!!!!
Mood:
on fire
Now Playing: You Inspire Me (album) by Curtis Stigers (yes, Keith, I'm in a jazz groove--I figure it'll take another week to recover!)
Topic: Writing
Okay, so I'm weak.
I sent the story by email to Scott and John last night before I finally dragged myself off to bed, but I haven't heard from either of them and I couldn't wait any longer. I asked Hans to read the story. He very sweetly agreed and promised that he would read it as the work of fiction it is intended to be (so as to avoid marital disharmony :) ).
Our ritual is that when we hand each other a manuscript to critique, we also hand over two pens--one with blue ink for comments in the margins, one with red ink for editor's marks (that is, one for big red slashes to show what absolutely MUST come out!). I set these things on the coffee table next to his place on the couch and went into the kitchen to give him space and to pretend that I don't get nervous any more when I've handed something off to him.
He spent so long with it--he's a very fast reader and it's only two and a half pages long--I was sure he was trying to find a nice way to tell me that after I bounced all day thinking I had broken new personal ground, I had in fact written a sucky piece of trite crap. But, at last, I heard him call out, "I think it's great. I think it might be the tightest, best thing you've ever shown me. You just need to get rid of the pinball reference because it doesn't work with all the gambling references." Then, after I silently shouted, "YES!!" he walked into the kitchen and started peeling a mango. He concluded, "I'll read it again, but at this point I can't even think of any places to make red marks."
His voice didn't have the same exuberance as it did when he told me my last story was the best I'd ever written, but that was ten years ago (GASP!!) and I'm sure the last ten years with me have beaten some of that exuberance out of him. This is still by far the highest praise I can get, from Hans or anyone, so I am
majorly happy!!
I already had a question in my own mind about whether the pinball reference muddied the waters, so it won't be difficult to kill that darling. (I can save it for something else because Hans assures me it's not trite.) I need to rework that one image and find a title, and then it's time to move on to something else.
I can't believe it's been ten years since I finished a piece of short fiction! I've written a 420-page book manuscript in that time and a handful of essays and poems and trade journal articles and a bunch of newsletter copy, but I have a lot to learn about consistency. I've taken two solid years off since I moved to North Carolina and now it is time to finally get serious again.
But, for one more night, I will go to bed happy that I finished this particular story and that it doesn't suck! (In grad school, Michael and I agreed that if I ever went on tour, the posters would have to say, "and she doesn't suck.")
P.S. I got to see Curtis Stigers and Tri-Fi in concert last Thursday and again Saturday, and I can't get them out of my head! If you want to check them out, please do:
Curtis Stigers,
www.curtisstigers.com,
Tri-Fi,
www.tri-fi.com;
or you can check out the guys' music careers individually,
Matthew Fries, jazz pianist,
www.matthewfries.com,
Phil Palombi, jazz bassist,
www.philpalombi.com,
and the one closest to my heart, Keith Hall, jazz drummer,
www.keithhallmusic.com.
These guys really swing!
Thoughts captured by Kristine
at 12:01 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2005 1:17 PM EDT