When Fed Up is a Motivator
What do you do when you come up with a great idea?
At the European Writer’s Salon this September Belgian Author Philippe Marczewski was asked what motivated him when he was writing. His answer: exhaustion.
“When I approach maybe the middle of the book, I’m fed up with writing it. I’m fed up with the topic, I’m fed up with the language, I’m fed up with the style, form. I don’t know why, but I begin to have other ideas and sometimes one idea is stronger than the others and then I want to write about that, so I hurry up and finish the book I’m writing that I’m fed up with so I can begin the next one.”
He got a lot of laughs, but there is so much truth to that. Contrary to popular misconception, books take years to write for most of us. Ilona took five years. I’m on my third year for my current work in progress, and right now, I’m fed up with it. Anxious to finish up and move on.
The first draft is what I consider my scaffolding. It’s a barebone frame of a story, containing a beginning, middle and ending. In subsequent drafts, I refine the writing, expand the story, adding subtext, emotion and nuance. By the third round I know exactly what the book is: bloated and verbose. The fourth revision consists of a lot of weeding and trimming back. I’ve even turned one discarded chapter into a short story.
I’m now on version five: the tweak. Everything is in its right place, so now I’m working on the language, the syntax, the flow and nuance. Here’s where the word nerd in me has fun.
Along the way I’ve learned a lot. This new book examines parenting in the 21st century, and the research is damning. Mothers with paid positions work on average 63.5 hours per week inside and outside the home while earning 35 percent less than their husbands (even worse for women of color). Beyond the financial inequity, there’s the emotional toll: moms feeling inadequate and ashamed if they stay home. Or guilty when they’re at work for thinking about their kids, guilty at home for answering work emails. A whopping 58 percent of millennial moms believe parenthood hurts their career advancement.
Mothers with paid positions work on average 63.5 hours per week inside and outside the home while earning 35 percent less than their husbands. It’s even worse for women of color.
It’s easy to be emotional when faced with this reality, and I hope that rage translates well on the page. It’s also tiring. I’ve been in Laura and Sam’s world for three years now. I’m aching to move on. (I suspect a lot of parents feel that way, too, sometimes). I’ve a great idea for book three.
IN OTHER NEWS
This summer Mike and I drove through the flyover states in the US, talking with people along the way. I wrote a (beautiful, witty, erudite) essay about the trip that extended more than 4,000 words. Compass liked it so much, they asked for a 600-word version, which we now call Postcard from Topeka. Hope you like it.
For those of you on Instagram or TikTok: Danish book reviewer @justanotherbooklady interviewed me, which was, for me, a first. You can read it here.
WHAT I’M READING
Three books that I’m still thinking about:
The Best of Everything by Kit de Waal: Paulette’s the kind of woman who likes the future all mapped out. She’s the control freak I know too well. Except: she’s also someone who can’t let go of the past. So while she is busy giving Bird, her son, the best of everything, her own life is put on hold. Another little boy, Nellie, is being raised a few streets away, with no sign of a mum. He is the last person she should be getting tangled up with. The Best of Everything is a feel-good book about the love that can steal into our lives - in spite of the best laid plans.
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine: Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to 18-year-old boys. When their sons are accused of sexually assaulting a friend, Misty Johnston, they’ll come together to protect their children, leveraging all the powers they possess. But on her side, Misty has the formidable matriarch, Nan D, and her father, taxi-driver Boogie: an alliance not so easily dismissed. It’s a tough topic, but deftly handled. It’s also a funny take on class, money and parenting. In the modern day Irish tradition of experimental writing, Erskine doesn’t make it an easy read, so you have to work to get the reward.
A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run by Gwen Florio: When retired septuagenarian Alice settled into her home within the planned community of Timeless Pastures in New Jersey, she expected a quiet life full of book clubs and mellow gatherings. What she didn’t expect was her neighbor’s habit of feeding pigeons. Alice confronts her next-door neighbor, Babs, for causing a mess on their shared patio. So when Babs is found dead days after their dispute, everyone believes Alice killed her. Her loyal senior friends and neighbors--Mia, Sasha, and George– must come to her rescue and solve the case. This cozy mystery is a departure from Florio’s usual edgier stories, but she remains true to her writing DNA by tackling the hard economic reality related with aging.