Bop

March 27

It feels so good to be productive! I wrote about 2300 words on Rangergirl tonight, very much in a non-linear fashion. I've been reading Patrick's archives (making it last as long as possible, since he's no longer updating daily... sigh), and back in '99 he was talking about a script-writing technique wherein one writes individual scenes or bits of dialogue on index cards. The point seems to be that this exercise allows you to focus on details, building toward a big picture. It occurred to me that I'm doing something like that with Rangergirl. I wrote some very separate scenes tonight, but I know how they all fit-- even the scenes that went in odd directions and surprised me. So I got to write about barbed-wire braces, and Aaron Burr in a restaurant, and sleep-sketching, and a bitter argument beneath a cherry tree, and the thin line between love and obsession-- it was great. I'm so fired-up about this novel!

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I read my first ever Samuel Delaney story tonight. I know, I know-- it's been a big gap in my education. A couple of weeks ago I bought Atlantis: Three Tales used. Tonight I finally opened it up. Sadly, this book is the victim of a printer's error. About twenty random pages are printed so lightly that the text is illegible. I might be able to darken them to readability with the photocopier at work; we shall see. The only story untouched by the defiling hand of Misprint was "Citre et Trans." I read that after I got finished writing.

Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Such amazing writing! Very moving, very powerful. Makes me wonder what the hell I'm doing with my feeble pen-scratchings.

Well, not really. It actually got me very excited about writing, in a "See? That's what words can do!" kind of way.

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I got quite a few poetry submissions today-- hooray! And none of them were bad! Some of them aren't what I'm looking for, but I didn't receive a single poem today that made me wince and mutter. Of course, most of the submissions came from Rumor Mill people, who are pretty clued, as a whole.

I think I'm going to try for a really diverse poetry line-up for the poetry premiere-issue-- shoot for variety. So I'm looking for some formal structure, some free verse, some science-fiction, some lyric fantasy, some witty cleverness, some dark stuff...

Of course, now I have to write rejections. I haven't written any of those yet. I'm going to tomorrow. It's weird, being on this end of the exchange-- I've never in my life received so much e-mail that began "Mr. Pratt:" It's good, though; this editing thing's exciting.

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I read Lansdale's Freezer Burn today. It's got some nice moments, but it's not my favorite of his novels. I much prefer his Hap Collins/ Leonard Pine books. Human, flawed protagonists you can admire-- not like the stupid shithead protag of Freezer Burn. Still, Lansdale is never dull, and there's some really effective moments in the book.

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Today I wandered around the house, reading aloud from Adrienne Rich's A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far. I think I freaked out the cats a bit, but it felt good-- some poetry just makes more sense when you read it out loud, and it's been a long time since I really performed any poetry; I'm woefully out of practice. I don't think I'll be going to any readings or slams anytime soon, though... I'd rather just subject my friends to impromptu poetry readings.

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The Old 97's is definitely the music for Rangergirl. I had my headphones on at Pergolesi while I wrote (I wrote longhand tonight), bopping out to "Doreen" and "Victoria's Heart" and "Big Brown Eyes." So much energy! In the music, the book, and in me!

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Everything's better when I've been virtuous. I feel marvelous.

Anger and tenderness: my selves.
And now I can believe they breathe in me
as angels, not polarities.
Anger and tenderness: the spider's genius
to spin and weave in the same action
from her own body, anywhere--
even from a broken web.

-Adrienne Rich, from "Integrity"