Work in Progress

[ussusimiel]

Thanks, ali, I'll know where to go if that's a route I choose.

Good stuff about the new book. Keep us updated on your progress!

I finally made some progress on the poem I mentioned upthread. I changed the title and after playing with the form for a while the language finally tightened up into something that began to feel right. I'm going to post the latest version here first, since you've been accompanying me during its progression.

After a night out we take off our love

You shed your violet dress,
lie back languid and at ease.
On green sheets our chests press
warmly into each other.

I lean over, strip away your lipstick.
Remove the heavy layer of blusher
and foundation. Lay aside
the brown and red-stained cloth.

The cleanser carefully cleans
around your eyes. Blue
shadow, indigo liner,
and finally the dark mascara.

Cotton wool gently presses
the hard mouth of the bottle.
The clear astringent toner
raises the fine grain of your skin.

Under the yellow lamplight
your pale face rises up
and I begin to glow. My fingertips
minister the light oil to your brow.

It tingles as it soaks in, feeding
the orange flames. I stare into
your steady gaze. I see you.
You see me. In the awful red glare

of our nakedness we are deathly
afraid. We hold the fear
and for a moment we are
free.

[Menolly]

Will you share the subject of your next book, ali? Is it set in a universe you have already shared with your readers? Or are you going in a totally different direction with this one?

[aliantha]

Will you share the subject of your next book, ali? Is it set in a universe you have already shared with your readers? Or are you going in a totally different direction with this one?

Different universe. Still fantasy, though. Or maybe magic realism.

[Menolly]

Ooo..!

[lorin]

Ali suggested I come here and share what I'm working on. I went off line for a week to work on writing. I find when I get on the net I'm distracted and lazy. So I set myself some deadlines and did some work.

Biggest thing is that I put Avenue D aside. Ave. D was the story I've been working on for quite some time about the NYC shelter system. It is the story of a murder. But it is really the story of the clients. Anyway, I decided that because of all my job issues, the project had become too much of a trigger for me. So I put it down for a while. It is about 1/3 completed with about 400 pages so it was very very hard to let it go (for now) but I thought it was best for my mental health.

I picked up a project I have been churning around for a few years. It is a play about the Holocaust. It is the story some of the women who in the camps, how their lives turned out and how it compared to their expectations. I don't want to get into too much detail yet, don't want to jinx it. I have been doing a lot of research, trying to put the stories together. But I have been having trouble finding the uplifting aspects of the stories. You can't write all trauma and death. It will send people running out of the theatre. It is a fine balance.

It is also really emotionally draining work and I am tattered.

[Menolly]

You will do wonderfully with both projects, lorin. Let Avenue D set a spell and percolate, while you allow the women of the Holocaust to share their stories through you. You are the perfect filter to determine what will inform and enrich others.

[aliantha]

After the long weekend, I'm about 3600 words into the new book. That's not as far along as I wanted to be, but it's better than nothing. Need to put in some serious work on it tonight....

[Sorus]

Good luck. Having a bit of a dry spell myself.

[aliantha]

Thanks! 10K in, as of last night. Hoping to knock out quite a bit more today while the house is quiet...

[ussusimiel]

That's great, ali!

You and Mickey Spillane obviously have the same work ethic!

u.

[aliantha]

I do first drafts NaNoWriMo-style. That is, I try to do 1600-1700 words a day, which gets you 50K words in a month. But I also try to get ahead on the weekends (about 3K so far today).

It helps to work from a (sorta-kinda) outline, so I don't veer too far off course. The outline for this book was even sketchier than usual, though, so I'm having to revise it on the fly...

[ussusimiel]

I spent time again today putting a selection of my poems together (they're for an uncle of mine who I'll be meeting at a family event on Saturday).

I now have a base selection of about 60 pages of poetry that I work from, which makes it easy to just trim it down to those required. I initially had about 20 pages for this selection, but I felt that that was too many, so I stripped it down further until I had 14 pages (10 poems). They all began to gather around the themes that I know my uncle is interested in. In one way this is good as it is tailored to his interests, in another it leaves less room for surprise and a widening of perspective. I suppose, knowing how few people are interested in poetry, I don't feel too worried that I am overly-limiting the work.

Once again I spent some time making up a kind of small folder to hold the poems. I now have a fair idea what it is I want and this time I adapted a folder I'd bought specifically for the job. I'd like to try it with nicer card or stiff paper, but that's a longer-term project.

