Happy solstice, everyone!
The solstice gives me a chance to look back on the year to date and refocus on my commitments. Halfway through the year seems like a good point to reflect, refresh, and refuel. So far, it has been a productive year for me, and therefore a happy year. I've also found chances to get out from behind this desk and have some fun exploring the beautiful Big Island.
Right now I'm at a difficult point in the left-brain novel. I have to learn a lot about a particular spiritual tradition in order to make a convoluted yet pivotal chapter convincing. There are important distractions and digressions from the main ritual scene that need to be woven into the fabric of this chapter. Today was a great day for research, although I have a long way to go before I can write the chapter well. It will probably require many drafts. Meanwhile, though, I am learning some interesting stuff I never thought I would need to know. Isn't life so often like that?
Likewise, I am digging into some difficult work on the right-brain novel. It is easy to like my main character when he speaks in sly metaphors and startling double entendres, but those tend to ring a bit hollow once you realize they conceal ugly character flaws. So, amidst his difficult interactions with other characters, leading to his own dramatic and redeeming change of character, I want to maintain the spare, humorous, and multilayered literary style that works for his soliloquies. To put it another way, it's damn hard to write convoluted things simply and sparsely.
Of course I want each of these novels to flow and sparkle like a river, without getting bogged down in, well, a metaphorical bog. It's interesting that right now I'm facing the same basic challenge on two separate fronts. Lots of room for artistic growth, woo-hoo!
Anyhow, I wish you a happy Solstice and plenty of chances to enjoy the summer as we move into the year's warmer months.
Here's today's tally:
Bill's Left-Brain Novel,
as of June 20, 2007:
| |
67,699 / 90,000 (75.2%) |
Bill's Right-Brain Novel,
as of June 20, 2007:
| |
19,519 / 50,000 (39.0%) |
Wishing you a beautiful day,
Bill Brent
[this page last updated: 2007.06.20, 8:35 a.m. Hawaii time]
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