[Destitute Genius]
With a dash of cunning!Here's to you, Bruce.
2007-05-25
I've been working on a novel for 5 years now. I was finally able to get all of the characters, (and there are many), the plot, timeline and setting to all work together and start putting it into a written form a year ago. I had close to a quarter of the first rough draft completed on my laptop. I have a pro-bono editor/beta-tester. Things were in a good spot. My laptop's motherboard died 3 weeks ago. Luckily it was only 6 months old, and that got replaced for free.
I'm an idiot. I didn't back my shit up. I lost all of my work in a fell swoop. Luckily, K, my editor had a printed copy in a binder, so not all is lost.
She was on vacation for this disaster, and I saw her for the first time since she came back today. We talked about it. I mentioned I was thinking about tossing the entire idea in the can. I was done. We sat in silence for about 5 minutes in my car, the only audible noise was the 80s mix my friend made me. She told me to keep going, that she liked the idea and loved the characters. That I couldn't just let it drop. Silence grabbed hold again. We were doing some half-assed humming along with Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" When I heard this:
"I'm sick of sittin 'round here trying to write this book."
I paused, and asked if thats what she heard. She laughed that "Oh, my insane friend Mitch" laugh. I rewinded the song. Indeed, he does sing that.
True, you can't start a fire without a spark.
And everything I've worked on until this point, that sweat, that blood, the entire quarter of my brain spent mulling this over and ensuring this all lives until it is transcribed, is that spark .
Ready for some arson?
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