Time to get moving

The election's over. Baseball's over. My book is published. It's time to step into the future. But there are two things standing in my way.

The first is that I'm waiting for my next manic period. Longtime readers of this blog know I'm manic-depressive. I call it manic-tired because I never experience depression; I just feel exhausted when I'm not manic and as a result, I can't do much. I experienced a very long manic period while working on Xmas Carol but it ended the instant I clicked "Publish". Regrettably, it hasn't returned. It's kinda weird. Each day I wait for mania to hit and...nothing. I'm stuck here in non-mania. Bor-ing.

I'm also not sure what I should work on once the mania hits, which it inevitably will. Should I rewrite The Worlds, the first novel of my sci-fi trilogy? It would be a ton of work but it's doable. The book is "already written" but after reading the draft recently it's obvious that I would have to rewrite the book from scratch. That's all right. I learned so much while writing Xmas Carol. I could put this knowledge to good use when tackling the rewrite. The Worlds was my first attempt at writing fiction -- and it shows. This would be a simpler task than writing a totally new novel because I wouldn't have to come up with the storyline. It's already there and it's a wonderful story.

On the other hand, I want to write something new. I could always save the sci-fi novels (there are two: The Worlds and The Pod, the God and the Planet) to work on when I get old and can't come up with new ideas because my brain doesn't work anymore. A scary thought. But right now I have a ton of story ideas I could work on. And I would be starting fresh. That sounds so good.

I also have this notion that it would be fun to write a short novel. It would require me to be economical and concise. In other words, it would require skills I haven't learned. That sounds appealing. I love to learn new things.

Anyway, this is just a shout-out to let readers know what's going on. I'm thinking about what to write next and I'm waiting for that next rush of mania. Where is it?! You haven't seen it, have you? If you do, would you send it to my house? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

A writer's life: rewrites

I'm reading a draft of a book I wrote. The Worlds is the first volume of a sci-fi trilogy, of which I've written the first two books. My job this year is get the book into shape so I can publish it. Okay, that's the background.

As I read The Worlds, I'm surprised to see a radical difference between the main body of the book, which I wrote three years ago, and sections that I wrote last year. The new sections are way better than the original draft. It seems I'll have to rewrite most of the book. That's fine because after so many months of editing Xmas Carol, I have a hunger to write new things. Let me at it.

It's stormy today in New York. You know what that means: perfect reading weather. I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the day.

Writing is apparently hard work

I thought I had it made when I managed to write three books in two years. A wunderkind, right? (Never mind the age, smarty.) But there's still a ton of work to do after you finish writing a book. A ton!

Today and yesterday, I spent the whole day rewriting one scene (the same one). Even after I beat it up all day yesterday, I knew I'd have to return to it today, and I did. The scene, I'm happy to report, reads well now.

But wow, there's a ton of editing to do after you "finish" writing your book. I've read that great books aren't written, they are rewritten. And though I have no pretensions to greatness, I'm learning it takes many, many passes before a book reads well. (At least, the books I write.)

After all this time, I'm only on Chapter 5, scene 5. The book is 12 chapters so it seems I may miss my self-imposed deadline. When the first Spring training games occur on the 24th, I'm still going to be "reading" this book. Such is life. I'll do what it takes to get my books into final form. But jeez, it's a long haul!