June 2, 2005
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It seems like a long time since I’ve just sat down and typed what’s going on. Tonight was my last class (advanced fiction writing). I ended up at the neighborhood bar, a place I’m drawn to but where I’m going to have to start ordering iced tea or something. I love how you can just walk into a place, and there’s something about pushing through those swinging doors where in an instant you’re sizing up the crowd and they’re checking you out. It’s small and by the time the doors have quit swinging you’re seated and everyone’s seen you.
She calls me “Hon” and wants to serve me a Jack and coke but it’s so late I order a gin and tonic. Pretty soon and guy comes in, all upbeat and fun. But he’s not the guy I end up really talking to. Seated at a booth (I’m at a stool trying to be a regular) is a guy more my age who looks interesting. He’s eavesdropping and I can tell he thinks “W” is humorous but full of shit. The guy at the booth is more my style so when the music gets too loud I have to scoot into his booth to hear him.
He’s all in denim wearing a jeans jacket. We’re seated but he seems short and wiry. Lots of grey hair, sharp eyes, wonderful gap-toothed smile. He’s self-made. Mike’s been everywhere, starting with Japan. Fresh out of high school in the early 60s he joined the air force and served in intelligence during the beginning of the Viet Nam war. He fell in love with a woman whose father was a dentist. She taught him Japanese and he became part of the family. But, after four years his time was up and he came home, something he really didn’t want to do. From then on he has traveled all over the world selling (something to do with lumber).
After his divorce he married Michelle. She’s half his age which slightly embarrasses him but he’s a little proud of it, too. He goes home to her every weekend, home being on the Snake River or Salmon River, I can’t remember which, in Idaho. That was a great story, too; how he found the land and built a log cabin.
While he’s gone during the week, she’s doing web design and meeting all the neighbors. Now she wears a cowboy hat and boots.
We talked a little bit about the stock market but mostly I wanted to hear about the places that you all live. He got really worked up over the “sugar shacks” in Quebec. He told me all about going to a private party where you had to have reservations. They dumped maple syrup all over his dinner. After you drink and eat they turn you out into the snow and you’re so high on all that sugar. The guy really knew how to explain a place to me. He thinks I would love the southern part of New Zealand.
For weeks now I’ve been editing my novel. I guess it was when I had to choose 10 pages to read to my class that I began to worry about things like who was my main character? What was a succinct rundown of the plot? Because I have several subplots and lots of characters this seemed daunting. But after choosing a focal point for that and after discussing the book at length, I finally came up with a way of introducing the main characters without having to start at the beginning of the story. And all that brainstorming produced a new twist so I’m excited.
The weather here is volatile. Just when you think it’s gonna be hotter than shit it starts to rain. So only half my acre is mowed. I love the excuse of the rain. “Cause I mean it’s really coming down. Well, it was yesterday. Once it gets like this the sky always looks ominous and I just forget all about yard work. Kinda nice.
My middle daughter is home from college. She is in some new kind of — she’s no one I want to be around. But I signed up for tomorrow: DEQ, DMV, Les Schwabe. Everything that comes out of her mouth pisses me off. She seems impossible to get along with so I was saying things like, “Sounds like you are awfully busy, maybe we should just shoot for next time.” She comes home every few months and this time she seems so unusually contrary.
I had my puppy spayed and they gave her tranquilizers so that’s been nice. My oldest daughter took her to the beach house for a couple days to study for her boards. She’s graduating from beauty school finally.
Memorial Day was a hoot. I went to two BBQs, one given by my youngest sister who invited all her gay guy friends and one given by my new friend Marla. Marla and the people at the BBQ are all in their late 30s so that was different. My world is suddenly expanding. Remind me to tell you about my best friend from grade school. I talked to her for two hours after a 20 year separation. It’s been old home week around here, proof that I’m in the right place.
Comments (7)
Dropping by – saying HI. Hope your day is going well!
Maybe it’s just a phase with your daughter.. we can hope.
That guy DOES sound interesting and he sounds like a future character in your next novel. 
Sure sounds like travel needs to on your agenda. .. .RYC: Why you’d bring your poochie with you and stay in an apartment in town- It’s walking distance for all you need.
ps; interesting, I google ‘eneventure’ and came up with my site and yours!
I am just wondering…why do you drink gin and tonic when it’s late, rather than Jack and Coke?
It’s been cool to see how your class has progressed and challenged you in your writing and in your confidence in it.
I love your pic, as soon as I saw it I thouhgt, yep, that’s Prudy! You look much how I might have imagined you, beautiful!
RYC: I’m so sorry I answered you last time and advised taking a writing class–when it turns out you already are! I’m so embarrassed. I do think your teacher is way behind the times. Take a look at my blog today and you’ll see why the preposition law is not sound. As for first- or third-person writing, it’s just not true that editors don’t like first-person narration. I happen to be a third-person writer myself, but a friend of mine just sold a collection of short stories are almost all in first-person. It’s true that a lot of bad writers start out that way ( “I felt this,” etc.), but the truth is that if the voice is solid and convincing, first-person can work beautifully. I just find it too limiting for a novel. But I did have a short story published that was in first-person.
It just all depends on the writer and the proclivities of the editor. I’ve even heard of editors asking a writer to totally re-do a novel in first-person.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by. I hope you love that book, because it’s like my blueprint for writing a novel.
Lynn
Theres just so much in this entry. And it seems bursting with energy. I’m more and more curious about the novel now.
The middle daughter issue reminded me of something my mom said when I came home from my first year of college…that as much as she loved me, she hated living with me then, I had changed and that once I was gone from the house for good, we got along a lot better. PErhaps it will be the same for you.