A beginning, but also a continuation. A step closer to what will be the next book. Started on the third draft this morning. It's hard to distinguish one complete draft from another when working on a computer, literally processing words, because a thought in the night often sends me to the desk to change just a line for which I hoped to find a more interesting word, a better sentence rhythm.
But in this latest iteration of a novel I have tried to write many times, and have written, and have had no luck finding a publisher for, this is probably the third full draft. I waited until I got to some kind of end, all the balls in the air, as George Saunders once put it, and tentatively falling towards what might be their final places. I am going to leave the actual end until I reach there again, after reconsidering the first 85, 000 or so words. Could be more by then, even less, for I once heard Leonard Bernstein talk about transformation by deletion, and even though I have never been too long-winded a writer to begin with, the potential to so transform intrigues and inspires me.
Read more...https://burnsmar.blogspot.ca/2018/01/beginning-to-continue.html