50,687 Words

50,687 words, a new ending I'm really excited about, and I found a way to slip in a mention of the greatest pizza in the world (Annie's in Concrete, of course!).

Dive

Every time I find - or someone helps me find (thank you, friends!) - a hole that needs filling in this book, it turns out I was being emotionally lazy. One of my best writing teachers, Jack Flynn at Grossmont College, told me in 1995 that I coasted when I needed to dive. Still true.

47,523 Words

So this book kind of kept going on its own. I'm 477 words shy of 50,000 words now.

Writer Zone

Outside it smells like grass, barbecue, wood framing materials, and Saturday.

Story Behind the Story

One of my writing teachers, the amazing Lidia Yuknavitch (who had Ken Kesey as a teacher once), is working on a big, new book. She jumps onto FB sometimes, then "goes back in", and I know exactly what she means. Another great writer from Lidia's Portland writing group, Chelsea Cain, is working on her 8th Archie and Gretchen novel and seems to take little coffee breaks here (on FB). She recently mentioned something Lidia taught her, which is to ask, "What's the story behind that story?" Maybe I'd heard Lidia say that, but it didn't mean much before it started happening to me. Lately, I'll look at flat pages of my writing and sort of see bumps in the words that can be punched out, like a pill through blister pack foil, and expanded into blossoms of mini-stories that enrich the larger one. It's exciting, but I'm starting to dread it because it means MORE WORK when I thought I was done.

Excerpt 4 - Drowning

Some awesome people pointed out a few spots in the book where I was lazy (though they were too nice to say that), so I'm going back to fill those spots in... which means going into more detail about one of my great fears - drowning. I hate drowning. Water is scary. But also beautiful:

“Emily,” she called again, but she was too far away, and the girl never resurfaced. Thornton looked back and saw her husband on the way in a motorboat. She kept swimming until she got to the spot she thought she’d seen Emily go under. She dove into the water over and over. Below the surface, she descended through layers, each greener and colder and murkier from suspended sediment than the last. Decaying plant matter caressed her face as she tried to force her eyes to penetrate deeper into the darkness, but Emily left no trail, no bubbles, no trout darting away from her body dropping way, way down past 500 feet, to the bottom of the lake, where the old mining town of Ruby Creek, flooded when the dam went up, lay rotting somewhere in the water. Thornton looked back toward the surface and could barely see the light. She heard deep, warped, and muffled voices calling for her, glanced back down, then kicked up, inhaling a huge gulp of air as soon as she breached the wall between sea and sky.

Augusten Burroughs

I found Augusten Burroughs by chance a couple months ago and like him so much I've now read/ listened to, like, 7 of his books. One of the things I love about his writing is the details. He wrote a story about using Nicorette gum to quit smoking and talked about how he can always recognize when someone is chewing Nicorette by the way they "park" their gum. I just saw someone doing it, and it's exactly like he described it! Now I'll always see it. Love that!

North Cascades National Park

Submitted Desolation Ghosts (still not thrilled with title but I guess it will do for now) to potential agent today, then went to visit park. I cannot believe I wrote an entire book about North Cascades National Park and did not refer specifically to moss and ferns. If anyone else is curious, you can kind of see the Ross Lake level if you magnify the picture. It looks super low again this year so far.

Let It Breathe

At the request of a good friend to at least give her the weekend to review the first draft of my book Ghosts of North Cascades (... nope, that's not the right title either ... ) before submitting it to a potential agent, I have been letting the book breathe before I do the big tinker on Monday. It is not easy. This must be how it feels to think before you speak! Perhaps this will be good practice ...

40,062 Words

Last novel post, I swear. Maybe. It appears a book is a novella if it's less than 40,000 words. Fortunately, I noticed some holes that needed filling, so Missing Person (boring title, I know, but I just like it) made it officially to novel status at 40,062 words. And I think I'll let it breathe for a couple days before I submit it.

The Second Time I Thought I Was Done

Now that I've finished writing the book, I will try to take a break this evening, then do a good proofread and edit tomorrow, then probably send it straight out to the agent I think I would like to represent me, because I'm impulsive like that, and I have other stuff I need to do. The query letter has already been written. However, I would still love suggestions from anyone who is willing or has asked to read it. Help is appreciated, and I'm sure I'll be tinkering with it for a long time trying to get it just right. If anyone who's already read some of it has any suggestions that are especially important or critiques of anything egregious, please let me know as soon as you can, otherwise, I will look forward to your feedback whenever it's convenient for you. Please don't feel rushed. Thank you all very much.

Ross Lake Resort Corgi

 Does anyone know the name of the Ross Lake Resort Corgi?

The first Time I Thought I Was Done - 36,889 Words

Done. 113 pages, 36,889 words. That'll have to do, because it is what it is.

Excerpt 3 - Lookout

100 pages. Not to give anything away: "And now I will sleep on this bumpy mattress that is the most comfortable bed I’ll ever have slept on because I’m still alive to enjoy it. And maybe because Jack Kerouac slept here."