Archive for November, 2007
“It was one of those jolly, peaceful mornings that make a fellow wish he’d got a soul or something…”
Woke up early this morning — well, early-ish — and planned to spend the whole day writing, working on the second draft of the Undertaker Story.
Read for a bit after Keeley left, having my tea. Listened to The Inferno while I made breakfast.
Dante and Wodehouse in the morning, not a bad way to spend a [...]
Making the Grade
I’ve found that one of the hardest things to explain about writing is why it is that, sometimes, things come so easily that they seem almost magically obvious when, other times, they are so difficult that they appear maddeningly impossible.
I’ve been writing for years and years. For the past fifteen or so, it’s been a [...]
A Proportional Response
And so, the day after I get a smattering of positive responses for my podcast, I also get another form-letter rejection from an agent.
The book is 147,000 words long. They’re judging its merit based on a one-page query.
Am I the only one who thinks this is absurd?
(New podcast episodes up at iTunes or via RSS, [...]
Talking to Dragons, Talking to Girls
A brief one: My twitter friend Melissah noted that this week’s podcast has an [explicit] tag in iTunes, guessing correctly that this is “the infamous ‘fuck’ chapter” — so, caveat auditor.
(Later…)
It’s also worth mentioning that Chapter Eighteen has the word “damn” in it. Just in case you don’t mind vulgarity but draw the line at [...]
Fan Mail and the Podcast
In reviewing the last podcast, it struck me that the “bitter end” line in chapter seventeen might not actually be mine. I have a vague recollection of overhearing it. For some reason, it seems like a conversation my parents might have had . . . but neither of them do crosswords. So it’s probably an [...]
The Resentful Story and the Vanishing Idea
The second draft of the Undertaker story was going along very well until everything fell apart at the beginning of chapter eight.
It was my fault, really. Chapter seven suddenly got very preachy, so I cut out quite a lot of it without realizing it was merely setup for the pay off at the beginning of [...]
