Dec. 3, 2016 – Well, shoot. All this time, I thought it was “Heigh ho, heigh ho, it’s off to work we go.” Now I find out it’s home from. Nonetheless, I’m off to work, to dig dig dig dig dig dig dig for diamonds of phrases. Or something. Yeeesh.
Some Sentences, Dec. 1 – Sick bay with the Paris Review, Stephen King and Robert Penn Warren
Dec. 1, 2016 – Starting off the month on a lousy note; i.e, home sick. Head hurts too much to read or watch TV. Dying of equal parts pain and boredom. Maybe an audiobook. But which one? Which brings me to the four-volume set of The Paris Review Interviews, a supremely thoughtful holiday gift from Scott some years back. I dip into it every so often, and last week re-read the interview with Stephen King, who talked about listening to Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men – one of my all-time favorites. Bingo. Other than the fact that I keep falling asleep in mid-chapter and then having to rewind, it’s just right. I mean!
To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast of the city, and it is a good highway and new. Or was new, that day we went up it. You look up the highway and it is straight for miles, coming at you, with the black line down the center coming at and at you, black and slick and tarry- shining against the white of the slab, and the heat dazzles up from the white slab so that only the black line is clear, coming at you with the whine of the tires, and if you don’t quit staring at that line and don’t take a few deep breaths and slap yourself hard on the back of the neck you’ll hypnotize yourself and you’ll come to just at the moment when the right font wheel hookers over into the black dirt shoulder off the slab, and you’ll try to jerk her back on but you can’t because the slab is high like a curb, and maybe you’ll try to reach to turn off course.
Some Sentences, Nov. 30 – Back in the saddle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80NoPLp-Zl0
Nov. 30, 2016 – A full(ish) night’s sleep makes a world of difference. Hit the coffeeshop at 6:30 a.m. and hit Book 5 at 6:31. Hampered by a dying power cord (new one arrives today; thanks, Amazon Prime), but I got enough done to feel good about the day. Turning my attention now to eight (nine, ten?) hours of the day job, but can’t wait to get back to it. Whoopi-ty-aye-yay.
Some Sentences, Nov. 29 – Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
Nov. 29, 2016 – No sentences worth reading today, and certainly none worth writing. This is how I felt at work all day after last night’s proofing/revising slog. Tomorrow, though, back to Book 5. Woo freaking hoo.
Some Sentences, Nov. 28 – Proofs & revisions, done
Nov. 28, 2016 (my dad’s 90th birthday!) – Some might celebrate by eating cake. Me, I hit “send” on the proofs and revisions. Now, whiskey. Any old amateur can eat cake.
Some Sentences, Nov. 27 – Copy editors rule. Never forget.
Nov. 27, 2016 – All day with the editing, first fixing the typos and little glitches, then on to the more substantive stuff. You think by now, I’d know it was a good idea to make a timeline before I wrote the book, or even as I was writing it. That way, I wouldn’t get questions on this ms. – just as I did on the last one, come to think of it – such as “Wouldn’t this happen on a weekend? And then wouldn’t the office be closed?” Thank all the gods ever worshipped in the history of humankind for copy editors. They catch my word crimes.
Some Sentences, Nov. 26 – All revved up and ready to go
Nov. 26, 2016 – A new scene turned into a new chapter. Now working on a kickass ending. What’s kept me going all day? Why, those tried and true writing standbys from the way-back machine, the Ramones. Hey, ho!
Some sentences, Nov. 25 – Don’t stop me now
Nov. 25, 2016 – Twenty days to deadline, and what am I doing? Adding new scenes. Oh, yes, I am. And deeply into the cheesy music phase of writing, too.
Some Sentences, Nov. 23 – Pie. That is all.
Nov. 23, 2016 – I could draw a bunch of shaky analogies as to how crafting the perfect sentence is like making the perfect pie crust, but that would involve way too much BS. At some point today, some writing will get done. But this time of year, the pies take priority. Crust is key. This recipe from the New York Times’ Melissa Clark works every time. Pay no attention to the amount of butter. Because pie.
Nov. 22: Some Sentences resumed, and a disaster
Nov. 22, 2016 – Arrived home from a few days of traveling, and champing at the bit to get back to the ms. Zoomed up to the coffeeshop at 6:40 a.m. – late, late! – only to be greeted by the above. That awful sound you heard this morning? Me, screaming.
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