I am pleased with the look and feel of the folder and the poems it contains. Once again the title sheet is the word, 'Communion'. I am now beginning to understand that there is a growing consistency between the poems, the way the poems are selected, the way the folder is made and the act of handing someone a selection of my work. There is a personal connection involved in the act that reflects the energy behind the poems. The attempt to create communion and intimacy, which I have recently realised is always present in my poems, is also involved in the act of handing them to someone.

I don't know if this idea will go any further and it has already been an interesting exercise. The flexibility and personal element involved in the way the work is presented are more consistent with how I would like the poems to be engaged with. There is a potential for connection that feels appropriate to how I approach writing and reading poetry.

u.

[aliantha]

It's neat that you prefer that personal approach, u.

I don't know that I'd be comfortable doing a similar thing with my own work. I'd be a little worried that the recipient would feel like I was trying to send them a message of some sort, even if that was never my intent. I think I'd rather send my words out to the anonymous masses and let readers pick out the stuff that resonates with them on their own. But then I've been broadcasting my work, if you will, for a long time....

The WIP: I made progress this week. Nearly to 25K words, which would be halfway if I were doing NaNoWriMo. I took last night off because MagickMaker came over, but I'm hoping to top 30K today. It would be really cool if I could get to 35K this weekend, but I'm not going to kill myself doing it -- I also have to write a blog post for Indies Unlimited and one for my own blog, and I should finish writing my review of Black Elk Speaks for Rursday Reads.

Say, I had a brainstorm the other day. We released the Watch anthologies in paperback, but ebooks didn't really exist when we published them. Might be a fun project to publish them now in digital format and sell 'em for 99 cents a copy, with proceeds going to hosting costs for the board, or even an E-fest "scholarship" fund. (Not that I anticipate that we'd sell a ton of copies...) We'd have to see whether the original contributors would be okay with it, which would be most of the legwork required. I could do the formatting.

[Vraith]

It's neat that you prefer that personal approach, u.

I do, to. There was an extended time...from about my mid-teens [9th grade...how old are people in 9th grade? I'm too old. My memory is going] to my mid-20's where probably 1/2 my close relationships BECAME close relationships by me showing them poems/lyrics. The other 1/2 from being in bands and plays.

I don't do that anymore. I wonder why? hmm...

But I've never shown a single one to any relative except one of my grandmothers.

[rdhopeca]

It's neat that you prefer that personal approach, u.

I don't know that I'd be comfortable doing a similar thing with my own work. I'd be a little worried that the recipient would feel like I was trying to send them a message of some sort, even if that was never my intent. I think I'd rather send my words out to the anonymous masses and let readers pick out the stuff that resonates with them on their own. But then I've been broadcasting my work, if you will, for a long time....

The WIP: I made progress this week. Nearly to 25K words, which would be halfway if I were doing NaNoWriMo. I took last night off because MagickMaker came over, but I'm hoping to top 30K today. It would be really cool if I could get to 35K this weekend, but I'm not going to kill myself doing it -- I also have to write a blog post for Indies Unlimited and one for my own blog, and I should finish writing my review of Black Elk Speaks for Rursday Reads.

Say, I had a brainstorm the other day. We released the Watch anthologies in paperback, but ebooks didn't really exist when we published them. Might be a fun project to publish them now in digital format and sell 'em for 99 cents a copy, with proceeds going to hosting costs for the board, or even an E-fest "scholarship" fund. (Not that I anticipate that we'd sell a ton of copies...) We'd have to see whether the original contributors would be okay with it, which would be most of the legwork required. I could do the formatting.

I like this idea. If it goes over well, we could consider doing the same with a new anthology (I know, tired subject, but I'd still like to do one someday).

[aliantha]

I would, too, Rob. We may have enough energy at the Watch now to consider another attempt.

[peter]

In my earlier years I put together over a period what you might call a 'pillow book' - thoughts, annecdotes and the occasional poem. I came across it the other day and Found it fairy entertaining in a shallow sort of way. Then I happened across some of my poetry and . I won't be posting any of it here .

[ussusimiel]

In my earlier years I put together over a period what you might call a 'pillow book' - thoughts, annecdotes and the occasional poem. I came across it the other day and Found it fairy entertaining in a shallow sort of way. Then I happened across some of my poetry and . I won't be posting any of it here .

Why not risk it in the Writers' Circle? We'll be kind!

u.

[aliantha]

Yeah, come on, peter! If I can post poetry, anybody can.

[wayfriend]

Found it fairy entertaining in a shallow sort of way.

Yeah. Fairies are easily entertained.