I’m not looking forward to the rewrite. Editing is a lot more work than dumping new ideas onto a page. Some writers can manage two main characters, but I don’t think I’m at that level yet and this isn’t the sort of novel that can accommodate changes of perspective, as in About a Boy, which brilliantly interwove the perspectives of Marcus and Will and came to a single conclusion. But books like that are rare, so I really need to pick who I want this story to be about and make it work. Austen was a genius at this; Pride and Prejudice was about Elizabeth and Darcy, but there’s never any question that Elizabeth is the main character. Sense and Sensibility arguably eroded the line between main and secondary protagonists, but in the end Elinor really is the lynch pin of the plot, offering a more complete view of what’s going on for the reader than any other character. Every story needs a Luke Skywalker, and I haven’t found mine yet.

Now that stuff like hand surgery, moving, and figuring out how Loki’s self-cleaning litter tray works isn’t sapping my time, I’d like to buckle down and figure out what is and isn’t working with my drafts. That means less time screwing around playing sudoku and more time thinking about building meaningful characters living in worlds that are interesting and genuine. I wish I had that guy from Project Runway standing over my shoulder telling me to make it work, because that would be incredibly motivating. Virginia Woolf wasn’t kidding; in the absence of “a room of one’s own” the stresses and hubbub of everyday life is a total creativity killer. It’s going to take some serious work to simplify things and get to the point where the business of life sucks the artistic drive right out of my brain-goo.

But I did it!!!

It ain’t pretty. It don’t make a lot of sense. But dammit, I DID IT. Right now I hate this manuscript too much to do anything with it, but after I finish Star and Scribe I’ll come back to it.

For now, it’s time to play some celebratory Rock Band.

WAHOO!

Defying Gravity — Kristin Chenoweth & Idina Menzel
Human — The Killers
Immigrant Song — Led Zeppelin
Janie’s Got a Gun — Aerosmith
Hysteria — Muse
Jiggy with Reels — Poxy Boggards
Love and Wonder (Club Edit) — DJ Earworm
The Covenant (One Final Effort) — Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori
Knights of Cydonia — Muse
Nine in the Afternoon — Panic! at the Disco
Going To California — Led Zeppelin
Dance the Night Away — Van Halen
Rock and Roll All Nite — Kiss
South Australia — The Pogues
Short Skirt Long Jacket — Cake
Jump — Madonna
Jump — Van Halen
Supermassive Black Hole — Muse
Such Great Heights — The Postal Service
Uprising — Muse
Mr. Brightside — The Killers
God’s Gonna Cut You Down — Johnny Cash
Fear An Bhata — Connie Dover
When The Levee Breaks — Led Zeppelin
Timebomb — Beck
Viva La Vida — Coldplay

I thought some deep thoughts about the writing process last night, but putting them down in concrete form would just make them sound ridiculous. Suffice to say I have a little bit of a clearer perspective on the why and the how. I just need to conquer the when.