On page 200 of the Berlin novel, I stop

Saturday, April 7, 2012

and allow myself to ponder how all of this (specifically) ends.  I am, perhaps, 5,000 words away from a first full draft.  In terms of plot and character, especially in terms of research, this is by far the most complex book I've ever attempted.  Every single word feels like a victory.  Every image is extracted from a graffiti-colored tangle.  I will work with and for clients on Monday, teach at Penn on Tuesday, then disappear for five days—the first time (these fifteen years into the writing of books, these sixteen books (not to mention an uncounted, embarrassing number of failures) in) I have ever gone away to be with a story, to be an author.  This book is that hard.  This book needs that much silence, and so do I. 

In the meantime, my boy is home for a day and a half.  The air is the right temperature for spring.



9 comments:

Melissa Sarno said...

I am holed up in the library writing, desperate for peace (and I should not be reading blogs, no I should not) and I read this and gasp. 5 days of uninterrupted writing time?! You're livin the dream, Kephart. Live it! Live it!

Kelly Simmons said...

Okay, so both you and Melissa are writing -- and what am I doing????
Well . . .let me just say I am encouraging you both!

Hope your retreat is productive AND restorative, Beth. It can be both, and it will be.

Anonymous said...

5 days well deserved, Beth. I will so enjoy hearing how it feels.

patti.mallett_pp said...

If there is anyone who will use those five days well, Beth, it is you! (I hope you will share tidbits with us, after the fact.)

May you be richly blessed in, and from, your labor!! (Prayers will be going up on your behalf.)

Amy said...

Good luck! Also, Happy Easter!

Joanne R. Fritz said...

It impresses the hell out of me that you produced sixteen books in fifteen years! You deserve all the blissfully quiet writing time you can get.

Serena said...

Enjoy that quiet time with your book for five days.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a wonderful vacation (full of hard work) for you - can't wait to read what comes out of it. :)

KFP said...

So happy for you for both your son's visit and the writing retreat.

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