Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Preoccupied With An Unfinished Book

As I write LPT, it's difficult for me to read other novels. I like having my head fully focused on the story. I tend to get sucked into books; I'm a fast reader, and if I begin reading a book I won't stop until I'm finished.

For so long, the only novel I wanted to read was the one that I'm writing. I wanted a good book about an artist, the art world, and artistic experience. I composed a list of relevant books (I will post the list in the future) and began working my way through them. What I was curious about was where my work fit in.

I am now writing exactly the book I want to read. I was looking at the outline and looking at the calendar and--maybe it's the relief of having turned in my South Magazine documents but... I know I'll meet my deadline. I'll finish up the draft, have cupcakes and Krug for a very merry 25th birthday, celebrate St. Patrick's Day and work my ass off at the restaurant (we are entering the treacherous wedding season). My newly married, life long friend Ashley B. Tracy will visit at the end of the month with her mother--we're going to have a fantastic time together. And then, then I can read my own novel.

I absolutely cannot wait.

But reading a manuscript is not the same as reading a published novel. First of all, there will be mistakes in the copy, grammatical things, etc. al. in need of correction. It's work. But I look forward to reading the story and sorting through the text to see what I have. So much time is spent writing with one-sided knowledge of what is there. Reading lends an entirely new perspective.

Probably, I'll read a couple of those books off my list before I sit down to read the manuscript. But what am I talking about? I need to finish the rough draft.

27 days.

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