How to Start Writing a Novel

 

You might be wondering, how does someone write a novel? Not everyone does it the same way, of course. There are plotters and pantsers. I am a plotter. (Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants and just let it flow). I do a little of that too as I am actually creating. Sometimes things happen or characters arrive that I had no idea were coming. But, I thought it might be interesting to share the process I am about to embark upon, as I gear up to write book #2. Whether you are a writer or a reader, either way, I think it is interesting know how a particular writer does the deed.

Step 1 - read what I have.

I have already written a beginning, but I wrote it a year ago and I will most likely change elements, as the story has evolved in my head over time. So, first I will read what I have and see what I still like.

Step 2 - go over notes.

I also have written pages of notes already – again over the last year. I have a character list, and a rough plot outline, at least where I thought it was going then. So again, I will read them and see what I still like and refresh my memory.

Step 3 – write more notes.

I will revision my plan and come up with a working outline. I write my outline in the computer, so I can change it as I go. But I write notes and ideas and diagrams and mini outlines in a large artist’s sketchbook. By the end, I have lots of notes and outlines. My outlines are living. They change and evolve. As I write, I go back to the outline and flesh out ideas in a list. Events, emotions, and purpose. For me, every chapter has to have a goal of what I want to get across. I remember the first draft of DISTILLATION, before I had learned this, had whole chapters of description and what I thought was character development, but no action, nothing to move the plot foreword. Now, I consider the purpose of every chapter. Often, when I finish writing for the day, I will cut and paste the next part of the outline below my stopping point, so I know where I am going the next day.

Step 4 – write chapters.

This is of course the longest process. At somewhere around 100 pages I will go back and read through, and usually edit and revise that, as well as my outline, before I move on. For COLD SPRING FIRE, I have a past and a present to deal with. Two separate arcs of intertwined plot. This is the challenge for me this time around. Weaving those two sets of events will be the primary focus of my work. Depending on how caught up in the story I get, I can write a hundred pages in about a week. Or, a hundred pages can take me a month. We will see...

So, that is how I write a novel. Or at least how I get started. There are twists and turns and music and pictures and a lot of pacing along the way too.

How do you do it?

As a reader, do you like books that have past and present?

What kind of plot structures turn you off or on?

Lessons Learned

As you may or may not know, I am a  writer. I started out with nothing but a dream. I wrote a lot in high school and college, but in my early 20s fell out of practice. I was mostly a poet, and honestly sucked at short story writing. But, I had ideas and I am a voracious reader. When I couldn't find books in the genre I loved, I decided to write more of them. And so it began.

This post is about the lessons I have learned along the way. This is only a selected list. I am sure I could think of more.

1) Writing a book is the easy part. Everyone has written a book it seems. The cliche is that every HS English teacher has a novel tucked away in a desk drawer. It is probably true. NANOWRIMO, or whatever it is called, is also evidence of this. Whacking out a "novel" can be done, but making it readable and worthy of an audience is a whole other story.

2) Editing is actually writing. Just when I think I can't edit it any more, I do it some more.

3) Finding an agent is a long process for most. Yes there are those who get one with five queries or in six months. But let me tell you, as agents are of course monumentally busy, the pace of response is geologic. I am not a patient person and at times I have thought I would die from waiting.

4) Karma (see yesterday's post) is real and it is important. Do not think you are the center of the universe - ever.  Be nice and act like a professional no matter how much you feel you've been slighted.

5) A FULL ms request does not mean you are really close to getting an agent. Sorry folks. This is a hard one. Everyone squees when they get a Full request. See Query Tracker. Requesting a full ms is just requesting pages. If you hold your breath, you will die. Write another book and forget about it. (I am still trying to master this lesson myself).

6) Have a thick skin and be ready to walk through the desert - alone. Even those who are supportive will become sheepish or sick of hearing about it as time goes by. If you want to succeed and don't right away, it is you and you alone who has to pick yourself up again and again and keep going. Revise, Rewrite, Write Another Book. Whatever. But you have to make yourself keep going.

7) Listen to your Beta Readers. Definitely have beta readers.

8) Enjoy the process. Love writing for the writing. Create worlds and characters that make the rest of life pale in comparison. Take time to smell the peppermint and drink a mojito for goodness sakes. More on that tomorrow. Love the hope, the lives you create, the small deaths you suffer, and the rebirth, that...if you are a trooper, will happen again and again, until you get it right and reach...Nirvana.

