September 2004

August was a tough writing month, probably one of the most difficult I've ever had. The novel is still coming along slowly -- I'm at 78,000 words before editing, and still looking at 100-110K when it's done, which means I'm at least 2/3rds done, but still. . .

As I said, it's been tough. Maybe it was the story or maybe the characters, but for whatever reason, the words don't seem to flow that easily. Normally, if I write 2,000 words in a day, I'll end up keeping 1,600-1,700 and much of this usually doesn't have to be edited too much. But with this book, I'll write 2,000 words, spending twice the time it usually takes (I'm working 8-9 hours, a long time to sustain a high level of creativity), and then deleting 1,200 the next day. And the 800 words I do keep? I've had to edit those extensively and usually need twice the time to edit as it did to put them on the pages in the first place. And yet, contrary to how it sounds, I think True Believer is my finest work to date; people will love the story and the characters, and the ending? Let's just say that you'll never forget it.

It does amaze me, however, that after writing 9 books, I still struggle with the craft, but I supppose the major reason for that is that I don't want to disappoint the readers. Too often, popular authors get lazy. Their recent books are nowhere near as good as their earlier books, and I decided long ago that I'd never fall into that trap. What that means, however, is that I have to keep writing new and different stories, with new and different characters, placed in new and different settings. But trying anything new is always difficult the first time you do it.

I said last month that I hoped to be done by the end of August. Didn't happen. And nor am I positive it will be done by the end of September. If not, it'll be close. I'm at a stage in the book where things are beginning to move quickly, and almost all the hard work is done for a while (finally!). The last section of the book will be tricky as always, but I'm not flying blind, since I've got a good idea of what I want to do and how it should be structured. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me.

As for other news, there isn't much. The Notebook has grossed $77 million to date, placing it 21st for the year, and not too shabby for a movie that cost less than $30 million to make. The Notebook has also been #1 on the New York Times list for the past 8 weeks; at one point over the summer, I had three books in the top seven. There's no other movie or television news to report.

Until next month. . .

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