finish my second novel.

First, I have to train the people I live with, so that they do not interrupt me, when they see that I am typing on the computer. Seven interruptions in the last 15 minutes!
I did once attend the ‘World 24 hour Novel-Writing Championship’, and wrote 27,000 words in 24 hours, all good stuff. The only interruptions were for sleep, a drink in the Groucho Club, oh, and for pumping off milk to feed my 6 week old baby… So I do know that i can do this if I am given enough space and time of my own.
But I think I am about to be interrupted again right now…
Sighs…

I’ve rewritten the thing 3 times. It’s not finished. Nothing I write is ever finished, but I’m declaring it finished. Like that.

FINIS

I promise to do this by the end of this year. Hopefully I can do a couple of weekend retreats, either by myself or with someone of like mind (Pete?) to really get focused on it. DAMN YOU, STORY! COME OUT OF ME!!!!!!!!

I dusted it off, put it in a new binder and have almost read enough to work on the re-write. I like the characters so they are going to have to carry me through this.

The NYT magazine, p. 55 last Sunday has an entry from Susan Sontag’s diary.
12/3/61…
The writer must be four people:
1)the nut, the obsˊedˊe
2)the moron
3)the stylist
4)the critic

1)supplies the material
2)lets it come out
3)is taste
4)is intelligence

a great writer has all 4-but you can still be a good writer with one 1) and 2); they’re most important.

Getting something published is not as important, obviously as getting something finished! So, I’m going to redefine this goal from “publish my novels” to “finish my novel, “Unusual suspect” so that at least some readers can give me feed back.

I did well to get five pages written today-I am so busy living my life and getting incredible material to write that I can’t get anything (and I mean anything) finished.