Keepers DAY 3

And the countdown continues...

Yesterday, reviewing the outline I noticed an "anti-climatic" end to one of the main characters and it took most of the afternoon (between work, of course) to come up with a way to add more "spice" to this man's ultimate death. It's not 100% done but it feels really good and I like the direction it will go. Of course, I now have to rewrite parts of the story to include this new character and sub-plot line, but I think it will be for the best.

A quick word about this outline. Some authors don't use one. I tend to need one. I make many references to Stephen King - love him or hate him, you have to acknowledge that he is quite possibly the most prolific writer of our time. King mentions that he never uses an outline - he just starts writing. (He's a situational writer, by his own admission, meaning that he takes characters and just throws them into a situation (bizarre as it might be) and watches what they do and what happens.) The way he puts it, if he, as the writer, doesn't know what's going to happen next, neither will the reader. And if you've ever read any of his work you know that's true. Of course, if you've read through to some of his endings, you know that they can be extremely frustrating, forcing you to question why you just spent reading 800+ pages to have it end "like that". I think an outline is good for completeness and closure. But that's just me.

The story for this next book is over 5 or 6 years old. I started writing it just after Lifted Up was published. Many of my notes are dated March 2004. The idea was first discussed with a good friend of mine over dinner and we actually started meeting to flesh out this idea. But the more we met the more apparent it became that we were taking our idea in two different directions. He wanted to focus on one part of the story while I thought the real story was down a slightly different path and approach.

For the past 6 years, or so, this story idea has been simmering in the back of mind, permeating my subconscious. I have shared the basic story line and thoughts with a few people over the years and each one has said how profound it is and how excited they are for me to tell it. Well, the time is closely at hand.

I have noticed that my preparation is still not complete. My desk is a mess and I have this urge to clean it, to tidy up. It feels like the "nesting" instinct that some women have before they have a baby, and for me, writing a new book is the closest thing I feel to the creation process. It's weird, I know, but for me it is like giving birth.

The next few months will be hard work. I recognize that, and I think that's where my hesitation comes from. The process of writing it down, taking the time, the late nights, the long hours - fun as it might be - is hard work, and some of the fun goes away with it. But the end result is well worth it. (Or at least I have to tell myself that...)

So let it be written...

so let it be done.

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