Tag: writing about writing

It Was A Long Time Ago & Nobody Cares Anymore…Virginia Press Edition

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Somewhere in the multiverse, there is a version of me that is an assistant editor at The Richmond Times-Dispatch. I doubt this person would be “me” as I am in this universe, but they would probably have my name and a little of my personality and general drive.

I would have a half-finished novel in a desk drawer at home. I would daydream a lot. I would semi-loveless marriage and three kids. But I would, if nothing else, be a “success” relative to the traditional metrics that we all have to abide by.

But, here I am, in Earth Prime, just a drunk crank working on the third draft of my novel.

Given everything that has happened since I tried — to no success whatsoever, to work at The Richmond Times-Dispatch many moons ago, I have to say it all does give me something of a chuckle. Reading this book about The New York Times, I am again reminded about how naïve I was all those years ago when I wanted to work at the TD.

Jesus Christ. I was a ding-dong.

I just had no frame of reference for what I was getting myself into. I worked at the Virginia Press Association at the time at the TD was the center of our universe, so of course I wanted to work there. But, it just didn’t work out and it’s for the best.

But I did learn a lot about the newspaper business working at the VPA. And, if nothing else, my time trying to work at the TD did provide me with something of an…Easter egg…for the novel I’m working on. I’ve thought really hard about the nature of that Easter egg and I just don’t see why anyone would object. It’s just a silly wink and a nod to someone who was really important in my life a long, long, long time ago.

Yet I do think about that particular issue a lot.

Only time will tell.

Brooding

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As a compromise to myself, I’m going to continue to mull a total restructuring of the rest of the third draft of the novel and, yet, at the same time start to game out other stories.

And read. And watch.

What I can’t do is just stare out in the space and pretend that I’m not going older every day. I have GOT to treasure this moment in time. I have go to accept that this moment in my life isn’t going to last for ever. It’s going to end eventually and then Something New will replace it.

What that Something New is, I dunno. But it will happen. All good things must come to an end and I have to throw myself into being as creative as possible. I keep saying that then, lulz, what do I do — nothing of note. Or, whatever I do, I continue to do it by drifting towards my goal, rather than buckling down and getting something done as soon as possible.

But I feel pretty confident that I could still meet my deadline for this novel. I just have to be a lot more self-conscious of my deadline. I can’t just keep doing what I’ve been doing and expect to wrap this novel up ASAP, especially since I keep throwing everything up in the air on a structural basis.

Being A Good Journalist Is Not Hard

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

The central mistake of my life is probably that someone did not sit me down, at about 15, and tell me I would never be a journalist. Had someone — preferably a male figure in my life — done that, then, maybe, I wouldn’t have wasted my 20s thinking I could be a daily newspaper reporter.

Me (background) during my crazier days in Seoul.

It has taken me decades to realize that being a good journalist isn’t really that hard, it’s just difficult for me. I am thinking about this because of the review of the Jayson Blair imbroglio I’m reading in the book “The Times” about the modern history of The New York Times.

The way Blair is described at times hits a little bit too close to home, but for the fact that I’ve never done cocaine and I’m honest to a fault — I would never just make shit up in a newspaper article, especially one I knew would be in The New York Times.

Other than that, yikes. I feel seen.

Anyway, there has to be a statute of limitations on alternative universes. I’ve had the life that I’ve had and hopefully — hopefully — I will somehow manage to write a breakout hit novel.

Now, To Take A Deep Breath

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that I may, in fact, finally, finally, FINALLY be in the second act of the third draft of my first novel, I have to take a very deep breath. I’ve decided that I’m going to game out the character arc of the secondary characters in the novel.

That seems to be the only way I’m going get anything done. I also have to be prepared to throw a lot of the existing specifics of the story up in the air and just see what happens.

But, as I keep saying, I have something of a time limit. I still am shooting for some time in April for the Third Draft of this novel to be finished and ready to go. I fear if I don’t give myself a really tight deadline, that things will slip another year and, what do I know, we could have a civil war/ revolution by that point.

(Not that I really think that is going to happen.)

Total Eclipse Of My Art

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While I’m just about to wrap up the first act of the third draft of my first novel, the rest of the novel has collapsed. I’m going to have to totally restructure — and in large part, rewrite — the rest of the fucking thing because of all of the changes I’ve made to the first act.

Write, write, write

Oh boy.

So, I have to do a lot of aggressive daydreaming to figure out how to pretty much re-imagine the entire rest of the novel. I still have the general plot well established in my mind, but the specifics are going to be totally different.

