Back to The Vanishing Pill

As I’ve previously blogged, my move to Poland has distracted me from writing. I have more excuses too! I was in a work situation that was particularly draining. I’ve had to deal with being cancelled by family members. Not only that, I’ve had to settle the cats.

While I have been regularly submitting to literary agents – The Sacred Whore, Em & Baller – I’ve just as regularly been receiving the same auto-replies.

It’s time to get back to The Vanishing Pill, a book I’ve been working on for three years now. Or is it four? I’m some 3 3/8’s drafts in and still don’t know what’s to happen to Davis as he faces his private little wasteland. Is there a way to salvage his promise? Or is it just going to be all sad and pathetic?

Compelling and real, funny too, darkly so, all of that. But I have to get it it done! Words on the page. There’s nowhere to start but the opening: Davis twisted off the cap from his Paddy’s Old Irish Whiskey shooter and considered the prompt on the whiteboard. “What does it mean to be human?

Writing “Anori”: 4th Draft Notes

Some statistics after completing the 4th draft of Anori:

Time: 10 days (60 hours total)Screenshot (180)

Pages: Edited 13% of the text; 99,867 to 86,742 words

Problem Word: Suddenly, edited from 67 instances to 19suddenly

Problem Phrases: “Falling forward”, “it was there and then not”

Music: Fireworks (Tragically Hip), soundtrack during process, repeated 300 times.FinalHip (1)