Writing a Second Novel - Not Like the First

Greetings Friends,

The muse is kicking me in the butt again, so it's time to be working on the second novel. Somehow I keep thinking about an infant going to the doctor for a second set of shots. "Oh, I remember this place. This is not fun."

Actually, I remember many times while writing Community of Promise when it was fun - actually a lot of fun. But that's not the point of this post. The point is that I can't stop myself from comparing the experience now to the experience the first time - what I am writing now with the final version of what I wrote before. The truth is that the first time I truly didn't know what I was doing. I had never written anything like a novel before. I just sat down and wrote the story.

I also find myself thinking about Anne Lamott's comment in "Bird by Bird." Paraphrasing her: "All first drafts are crap." I need to let myself relax and enjoy the process. I have to let the story grab me. There will be some good sentences, but I have to keep writing to settle into my yet-to-be-discovered voice. I'm not sure I really know what it is yet, but I think I get occasional glimpses.

I am awed by the amount of work that full time writers put into their work to make it wonderful. I just finished reading John Irving's "Last Night in Twisted River." He does great things with language and tells an intriguing story besides.

Given where my life is at this point, I don't see full-time writing in the cards, but who knows what the future holds. You can help by buying your copy(ies) of Community of Promise. And, if you like it, tell your friends, your family, your neighbors, your co-workers, your colleagues, your church, your facebook family... Well, you get the point.

'Til next time.

Wayne Gustafson
"The Promised Land is within and among us."