And thinking that through is going to take some time. Time I have very little of if I still plan to wrap a presentable Third Draft by no later than the end of April.

So, I have a long ways to go and a short time to get there.

Quibbles With Adam Nagourney’s ‘The Times’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Adam Nagourney’s “biography” of the modern New York Times is really, really good. In fact, so far, the only quibbles I’ve had with it are one formatting issue and one stray word that did not quite fit the idea he was trying to convey.

Adam Nagourney
But, in general, the major “quibble” I have with the book is that it reads like An Official Book About The Times, even though the book says it’s not. It reads like it was sanctioned by the Powers That Be at the paper to give we plebes The Official Line about some pretty dramatic events in the paper’s history.

I will also note that I would read a 500 page book that was nothing more than a tick-tock of even events of, say, Sept 1., 2001 to Oct. 1st, 2001. That would be great. I would love to know EXACTLY what each major player at the paper was doing on Sept. 11 during the course of the day. (Has someone already done that?)

Anyway, I still have a few hundred pages to read.

Class Is Real: Adam Nagourney Edition

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I pinged the author of the book about The New York Times, “The Times” that I’m reading — Adam Nagourney — and he was kind enough to say thank you about my praise.

Adam Nagourney

When I pinged him, I mentioned that while the book is great, there were a few quibbles. He said he wanted to know what they were, for future editions of the book.

I don’t know what to think about that. Was he being sincere, or was he kind of humoring a weird, random person on the internet? I just don’t know. But, anyway, the book is really good.

You should read it.

A Bit Of Regret

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have to accept that it definitely appears as though — barring something I can’t predict — that my dream of pulling of a third hat trick with my life is a bit…delusional? I say this in the context of reading the big new book about The New York Times, “The Times.”

I always though that I had one big third act ahead of me. But, lulz, even if I sell my novel and it’s some sort of hit, it’s not like I will be, uuuuhhh, YOUNG when it happens. Everything will happen in the context of me being in my 50s.

It’s not like I can get my act together an one day work at The New York Times. I MIGHT be able to, like, hang out with New York Times people if I was some sort of successful — and eccentric — novelist, but work there full time….nope. Not only am I too old, I’m too bonkers and my personality just doesn’t fit working at such a high pressure gig.

Meanwhile, my other option — making it big in Hollywood — is just as delusional, but for different reasons. Yeah, I could probably talk my way into a three picture deal while drunk at a cocktail party, but, still, the whole context would be different from what I always imagined.

Rather than partying with 24 year olds, I would be this guy that everyone is stunned became a success 25 years later than everyone else. “So, how does it feel to be a success later in life,” is the chief question every reporter would ask me.

All of this is delusional, of course.

And I have to appreciate that barring something REALLY BIG that I can’t predict, I probably won’t actually be able to physically see my novel on the shelf of a physical bookstore until my mid-50s. (And by that point, a combination of AI and XR may have even made physical print bookstores rather quaint.)

Who knows. I don’t. But no matter what, the context of any success I have at this point in my life just won’t be what I expected back in the day.

I Continue To Use ‘The Girl Who Played With Fire’ As My ‘Textbook’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

While on a substantive basis, my novel is totally different from any of Stieg Larsson’s work other than a few “form follows function” quirks, I do continue to use the second novel in his Millennium series as my “textbook.” Whenever I have a question about structure and the like, I think back to my careful study of that novel and act accordingly.

It took me forever to figure out the structure of The Girl Who Played With Fire until I learned that it was actually the first half of a bigger novel. THEN things started to make sense.

I still hope to fall within the sweetspot of about 100,000 words for this novel. AND I have decided to to pretty much totally rework the first half of the second act so things are a lot more clear and focused.

That, at least, is the goal.

I really need to stop screwing around and get things done sooner rather than later.

About To Sprint Forward (Soon)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m just about to sprint forward with the “Fun & Games” part of this novel. I’ve been doing a lot of constructive daydreaming the last few days in an effort to figure out how to game the rest of the story out. It’s been really, really tough.

But I do think if I just let this process play out that I should get to writing full time again pretty soon. I was kind of sweating it there for a moment until I realized what the problem was. There really wasn’t so much a problem as I needed to go into aggressive daydreaming mode so once I left it, I could throw myself back into writing again.

As all of this is going on, of course, I realize I need to do a lot more reading and watching of TV — and develop other projects. I don’t want to be left holding the back if someone — God forbid — should somehow steal a march on me story wise and I have to fall back to some other project from scratch.

I don’t know when everything is going to sort itself out, but it should be pretty soon. That’s the plan, at least.