Saturday, May 19, 2007

Baby steps

Well, kids, I've written the outline for my book. Each chapter is a different city in the former Soviet Union. It's funny - in writing the outline and having to remember things that happened in each place, I've managed to dredge up so much stuff I'd forgotten had happened. I'm a little frightened by the number of times that death, cannibalism, space aliens and hookers come up in my experiences. Seriously. Lots of death and hookers.

(And now I'll start getting lots of Google search hits for "dead hookers." Grrrreat.)

I don't know how long this will take me to write. Today, for the first time in a very long time, I'm sitting at Mayorga, typing away. My back still hurts, so I tend to fidget a lot in my chair, but I need the white noise of the cafe to keep me focused. Last night, I had major twingy pain in my back and leg which left me gasping for breaths at Borders, hobbling around with the Sasquatch. (I had a 30% off coupon and the desire to find a text to help me organize the writing process. Such a book does not seem to exist - at least not in the form I sought. I found the best advice on some Ask.com subpage today. More or less, it said, "If you've written a college paper, you know how to write an outline. So, write the outline and get goin'!") I got home, popped one of the Vicodin I've been hording since I fell, and BAM - I was asleep in minutes. Slept the deep sleep of babies and rocks, but had near hallucinatory dreams all night. Wish I could remember them today. All I can tell you is that they were twisted. Truly twisted. But I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to rock and roll with the words.

So, here I am. Outline complete. Next step? Get goin'. I'll start where it all started, just like many maudlin, overwrought pieces of literature - in Moscow...

Long way to go, folks. Long way to go.

Eeek.

4 comments:

Heather Meadows said...

Yay! Soooo exciting!

And hey, if you ever need a test audience, you know who to call ;)

Janet Kincaid said...

If you're looking for a book about writing, try "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg. Good resource.

Can't wait to read your book!

Neil said...

Sounds exciting. The best of luck getting it down on paper.

Anonymous said...

Long way to go, but good going. Hope we can have our copy autographed ;)