— Last night, I hosted my first little party at the new digs. It was so COOL to have people over, to share my WEE space with them, to open up my house – it is a generous act, indeed – and I’m such a private hermit-crab, so it was quite good for me to let people in. We had pasta salad, chicken, unbeLIEVable deviled eggs (I’m on a huge deviled egg kick now) – and bottles and bottles of wine.
I felt like holding a party sanctified my little space. Or blessed it. Or something.
— I finished Nicholas and Alexandra this morning. The last chapter is titled, merely, “Ekaterinberg”. That word scares me, because of what it evokes. Anastasia apparently fainted from fear and once the massacre of her family was over, woke up with a groan. The executioners realized she was still alive, and they attacked her with bayonets and rifle butts.
— Gorgeous weather today. But I’m a bit hungover. I have rented “African Queen”, and I am going to lie under the covers, with the lights low, and watch it this afternoon. Cannot think of a better activity.
— Woke up this morning at 5:45 am (on purpose) and finished my latest piece of writing. That kind of creativity only comes to me in the early morning hours. I am not sure why, but I don’t question it. Whatever. My mind is clear then. Even if I’m hung over. I finished it – now I must put it away for a day or so – before I can take it out again, read it, and then edit it. It is only with a couple days distance that I can see what is wrong with my writing, or what is missing. And fuggedaboutit if I pick something up a month later, or a year later!! I read somewhere that writers know if something they have written is good – only when a year passes, and they read it again, and still think it is good. I have found that to be scarily true.
Nice to see that there are writers, like yourself, who can edit (at least at the pre-submission stage) their own work. I’ve had an ongoing disagreement for more than 20 years with my editor colleagues about writers as editors. Most editors feel that writers can’t edit what they’ve written.
I think that opinion is a kind of “guild mentality,” i.e., leave the editing to the editors. And, god forbid, if THEY can edit, what’s left for us. I disagree strongly. A good writer, by definition, understands what good writing is all about, and is capable of identifying it or its absence in ANYTHING she reads.
Glad you enjoyed the book.
I agree about the editing process – I tend to do a fair amount of editing as I go along, but you need that little distance of a couple of days to be able to consume the thing as a normal reader would and adjust accordingly. I can’t claim to ever be that clear-headed that early in the morning, though. ;-)
Jesus, I can’t imagine not editing my own work. Sometimes I most definitely need an outside eye, but for the most part – I can tell what is missing, what needs to be added.
I’m on a quote-rampage lately – and this conversation reminds me of yet another Bette Davis quote.
She was having a meeting with a director, before beginning a film. Can’t remember who the director was, but he was big.
And all she said to him was, “Don’t direct me, darling. Just edit me.”
Perfectly said.
Ah, deviled eggs, how I love thee. And yet, I’m always remined of these two comic strips:
This and this (the last line in the second one is my favorite).