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I just posted this identical diary entry on Substack. Just so you know. I do that every Thursday night. 

 

    It’s getting late! Tempus fugit! I want to get this posted yet before I hit the sack.

    I’ve started to revise Act 3 of my novel, RIVERS RISE. Second draft. Before I began the task, I felt overwhelmed and cautious. But a few sentences into scene 76 (beginning of chapter 22), I was feeling great, in control, and making the necessary changes a snap.

    What changed?

    One way to explain what’s happening: requote the famous E. L. Doctorow quote. It goes, “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” When I’m revising, most of the time I’m focusing on just the scene in front of me. Scenes are manageable. They have a point—usually one point. That’s easy. Another metaphor: it’s like cleaning a small room. Most of the time, there’s not much that needs to be done. How much can you do? If it’s a complete disaster, cut it. Write another one. Start from scratch again. I’m glad I wrote (or rewrote) the book in scenes. When I did that, I had no idea that the scenes would be combined into chapters. But doing that has felt right for the last few months. Will the scenes stay in their chapters, or will they get rambunctious? Part of me says the scenes should all be short chapters. Will I make that change?

    Hey, I can only see as far as my headlights …

    But I also wanted to write and tell you that I really felt in the groove while I was writing. Like I was home. A very different feeling from times in Act 2 when I had no idea where I was. I was feeling the flow today. Like art was blowing in from the windows and some of it was going straight into the laptop.

    I’m taking this as a good omen. There’s a lot to consider in Act 3, and there’s a hell of a lot of links that have to be made for the illusion to work. Illusion of act 3, and, therefore, the illusion of the entire novel. But maybe, if it won’t be easy, it’ll at least be straightforward. Manageable. You know?

    I’m trying to keep this diary focused on me writing RIVERS RISE, but I hope you readers won’t mind a bit of my personal life dropped in here. These past two weeks has been a maelstrom in a few ways. Two sons graduated, one with a MA, one with a BA. I wrapped up teaching my six-week Intermediate Creative Writing class and will start another Intro to Creative Writing class in two weeks. Still haven’t graded the Intermediate finals. My neighbor Tim and I will write together adapting a ghost story for an audio play we’ll perform at a Carlisle coffee shop this October. I’ve started learning the Blues songs I want to play in a future band, and they’re coming together. And it turns out that another neighbor, Aaron, is heavily into the Blues, plays guitar, and wants to share his extensive Blues book collection with me. I am barely keeping up with the books for the two reading groups I’m in.

    All to say, I am living the good life and am a happy man.

    Next revision go-round: Saturday.