That title is grammatically incorrect. Forgive me. It sounds perfect to my ears.
Here it is: good news, arriving in my inbox and waiting for me to get home from running errands on bicycle yesterday, with kids shouting in the stroller behind. I was so busy that I only had time to skim the message once before jumping back into the other projects in my life, namely, cooking, laundry, and children. (Laundry: how can there be so much of you? you never give up).
This was news from my other life, the one where I'm a writer. It was a long message from my editor, who had finished reading the draft of The Juliet Stories I sent awhile back. I'd written many new stories for the revision, and was praying she would like where I'd taken the book.
First, the "bad" news, which is easy to swallow: I will need to rework two stories from the opening section, possibly combining them into one. I like her suggestion to combine the two and will put on my thinking cap. I'm pretty much always up to a good challenge. I will have a month or so to do this. I estimate it will take me three full long days of work, assuming the ideas flow. If they don't; well, I won't go there. Why assume the worst?
Because the best is the rest of my editor's message, of which I'll share my favourite part here. The hard work, the isolated hours, the years of doubt, all add up to: "My heart was in my throat as I read these new stories." Emotional connection: it's what I crave for my writing. I also appreciated, and read with much relief, the line: "The book is cohering so beautifully now ..."
I like to think this "Obscure Canlit Mama" blog, now in its third year, had something to do with the creation of The Juliet Stories. It's brought me connections with other writers; allowed me to be vulnerable; and it's given me permission to embrace myself as a writer. Sometimes just saying something out loud is enough to make it real.
And now to spend a weekend celebrating by eating cheese, swimming in a lake (I hope--in my borrowed wetsuit), and communing with friends who've been with me since I was way more mama than writer. (I'm still way more mama than writer, but I'm not intensive-pregnant-nursing-mama anymore; and somehow that's changed how I imagine my life and explore other parts of the whole. They're out of the cocoon, in a way, and so am I).
One last thing. My editor also described The Juliet Stories as "deeply feminist," which surprised me. It's not that I don't see myself as feminist (I do! I am!), but I never imagined writing with the intention of expressing a political viewpoint. I hope she means that the book explores the emotional and physical potential in women's lives. I do think of my characters, especially the women, as free, somehow; or as free as any human being can be, to claim their own lives and essential selves, and to make choices beyond the boundaries of gender, while still understanding and partaking in the potential of their bodies. "My soul felt decidedly less shrunken when I'd finished reading it," my editor wrote.
Next up: a complicated rewrite for two thematically linked stories. Followed by the line edit. Followed by ... book cover design? Copy editing? And the big intake of breath before the finished book exists and hits stores, and makes its attempt to kick out a place for itself in the tough and largely indifferent world. If I learned anything from the first time around, it's to enjoy the moments when they come, and not try to put them away and save them for later. Enjoy in a big way. Laugh, cry, shout. Forget muted gestures. There is no way to store the rush of immediacy. Which is why I let myself bask in the feeling of relief yesterday afternoon, in the midst of busyness. Ahhhh.Labels: editing, friends, short stories, The Juliet Stories, writing