On the Scent

I thought it might be time to do a blog entry that is in the form of a kind of “live update.”  These blogs are not, of course, my only writing project right now – I’m currently working on another history project involving Johnstown.  I don’t want to say too much about it at this point, other than to say that there are blog entries that will probably make it into this new work, albeit somewhat edited and directed in a different way.

But I am entering a strange phase of the project right now where I have momentum.  This is odd.  I’m not sure what other writers or even other artists or anyone engaged in a creative activity (which can include many, many areas of life) might feel during a project.  My own process involves a lot of circling and spiraling in and out of an orbit around it.  I’m devouring sources, making notes, trying to stay organized, writing excerpts, thinking about themes, brainstorming, deleting, and a whole mess of other things.  Then there’s a threshold where I establish a minimum daily word count, with a bonus incentive.  It can be as low as 50 words, or as high as 500.  I do try to turn in 250 in a given day, and then I stack some other tasks on top of that, particularly as I’m not completely through all of the research quite yet.  But I’m also at the point where, once I tip into that, I feel like I have something.

Like a hunting dog – I’ve got the scent. 

It doesn’t matter so much if we’re talking about scenthounds or sighthounds.  The metaphor is the same because I’ve got the quarry and I’m starting toward it.  It’s not like moving toward the light (with all due respect to Carol Ann) so much as it is a motor that falls into a rhythm with the territory. 

It’s intoxicating.  It’s a writer’s high – probably more deceptive than the runner’s high.  I also wonder if this is why some writers can be quite resistant to editorial input.  I can say that, at least with me to date, I’ve not encountered any editor that hasn’t improved the work, and I’m grateful for the teamwork in helping the work really shine. 

So am I running downhill?  Not quite.  I have momentum, though, which is all that really matters, because there will still be some uphill climbs and progress will slow, but the momentum and the continued inputs into the machine will make for progress.  I’ve had a few conceptual breakthroughs; these are nothing that a reader is going to see and say: “aha!  Here’s where he found the plot!”  No – like everything I do, this is a process of accretion and spiral, but I place waypoints and signs along the way; some of these signs are visible throughout the work.  They tower tall and flashing, and I can see them from wherever I am in the narrative, and these mark the spots where the theme and the story come together.  They are not so closely intertwined as time and space; they are, hopefully, something that the reader sees, feels, and registers whenever they happen to be (eventually) turning the pages.

My feeling at this point is that the momentum has to continue.  This is also the most dangerous spot of all for me; the possibility of delay flaring into an exasperated impatience if -especially if – I think of including a point that I had remembered but not written down or indexed.  Then it’s a mad scramble through the materials to keep the word count growing.  An equally likely thing to occur is that I think of a new insight, and then I go back to look through the materials to see if it is justified…both of these are very similar feelings to having a word “on the tip of the tongue.”  You can picture it.  You know it’s there…but it’s hiding.

And that’s okay…unlike the awkward spot in the conversation when you’re striving to demonstrate sparkling wit and you feel like a fool because the riposte didn’t rip out of you and into your conversation partner, writing a big project is a discovery that takes time.  That said…if you have a deadline, you can’t circle forever.

Sometimes, you need to consolidate your action and work on following that scent.  Sometimes it’s running downhill, sometimes it’s struggling through a swamp.  Any forward progress, however, is better than none at all, and it’s a hell of a lot easier when you know it.

Right now – I can feel it.  I don’t know if it’s any good, though I hope it is.  I don’t know if I’m wrong, though, after 4 books already, I think I can tell when I’m on it.

Stay tuned…things will be happening.  Keep your fingers crossed, and your eyes open.