I also know the folks who are following "the cutting novel" are either writers or aspiring writers. This is sort of how novel writing goes for some of us - six months can pass before we get organized again.
Remember I announced the beginning in December? How I had gotten the voice right and I was sort of ready? I put the novel aside for a couple of months because a nagging voice in the back of my mind just didn't buy it.
I thought the novel was shelved for good. Then, about three weeks ago, I suffered a bout of insomnia, picked up a notebook and admitted the problem: the character wasn't authentic. I was writing it too much "outside" the character - as if what she was experiencing was too icky for Anne Spollen to enter into. So I did enter it. Much more. I took a ton of notes in the early morning hours when the house was quiet. Now I'm working on a brand new beginning and piecing together parts of the older version into the manuscript.
And it's taking shape.
Finally.
Hopefully.