Gathering Up Wind and Laying Down Stones

Right now, I am gathering dreams that blow in on the wind: ideas, images, quotes, small points of character, simple twists of fate, and otherwise tiny shards of a brewing story.

I collect these mementos of imagination in a black book. In the past, before I was writing seriously, this was a major outlet for my expression. I collected and pasted all through college, and the years after. I'd cut images from anywhere. I'd copy poems from books, horoscopes from the local newspaper, headlines, fabrics, photos. Whatever struck my fancy and got me thinking. In my travels, I would jot notes about strange folks lurking on a street corner or sipping bourbon at a swank bar. I made up lives for them, channeled their (imagined) thoughts, and surmised their deepest secrets.

Once I started writing DISTILLATION though, my collection practices became a bit less artistic and more focused. I used two different notebooks to record research and ideas. In the early drafting stages, these were similar to the collections I'd done before - character sketches, meaningful lines, images, plot points, poetry - all to nourish the seed of an idea into a vibrant bloom.

By the time the first draft was finished though, and then revised, folders and mounds of paper had sprouted like mushrooms all over my office. Photocopies and sketches of architectural designs, descriptions and drawings of essence stills, photographs of peppermint and a particular town's rural landscape and cultural landmarks, renderings of allegorical alchemical art, information on archaeological digs, and (most creepy) a detailed sketch of the bone and cartilage structure of an infant and a description of infant remains unearthed at a real historic burial site. There are notes, notes, and more notes on tarot, on genealogy, on plot. These were the tools in my toolbox.

As I wrote and revised, rewrote and revised again, I found that revisiting these collections, helped me to find my path again and again. I look back at them now and realize how much research and planning went into writing DISTILLATION. It is evidence of the process of constructing a story's path.

A favorite question for writers is: "plotter or pantser?" A plotter being someone who plans his or her story, either before or as they write. A "pantser" (which to me sounds like someone who pulls people's pants down) is a person who just writes and sees where the story goes. At least I think that is what it is. I am a plotter, but I also follow the wind. And so I wonder, can someone be both?

For me, it all starts with a feeling in the air, a smell on the breeze, an image, a sound, a phrase, the inspiration that starts me dreaming. Sometimes that is when I start collecting - as with DISTILLATION. Other times, as now, I first come up with the premise, then start gathering. The collection doesn't have to get very large before I start writing, at least a first scene or some moment. Once I get a scene, then I plot. I am a list maker. Lists fill my notebooks and computer.

These lists are, for me, akin to the laying stones. Piece by piece I construct a path with the bits I've gathered, a road for my story to travel. But I only build this path a few steps at a time. I write a scene and then list the next steps. Often, I need to back track and reconsider the direction I am traveling. Did I actually step on all those stones? Is there one I forgot and want to add in? Is there one I left out and for good reason? Sometimes I need to locate a missing stone, and it is common for the path to take a whole new and unexpected turn. At that point, I start a new list.

And so, yes I plot, but only a few steps at a time. Often, I know where I want to end up and so the stones I've laid must eventually lead me there. But often that end-point is vague and will only come in to focus once I've followed the path and come out on the other side.

Blogging for Readers?

Over the past year, I have not been blogging much, though I am vowing - again- to start back up. One thing I have been thinking about is the kind of audience I, eventually, want to cultivate. When I started blogging, it was to connect with the writing crowd, to follow others on their journey to getting published and to share my own. I am still on that journey, but hope eventually to be using social media for self promotion.

This spring, I will again be going to The Muse and the Marketplace conference in Boston. This time, I will not be meeting with an agent. This was a tough decision. I am currently in a query and submission phase and, well, I am hoping by the time of the conference I won't be needing to meet another agent face to face about a query. I am hoping I will be thinking about how to use social media to advertise my book. Of course, that may not end up being the case, but then I can still meet agents. I will be having lunch with a few, plus an editor, plus an author and so I will have opportunity to schmooze. But what I am hoping to do at the conference is find out more about self promotion.

One needs a book published, and readers, of course, in order to blog about the book and the readings and the what-not. But what else can a writer blog about to appeal to readers once they have a book out there? Here are my thoughts (and I am really brainstorming here, and hoping for advice.)

