I’ve been called away from this blog by becoming obsessed over editing “Sojourner,” a historical fiction based on the Chinese experience in California, Gum Shan, Mountain of Gold, during the gold rush. I will eventually put up the query I used to hawk the book; I believe it still holds up. It’s a quest novel which reveals my own philosophical questions about intention and meaning. It was my first stab at a novel and it holds up pretty well, considering that it cooled off for almost three decades. What I bring to it now is a more mature self. You know, reader, one has to trust oneself. The book stands. The bones are very good, and it will become the next book I publish. After that, “Gruffworld,” my science fiction fantasy that deals with the awakening of intelligence, to use Krishamurti’s words, and a psychoanalytic approach to loss, abandonment, and all those nagging themes of existence. The first chapter, “Covenant,” which was published, is now archived for you in the Pages section of this blog.
“Sojourner” is so cold now that I can easily spot the grammatical errors, the lack of my skills back then, the need to amplify, the need to cut severely so that pace is kept at a regular beat. I enjoy editing: revise . . . revise . . . revise. The secret is in that. How much to cut is the art of finesse and I am still learning that. Jane Holt, my colleague, fiance and editor, likes the book very much and she will give it the final read. Jane will also write an introduction. If you read her introduction to Down to a Sunless Sea, you will appreciate her lean and pragmatic style; she thinks the book through thoroughly before she writes. And I am sure that her introduction to “Sojourner” will be terrific. She sees things in me and in my writing which are unknown to me. And so what else is new about life?
I’d like to share some managerial issues about revising this particular book. It is idiosyncratic, but maybe my sharing of it might serve you down the line. The book is about 200 pages. I feel I need to go over it, of course, before I submit it to an editor. And I was thinking of having it typed up and put on a disk as this saves time in all aspects. However, I know me. I decided, now that I have some facility with a computer, to type in the manuscript myself, perhaps taking a month to do so. It has proven successful so far and not a little bit exciting. That is why I have not blogged for a few days. I am absorbed in the rewriting.
What I do is take a chapter or two and quickly edit it. I mark it up, etc. Going to the computer, I then type in the chapter and while that is going on I continue to touch up the chapter. So the book becomes an intimate expression of my present comprehension of what to do with it. Consequently, I’ve dropped out pages, edited out “leeches,” those words that are repetitvely dull or unnecessary. I always strive to say more with as few words as possible — think Elements of Style. I then print out 10 0r 15 pages at a time, staple them and put them into a folder. What I will do next is a more careful editing. It is easier to go over a short sample that has been “cleaned” and “polished” by me than an entire book. In this way I will burnish the samples. After all that, I will enter the corrections on the master copy and I know full well I will still tinker, as I should. The whole process probably will take six weeks if that. As it is now, I am moving furiously ahead, caught up in my own fiction. It works for me. It may not work for you. Remember: being a disciple sucks, it will always suck.
While all this is going on, I will be interviewed for the first time on radio, something that came my way by being a member of the Society of Southwestern Authors. More about that down the line. I am looking forward to an extended interview with me by Derek Alger, one of the editors at PIF magazine (online). You can access that under Links. Secondly, I am expecting the Green Valley News to publish an interview with me sometime in June. I have no idea what the reporter made of me. I am expecting distortions, and why not. I often distort and dissemble on purpose. Finally, you will observe an increase of sites under Links. They are reviews of my two books, mostly the short story collection. I am fine tuning them. If you can’t get access just type in the blogspot and google. The reviews are archived if not recent.
Additonally, I submitted “Bitter Brown Shoes” and “Present Tense” to the SSA contest, results come in October. Previously I won honorable mention for “Mortise and Tenon,” which is in my short story book. I won first place in 2005 for “Ms. Foley, With Gratitude,” in the category of personal essay/memoir whioch was published in “The Story Teller,” a publication of the Society of Southwestern Authors. What I submitted this time was an essay about cameras as remembrances of things past — see previous blog with that title. I combined that with another blog and worked hard on it until seamless. It is an essay about loss, time and reminiscence — think “Rosebud.” And they are away, the gods will decide. What I have gotten from this is that I resurrected previous unfinished work and applied what talents I have now; I more than refreshed them. I reconsidered them. I believe they work now as stories.
And that brings you up-to-date, dear reader.
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