Construction site revision

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Years ago, I came upon a slender little book titled My Editor, by M.B. Goffstein. It's a poem of few lines, with simple, geometric illustrations, describing the process of working with an editor on revision.

I loved it so much I bought three, thinking of people I knew who might love it too. Now I only have one.

I've been thinking of it a lot, of late, going though the revision of The Next Novel, working with The Taskmaster (editor). The poem evokes the rewriting process as a construction site:

I begin to dig again, and lose myself in the excavation. 

Of course the new creation isn't quite right at first, and his editor sends him back to revise.

... my building worries me. It's stone cold, and I cry, "Why not have left it wobbly?"

There is a feeling of integrity in the early drafts that is initially lost in revising, until, with time, a new integrity emerges.

Take it apart, and suddenly see how it goes. 

This book is a treasure, and greatly heartening.



*****
Website: http://www.sandragulland.com/
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Editing sings the blues

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For writers in the throes of revision, this is a wonderful You Tube author video.

(Thanks to the Twitter suggestion of writer Ami McKay.)

MISTRESS now one month on Globe & Mail Canadian Bestseller list!

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I saw my editor and publisher Iris Tupholme yesterday at the HarperCollins office in Toronto. The sweetest thing is the big screen in the reception saying, in huge letters, "Welcome, Sandra Gulland." I always get a kick out of it, and love that fact that for all these thirty years, Norma is still there and leaps up for a hug.

I had a short coffee-meet with my new publicist, Lindsey Love (what a perfect name!), so Iris and I chatted briefly in the comfy lobby chairs. Iris was well pregnant with her youngest when we first met in my agent's office, and now that youngest is ready for a career. We each remember stories going way back.

Iris expressed her very great pleasure that Mistress of the Sun has been on the Globe & Mail Canadian bestseller list for a month now, and in the top 10! I was touched by how she described each Saturday, when the paper arrives. She can't bear to look right away. She sneaks up on it. First, she'll look at the non-fiction. And then, finally, glance at the fiction list to see if Mistress is there. Hurrah! Sometimes, later on in the day, she'll go back to look again.

"You're worse than I am!" I told her.

Iris has other authors on that list, some of whom practically live on that list. I was touched how excited she was by Mistress's success. She — and my book is a "she," no? — might fall off the list next Saturday, but it's a hard list to get on, and "a month is a lot," Iris told me.

Every time I think of this conversation, I smile.

Holding up the lightening rod

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I met with Dan Smetanka last night in LA, a brilliant editor who worked with me (along with my other editors) on Mistress of the Sun. Dan is the type of editor who reaches into your bowels and yanks out your stuff. Sorry to be so graphic, but he's not a polish type of guy (although he does that, too). He's the big picture, the gritty picture, a guts-of-the-matter guy. Working with him was like working with a master.

We talked about The Next Novel. I confessed I was at a loss. For both Mistress and Josephine B., I felt I'd been hit by lightening: the message was clear. Now, I have interests, certainly, but I haven't exactly been zapped. He advised me to give myself time, to rest, dream, hold up that lightening rod. Yes.

So this morning, Caroline Leavitte's blog post on her own Next Book spoke to me clearly: What's that novel about again? She writes:

It's hard to know what your new novel is about until after you've finished it, at least it is for me.

I feel like I'm treading water and there are sharks all around. And they're hungry.

It's possible to just wade in, but Mistress took eight years, and this time I'd like more of an idea of what the novel is about before I begin writing it. In the meantime, I'm treading water, holding up that lightening rod with a wary eye on the circling sharks.