So, The Silver Girl is a Silver Sparrow

Ta-Dah!
Originally uploaded by kleopatrjones

I can't even express how heavy this has been weighing on my mind. I don't really like to blog about my problems while they are happening, so this is why I was pretty silent these last few weeks. Just when we were wrapping things up with the novel that I thought was called SILVER GIRL, this popped up on Amazon.

I was totally devastated. It was decided that I should change my title because it's bad bad news to have two books called the same thing pubbing in the same season. Just imagine if you heard me on NPR or something talking abotu MY Silver Girl and you see a big-a display for this other book and bought it.

I cried, y'all and cried some more. You know how when Charlie Brown and them cry and the tears fly out from around their heads like bullets? Well that was me. Projectile weeping.

I had invested so much in the title SILVER GIRL. What was going to happen with all my plans for my Silver Party? And even more than that, was the feeling that I was not in control of my book and by extension my life. As Shirley Anne Williams said in her masterpiece Dessa Rose-- Can't I have nothing?

The up side of this is that my friends really came through. My phone was blowing up with folks sending titles. My daddy really went above and beyond. He said he felt like he was trying to win a prize off the radio. My favorite title he sent was "Hey! What Do You Mean That's Your Daddy?" (The novel is about a bigamist--two wives, two daughters, one big secret.) All my friends came through with suggestions, but nothing was quite perfect. We came really close, I am freiends with some really smart people, but still...

Then, in a phone brainstorming session with my friend Mitchell we came up with the best title ever. Even better than my beloved SIVLER GIRL. We were discussion something else entirely and he said, "I know my portion." I said, "What do you mean by that." He said, "It's from the song, His Eye Is On The Sparrow. 'Jesus is my portion.'" I almost choked on my cup of coffee. That song is in my novel like three times.

And with that, SILVER SPARROW, was born.

I feel good about the title and I love that I came to it with the help of all my friends and family. When I wrote this novel I was at a very isolated period in my life. I was on my own and I pulled through, but while it was good to know that I could do it all by myself, it was sad, too. So this little crisis at the end allowed me to ask for, and to receive help. The book is really finished now. It's been blessed with love.

So, ladies and gents--

SILVER SPARROW to be published by Algonquin Books on May 24, 2011.
Ashe.

She Likes It, She Like it, Hey Mikey

Well, Andra, called and said that the marked on manuscript is on the way. She says she likes it and that makes me really happy. The package should arrive on Monday. This book is really happening. I have had such mood swings about this book. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I don't feel like it's "important" enough because it's not engaging some major issue. Leaving Atlanta had the child murders and The Untelling is a critique of the institution of motherhood. This one is just about the human heart. And it's near to mine. And maybe that is enough.

Just an Update

This is just an update. I turned THE SILVER GIRL into my editor, Andra Miller. She and I went out to lunch for our first face to face meeting. I felt like I was sending my kid off to kindergarten. I hop the other children are nice to her, that she likes her teacher, that she didn't forget her lunchbox... Now I am just waiting to hear what Andra things of my changes. My agent wrote me the kindest note after reading the manuscript:

Meanwhile, I just finished your revised manuscript last night and I think this story is just beautifully told. The characters are so human – with flaws and insecurities – that it’s easy to relate to every one of them. Your descriptions of Atlanta are incredibly vivid, whether you are writing about the late 1960s or the present day. Your historical references (MLK, Al Green) make the book incredibly realistic and compelling.

I think this is really terrific work and you should be very proud of yourself.

My little heart just sang. It sang opera! It sang Michael Jackson songs. It sang Simon and Garfunkel. It sang old Motown and danced!

The next step is fighting for a good pub date. I am praying for April 2011. That way, I can have the book with me when I go to my twentieth college reunion. Please, please, please.

Learning How To Read An Editorial Letter

So, I am working very hard to revise the novel using the guidance of my "editorial letter" which was submitted to me by my editor. The editorial letter is a long documents-- about five pages, single spaced, telling the writer what to do to make the book stronger. Some of it is praise, but most of it is criticism. No matter how much you know that it's necessary to receive criticism, it's never exactly fun. (Girly metaphor: It's like getting your eyebrows waxed. You want it, but it's gonna hurt.)

When I got the letter, I scanned it. I didn't have the nerves to read it closely yet. I just read it really quickly to see what jumped out at me. I saw mostly plot type issues. Then, I put the letter away and started going through the manuscript with my green pen. I made a lot of changes, listening to my own impulses, rather than being guided by the editorial letter's specific concerns.

The next step was finally reading the letter closely. I used my pink pen to write my comments and questions on the letter itself. I really analysed and digested it. Some of the issues I had resolved already, which made me feel sort of happy. Others still needed tending to.

For the last month or so, I have been going through the manuscript AGAIN, chapter by chapter, consulting the letter as I went along. This is MUCH harder.

The biggest challenge is learning to read the letter. Editors are not writers and they don't exactly know how we do what we do. Because of this, it's hard for them to give instruction. It sort of reminds me of when I go visit my dressmaker. Sometimes, the dress hangs funny or is too tight, or gaps somewhere. I will say "The sleeve is too small!" And she will then fix it by doing something with the dart at the bust. Because I don't sew, I can't quite tell her what needs fixing, but I know something's off. Or it's sort of like going to the dentist. Sometimes I am sure that I am having pain in one particular tooth and my doctor eases the pain by treating a whole 'nother tooth. Editors are good and knowing when something is off, but they can't always tell you how to fix it.