Since my book is fiction, I don't have a specific platform to build on, though my book is very much about place and it is based on a real place. I was thinking maybe video blogs about some of the real spots featured in my novel might be interesting, of course with me talking about their relevance to me and the story.

Also, I think my novel portrays a pretty specific life style. I live in western, Massachusetts and I write about the life styles I see around me. We have a very earthy, organic type environment with a lot of farmer's markets, small farms, and salt of the earth type people. But, we aren't just hicks out here, contrary to what people in those big cities east and west of us might think. I live in the Pioneer Valley and it is actually quite an intellectual community, there being 5 colleges and universities in a thirty mile radius. The area is also steeped in history, some of which I feature in my book. So, back to the blog ideas, I could write posts featuring some of the area flavor and history, especially the elements that fit into my story, but are also a part of my life. For example, our local farmer's market where there is blue grass music and artistry, gorgeous foods and colorful people. I think people who like my book would find that world I take part in, and which provides the values found in my story interesting. Again, the video idea could work with this too, especially for the unique festivals and such.

Talking about writing process isn't probably so interesting to readers, but perhaps something more on the characters and their creation. Who they are beyond the words, where their inspiration came from. I don't know, that one sounds kind of lame.

I am really into the video idea and I think taking video at readings or book signings might be interesting. Maybe even interviewing people who liked the book. Maybe there would be legal issues with that, I don't know. Also of course, time. But I am sure my husband wouldn't mind being my assistant. ;)

My story also features ghosts and witches. Local stories and legends as well as information on those topics, I always find interesting, especially if it is tied to a book I love. I also love old houses, and this is a topic in my book, how could I work that into a blog?

What do you think, fellow writers and readers? What would be interesting to know about a book/author you have enjoyed? What do you like to see on the internet from them? Do you follow or "Like" them on Facebook? On Twitter? What makes for interesting posts and links? If you are a writer, how do you feel about your internet presence? Is it working? Do you make videos? If so, what kind of camera and software are you using?

Disclaimer: I realize I am putting the cart before the horse here, but being a writer, imagination is one of my best attributes and being a teacher, planning my work and working my plan is my motto. So why not think positive and think about the possibilities before I have to put them into action?

Advice for the concerned family and friends of an aspiring author

So, someone in your family, or maybe your best friend, is "writing a novel." At first it was an interesting novelty and you made what you thought was the appropriate comment: "Maybe you'll get on Oprah." Then your friend, or sister, or whatever, asked you to read the first draft of the ms, and honestly, it wasn't that great; it needed work. But you told her it was awesome, because what else could you say, right? And you asked the most pertinent question you could think of: "Have you chosen a publisher yet?" You figured the publisher would fix the book for her. To your surprise, as generous as you were being, the aspiring writer then laughed and explained:

"It doesn't work that way. First I have to get some honest feedback and then revise. Eventually, I will query agents. That means I will do a lot of research to find the ones who are interested in my kind of story, and I will send them a letter asking if they would like to look at my book. It's harder than it sounds, because the letter has to be pitch perfect. It has to grab the agent's attention and make him or her interested enough to want to read some of my pages."

Oh, you thought. Well, how hard can it really be? The next time you see your friend, a few months have gone by. She is excited because she got some requests for the ms. "Great, you say, so how much are they going to pay you?"

"No," she rolls her eyes. "Agents don't pay writers. And I have to get an agent before I can get a publisher and money is not really what it's about. Most writers don't even get paid very much. I haven't even heard back on the requests for the full manuscript, yet."

"Oh," you say, confused. If money isn't what it's about then why is she doing it at all? But you don't want to seem shallow, so you say instead: "What's taking them so long?"

"It takes a long time," your friend tells you. "Agents have to take care of their signed clients first. They read manuscripts on nights and weekends. It could take up to six months to get back to me. I am still querying though."

WTF? you think. Now I know she really is crazy. Who would wait that long for a rejection? Especially if there was no money in it?

More time goes by, and your friend declines to come to your most recent Pampered Chef Party. She has to work on her book, she says. "What do you mean? I thought it was done?" you say, but are informed that she recieved some really helpful feedback with her last rejection. So she has decided to  rewrite the second half, realizing now that the ending fell a little short. "God," you moan. "Why would you do that? They rejected it. Maybe you should write something new, or better yet, come to my party."

