonna take some research I'm not quite able to follow up on yet – including a trip to London to get a feel for the lay of the land. One of these days, that's just what I'm going to do. The other I still recall writing an outline for while sitting on the beach in Oregon about 10 years ago. It just hasn't been the right time to write it.

But now, Scurvy Dogs! fourth and final draft. Who knows, maybe that'll be the one that finally pays off and make possible that trip to England.

Another Person Smarter Than Me – With a Caveat

Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.
 

E. L. Doctrow 

Very true. At the same time, all those things that Doctrow dismisses as "not writing" are still part of the job, and a lot more besides, these days. You just have to guard against  getting so caught up in the other stuff you forget the important part – the writing.

Taking a Chance

Good week. Got the treatment I've been working on about half done. That's not the progress I'd wanted, but the other half of the schedule, the editing, went very well.

It occured to me a little while ago that I had a finished novel that has been gathering dust for three years. Chance was my first, and even though my former agent never was able to sell it, it's good. In fact, my recollection is that none of the seven or eight publishers that passed on it had anything negative to say. The former agent called it "'Treasure Island' for a new generation." A friend who is a retired college professor read it and told me he had expected it would take about a week to finish (at the time is was over 100,000 words,) but he finished in a day and a half because "I literally couldn't put it down."

So it's a good book and I thought, "I can self-publish this and I'll bet I can sell it." I want to share the story with people. I put a lot of effort into Chance, it's my baby, my first. Until the day I wrote "The End" on the first draft, I always thought I could write a novel, but I didn't know it.

I've been through self-publishing before, Well Blow Me Down, and it's a lot of work. Writing the book is way easier that publishing it.) But I really believe in Chance, and I have a lot of my life tied up in it. So I started planning things out, but I decided I needed to talk to Eddie the Agent, the guy who represents me now. He has pushed really hard for Chrissie Warren: Pirate Hunter, and I don't want to do anything that might affect either any chance of getting it sold, or my relationship with him. So I laid out my plan, and he said, that if Chance had only gone to a handful of publishers (that's my recollection) maybe there was something he could do with it. So send it on.

That was exciting news. So I spent the last week going through it, editing, combing the nits out (my, that's an unpleasant metaphor, isn't it?) and you know what? It's as good as I remembered.

I also made a decision. I had done a lot of rewrites and editing of Chance. After I sent it to the former agent I did a revision at the request of someone in his office. Then it got sent to a very large publishing house where it was received enthusiastically – but – they wanted some changes. So I did I rewrite. Then I did another rewrite for them. Changed the story more than a little. It made it all the way to the final meeting at this house, and then they decided not to publish it. That took about 10 months and they had it exclusively all that time. After that I kind of think the former agent gave up. I believe he only sent it to another six or seven houses and didn't pursue it very hard.

Last week I went back several revisions, found the "finished" copy I had originally sent the agent and started from there. This is my story, and I want it to stand or fall on that basis, not on the revisions that other people wanted, people who in the end didn't even want the book.

Tori is giving it a final read and then I'll send it on to Eddie, hopefully later today. It's not perfect. It'll probably change a little. But it's a good book. I'm proud of it, and can't wait until people get an opportunity to read it. I'm proud of it, and excited that it's getting another day in the sun.

Does that even make sense?

It's one of those things that you say all the time that, when you stop and think about it, you wonder, "What the hell does THAT mean?"

Like "That really gets my goat." What goat? Who has a goat to get?

This time, Tori and I were taking a walk and we heard the ice cream truck and I said, "That's music to my ears." Then I stopped in my tracks as it hit me. What other organ would music affect? Why not just say, "That's music?" I mean, if you saw something pretty, I suppose it would make sense to say something like, "That's music to my eyes," although kind of weird. Something delicious could be "music to my tastebuds." But music to my ears? Where else would music go? What other organ would make sense to ascribe music to?

That's rhythm to my colon.

That's a symphony to my liver.

That's a melody to my philtrum.

Music to my ears. Sheesh.

Falling into routine

Summer is tricky, because the whole family is home and I have to mesh my schedule with theirs. Especially since we have always been night people. During the school year of course we can't sleep in completely, but during the summer we let nature take it's course. The night time doesn't frighten us and we'll often be up 'til 2 or 3, and then not wake 'til 11 or so.

But that doesn't really work for me. Don't get me wrong – I'd rather be asleep right now. But I've been making myself get up at 8 because I've got the house more or less to myself for a couple of hours. Make coffee, catch up on the news, and then get to work. In the morning I've been working on the movie treatment (which I think will be a terrific.) Break around noon or a little after, by which time the rest of the family is up.  That's the time for errands and things. THen spend the afternoon editing the other project I'm working on.

It's still early – school's been out here for 10 days – but so far it seems to be working for me. Making progress on both.

Now I have to work in the third summer project. Max had an idea for a story and I'm holding him to it. This summer he's going to write that book, under my pushy supervision. And watch, it'll be an instant hit.

Someone else a lot smarter than me

"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter -- it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

                                                                         Mark Twain

What I've Been Up To

I know. I know. Where the hell have I been?

Mostly right here. Plugging away. Got "Scurvy Dogs!" almost ready, just have to go back to the first half and make it more "rollicking." That's what I sort of lost sight of. The tone is a little serious, and I want it to be a rollicking adventure. Plus once I got to the end and saw how things came together, I have to adjust a few things and beef up the backstory. In a rollicking way.

Then I got sick. Don't want to belabor it, I wrote about it here.  Which is another of my problems. It's hard enough getting any traction with oen blog and here I'm trying ot write two, plus a novel. But they each serve different purposes so for now, at least, I soldier on.

Anyway, I was laid up on the couch for more than two weeks. Watched a lot of bad TV. (Is that redundant?) Somewhere I saw enough that the genres started melding in my head and I came up with what I think is a great story idea, although that might be the NyQuil talking. So while I'm letting "Scurvy Dogs!" gestate before hitting it one last time, I'm writing this up as a movie treatment to see if it leads anywhere. So far I like what I've got, but one idea is NOT a movie. Needs a lot of layers, a lot of balls in the air. I figure another week to two weeks, see what I've got, then ship it off and see if anyone salutes.

Then back to "Scurvy Dogs!" which is a lot of fun, Or will be when I get it rollicking. Right now it's a good story without enough laughs.