WORK, WORK ON IT

If there is something that stands out in my writing over the years, it’s editing what I’ve written. That should come after a bundle of rewrites.

Before all that, is deciding what to write about. Ideas come and go. It's the one that sticks with you day and night. Something you believe in. Best dealing with what you know.

Stick to the facts, much needed in fiction. I published a book called HARVEST. The main character has a deadline looming, with distractions driving him up the wall. His publisher sends him off to a tiny, third floor flat - with few amenities - in Paris’s Left Bank.

Finding too many distractions, he ends up in the Dordogne, a region east of Bordeaux.

I’ve lived in France numerous times. To research what I needed to give this book a sense of reality, I went back with the plot buried in my head.

I have no idea how many rewrites I made on HARVEST. The book would end up around 360 pages, after the publisher’s editors had taken a whack at it.

Author’s comment: I’ve been asked from time to time what keeps me on track. Funnily enough I start a book eager to know how it's going to end. When fiction books or screenplays, I’m in two different worlds. A storyline that draws me into it, and my life away from it.

HOW TO ASSEMBLE IT? OH yEAH.

There is nothing that bugs me more than reading how to put things together. Often in LARGE LETTERS as a warning to do the right things. IMPORTANT SAFEGUARDS come with instructions telling you when using electrical appliances, ‘basic precautions should always be followed’.

Then comes READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS. What follows on one of those modern coffee makers is close to twenty numbered instructions, ending with SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

Let’s just plug in the damn thing and get on with it.

Ever try to assemble an electric carpet sweeper, for lack of better words. Instructions often come now - the explanation not in words but drawings. I suppose it saves the manufacturer from having to use copies in different languages. Chinese, French, German and so on.

Steps to put it together with numbers, as in step one, step two etc. Arrows point where to ‘clik’ parts together. With a ‘clik’ - written that way – to ensure you’re doing it right.

One coffeemaker comes with 23 instructions starting with, ‘Always unplug from outlet before cleaning’. Really?

Do you ever get tired of seeing your lawn hose lying on the ground, until you finally buy one of those things on wheels with a handle. It rolls up the hose while keeping it plugged into an outlet. Step one comes on the back page, mentioning it’s simple to assemble.

AUTHOR’S COMMENT: I’ve always been lousy at reading instructions. I understand what they’re telling me, until I look at all the pieces spread out on the carpet and my mind goes blank.