Your friend politely declines and is not heard from again for a while. In fact others are starting to get worried. How many times can she edit this book? She's started to make excuses for not coming to all sorts of gatherings. Let it go already, you are all thinking. But she won't listen to reason. "It's nice to have dreams," you tell her when she finally answers the phone, "but be reasonable. Maybe you should just self-publish."

Next time you hear from her, an agent has said that the book was really good, but needed some more revision. So, your friend, as crazy as she is, is revising the thing again. Of course, being a good friend, you tell her she is insane to change her book just because an agent asked her to. Your friend just smiles obscurely, finishes her tea, and goes home. Now you are really worried. Quickly, your friend has become a delusional recluse.  Something needs to be done.

And you are correct, dear family member or friend. Here is what you should do:

Be really proud of your writer for following through and working hard. She has slogged through the slush pile and taken her rejections in stride. She has worked hard to revise her book when flaws became apparent, she has worked to follow the rules and to get noticed. If she pulls it off, she will have fulfilled that dream you thought she should toss away because attaining it was too hard. And remember this is what it means to follow a dream. It means giving up other things and working a lot to get better and better until it's great.

If you really want it, you will find a way. If you don't, you will find an excuse. Writing is what she wants to do. It is not a hobby or a whim. It is a second job worth doing.

So smile and pat her on the back and tell her you are proud of her and ask her questions about her characters and her process, and listen, because writers write what they know and guess what, she knows you.

Obsession is not a bad word

The rewrite of DISTILLATION is complete - for now. Since early spring I have been doggedly reworking my first novel.

I set out to make DISTILLATION the novel I had really wanted to write all along (though it took me a while to admit to myself just what I really wanted.) This time I was going to make it pop in a huge way - make it magic, make it romantic, make it gothic. I think I succeeded. Summer 2011 is coming to a close and I have had a fabulous ride reworking this book. I am too in love with it, which I know is dangerous, but it has been the greatest adventure. Not only do I think I made my book better, I learned a lot about myself.

But here's the thing. I have spent most of my summer obsessively writing. When I wasn't writing I was listening to music (the same songs over and over and over) lost in the world of my characters. My imagination was on fire. I was channelling them. I was having trouble eating. I wasn't sleeping. I would get up at four and start writing again. I was euphoric. I felt like I was on drugs but there was no crash. Not once have I suddenly dropped down and said - this sucks - why am I doing this? My poor husband must be jealous, I am so enamored with my characters, I have to give him credit though. He has listened to me go on and on about ghosts and witches, romance and peppermint, souls and eternity. He has really supported me through this obsessive roller coaster.

And now it's done. I have to write curriculum for school. I should be doing that right now in fact, but here I am. Strangely, I am not sad or grumpy. I am still happy and even when I am back in the classroom, I know my characters are there waiting for the next chapter to be written.

Recently, an article about Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' came across the Twittersphere. It talks about how long it took her to write the book, how many rejections she got, how her friends said things like: “How do you keep yourself from feeling like this has been just a huge waste of your time?” Eventually, after 40+ rejections, she started lying to her friends about what she was doing on the weekends. "The truth was," she says, "I was embarrassed for my friends and family to know I was still working on the same story, the one nobody apparently wanted to read." She became increasingly obsessed, going away for weekends to be alone and edit, editing even as she was in labor.

I really related to this article when, last weekend, I declined hanging out by a lake with friends to stay home alone and edit for twelve hours straight. It made me feel a lot better knowing that at query # 61, Stockett finally got an agent and now look where her book is.

I have a long way to go before I meet her record, and her success, but at this point, I am thankful for the pleasures of obsession.

Embracing the writer you never knew you wanted to be

Oh yeah - I went there. This is the best image I could find to illustrate one of the things that has been in my imagination over the past month as I rewrote DISTILALTION - it's not quite right, a little too...perfect, but nonetheless a visual helps.

Hello again.

Summer has flown by because I have been having way too much fun rewriting DISTILLATION. I took a serious hiatus from Blogger - though I've been around the Twittersphere a bit. It was a choice I needed to make between reading and thinking about writing and just WRITING. Over the past two months I have completely reworked my novel and not only do I think it is much better, but I feel that I have finally embraced the writer I never knew I wanted to be.

