Updates - Writing, Military, a Tiny Story + Music Project
Hello, poor dusty blog. I'm back from Asia, and I loved it, and I will post about it soon, I promise, but it will take time, for lots of reasons. I was really sick for most of my time in Hong Kong, and most of December in general. I got all the way through Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, drinking tap-water all the way, and then China KNOCKED ME OUT. My body was not ready. I recovered enough to get on a plane back to Zürich, and then I sat next to a sick Swiss guy and became ill all over again. And that's the tragic tale of why I've been non-existent on the internet, even more than usual.
Now military is starting in just a few days and I'll be confined to a facility in Bülach and cut-off from the internet, so I've been trying to catch up on things before then, and break in my boots, which are awfully uncomfortable and apparently if you don't wear them in before military they'll mangle your feet. Also, I have a massive revision to do, and a fun little story project, so let's talk about those!
The Revision: Monster Middle Grade continues its slow evolution into readable book-form. A part of me doesn't want to talk about this, because I think there's sometimes this expectation that book-writing should be a straightforward flash of inspiration, a flurry of passionate writing in a garret, some careful revision, and then you churn out a tidy book a year, and it's lovely, and the characters are all perfectly evolved, and the plot has no holes, and the world-building is neither too much nor too little. And if that doesn't happen, there must be something wrong with you, or you're a bad writer, or whatever. And the thing is, some writers do manage to put out an excellent book every year, and keep up the appearance of having everything under control (which is very cool, and I admire them greatly). But for me, as I’ve met other authors and peeked behind the scenes, I’ve realized that book-writing is almost never tidy. Some books are messy and bursting at the seams. Some books - probably some of your very favourites - didn't only take 1-2 drafts to get right. Maybe they took 3-4 drafts. Maybe they took 10 drafts or 15 drafts or 20 drafts, and the writer despaired many times, and doubted they were up for the task, and questioned whether the book would ever work the way it worked in their head, or whether they should become a Yak-herder in Nepal. So, that’s where I am right now. But I'm also determined to do this, and if your book or piece of music or whatever you're working on is taking a long time to click, I would say that's ok, and you're ok, and you're growing an entire world, and that takes time. The good news is, Monster Middle Grade is getting there, creeping closer with every massive, unwieldy draft, and I'm so grateful I have an awesome publisher and editor and agent who let me work at until I get it right.
Military and Absence
I'll be gone from everything - life, friends, emails, texting, social media - while in military, so I'm very sorry if you're waiting for a response on something. I have a backlog of emails, and I will answer them. I heard things get less stringent as the months go by, and so I should be able to catch up before I'm discharged at the end of May. But the first few weeks are rough and busy, I’ll be doing my basic training, and then heading deep into the mountains and bunkers to be an officer’s aid, and I only have about 24 hours off every weekend, and so I just won't be online much, or doing any of things I've done in my life thus far. Which brings me to. . .
A Tiny Story + Music Project!
To keep the creative juices flowing on a hopefully easy-to-manage scale, I'm going to be posting a super-short story on the weekends, together with a short piece of music I'll write that's meant to be listened to while reading the story. I think it'll be fun way to recover from running around with guns and being shouted at by sergeants. I hope by the end of military I'll have 4-5 short nice little bundles of stories and music.The first one is called The Whale and the Tea-Kettle, and I'll post it on Sunday! I hope everyone's well! See you on the other side. :)