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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I'm Taking to My Bed

Peeps. Agent 99 got back with encouraging words about the direction, though her take away message is that we're not there yet. I need to make the whole thing work. That is to say that some re-imagining must take place in order for the novel to work in harmony as a whole. Got to find a way to spread the magic evenly and in a well paced way. Not easy, I know. Lots of thinking off the page to make it work, plus it's hard for me to see it all clearly at the moment. Such a game of time, this writing is: we are either waiting for someone to get back to us, or we are waiting for inspiration to occur. Anyway, for today, I'm taking to my bed to try to dream a cohesive entity into being. It's a snow day. I'm stumped. Plus I stuck a rusty drill bit tool (I guess technically it's an ice pick) into my hand, made a crazily sickening puncture wound, and had to get a tetanus shot yesterday; today it feels like my arm was used as a punching bag. I think maybe I was trying to kill myself the slow, hard, drill-bit way, or else I'm just insanely accident prone lately: I'll spare you the details but I've fallen, smashed the side view mirror on my spouse's car, and lost my cell phone about 700 times this week alone. Just one of those times when it all goes wrong-ish. Luckily, nothing serious, just annoying. So, anyway, I'll let you know how the novel-imagining goes. I told 99 that I would need a solid year of working to make it happen. Again, time, right? Well, mice, what the hell else would I do with myself in 2011? At least I have a focus and a meaningful task ahead. What about you?  What literary torture/nirvana are you creating with your year? Got a plan yet?

8 comments:

Laura Maylene said...

Ugh, I know those everything-goes-wrong times all too well. Sorry you're having such a bad run. And I don't even want to discuss my latest disappointments and/or failures...too depressing. Good luck to you.

Jennifer Perry said...

No! Put down the drill bit and just take to your bed. We're with you completely in spirit. Who else could leadeth us through the valley of the shadow of rejections with courage, faith and imagination?

Anonymous said...

Hang in there, LROD! Don't let the drill bits keep you down! Throughout this adventure with 99, I've been struck by how quickly you've strategized and put together cohesive revisions. You've been able to address things in a matter of weeks that would take me eons to address in my own manuscript. Enjoy the brain rest today-- once inspiration strikes, I have no doubt you'll be able to stitch together the next draft in far less time than you might imagine!

Anonymous said...

this sentence was the most unexpected thing ever:

"Plus I stuck a rusty drill bit tool (I guess technically it's an ice pick) into my hand, made a crazily sickening puncture wound, and had to get a tetanus shot yesterday..."

and i gotta say, I CRACKED UP! i'm really sorry about your hand, ouch...but your deadpan delivery is hilarious.

Cari Hislop said...

My bed knows me well. It's an excellent place to close one's eyes and get some work done. I hope you feel better soon!

Anonymous said...

agend 66

Nancy Natale said...

I hope you're feeling better. It sounds like you needed a time-out. I hope it worked.

Anonymous said...

We are what we write---so be certain not to write in any rusty-drill-bit scenerios into your re-imagining...

Z