Blogging. Wow.
I have put off blogging as long as I could. See, I have tended (in my writing life) to be somewhat lethargic (generous, don't you think?) -- so much so that I haven't really written a damned thing for a decade or so. Granted I was sorting out all that who and what stuff as young adults do, but still and all ... and now that I'm back writing, I don't want to waste a minute.
In the late 80s, I went off to college with a fresh steno pad, a box of ballpoint pens, and my high school clippings pasted on notebook paper inside a three-ring-binder, ready to step back into the ranks of the underclass reporters from my exalted Managing Editor days. It never occurred to me that I wouldn't just follow the dream to its natural conclusion. But the school had no journalism program and the Lit guys gave me the creeps, so I followed the fun kids into Political Science and Economics. I told myself that I had half of the important stuff -- I was handy with a pen and paper -- but until I had something to write
about, none of that skill was going to matter.
So I had a lot of experiences. I became. Some things.
Like, a bridge player. Played a tiny bit of bridge in college. At the time, I'd have said I played
a lot of bridge (it wasn't all that much) -- I hung with a multicultural group of artists and musicians and intellectuals. They were dope smokers and card players who have grown up to be businessmen and actors and doctors and parents. I took up bridge again at a low point in my life and after some twists and turns met (at a bridge tournament) and married the love of my life. Together we have two daughters, one very loud dog, terrific baseball seats and ten thousand ACBL masterpoints. Okay, all but a few of those belong to my husband, a ten-time national champion. We travel extensively for bridge -- 100 days a year or more. Some of our best bridge-playing friends are
at home fewer than 100 days each year. We are bridge players the way other people are swap-meet people. Or symphony-season people. Or tennis players. In lots of ways it goes beyond being a simple passion. I have a passion for fine wine. I am a bridge player.
Keeping Score
Laptop and notebook ready: I have been tuning up for a little over a year. I've practiced on short stories and learned quite a bit. I get to practice my craft at an amazing place, Story Studio Chicago -- home to a great group of writers at every stage of the game. I'm studying there a ton this fall, working hard on the manuscript I've started calling
Keeping Score -- a novel about what happens at the tables and away from them when a prominent tournament bridge player disappears minutes before game time.
My reluctance to start blogging has everything to do with my Midwestern work ethic. Any time I spend writing should be spent writing my manuscript, right? I've been building my stamina over the last couple of weeks, from getting out most of a paragraph on a "productive" day to pounding out a few thousand words each week. On a few really good days last week I was getting down about two thousand words a day. That was pretty exciting. I've been at work on character development and setting for quite a while, now I'm ready to put the pieces together and see what happens. I'm working toward a completed first draft by the end of the year. Ambitious. I gave the opening chapter to a group of readers and the feedback was amazing! Granted they're all my friends, but I've decided to trust their feedback and push forward. I realize that I may fail. But I don't think I will.
This morning I'm taking a break from writing the story and daydreaming about selling the book. I've been reading the best writer, editor and agent blogs (love Miss Snark) and I'm starting to think about what the query letters are going to say. Jumping the gun? Probably.
Just hope that someday there'll be a payoff pitch.... Did somebody say payoff pitch? White Sox vs. Tigers today, going for the sweep and a very real step back into contention for the Division... Go Sox Go!
