by Rudy Ch. Garcia
November 2012.
I’m not in Denver, again. InHouston, again, but this time for a family wedding and no readings for thenovel, The Closet of Discarded Dreams.
But I’ve embarked on what Icall my 9th life. Some of the priors resemble how this one will playout, but this may prove enjoyable in ways the others only touched. Seven of the others will wait for explanations another time.
Public school education, myeighth life, and I will probably part ways, permanently. The administratorswill not miss me. The kids would be a different story. I’ll still do volunteerwork and maybe some work as a substitute, but I’m one more casualty of acountry of school systems gone bad-to-worse.
Ninth life: full-time writer
It’s appropriate to beginthe 9th in what some call NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. As one site explains it, “The goal is to write a50,000-word (approx. 175 pp.) novel by midnight Nov. 30. In 2011, we had256,618 participants and 36,843 of them crossed the 50K finish line by thedeadline.”
Years ago I attempted towrite the original draft of my Chicano fantasy novel in a month--although itwound up taking forty-five days--of about 60k words. Years of revisionfollowed.
This time should be morefruitful, based on the premise that I am a much more savvy writer now. As of Nov. 9 I’ve completed 10k words. However this 10k is vastlyimproved from the first 10k I did years ago.
My process is relativelysimple:
- Up at 5:30 or so, read thepaper, check Email, sip two—only two cups of coffee, begin writing.
- Breaks every 60-90 min. awayfrom the computer. Return to writing. This is fairly new for me. Before thisyear I would work without leaving the den or the keyboard, work until the brainwas fried and restart the next morning. Brain-science readings have addedtaking these breaks to revive my thinking. Also new, frequent rehydration, aglass of water, or so.
At the MileHiCon, the KOP series novelist Warren Hammondexplained his method of writing. What I took from him and have implemented thismonth is to begin each day not where I left off before, but instead somewhereearlier, even on page one. This is radically different from my composing, butI’m driven by Warren’s explanation that doing his novels in this manner meansthat once he reaches the last page, he is essentially finished with finalrevisions. Vamos a ver.
As for the subject of myNovember work, from lessons learned in my summer posts on latinos and sci-fi,Spic vs Spec, as well as discussions withJim Fiscus of SFFWA, Paolo Bacigalupi (The Windup Girl) and editors andpublishers. I concluded that composing a young adult dark fantasy with Chicanoprotagonists should be my final work for the year.
It’s likewise fitting tofinish my best year ever (5 published works, with two months remaining) byentering a field that begs for mas y mas y mas spec lit for Chicano boys. Itwould be a great finish of my teaching years, to give back to kids somethingthey need more than a new standardized test.
As I said earlier, I’m onabout page 40 of the new work and already recognize that if you liked/loved TheCloset of Discarded Dreams, you’re going to love/bust a gut from reading thenext installment. It is a prequel, not a sequel. What happened to The Chicanoand Chrisie “the Bruiser” Falcón before TheCloset of Discarded Dreams.
This is all for today; I’mtired. Pocho Joe of KUVO-fm radio and novelist Manuel Ramos stopped byyesterday and tricked me into drinking mucho. They actually left early for meto complete my Friday intoxication, solo, but I still blame them.
I’m in Houston, it’s humid,in the 70s, smoggy, while Denver’s prepping for some freeze and snow. I broughtthe MacBook and am having a chingón time with the prequel. Wish you were hereto read some of this draft, but I guess that will have to wait for an editor toshow up first.
Suerte in your Nov. writingand the rest of the time, too,
Author of the Chicanofantasy novel The Closet of Discarded Dreams
Last minute: Arizona comes to Colorado
On our way to the airport we passed an RTD bus, the regional mass transit most gente use to get around. The huge sign on the side caught my eye:
"It's not Islamophobia, it's Islamorealism."
It's not stirred enough local controversy yet, but placement of the ads has been upheld in court elsewhere.
The ads were intended to hit the Obama campaign in swing states and obviously didn't work. If you sympathize with those of another religion and want to do something about these ads, you might want to vote against the type of judges who uphold the right to spread racist hate propaganda. And let RTD know your views. Before the whole state gets Arizonaed.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder