SATURDAY 1/19
i dont even remember when that wed i last posted was
schoolhouse got me rolling, already behind, mercy lord
tara books sent me an email saying they were ready to go into production
did i want to make any final changes in the text, i hadnt seen it in months
of course i wanted to make changes, i read thru hoping to dot Is and cross Ts
ended up with a real rewrite,looking at the clock, tick tock, but you know my 1st
novel i remember the last chance i had to make changes i was tired of it and let it
roll but then when it came out i was like damn i shoulda this and shoulda that
i will never make that mistake again, every chance i get to clean
it up i take it full court press - i love making works stronger,
been keeping a steady roll on REST so thats good too, got the following forward from my
agent -she received from editor at a major house and sent it to me, i had told her i didnt
want to see them, they all say the samething - good work but we dont know what to do w/it -
way i deal w/this is to put it out of my head, just keep working
but i guess she thought i needed to see this one:
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This manuscript has been burning a hole in my bag for several months now. I’ve been carrying it around, reading a few pages at a time, knowing there is something here, but not knowing what to make of it. Most days it demands more than I can give to it at any given hour of this crazy life. I’ve now finished reading—set aside the time, and committed to it at long last. There are flashes of brilliance, a musicality to the language, an emotional truth that cannot be argued with. It’s like a dispatch from another world—a unique lens on the world, lending it depth and sophistication. It is its own thing, has its own internal grammar. I suspect you know this and do not need me to tell it to you.
My problem is that I don’t know who the readership is—I don’t know who there is out there to receive this. It is hard to get a foothold in the story, and readers do not have the patience they may have had at some other time. I think that’s one of the themes of the book—the art of patience, of invisible truths. I wonder if there is a way to foreground the story, draw out the narrative spine more, so that the language and themes and all that incantatory wisdom weren’t asked to do so much of the work. I wonder if there is a way to respect the needs of the reader without impinging on the intent of the writer.
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another person saying not enough story
interesting i been, among other goals, using this draft to further dramatize the prophetic sequences, which
is partly what i think shes asking about - makes you wish you could go back and say what do you think now,
but thats not how the game is played, you move on
in the rest of the response she asked about this book she heard i was working on, the hoodoo book of
flowers, said she would like to see it when its available, i cant even be mad at her, she got good instincts
she tickle me when she say what reader is going to want to work this hard, i feel like marquez, work hard?
"i gave them a road map" he once said about 100 YEARS, i feel like its crystal clear in its accessibility
but i have been getting that feedback consistently, i recall my 1st novel i just wrote what i had to say
my 2nd i had my readership in mind, i wanted to write something that would move & delight them
something accesible
but i didnt get no literary respect for AGLB, so this one i was like, i will show you, i will show you all, then i been
teaching 16 years now in this MFA program, which i approach as a learning regimen, i know what im doing now
and this one has always been what i thought of as my masterpiece, i tell folk 14 years, but i actually wrote
1st draft in 1990, but i put it down because it was clear i didnt have the chops, or the sensibility i might add
but i always knew that this one was going to be cutting edge readership only, this one im writing for the generations
the big challenge when you got work difficult to wade thru is to make it worth the readers while
i have tried in this work dropping wisdom that aint been dropped, game changing the human condition
and making it an emotionally satisfying journey into the readers own soul
a Work so strong it cannot be denied -
apparently i have not yet succeeded
so we hit it again
i suspect my agent does not agree but its been a blessing to me, being rejected like this, because each time
i hit the novel again, determined to make it that Work it cannot be denied, and its a much better novel now
than it was when i first turned it in, i know ive told you before dear regulators about what babajohn had to
say about leaving the strongest work you can possibly leave behind so i wont go into detail
but like the brer rabbit tales it warms my heart to make a manuscript stronger, its what i live for
not the publishing, thats just part of the process, its producing good work that float my boat
that it will get published eventually is a given
if its good work
and in my deepest literary heart i got absolute faith
every once in awhile i get to feeling buked, bused and scorned, its like i cant even
get the basic respect every other writer get, its like i dont exist sometime far as the
literary world is concerned, but one day, bam, ima hit them with REST FOR THE WEARY
then bam, THE HOODOO BOOK OF FLOWERS - whether im alive or dead dont matter
(except for promotional purposes)
its all good
i gotta go, i got so much work to do
all my love
rdoc
WEDNESDAY
been enjoying being off the grid, but schoolhouse starts next week, 2013 is officially in play
what ive done is establish a 3 hour morning schedule, which is my basic schoolhouse sch
ive been working hard this last week to get my 3 hour groove on, when you starting it youre cold
and its difficult, then you get the groove, the challenge is to keep it rolling, make it a habit
3 hours my stuff in the morning, rest of the day schoolhouse, and right now my stuff is RFTW
and once again its a good rewrite, a better novel - not that the industry cares, but i do
i know ive told you this before, but i feel kinda blessed they put me on hold, forced me to make it
a better novel, and babajohn used to tell us - leave the best you got to give for future generations
and truth be told i dont really care what happens in my lifetime, i just want to make product, good product
the problem is holding my sch once schoolhouse gets brutal and it will get brutal, it always does
where im backed up reading manuscripts and critiquing them and hitting it day & night
and i got this new forms course im working out, literary success and the art of significance
i want to explore the dynamics of literary success, and using the works of SU MFA alums
came up w/this idea of using my research fund to invite all the folk we will study to speak
to the class, in part to encourage a little cross cohort fertilization, to Work the cuse mob
then i thought to invite them all at once, damn near 15 years of cross cohorting
the only problem is that this sets up a published/nonpublished axis that is not cool
i think i will make this an annual thing, or maybe bi annual, so it doesnt become worn out
maybe every 3 years so everybody gets to experience it once
and invite everybody, all the ALUMs, to the Cuse Mob Gathering, ah flowers, always longgaming
i think maybe you need to chill out and just get thru the semester - so, 3 hours a day from about
3 am to 6 am, then full court press on schoolhouse obligations, its all good long as i get my daily 3
if i dont get my daily 3 the rest of the day falls apart because im thinking Work Rick all day
problem is that when you hit and miss you have to get back into the groove everytime, hit it regular
and the groove is always on, 3 a day keeps the blues away, in the past ive always been knocked off
my game by schoolhouse obligations, but im feeling more desperate, more on, this year, tick tock tick tock
lets do it rick, make it happen - 2012 was a good productive year,
may 2013 be off the chart
may the gods of literature be good to us all
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