When we start out writing, there are so many preconceived notions of what is and what is not good, inspiring, marketable, enlightening, or worthwhile. I just read a tweeted blog post entitled You Want to Write Trash? thanks to @AmyJRomine. This post is about a woman whose husband thought her Gothic romance was trash and didn't see why she would write such drivel. Well, it turned out her husband was a good reason to need some romance in her life.

My life is pretty good, but like most, it is full of work and bills and responsibilities and other boring things. So I write to escape it, to add some measure of fantasy to my days. And this time around with DISTILLATION, I finally let go of my preconceived notions. I stopped trying to cling to some modicum of reality, because I asked myself the question: Who the hell wants to escape to reality? Not me.

Earlier this spring I tried to read a realist novel by a well known author whose prior work I had enjoyed years ago. I got to page 50 and when a character was lamenting a horrible tragedy for the 10th page in a row, I closed it and never picked it up again.
I wanted fantasy - damn it. I wanted witches, and ghosts, and magic, and maybe a little mystical love. Okay maybe a lot. Well good thing I had the summer ahead of me to rewrite a book with the potential for all of those things. And man, has it been fun.

When I let go, so did Alice (my MC). She articulated what she wanted, she stopped shaking in her boots, she faced her fears to find the truth, she figured out she wanted her man early on, (and let him know it), and she let others help her to accept herself for who she is, which in the end enabled her to solve the mystery, which made everyone happy. Alice (and I) achieved so much more than we did in the first version. We went so much further, in so many ways. Looking back at the story I thought was "done," I now see as a real let down. It was so UNSATISFYING.

DISTILLATION went from being a half baked magic realism flopper, to a full on gothic, darl, scary, fantastical, magical, funny, sexy, and -  I think - inspiring story. No I am not calling myself a romance writer these days. Still supernatural women's fiction. But, I stopped telling myself I must be the only one who reads good love scenes twice just for fun, or gets excited when full on magic brings down that bad guy. Once I embraced what I wanted and let myself stop worrying that it was silly, then Alice embraced her talents and had a real adventure.

Now, let's just hope that when the rose colored glasses come off, it reads as good for others as it does me.

Books and Summer Reads

I just finished Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood, which is a follow up to Oryx and Crake. If you have read and loved, as most do, her Handmaid’s Tale, you might like this dovetailed pair. As with Handmaid’s, these take place in a dystopian, not too distant future world where animals have been gene spliced to create new species and the social ills of civilization are taking their toll on everything. It is a fast forward look at where our consumerism, vanity, corporeal and corporate corruption might take us.

As with Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood’s imagination brings to life women who patiently navigate their way through dangerous situations that threaten their individuality, bodies, and mental states with hushed tones and secret conveyances while planning a way to escape and/or to survive. Oryx and Crake begins with a man isolated in a world recently wiped out by plague, in which the boots of guards dead outside biological engineering companies still bake in the sun, and where compound animal species (such as rakunks) roam the forest that is taking over what was once civilization. He tells the story of the man who was responsible for the destruction of everything and in the end finds others who are still alive. The Year of the Flood tells a parallel story of a group of subversive “greenies” who are called God’s Gardeners and who seek to live an anti-consumerist, ecologically friendly life and to spread the word before the “waterless flood” destroys the world. This story ends at the same place the other one does, except from the other side of the camp fire, so to speak. I really liked the way the two books were not a series in the traditional sense, where one story follows another. Instead, they are concurrent stories that converge in the same spot.

Other books I can recommend: If you have not already read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe, it is a great summer read. It is a modern day Salem witch story that oscillates back and forth between a young woman discovering her heritage in Salem today and the story of a real witch from the Salem Witch Trials. I actually just added it to a list of choice books in my upcoming American Literature class. In an attempt to actually get kids to like reading, we try to assign enjoyable, contemporary novels that pick up on themes or subjects from the canon, as outside, independent reading and I thought the kids would really like in connection to the early New England works we read in class.




In relation to Howe’s book, I can also recommend if you like witchy women and historical fiction: Daughter’s of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. This is an excellent piece of historical fiction that takes place in the early 17th century in England – centering on a “cunning woman” trying to make ends meet with folk magic mixed with the then forbidden Catholic faith. It takes place during the reign of James I, and his Daemonologie, which was the basis for interrogations and examinations precluding the various witch trials across Europe and New England.

