Here is my deadline for The
Shepherd Story, or whatever I will end up calling it. It has to be DONE by September
the 1st. Eight chapters - 1200 or so words per chapter. Done. Then in the studio
in September so that I can have the CD ready by November the 1st.
I know a lot of people who write fast. I used
to read about people doing the
nano noonoo whatever novel writing thing
and writing thousands of words every day. What? Who are these people? Not me. For
me to finish 1000 words in one day is a very rare thing. Almost never. So this
deadline is pushing me a bit. I cleverly arranged to have
Tom preach for me for two Sundays so that I
could take a couple of intensive writing retreats. I'm on one of those retreats
right now. I've been working on the Shepherd story since Thursday morning.
There is this moment for me - in writing
fiction - when the story rises up and takes over. I don't know how to get to
that moment, and sometimes I feel like I'm just messing around waiting for it to
happen. But when it happens, I become like someone watching a movie. I watch and
write everything down. Only you can stop this movie, back it up, change things,
make suggestions. You're the director of the movie.
That happened for me yesterday, so at this
point I feel certain The Shepherd Story will be fine. I'm through with chapter
three. We've met the shepherds, found out a little about them, and now they are
in a meadow on the top of a hill, waiting for the big event. One of the
shepherds, Hananiah, tried to sneak a wineskin with him on his first night as a
shepherd. I had to invent a strong, authoritative man rather like a football
coach to catch him and take it away. I named him Amos because I just read the
book of Amos recently. Anyway, Amos took the wineskin away, uncorked it, and drank
some right in front of Hananiah before sending him off.
I laughed so hard to myself in my little
writing room.
Speaking of my little writing room, some very
dear friends are out of town and letting me write in this little cottage that is
behind their house. I'm rather in love with it now.
Click for larger images
If you want to see a short video of the
place, check it out at YouTube. It's more beautiful than the pictures can
possibly convey. I'll be here again next week. I hope to get through chapter
four then.
I've never uploaded a video to
YouTube before. The audio lags behind
a bit. Notice that I wave to my reflection, but it is a moment or two
before the audio catches up. Oh well, it's free bandwidth. I can't complain.
rlp
Sadly, I got all mixed up about what week it is
and it turns out I DO have to preach this weekend. It's the last Sunday of the
month and the first Sunday of August when Tom agreed to preach. Nice. I arranged
a whole writing retreat thing and put it in the wrong week. You know me and
calendars. Looks like I have a sermon to
get done PRONTO.
