Two steps forward, one step back

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ? E.L. Doctorow

In the two steps forward news, I’ve written a little over two thousand words of the Introduction to the book this week.  I’m already feeling out ways that I need to develop myself as a “character” in the book. I’m feeling how I need to adjust my pacing for this longer work, something like a marathon might feel. Blog posts and other things that I’ve written this year are very short, and the high point of the action occurs pretty early.

I can feel how my prose and descriptions are stretching themselves out. In these posts, the descriptions can afford to be lush occasionally, but this quality might feel overwritten or overblown (or overwhelming) in a longer work.

I can feel how I don’t want to give too much away in the Introduction, but I want people to come into the room and stay awhile. I’m not sure buy albuterol online exactly where I’m headed next, but it feels like E.L. Doctorow’s headlights on a nighttime car trip–I don’t have to see the entire way, just as far as the headlights will let me.

And I’m trying to write at least a thousand words a day.

Last week, Anne Lamott told us to “write what you love to come upon,” or write about what you would love to read. So far, then, my invitation to the reader is about reading–which is no surprise for anyone who knows me.

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In one step back news, this weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan. I’m humbled by the resilience of the Japanese, as I knew I would be. Look at these “before and after” pictures.

But I’m also aware that physical rebuilding and psychological renewal may not be the same thing. I’m posting a link here to my post from last year. The story of a tsunami doesn’t end when the wave breaks; in fact, for humans, that’s when the story begins.