I also recently read Joe Hill's Horns. This was a very interesting new type of "horror" story - I guess, written by none other than the son of Stephen King. For some bizarre reason, the agent I met with at the conference I went to recently suggested I compare myself to Joe Hill. By this comment, I am not sure if she even read my pages. But - this book - about a guy who wakes up one morning with devil horns on his head - is a unique and good read.

I am interested to hear in books others have to recommend. As school is getting out soon, I will be reading probably two books a week, so bring it on. I just returned from the library and, as always, came away with an armload of books. One I just picked up that seems interesting is a nonfiction book on the history of poison and chemistry. The chemical revolution is something I researched for DISTILLATION - from alchemy to modern day pharmaceuticals and my brain is ticking away at some ideas for the new story I am writing.

I also plan on reading some classics this summer – which I always plan – but do not always actually get to. Currently, I have Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (just coming off Hamlet at school and this is a must) and Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and the Damned on my list.

Hello out there

I sent out my first twenty pages to Muse yesterday and it left me feeling a little insecure. On Friday night I spent a lot of time thinking about this process and how stunned I am that I am even at the point of putting it out there - and how exhausting this editing process has been. But, I am about to be knocking at the door of the writer's club and hoping I will be let in so to speak.
After the conference - no matter what happens there, in terms of feed back or reception, I will begin the Summer of the Slush Pile. I cringe at the thought of it -but what else can be done? I do have some finish work to do on the rest of the ms - which I think I will get done over April vacation. After that - it is time to brace for rejection - and hope for a little luck. I also plan to work on my next story over the summer - which I am tumbling in my brain now.

One goal I do have for Alice in the next book is for her to discover her family history.

I created Alice Towne's family name from my husband's paternal grandmother's line - the Townes. This is taken from my own family's interests in the subject as well as that the Townes actually are descended from Rebecca (Towne) Nurse of the Salem witch trials. We were told a while back - but just recently we actually saw the genealogy ourselves- and it is her brother Jacob they are descended from. (Thanks for that btw). With this view of the genelogy we also discovered some bizarre coincidences that I had no idea of before - there was an Ariel Towne (male) and his great grand daughter was named Alice Towne.

I have a whole ficitional genealogy I wrote at the start of the novel tht shows Alice's line. In my story, Alice is the rationalist who doesn't believe in the family lore and her mother left the life behind for what she thought was security - and I ended up focusing on Alice coming to terms with her supernatural inclinations (through the ghost story element) and accepting her mother for who she is - but due to editing - did not end up including the genealogy. The two women, as far as Distillation is concerned, are removed from other family members and when a letter comes from an aunt at the end... well... we have a transition point and an opportunity to find out more about the family, find out things Josephine has either stopped talking about, never knew, or never told.

For the record, I am not actually writing about the real life people in my husband's family. And my mother recently asked me if I were going to ever write about Italian witches too - the strega. I don't know where it will go yet - but I have it all rattling around in my brain, and I also want to remain true to the "New England magic realism" genre I intended to write from the beginning.
By this I mean, unlike some other stories with "real" magic in them - my stories also leave room for doubt. There is more than one kind of magic in the world.

I have also been working on the glimpses into the history Alice uncovers in Distillation. This is the finish work I need to do over April vacation. They are not historically detailed chapters, but rather 500 word glimpses into specific moments adding context to what she uncovers - but with an ear toward fairy tales and poetry. The plan is to intersperse them throughout the novel's 30 odd chapters and combine each glimpse with one of the seven stages of the alchemical process of transmutation.

The plan, the plan, on with the plan.

Sunday and Stephen King

Stephen King says in his book On Writing of the days when he was a high school English teacher and trying to write on the side, that by Friday afternoon he'd felt as if he'd spent the week with jumper cables clamped to his brain. "If I ever came close to despairing about my future as a writer, it was then. I could see myself thirty years on...with six or seven unfinished manuscripts (in my desk drawer) which I would take out and tinker with from time to time, usually when drunk. If asked what I did in my spare time, I'd tell people I was writing a book - what else does any self respecting creative writing teacher do with his or her spare time? And of course I'd lie to myself, telling myself there was still time, it wasn't too late, there were novelists who didn't get started until they were fifty, hell even sixty."

This is how I feel today.