Tra La It’s May, The Lusty Month of May!
That happy month where everyone goes blissfully astray!
And I don’t have to work all month if I don’t want to. Whee! The job to start last month didn’t and it’s all to the good. Some much-needed downtime to sleep, hang out with Angus (okay, supervise his demolition of those pesky rosebushes), and write. Wow. I’ve never had it this good. I’ve never had this kind of time before. I’ve been freaking out about story structure on both of the novels I’m working on, and last night had what may be a major epiphany… I gave myself permission to write a really shitty first draft. There are all these things you’re supposed to balance, like theme and description and action and character arcs and pacing and dialogue and even a few grace notes thrown in for pretty. Sheesh. Who the hell can do that perfectly, the first time? Not me.
I’m thinking of it like knitting a sweater. I can crochet fairly elaborate stuff - Victorian pineapple lace baby blankets - like nobody’s business. But I’ve never made a sweater before. There are supposed to be armholes and sleeves and a place to put your neck that needs to be smaller than where your tummy goes and oh my it’s complicated, compared to making baby blankets. So my first drafts get to be the sweaters I’m capable of knitting, right here and right now. One sleeve may be twelve feet long, the other three inches with a ruffle. And there might be a third or fourth or fifth armhole with various lengths of knitting attached to it in inappropriate spots (if I’m lucky I’ll stick to prime numbers). And the neck might be Barbie-doll sized, the bottom hem lopsided enough to expose tit on the left and cover ass on the right. That’s okay, right here and right now. When I rewrite, I’ll unravel or add on as need be, until the sweater-draft ends up looking like I meant to do that the the entire time. There may be extra ruffles along one sleeve, and big polka dots in different colors and stitches in weird spots, but it will all, somehow, work. Goodnight Gracie wants a soft lavender cotton-and-silk blend ribbon yarn to start, and Two Hands For Drinking wants a thick, cherry-red wool. Now where are my needles?