Yesterday I turned back to my first book, Adrift on the Dark Sea of Memory, ready to machete my way to a final draft. I’ve been telling folks who ask that the book, which I haven’t looked at critically in 18 months, was “in the drawer, marinating.” Now I think the more appropriate food metaphor is of a roasted red pepper—out of the oven, steaming in a bag so the skin peels oh-so-easily away from the moist meat.

What a chip was on my shoulder when I wrote this book! I had no trust in my readers or myself. Every sentence drips with lyricism—no journeymen here (subject verb object). Oh, the alliteration. God, how tedious!

I’m two short chapters in (just 12 pages) but I’ve sent 600 words back to God already. At that pace, the book will be 15,000 words shorter and hopefully something publishers will fight to print.

Excuse me while I don my gloves and apron—it’s going to be a messy and glorious few weeks.

This post was originally written December 2, 2006 for the private blog of my writing group, Novel-ties.