What I am

You can’t always start a timed writing with no subject and expect to find one. Although I do that often – as you can probably tell – and more often than not, a subject will appear. I’ve always depended on my creativity to come up with something more times than I should. It wasn’t until Murder by Dewey Decimal that I even thought about outlining and not until Murder by the Acre that I had one. MBTA required an outline because so much happened in the book and so many secondary plots had to be resolved by book’s end. You would have thought I learned my lesson.

But I didn’t.

So I started Murder by the Mile with no outline. Since I wrote the majority of it during National Novel Writing Month, there was a pleasing sense of spontaneity and chaos that helped me keep writing and make the 50,000 word goal by the end of November. But when I read it back over ... yikes. Plots sprang up, wandered off, appeared, and disappeared with the consistency and logic of the Cheshire Cat. As a result, I’ve had to lose nearly 15,000 words from the first draft. Sigh. And they’re not words that I can save and use in another book as the events they describe are now impossible with the current timeline.

Oh well. I’ve read many times about authors who had to toss more words than that before they found the story. Perhaps it’s one of those rites a writer has to go through. But as rites go, it’s sure not much fun. Perhaps instead of rites, I should call it one of the trials.

Another trial I face – this one self-inflicted – is my inability to identify myself as a writer. Of course, I’m currently unemployed (and need a job should you have one or know of one) but I decided a couple of months ago to tell people I was a writer when they asked what I do. Instead, I stammer and launch into this long story about my old job and how my boss passed away while their eyes glaze over. I listen to myself with embarrassment each time I do it, but I seem unable to stop.

Perhaps I should announce my vocation. Here goes:

I am a writer.

I am a writer.

I am a writer.

And I’ll be writing more to you tomorrow. Have a great night.

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