“I LOVE YOU, STRANGER”
104 pages down (that’s 23 since the last update, for those wanting to keep score at home)!
I’m guessing there are only a handful of scenes left to write and then I get to begin the awesome task of rewriting. Most people, I think, dread the rewrite. It’s probably my favorite part. There is something so lovely and pure about ripping your own work to pieces and reassembling it in a more meaningful way.
We all like losing weight. The rewrite is about shedding pounds and bringing that inner truth to surface - showing the world what the thing is and what makes it tick. The rewrite is about strength as well as stamina. It’s wrist-cracking, back-breaking work, but it’s healthy and rewarding like few things I’ve encountered in this life. Happiness fills me when I finish a draft, but joy enthralls me - I can feel the tingle from my fingers to my toes - when I rewrite. If only one could rewrite without having to write the thing in the first place. Writing sucks. Rewriting is the necessary therapy to counter the neurotic panic attack that is writing.
Anyway, there have been some glorious and exciting turns. Marta saved a life - maybe more than one (wink, wink). Nick and Joan explored the truth of their relationship a little more fully. Ashten and Jude - neither of whom smoke - shared a cigarette and decided which one was weirder. Turns out Ashten might be the glue holding this thing together. And she is weird - remarkable, endearing, lovely and weird. A perfect stranger. I’ve loved getting to know them all. Marta started as my favorite, but Asthen has certainly done her part to win me over.
Billy went to church. He lit a candle. Did anyone notice?
Ed and Nora shared some games and laughs over drinks at the bar. I’m not sure how much Ed-Eddie-Edward is going to like that when Billy walks into the bar and finds them together. Assuming, of course, that Billy has the balls to walk in there. I think he just might. Honestly, I would have doubted that at the beginning. But now…
This will probably - HOPEFULLY - be my last update until the first draft is complete. When next we chat, there will be something new in the world. And that’s a goddamn fantastic feeling.
Thanks for the chat.
