The Pages Flew Past This Week; I've Found The Groove
What a week! I finished Chapters 5-10 of Rubbed Out, writing around 7,000 words this week. The manuscript is up to 13,000 words now. Better yet, I've reached that feeling with this book where I lose myself in the story when I'm writing. I look up from what I'm doing, and it feels weird to realize where I am – sitting in a coffee shop, at a library, or at home. It's similar to waking up from an afternoon nap and realizing it is still the middle of the same day you fell asleep and not the next morning.
Another thing that is really working on this book is the parallel plot structure. I feel I've got three main story lines going. Ae-Cha, and her ordeal as a sex worker in the massage parlor circuit in LA and San Francisco; Max, who is searching for her; and Faye and her client who is seeking a near-death experience. The reason I know this structure is working is that after I finish a chapter on one story line and turn to another, I feel the excitement of picking up where it left off. I get that same feeling when I read books written this way.
The week flew, and I got a lot done! In the evenings, I'm reading "The First Rule" by Robert Crais, another of my personal favorite authors. This is a copy he signed for me when I attended a reading he gave shortly after it was published. He's got his next one out now, "The Sentry", and I'll be checking his website to see if he's stopping by on another tour. I can't wait to do book tours, I think they'd be an awfully lot of fun. Hopefully I'll be doing one for "Rubbed Out"!
January is half over, which means that Spring is getting closer each day. I feel I'm on track to complete "Rubbed Out" by March 31 as planned. The outline stands at 38 chapters, total, and I'm over 1/4 of the way there. I can't wait until Monday to pick things back up where I left off today!
Have a terrific weekend! The blog entries seem to be getting shorter here as the writing develops on Rubbed Out. That's not a result of writing fatigue, it's more a sign of the single-minded focus that happens when I start really getting into the heart of a story. It seems there is less to comment on in the rest of my life. C'est la vie! Thanks for reading. -Jon