It gets tricky because unlike dentists, writers can get prickly when someone tells you what's wrong. Even professionals have feelings. And editors don't mean any harm, they really want you to write a better book. But they can still hurt your little feelings.

My pet hang up is the phrase, "I'm not buying" this or that thing. I always want to snap back, "It's not for sale! You don't have to buy it." Still, I have learned that "I don't buy the mother as a thief," really means, "Can you provide clearer motivation for the mother's stealing." The first sentence gets my ego all riled up and the second makes me want to work.

But here's the thing. A professional writer doesn't have time to be all sensitive like that. You have to do the translation and go forth to improve the book.

Of course, there are going to be some things that you just won't change. (For me, it's the Al Green chapter. I need it.) But I am going to try and make the connection more relevant. But that chapter stays.

My editor doesn't like a technique I applied at the end. I dug it bu I can see how it might now be working. I am going to try to apply her suggestion because nothing is lost by trying. I think that's the thing to remember. You don't lose a thing by taking advice. Remember, you always have your original.

Revision, Revision, Revision

It's been a long time since I have posted here, because it has been a long time since I have worked on The Silver Girl. I have a new book percolating in my mind and it has sort of stolen the energy that I usually dedicated to Dana, Chaurisse, and the rest of the folks involved in TSG. I have one month to get a sort of spiffied up version in to my editor, so the deadline is getting me back in the swing of things.

Most of the revisions that have to be made are on the end. I agree that it's not all that satisfying, so I am trying to work on pacing and just trying to figure out what the heck really happens. I think my initial idea of status quo plus salt and pepper isn't going to cut it.

I also have the issue that I draw out the climax into three chapters. My editor wants it into one chapter, but I really can't see how I could acheive that. To compromise, I have mercilessly cut the chapters down, so now it's three short chapters. I hope that will fix the pacing problem.

I cut about 1600 words-- ten pages-- out of a section that was only 37 pages to start with. I really think it makes things go faster. Of course, I lost one of my favorite lines in the whole book, but maybe I will find a place to put it organically later.

Heaving Lifting

My revision plans have been sort of on and off. Returning home has, of course, made things different than they were when I was chilling in Martha's Vineyard. Also, I have a house guest I hadn't counted on, and then there is just the siren song of NYC. It has been hard to focus, but I have make a little progress.

I have learned that I don't know how to work with other people around me. I am so used to living alone. Also, as a southern girl, I was raised to me extremely polite to house guests, so I have been tipping around, not wanting to wake him up, etc. As a result, I am going to set up shop in the public library and work there until my friend can get to his own place.

But that's not the point of this entry.

I am reading through the manuscript, trying to get the draft nice enough to give to my reading committee. Chapter Six is a mess. For many reasons.

For one thing, I wrote it when I was feeling very hurt about the way I have been treated by some people in my family and I can see that hurt all over it. I don't know if I was trying to use the work as a way to illustrate how poorly I had been treated, but it doesn't really work for this story. Injecting a crazy autobiographical scene is not artful. Particularly, since the character is nothing like me, so it doesn't make sense that for about five pages, she is walking around in my life.

The other thing is that I seem to have organized the entire chapter around one character, Brucetta. Well, it makes the chapter too one-note. In addition, I am bouncing around in time like a montage of Brucetta-moments. Nope. Nope. Nope.

It's time for what I call "a clean paper re-write." That's when I just start the hell over. I use the chapter I have written as sort of a reference document. And to make it even thornier, I have a feeling that this long and tentacled Chapter Six is really Chapter Six and Chapter Seven. Separating the two is going to be tricky, mainly because I am not sure about the purpose or focus of Chapter Seven.

I feel so apprehensive about what I am about to do. I feel like a doctor about to separate conjoined twins. But the truth is, I am more like an eighth grader about to dissect a frog or something.

The Revision is On

Well, the revision process has begun. I let the manuscript sit for about two weeks, I didn't mess with it at all-- unless you count the day after I finished it, and you shouldn't it. It took me about fifteen minutes to figure out that it's too soon.

Anyway, I spend two day combing through the first 100 pages. It was fast work, and also encouraging. Those pages had been vetted already. About two years ago, my agent sent them out. Rejections all around, but I am not sure why. I will admit that those rejections stopped me cold for a while. Lesson learned: don't get market feedback on something that's not finished.

But the point of that is to say that the 100 pp were in pretty spiffy condition, so it was sort of easy to work on them. The next 100 is another matter entirely. Here's my fear-- and I will have to be vague because although this is a sort of secret blog that no one reads, it's still the internet.

There are some sort of autobiographical elements that get introduced on page 101. It's just a tiny subplot, but I worry about it. Maybe it's not right to say autobiographical, maybe I should say "biographical." It's a story and an issue in my family. It's just a small plot marbling through it, but I am still a little antsy. I have never written anything (knowingly) that might rankle anyone. I guess this is something that happens to every writer at some point.

I always advise my students to write the story. Write the story and worry about people later. Writing and publishing aren't the same thing. So here I am trying to take my own advice. I have nine minutes left to sip coffee and be scared before I return to work.