Saturday snapshots

Saturday morning sky

This was the sky I woke up to today. I'd decided before the weekend that today would be wholly dedicated to working on my third draft of Death Over Easy. To get myself away from the refrigerator, Internet, and self-defeating thoughts, I took myself to the library.

Emma Trace's library, actually. I drove up to Port Jefferson and immersed myself in her world. Once I thought I saw her walking past the window, outside. Maybe Zahn and Bonomo drove by, holding cups of coffee. I can't be sure.

Port Jeff Library

Being the organizing type that I am, I spent the morning compiling my readers' reactions to the second draft―the comments I agreed with―into a five-page, single-space document. That took several hours, up to lunchtime.

Tiger Lily Cafe

After a delicious lunch at Tiger Lily, I headed over to the Middle Country Public Library, my own library, which has been a second home to me for 28 years. I plugged in my laptop next to the antique in the photo at the bottom. There I began to tackle the troublesome diary entries that I'd thought I'd get away with leaving out of the novel, but which are now demanding their place.

Creole crabcake sandwich

It did me some good, the past couple months, to be away from the book. I was too close to it to read it. Even now, it's hard to relax and read it straight through without getting anxious and critical. I shake my head, I cringe. Agh. Why is it not as good as I'd thought? Why are there so many holes? I tend to underwrite, not overwrite, and the gaps are annoying. I need to learn how to build scenes better. I must learn how to develop situations all the way through.

A typewriter, by golly!

 It has been hard to write this book on my own. I could really use a novel-writing retreat, or a class.

I know I need to play out the ending more. Think of it as a movie, one of my friends is always telling me. Think of scenes you particularly like (that one in Michael Clayton, for example). What gives them their emotional impact?

The third draft may take me longer than I thought. But I want it to be right more than I want it to be done.