Thursday, September 3, 2009

Editing Never Seems To End

I have been following other writers on twitter and one of them has taken an interest in my writing. She read the first chapter of the novel The Narcissist and loved it. She read, or started to read, the second chapter and sent me an email, telling me I need to work on the second chapter to show not tell that early family history. So for the next couple of days, I'll be working on it. I might post it here. If you want to help, jump in. If not, please forgive the working in public. I want to make it as good as I can. I'd like to be done with it, find a home for it and then move on to the next book.

I've been writing stories about the years that are missing from the book. These stories are written in the third person and have been a lot easier to write. They cover the marriages and the relationships with men that are mostly missing from The Narcissist. My friend Nick has wanted to know why I married the kind of men I did. Why did I choose such assholes to live with? It's a good question and in my exploration of these relationships I might find the answer that will satisfy Nick. I know why. The real answer is found in the early years of my life. But that's not enough. Plenty of us have had awful lives as children in crazy families, yet managed to find love and marry and have children. Why couldn't I? Why has living alone been the happiest time of my life? Maybe we'll find out.