The best way I can explain my writing process is through my saving process. I write a scene and back up that scene in a matching google doc. In google docs, I have one folder for Raronauer’ed, The Novel, and in that folder, 11 other folders for the 10 chapters of the book and another folder for the not yet included documents. The not yet included documents are also filed in the chapter that they will appear in so I don’t forget where they belong. Each chapter has its own document on my hard drive and in my google docs, which I periodically update after I’ve edited a scene. The entire manuscript is too large for google docs, so I save that on a flash drive. Whatever happens, I have about eight ways to reconstruct this book. It may seem neurotic, but I don’t want my book to end up a sad story about a spilled Nalgene bottle.
I mention this not just because it’s tedious, but because it’s also indicative of how tedious the book writing process is. There’s a lot to remember, save, edit and reread. My book won’t be exceptionally long, but just having written as many words as I have is a physical act of sorts. That’s not to say all the words make sense, just to say that there are a lot of them.
Vermont is ok. I miss reading on the subway. Since I’ve been here, I’ve only reread Jhumpa Lahiri stories when I feel like crying and about 20 pages of David Remnick’s biography on Muhammad Ali. And that’s the least of what I miss about New York. I haven’t seen Clint in forever!
Last weekend, a new friend and I went to Burlington and stayed with friend of hers from college. In the morning, her friend, his friends, my new friend and I made pancakes. I’m glad I’m not too entrenched in my life to crash on a stranger’s couch and share a pleasant breakfast with people I’ll probably never see again.
For a long time when acquaintances asked me what my book was about, I made a jerk off motion with my hand. Now I have sentences about it, so that’s progress. I’m also doing my first ever reading tonight of two scenes from the book, each of which are saved in six places.
Publishing is fucked, but the economy is fucked too. If this whole project doesn’t work out, I figure I’m making the most of my time untilWeb 3.0.