Friday, May 02, 2008

Watching Me Make Sausage

I think it is a sort of shyness that makes me reticent about posting on the topic of what I'm doing in the study, that writing of fiction. Watching an artist create seems to me little different from watching people make sausage--and I've had that experience, thank you. Put me off sausage for quite some time: knowing what goes into it makes it less appetizing. Especially the part involving guts.

But I have been reminded this week that a certain percentage of the people interested in my doings are interested in my process--and that no matter how idiotic I may feel in sharing my struggles, wanderings, and false starts, mine is a sort of higher-order idiocy, and people just starting out in the craft, or people who need some perspective on the process, will benefit from being able to look over my shoulder. The rest of you can just ignore these posts, I suppose.

So: as I dive into the final stretch before completion of The Affairs of Dragons, we will have a sausage-making festival. I'll start off with a State of the Draft post, and will discuss the nuts and bolts, attempting always to avoid spoilers, as I go along. I hope you enjoy; and, as always happens when we journal about things that matter, I'm sure I'll learn from the experience of watching my own process.

One thing is certain: there will be guts. Consider yourself warned.

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