Friday, October 27, 2006

All Apologies

(And no, I am not commenting on the news that Kurt Cobain is the highest earning dead musician!)

My apologies are for my absence from Blogspace. I have been deep deep in Fetch World. Today, I actually finished the first draft of the third novel in that series, provisionally entitled, ‘Ragnarok’ (The last battle for - and destruction of - the Norse Gods).

It is a big moment. There’s so much work yet to do. But having the draft there, even in such a rough form, is a big step forward. I can now go back and work on something. Not just sit in my chair each morning and hope that something comes. Though there are moments during first drafts when I chortle as I write, when it feels like I am taking dictation, they are rare moments. But a second draft! Paper to hold! An ending to be worked towards!

In the Academia in Florence, Italy, in the same room as ‘David’, there are four other Michelangelo sculptures. They are known as ‘The Prisoners’, because they are human shapes, in varying degrees of doneness. It as if they are struggling to free themselves from the rough marble blocks. They are art in limbo - parts of their forms beautifully smooth, others barely marked.

They are like my first draft - a rough hewn shape. But a shape nonetheless. Now I am about to take a finer chisel to it, smooth out more roughness, shape more limbs, find the fingers, seek a face; eventually reach for a polishing cloth, and a brush of the finest hair.

Something solid to work on! Hallelujah!

1 Comments:

Blogger Robert Edmonds said...

Congratulations on the first draft. Perhaps now you can get back to hanging spoons from your face!

11:50 AM  

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