Everything is grand here, mostly sunny days, and even when it rains it’s just a burst or two and then it’s over. I’ve had friends in town, Kerri, and Lauren, and they kept me busy last week. I saw the Alabama Shakes and they were amazing, so much fun, a band truly on the verge of something big. Also I’ve been to sculpture gardens and parades and I’ve eaten muffalettas and dined at Patois (which was so awesome) and of course, I’ve done lots of yoga. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but yoga really holds the center for me. Writing does too, but it’s hard to always be productive. There are distractions, and sometimes your brain needs to chew on things in order to figure them out which is a form of productivity even though it doesn’t necessarily feel like it at the time. But pretty much everywhere, always, there is always a yoga class. (Feel free to replace yoga with running, knitting, shooting hoops, and the like.) (Also, sometimes, but not always: wine.)
But still I’m back to sleepless nights again, because I wake up and start thinking about the book and nothing else. It is fun to think about it. It’s a big, juicy sandwich, and it tastes better than anything else. I could use a little more sleep though. There are bags under my eyes lately.
Anyway. I have three chapters left, but yesterday I decided to revise everything I’d already written before I dive into the grand conclusion. I had already realized a few weeks ago that I would have to fix some of the beginning chapters in order for one of the last chapters to make sense. And then once I started noodling with two of them, I realized one of them was going to have to go completely, and everything had to shift from there.
Structurally, the book follows three characters, and switches off their close third perspectives from chapter to chapter (although within those close thirds, sometimes I sneak in another close third from a person they encounter. Ugh. Yes. This book is insane or possibly a mess or possibly not bad, but whatever it is, it is extremely fun to write) so when I cut one chapter, the thread of that person has to move entirely, even as the thread of the other two characters stay the same.
Hi, my brain hurts.
And then I merely glanced at another chapter and all these things that needed to get fixed presented themselves to me, and I was like OK you win. Also I think it will be great to have a big buildup, all the words and characters and ideas inside me, before I write the final act. Probably I will not make my end of January deadline, and probably I am fine with that. I get to be fine with things sometimes.
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This article from Conde Nast Traveler on the Brooklyn Literary Landscape is fun. I was happy to be a part of it.
You can win The Kept Man, Teju Cole’s Open City, and Kate Christensen’s The Astral over on Largehearted Boy, as part of his ten-year anniversary celebration. Congrats David, for being awesome for ten years!
By the way, are you reading Kate’s food memoir blog? You really should be.
(10/15/09)
