I went to a slumber party this weekend, for the first time since sixth grade. My writing group has been together five years (count ‘em--five!), so we celebrated with a major session of goofing around, followed by a tiny bit of sleep, followed by a writing retreat.

I can’t say enough about these women. They taught me what to do, they showed me my mistakes, they cried with me at my rejections, they celebrated with me at my successes, and they took me seriously. Each of us does these things for all of us. There is no jealousy--one member’s success is everyone’s success. And we’ve had a few successes--three agents acquired (one lost in there), one sold book, one Pushcart-nominated nonfiction piece, myriad drafts of book projects and stories (some of them final drafts), smaller publications in large and small venues, the list goes on. We give each other courage and strength to keep going. We love each other and push each other.

Every writer needs a writing group. I am convinced of it.

So here’s to you, sisters in ink. Thank you a million times over.

Tags: writing community, writing life

. . . less than 24 hours. By yesterday afternoon I was fiddling around with a scene or two. Granted, I think I made the scenes better (sometimes fiddling makes things worse), but I was still going back on my vow of being “finished.”

Dammit. But it’s the nature of the beast.

Tags: writing life

So today I “finished” BEAUTIFUL MUSIC FOR UGLY CHILDREN. Its first rough draft was begun in December 2005 and “finished” in June 2006. Then there were major retools in spring 2007 and summer/fall 2008 (gaps as a result of child/husband/job/life), plus there are always little tinkers. It feels really good to have this draft “done” and polished. It’s my favorite revision of all.

But I know it won’t last. Some agent or editor will say, “hey, have you thought of . . .” or “you know, I don’t like . . .” and it will change. That’s as it should be, and I like to revise---a lot, maybe too much---because it always leads you to new ideas. But sometimes I just want a manuscript to STAY THE SAME.

But it won’t. It’s the nature of the game. For today, it’s “finished,” and I’m not fooling with it until it’s agented. I’m damn tired. Given how busy agents are, it will be “finished” for months.

But is a book *ever* really FINISHED? No, probably not. Someone will always have a new idea for it, even if you never meet that person. That’s one of the cool things about meaning, in the philosophical sense. Ideas build on ideas that build on ideas, and . . . . then it’s infinity.

Cool and frustrating, all at the same time.

Tags: writing life