Wet Invigorated Toes

As usual, I have no time. But I wanted to get this information out to those writing friends who stop by from time to time. As some may recall, I noted a few months back that I'd stepped my toes in the water of the agent world by sending my completed (to distinguish it from the one I began in November, not to imply it's really done) to an agented friend.

Today, he called back and offered me some great advice about ways to improve it. Since I have the book out with another friend who's an editor, I don't want to offer the exact details here, but suffice it to say I believe I now know what had been aggravating me about my book. I knew it wasn't perfect (and if it's going to go to an agent, I believe a first novel should be pretty damn close to perfect — as far as a particular novel can be), but he pinpointed what was missing.

I still have little time to work on the novel, but I don't think it will require months of work. Indeed, there's some rearrangement of material, but not a lot of new writing. I may even need to remove some detail and add some more that I'd removed from earlier drafts. This is why I keep everything!

Hope you're all well and all finding time to write. It's not easy. But it's worth it.

Writing Freedom

I find so little time to write, much less to blog, these days. But with today being Independence Day, it seems appropriate to jot down a few remarks (or as many as I can before the babies arise.)

I was on the train the other day when an old friend said hello as we headed into our stop. I'd been writing on the train and was off in my own world, but I'd been writing about something that had angered me. She asked how my novel was going, and I explained that since the girls were born I'd had very little time to write. Yesterday, while taking the girls out for a stroll, I met a neighbor I'd only spoken with on the phone. I knew she was a writer — a playwright — and our conversations had almost always been about writing. Like my friend on the train, she said that I would have very little time these next couple of years in which to write.

I think I'll find the occasional moment to write, but I don't think I have the time currently to pursue an agent for my finished work. It's not merely the pursuit; if I actually got a bite, I'd not have enough time to respond appropriately.

It's frustrating, but the reality is that we only have so much time, and I already don't have enough time to spend with my girls. But the time I spend I hope is of quality.

Happy birthday, America. May your many wonderful freedoms continue, including the freedom to speak one's mind, to write one's thoughts, to pray to one's God — all without fear of being imprisoned for doing so.

Long Time No Write

The past month has been replete with opportunities — to work my butt off on things other than my personal writing. Aside from a 5-10 minute visit to my main characters in the Antarctica novel, I've done virtually nothing about that book except imagine. I value imagination. Indeed, it's crucial to developing a story and believable characters.

But it's not writing.

My time since vacation has been spent making the house acceptable to the many family members who arrived for the girls' baptism. It was a wonderful celebration, and I'm happy with how it all went (despite the mouse-induced hole in a hose to the dishwasher, but that's another story). But now it's done, and the summer is upon us — at least in New Jersey we define the summer as Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. You gotta problem wit dat?

So my summer resolutions are about to kick in: sending the completed novel out to agents (yes, a repeated theme from many previous posts), working on the new novel, and reading to my children. I suspect these things won't happen in the order I've listed them. But as long as they get done, I'm fine with that.

Vacation Writing

This week of vacation is different than most of my previous vacations the past few years. This year, I'm not re-editing my novel. I have one copy of it out in the world and I will send others out either this week or soon after. (Of course, I've said that before.)

Instead, I've been working on stuff around the house and feeding and diapering children. But I should also get a chance to restart my new manuscript, begun in November. No guarantees, of course, as children will demand all sorts of attention and I'm willing to give them a lot.

Are you writing daily?