I have been trying to make progress on a rewrite — a radical rewrite, a reboot! — of my novel. I have been trying to make progress despite having three teenaged daughters, a full-time teaching load, and various other concerns. It occurs to me that I have been in a similar place before.

Eighteen years ago I was trying to write a doctoral dissertation. I had 18-month old twin daughters. I was teaching at the University of Washington, on a teaching fellowship, two classes that fall quarter, if I remember right. I needed to make some progress on the dissertation, to show my committee that I was making progress. I felt, simply, that I was supposed to write a 250-page book, and I didn’t feel I could do it. How could I write a book when I couldn’t produce even a single chapter?

One morning, in a state, I called my friend Priscilla Long. She pointed out,very very gently, that I didn’t have to write the book today. All I had to do was write a page. All I had to do was start.

That couldn’t be good enough. My committee needed a chapter. What I had were notes from my exams, scribbles. I didn’t have a paragraph that I felt I could show them.

Of course you do, Priscilla said. Send me seven pages.

But it’s a mess, I argued.

She said that was no matter. I could show a mess to her.

Seven pages? Seven pages of a mess sounded doable.

So I printed out what I had, and of course I did not send it to Priscilla. I worked on it — now that it was printed out and double-spaced, working on it was possible. I made it a little better by working early in the morning before my classes, with a thermos of coffee beside me, at the Hub on campus. I didn’t have very much time, about 45 minutes. But over a few days I came up with seven pages that were less of a mess, and I mailed them to Priscilla.

 

Here’s a link to a poem of mine that appeared Santa Clara Review, fall/wtr 2009.

On my first day of classes, one of the things I talked about with students is “how to begin.” We also talked about writing every day. It’s so easy to get caught up in a world of distractions, text messages, TV shows, those handy games loaded onto your smart phone. But what if you could set aside some time to just do what you love to do? I love lots of things — and I’m as compulsive as the next person. But somehow, for me, that thing I love to do is always — writing.

This morning, in the dark, in my cabin, it was my sixth day back at work on the novel. It would have been easy to skip today, but I can put a foil star on my calendar if I work for just 15 minutes, and I really wanted to earn that star. As it turned out, I worked for 30 minutes and I was a little late for school (I wanted to be here at 8:30, and didn’t arrive until 9…no matter, class wasn’t until 10).

In my class, unable to resist, I also bragged about Sparrow. I’m told that it will be available soon, and if you need it sooner you can call Writers & Books. $16.95 plus 3.50 s & h. Let me know if you have a bookstore or another reading venue that you’d like me to visit!