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That's A Lot Of Socks
Hello, all. Still committed to trying to post here more often, and get away from the Toxic Swamp of Facebook. It is so depressing there now I can barely stand to log in, even though it's the best way to keep up with all my friends. There's got to be a better way.
Audible Chine is coming along well. Evan Harris, my reader, is doing a great job, and working with him is so much fun. He took a shine to one of my most despicable characters and made every word that oozed from this character's lips a masterclass in E-veel. It was a shame he (the character, not Evan) got killed off about halfway through the book. There is a very difficult chapter (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stgulik, you will know the one I'm referring to), involving a great deal of violence, but he handled it with great sensitivity and confidence. He's a fan of horror films, and not in the least bit squeamish. I told him it needed to be read in a detached, clinical way, and he managed to do just that without losing any of the menace or tension of the moment. I am very proud of it.
Prior to that, he had read through what is probably the most erotic and smut-filled chapters of the book, and I have to tell you, I was so enthralled with his reading of it I totally forgot to squirm. Even though he has always read the erotic parts confidently and comfortably, without a trace of self-consciousness, I would be thinking, "My god, this is one of my friends and he's reading this stuff aloud - what must he think of me? How can I look him in the face?"
He did such a perfect job, I actually got caught up in the eroticism of it. It sounded at times like he was tasting the words in his mouth. For an author hearing their words read by someone, there can be no greater compliment than that. He almost sounded turned on himself, which made it very personal and sensual.
Work on Book three has brought about an epiphany of sorts this week. I have about 40K worth of stuff already written for the book, and I've been staring at it for weeks, trying to wade through what I should keep and what I should discard. The other day, I told TheHubs™ that it feels like I'm staring at a mountain of mismatched socks, and they all need darning and pairing up and the idea that I have to go through each and every sock and fix it is overwhelming me. These are chapters I wrote ages ago, and while the gist of the story stays the same, I write differently now. My 'voice' is different (sorry I know that sounds pretentious); the tone of the story is different. I will have to literally go through these old chapters word for word and change it before I can even start pulling it all together in one cohesive narrative. I said, "I can't help feeling that, instead of going through all this shit, day in and day out, fixing this mess, should I just throw everything out and just get a whole load of brand new socks?"
He thought for a moment, then answered, "Well, if you don't, you'll always think of them as darned socks. You'll never be really satisfied, will you?"
And there you have it. A lovely little analogy, taken to its nth degree, and resolved. So yes, I'm throwing out 99% of it. A couple of chapters at the end of The Chine were removed and will be placed at the beginning of Book Three, Silverbirch, and I'll keep some of that, but tonight I wrote the Prologue from scratch. It's sort of sad to think I'll be chloroforming a lot of sort-of decent stuff, but maybe I can recycle them elsewhere. The majority of it, though, really is a pile of old socks not worth repairing.
We had a mondo yard sale this weekend to raise a bit more money for the UK trip, and it was fairly successful. It was also a perfect day, sitting underneath a very large old oak tree, chatting with friends while TheHubs™ played with her cats and her boyfriend's band serenaded us and people gave me crumpled dollar bills for my old junk. A couple of very busy weeks await us at work, thank goodness, and hopefully more to follow. July was abysmal, work-wise. I need about $800 more dollars to achieve my goal for the trip, and I think I'm going to make it after all!
Well, I'm off to get us ready for a very early start to the week. Hugs to all who needs 'em, and I hope your week is fab. Stay fresh, cheese bags!!
Audible Chine is coming along well. Evan Harris, my reader, is doing a great job, and working with him is so much fun. He took a shine to one of my most despicable characters and made every word that oozed from this character's lips a masterclass in E-veel. It was a shame he (the character, not Evan) got killed off about halfway through the book. There is a very difficult chapter (
stgulik, you will know the one I'm referring to), involving a great deal of violence, but he handled it with great sensitivity and confidence. He's a fan of horror films, and not in the least bit squeamish. I told him it needed to be read in a detached, clinical way, and he managed to do just that without losing any of the menace or tension of the moment. I am very proud of it.Prior to that, he had read through what is probably the most erotic and smut-filled chapters of the book, and I have to tell you, I was so enthralled with his reading of it I totally forgot to squirm. Even though he has always read the erotic parts confidently and comfortably, without a trace of self-consciousness, I would be thinking, "My god, this is one of my friends and he's reading this stuff aloud - what must he think of me? How can I look him in the face?"
He did such a perfect job, I actually got caught up in the eroticism of it. It sounded at times like he was tasting the words in his mouth. For an author hearing their words read by someone, there can be no greater compliment than that. He almost sounded turned on himself, which made it very personal and sensual.
Work on Book three has brought about an epiphany of sorts this week. I have about 40K worth of stuff already written for the book, and I've been staring at it for weeks, trying to wade through what I should keep and what I should discard. The other day, I told TheHubs™ that it feels like I'm staring at a mountain of mismatched socks, and they all need darning and pairing up and the idea that I have to go through each and every sock and fix it is overwhelming me. These are chapters I wrote ages ago, and while the gist of the story stays the same, I write differently now. My 'voice' is different (sorry I know that sounds pretentious); the tone of the story is different. I will have to literally go through these old chapters word for word and change it before I can even start pulling it all together in one cohesive narrative. I said, "I can't help feeling that, instead of going through all this shit, day in and day out, fixing this mess, should I just throw everything out and just get a whole load of brand new socks?"
He thought for a moment, then answered, "Well, if you don't, you'll always think of them as darned socks. You'll never be really satisfied, will you?"
And there you have it. A lovely little analogy, taken to its nth degree, and resolved. So yes, I'm throwing out 99% of it. A couple of chapters at the end of The Chine were removed and will be placed at the beginning of Book Three, Silverbirch, and I'll keep some of that, but tonight I wrote the Prologue from scratch. It's sort of sad to think I'll be chloroforming a lot of sort-of decent stuff, but maybe I can recycle them elsewhere. The majority of it, though, really is a pile of old socks not worth repairing.
We had a mondo yard sale this weekend to raise a bit more money for the UK trip, and it was fairly successful. It was also a perfect day, sitting underneath a very large old oak tree, chatting with friends while TheHubs™ played with her cats and her boyfriend's band serenaded us and people gave me crumpled dollar bills for my old junk. A couple of very busy weeks await us at work, thank goodness, and hopefully more to follow. July was abysmal, work-wise. I need about $800 more dollars to achieve my goal for the trip, and I think I'm going to make it after all!
Well, I'm off to get us ready for a very early start to the week. Hugs to all who needs 'em, and I hope your week is fab. Stay fresh, cheese bags!!
