All
is good on my end, the holidays went well and I’m about to head back to India
for a few weeks. That being said, recent
life has actually been quite hectic and kept me distracted. I’ve been to Europe three times over the last
four months and when I’ve been back stateside, I’ve had my hands full and that’s
what has led to the sporadic posting of the blog of late.
Also,
I’ve been re-focusing on getting my novel into shape and one of my New Year’s resolutions
is to finish it and then move on to finding a literary agent to give me some
professional feedback and hopefully help get the work published. It’s high time to wrap this one up and move
on to the next steps and once that’s done, the next novel.
Writing a book is not as
easy or straightforward as one would think. I finished my first
draft well over a year ago, but after getting some feedback from respected
friends and doing some re-writes, I realized that I was too close to what I had
just punched out to actually approach the task effectively. Around that
time, a good friend asked me to start guest blogging on his blog (Bruce Elliott: Geriatric Genius)
which later turned into this blog and having that creative outlet allowed me to
put the novel to the side for the last year or so while I focused on other
stories and ideas (among other things).
Now,
after having the novel stew for a while, I’ve managed to find the necessary
distance to properly resume the task of what I hope will be the final
re-write. As with everything in this
endeavor, it’s quite an interesting and challenging process. I currently find myself seeing the text with
fresh eyes and am able to cut things out of the manuscript that I wouldn’t have
touched before. One has to be a harsh critic
at times and if it isn’t pushing the reader to toward the goal, it probably shouldn’t
be there no matter how much you like it.
I feel the story is getting much tighter and defined as I start this
last edit. Taking a prolonged step back
has allowed me to also find the plot screws that I think will pull the whole
thing together. After my Indian vacation,
I plan on hitting the final lap with gusto.
On
the blog, the recent sporadic posts weren’t something I planned, they just kind
of happened and I’m sorry about that. It’s
amazing how fast time flows, especially when you break a routine. When doing anything creative, self discipline
is a most treasured trait and one has to always be careful and diligent to maintain it and
this was my problem.
Going
forward, even with the re-write of the novel happening, I plan to continue
regularly posting my thoughts about current events, experiences, stories, ideas
and tragedies. I will also post passages
from the novel that I feel can stand on their own, which I have also been doing
previously (Sofia and Smoke Pit is just one example of that).
So for those who have been losing sleep with
worry, please do not fret and thank you for your support.
Cheers
and wishing everyone a fantastic and productive New Year-)
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